TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9314, 15 January 1896, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

When the Tato mjkm The winter passed away 2-" | River Banks. Christchuroh it left bsW_5 r - I ib a permanent memw jJ' I of the distress which had existed among (v! , ■ unemployed of the city. The Winter WoS • 1 Fund, so liberally subaoribed by the $*' I zens, was in part applied to oleafiug 4J levelling tha river banks, whioh wore quenbly sown wibh grass and here and th»i_ planted with shrubs. The result wm his,' v satisfactory to everyone who takes a toy, in tho appearanoa of tho city, and,'.tin, expected that as the summer came on to, banks would present a vory pleasing fa , tura and would materially add to th attractions of tho river. These hop* might easily have beau realised; «j,.' unfortunate faob is that thoy havo not been The river banks, instead of being smoothly shaven lawns, are jungles of rank gran, j s which the shrubs and plants which »hony adorn them aro.having a hard struggle fo. existence, and from an artistic point of view we have gained very littlo, if &_,»_ thing, from the large sunn expanded apoa them iv the wintor. The matter wa* brought up at Monday night's meeting of tho City Council by Mr C. M. Gray, and the City Surveyor explained that some men had been kept regularly at work on th» banks, but bad had to be taken off lately on account of the extra work involved by tho nor'-weaters and the hailstorm. Xhii explanation was satisfactory onough as Ut ■ aa accounting for the temporary uegleot ol the river banks and lawns was concerned, but its value seems to stop at that. It certainly does nob account for the grass on the baulte and elsewhere being allowed to run to seed. Anyone who has ever had anything to do with a lawn knows that nothing ia worts for the grass than to let it grow wild fot a few weeks ; it thereby becomes coarse and suffers injury which the whole of the nest] season may not remedy. The matter having A Suggestion been publioly brought 1 to the under the notice 0! ' Works Committee, the Works Coin, mittee, wo may expeot to see an improvement effected, though we fear thab anything that is done will bo too late to restore to the neglocted banki thia summer the beauty they possessed in the spring. The lesson taught by their present condition is the simple oqo bhab in order to be an ornament to the city they must be periodically and seasonably attended bo, aud not left to bs dealt wibh by bhe City Council's workmen whenever no moro pressing work is on hand, The manner in whioh the river banks and lawns were laid out waa tho subject of general commendation, aud suggested that a practical laudsoapa gardener, who knew his ' busiuess, had supervised operations, We beg to suggest to the Works Committee tha. tbey cannot do better than turn over to this individual, whoever he is, the task of seeing that the banks, squares and othor reserves are kept in proper order. If he is as good a man at his work as he appears to be, aud had sole charge of this department, he would doubtless be able to carry onb his duties nob only muoh better than they are performed under the present system, bub also more econoui- ' cally. Eveu if no saving of money was made the result of such ati appointment would bei - we feel sure, that tho river banks and lawns - and the open spaces of the city would speedily be brought into such a condition that they would be an adornment to Christchuroh and a credit to its citizens. In their present state they are neither. So much has baen heard! • Preservation and said latoly' about the of ' ravages committed among Native Birds, native birds by collectors for museums, and the suspicion that the Government reserve of. Little Barrier Inland had been >, this way of aomo of its rarest feathered'in*' (_ habitants was apparently so „ will --; founded thab it is satisfactory - to '- ; learn tho truth of the matter. This was ,'■ recently supplied to a Wellington •'' correspondent by Sir Walter Buller.' It . will be remembered that a paragraph latily ;.. Went the rounds which stated that the Hon. /' Walter Rotheohild had reoeived from New [\ Zealand a very large number of skins of tbe - y atitobbird. Sir Walter confirmed this ? story, and added that he obtained the in-, y formatiqn from the Hon, Mr Rofchl-yy child himself, and had forthwith tolcl ! y the Government. An enquiry W-;y sob on foot at once to find otttj - whether the caretaker of Little Barrier i»y Island had not been betraying his trust. As y the result of the investigation he was '.y absolved from all suspicion of having dons ;y so. It appoars, according to Str Walter-.' Buller, that for a period of ten months prior' to the proclamation protecting Little Barritr :-, Island, two men lived on the island and did' ?. nothing but oollectstitoh birds for an Auek- .; land dealer, who was acting for Mr Roths*.*';* child. The latter thus became possessed ol - them in a perfectly legitimate manner, ': though it is to be regretted that anyone y should have instigated such a slaughter,"; However, it appears that Sir James Hector y is of opinion' that if only a few of the birds remain on the island they y'" will, if protected, speedily inoreaso.ttfi their former numbers. 80 impre»*94y is Sir Walter Bailee with tfid "y*tttjfn of the two islands already set apart assauotuar.es for our native birds that he haVi v been urging the Government to buy Kapltl / Island, in Cook Strait, aaa third reierfti'y The owner of the island, the ohief Wf";'' Parata, is not at present willing to sell it */ to the Crown, bub there are hopes that tt* 3 J will yet be secured. ,' •-/ V: It is to onr late popular A A Letter Governor, Lord Oosloir,;| from ' that we owe the effort!*; | Lord Onslow, now being mads to p»[:| vent gentlemen liks.Mf'y Rothschild transferring the denizens of .ourjjj buah to the glass cases of their museums* Jj The first decisive step taken by Mr B_Uanoe|| in tbe direction of conservation, we sW*M|| minded, "wai bronght aboat by Jffim Onslow's now famous memo on the whioh was laid before Parliament and hss|| since been printed in soientifio journals, »»|| over the world,- in English, German, and ffrencb, and has bronght to its author on every hand." In a lebtetjf, recently received by Sir Walter Bullet|g from Lord Onslow, the latter says:—.. ; |. ••I confess that I am agreeably find that public opinion in New Zealand becoming more alive to the preserving- the native birds. I was | that their commercial value being nir*M||j would be impossible to arouse any on their behalf, but tbat the Govoruu»s»*|| should now be proposing to increase ty& islands to be reserved as bird depots i« Pig most encouraging result, and that ment should have proclaimed » jubilee fo?|| the only edible native birds showB 1 thaH| they are more alive to considerations wll,( s|| are not material thai, one could have hoped'(|| but I am sure that not a little of this is. d«?Jp| to yonr judicious power of pulliog. strings behind the scenes;" Lord evidently left these shore* with * cenviotion that New Zealandors oitfe : M|§l little that had no commercial value. may congratulate ourselves on black in this respect than we are pai_lt»j||l

. - *ha faot that Lord Onslow has had _ni on w*. »» "is to acknowledge it. Thb extraordinary g oti Weather wsather now being m experienced in New New South Wales. South Wales taxes fl the memory of the u___ inhabitant to remember a similar ££*». «nd it will probably l ong bo __iW notable for the unusual number of which it has caused. Australian fit intenso though ib often is, is rarely so j'sdly M»- ha 3 P roved t0 fae durin 8 the last f w days, and the history of tho colony will I* _lv show a period in which tho sun has exhibited such a terrible power. From o of the old reoords of New South WlJe»» however, we learn that very early in history the pioneers had full experience . jj at a«♦ heat wave "in Australia meant. (Thus iD F ebraar J"> 1791 ' tho tem P era * ♦ eat Sydney stood at 105deg in the shade, d the boat at P.rramatta, rendered worse . ijjjgh fire?, was so excessive that large wnl» r _ of flying foxes were seen to drop from the trees into the water, and many dropped dead on the wing, a fate which was «h»red by many birds. In many placos found Sydney Harbour the ground was •revered with small birds, some dead, others pj D g for breath. As ono walked along noder the trees birds dropped dead at one's feet. "The wind i 3 described ao burning up •verytbiog beforo it, aud those who were forced to be outside declared that it was impossible to face it for five minutes. Coming to later, but still distant, times, we find the Sydney Gazette of February Bth, 1822 chronicling the fact that a gentleman howlibed 0 obtain some moist soil for some choice plants found the ground at 20ft below ihe surface as much heated as it was a few inches down. Nearly four yc_rs later the he*t i° Sydney is mentioned as being 10-deg- in the shade, and the city as being more like the mouth of Vesuvius than anything else. Saturday, F-bruary 18lh, 1832. *M, according to tho Sydney Gazette, "one of the hottest days ever remembered." The ground, soaked by previous heavy rain, gave out an aqueous vapour like steam, through which the sun's rays streamed with fury. Working oxen dropped dead on the roads, an experience which was repeated about a mouth later, when numbers of bullocks were killed in tho same way. Many of these old-time hot days were rendered more oppressive by the presence of enormous bush tires close to the town, which was filled with laffocating smoke. This was what lent roach of its horror to the memorable Black ffhuriday of Melbourne in 1851, when to the dreadful heat of the sun was added . tbat of tho flames of leagues of blazing bush. From this terror the settlement of the country has to a great extent relieved both Sydney and Melbourne, a fact for which residents of both cities must juat now be deeply thankful.