TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9289, 14 December 1895, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

As if drought*, floods, bush The tires and rabbits were not Bogan Scrub sufficient to engage all the Difficulty. energies ot the New South Wales ruuholder, he ii now face to face with another trouble, whioh in some parts of the oountry is so bad that Parliament ia considering a measure pro- .. vidingfor its extermination. Thiaiathespiead , of box scrub, which in the Bogau district especially is making such headway that it threatens to completely "resume" large blocks of land and convert them into a howl, ing wilderness wherein no sheep of average tastes can find a bite of feed. Iv its ordinary condition the land in the district will carry one sheep to four aorca, but it is rapidly becoming valueless, and is assuming the appearance of a stunted forest. "In different places," said a squatter recently, "the box saplings grow so densely that it is impos'ibl' to get over the oountry. The scrub'forms a perfect wall, and is absolutely impenetrable; in fact, so close do tha saplings grow in some parts that it is impossible to thrust your hand between them. Thousands and thousands of acres are getting into that state, and to compare it to a wall is the only expression that will enable outsiders to understand its density." Every aore is, of course, not in this condition, but the scrub • is pretty well distributed. The speaker gave chapter and verse for his statements as to the damage the scrub was doing by quoting the cases of stations, the carrying capacity of Which was affected by ths plague. On one station that years ago carried 100,000 the number has decreased gradually during the last few years, until at'the last mustering only 1200 sheep could be col* leoted, Two properties that used to bs able to boast of 50,000, last year only shore 4500, and another one of 20,000 sheep will ' not at the present time feed a single auiftisl. The district as a whole used to carry about a million of sheep, to-day the number is about 200,000. The Bill that baa been introduced into Parliament provides that not leas than 2s 6d par acre be spent upon' "scrubbing" the land within tbe next three years, aud at the same time proposes a system of longer tenure of the leases, which has hitherto only been for five years. With only such a short lease of their runs, tbe squatters have not felt , inclined to spend a great deal of money in : combatting the spread of the sorub, but under the new Bill the lessees, it is thought, - will be able to deal with the pest successfully. It is evidently time something was done in the way of clearing the land, for a year or two more, under present conditions, would see it abandoned completely to tbe dingo, the rabbit, and the wallaby, to which it would afford the cover so favourable to their rapid increase.

Considering: the weather The which has been prevalent Rosa Show in Christchurch for tbe and* Roses. last two or three weeks the Rose Society, roust be sincerely congratulated upon the splendid collection of roses which attracted suoli ~, attention at the Art Gallery yesterday. tf any of the blooms naturally showed unmietakeable signs of tbe ravages effected by the warm drizzles and heavy rains with which we have been favoured of late, .. but this unfortunate defeot was I«*> : noticeable than would have been •■ the case had the exhibition, .J*' a whole, not been of so high a class as it was. It is perhaps just as well that tb» .

throe moat popular flowers do not all come into bloom at t!ie came season, and that -»hilo th» daffodil and narcissus claim the apring and the ohryaanthemum the autumn, neither of them competes with the rose in summer. Tiie choice between three such favourites, were it possible to eshibifc them all together, would be very trying to one's allegiance to any particular one, and it ia a happy circumstance liial the lover of flowers can go into ecitaciesut least three times a year without having to a train himself in deoiding which fljwer really holds his heart. I'o the pure amateur in roses—by which ia meant not tiio amateur who kuowa as much about them as any professional grower, but the average amateur ganl-.-uer—-two things were nolicaable in yesterday's show—the manner iv which some of the well known hybrid perpotuals maintain their place in the show stands, and the increasing beauty and variety of the teas and noisettes. A recent English wrier called attention to tho jhsnge of fashion that was taking place with regard to rosea, but yesterday there seemed no diminution in th*- number of famou* r»se3 which have been popular for yeara and years. The writer in question slso aivocate.-l tho more frequeut uae of weeping or climbing roses, and quoted, as an instanceof what these rose 3 cxn do, the case 0 f a giant Limarque rose at Ventura in California. Planted about nineteen years ago it now completely covers a Rummer hou3e, s,bd baa attained such proportions that its trunk immediately above the ground measures two feet nine inches in circumference, while the mum brauchea are not much smaller. Every year it ia cut back so freely that a waggon-load of runners ia sometimes taken fr.-m this prolific offspring of a fertile soil. But still it grows and bearß, until in last May—the rose time of Southern California —it produced over twenty-one thousand blo3som«. Home of {he English climbing roses are said to have 'hunged their nature in the last thirty or forty years, the Cloth of Gold being inentioued as one of them. At one iime, it is said, this rose might be seen covering the froutß of houses in Kent, Sur.ey, and Suffolk, "hut it is now seldom grown, gardeners declaring that it nad ceased to prosper in places where at one iime it nourished almost raukly, and that the Mai echini Niel has taken its place." English tastes, declares the writer, run too much in favour of the trim standard rosea U against the wild luxuriance of the climbers, and ha is sarcastic over the "Academic severity of too preciae gardena." But it is not every one who can afford to give elbow room to the free-growing climbers, and the small gardener, after he has allotted as much of his verandah as he can spare to this class, has to be content with roses which occupy less space. Fortunately he has a eupurb range of choice, as witness yesterday's show.

The boundary difficulty Tho between Great Britaiu Venezuela and Venezuela, generally Diffijulty. speaking, has been in existence jußt a hundred years, but the incident which led to the present very strained relations is a matter of comparatively recent occurrence. Pending the settlement of the question as to the frontier of British Guiana it waa agreed that the area in dispute should be regarded as neutral territory, but not content with establishing settlements upon this tract of country, the Venezuelans at the beginning of this year rushed across 'the river Cayn«i into territory that had been proclaimed as belonging to Great Britain in 1886. Some time previously Venezuelans had been found cutting timber on the British side of the river, and had been warned off. This happened several times and the authorities at Georgetown, the capital of British Guiana, were Informed of the occurrence. By their orders Inspector Barnes with a handful of men tras told to occupy the hill where the Venezuelans were in the habit of working, whenever they vacated it, aud to post Jentties on it. He and his men wore to remain there until they were forcibly obliged to quit, and in the event of that occurring they were to return to their , station without forcibly retaliating. These were rather difficult orders for an Englishman with any spirit to obey, but the Inspector swallowed his feelings and retired, under protest, on several occasions before a display of force by Venezuelans. Then came a day when he was informed that the Venezuelan flag was flying on the hill. This was too much, and the Inspector and two sentries promptly went out and hauled the flag down and hoisted the British flag in its place. This brought over a Venezuelan officer, with twenty armed men, who informed Inspector Barnes that he and his men were his ; prisoners. The Inspector warned him that they were British officials on British territory, but that made no difference, tho sentriea were disarmed, and the party were forcibly taken across the river to a Venezuelan town, where they wore confined in a small room. They were joined a little later by the other officials of the Biitiah station, who had beeu arrested by the Venezuelans, who had also stolen all the arms and ammunition to be found and hauled down the English flag. The Eugiish prisoners were subsequently given their liberty on parole. That night a number of their captors went across to the British station again, stole all the clothes and money they could find, smashed the furniture and fittings, and got scandaloualy Jrunk, many of them sleeping all night %here they fell down among the debris. A week or two later the Englishmen were sent to another town, where they were Informed that they were to be released at once. They were not actually ill-treated, but one British subject, who was not •rrested with them, was tied up to a tree by a mob of the diminutive Venezuelan ioldiery and flogged with a rope. It is for this outrage upon English officials that Lord Salisbury is demanding an indemnity of £12,000 from the Venezuelan Government, and as he has also probably given them the alternative 0 f paying up or being made to do so, despite the Monroe doctrine and the vapouring*, of American Anglo phobiata, the chances are that the money will be paid.