TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9326, 29 January 1896, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

One of the moet deserving A Most charities in Christchurch is Deserving undoubtedly that known as Charity. the Destitute Patiente'Relief Fund. Aβ probably many of oar readers are aware, it in managed—and vary well managed, too—by a Committee of ladiea for the benefit of those patients who, on leaving the Hospital, find themselves without employment or the means of living until they tind it. In such circumBtancos, which are of only too frequent occurrence, the ex-patieut, if etill weak and unfit to work, is sent to the Convalesoenb Home or to Sumner, and wben hie health is recruited by the change, he is pub in the > way of earning his livelihood/"In come cases tools, or perhaps a email hawker's stock-in-trade, have been bonght, or the man has been assisted to reach some other part of the colony. In a few cases the fare to Australia has been paid. Stocks of clothes often, too, need replenishing, and, generally speaking, as much ia done to afford destitute patients, both male and female, a new start in life as the funds at the Committee's disposal will allow. This question of funds, as is the case with so many other charities, is one which causes tho distributors of the fund much anxious thought. It is also one about which there seems to be a certain amount of misconception in the. mind of the public, who, remembering the generous legacy to the Hospital by the late Mr Hyman Marks, seem to think that there will be no farther necessity for generosity on their part. This is a mietake, for whatever sum comes eventually from the legacy to the Relief Fund, none can possibly reach it this side of winter, and it is a regrettable faot that the sum still to the credit of the Fund has dwindled away to about £20, an amount oat 0/all proportion to the needs of the ease.

: TmßbeiQ g«o,i6 Wil i be The «>«tuatthors UeV( Z i Approaching reason why t tte inn ,,J > oa Thursday \S , February 6bh, should be very 2* , patronised. The promotcra of that ft?/ f h ( may be remarked, are doing all they ' . to ensure those who attend it getting uST ( money'e worth. Several » re » . be made this year from the usual programm e ° l Borae well known Christohuroh amatroli . are busily engaged iv the production, on In ' unparalleled scale of realistic gorg eooe ness, of one or more of the dramas of thi ' late lamented Mr Riohardaon, of illauri ; memory. These dramas, we need h*rdU ; cay, contain as much startling incident as it ' has been found possible to crowd jJ > fifteen minutes, and as they invariant • conclude with the absolute victory of vir* > over vice they give the utmost eatiaUotion • to anyone of proper moral views. Xh there is to be a baby show, in which the extreme youth and beauty of Christohnrch will compete for the possession of a valmbl silver mug, a silver rattle, and other prizes' i This should prove a most attractive feature i of the programme, and we may aewre in. tending competitors that, unlike an historic" baby show once held in Christoharob, the ' winners will have no difficulty m Becurinc > their prizes. The members of the GirW 1 Boating Club, appropriately enough, wilj provide a " sweets " stall, whorwt will be retailed at) absurdly low pri^, f lollies, the variety and excellence of 1 whioh must be tasted to be realised. The 1 unhappy matrimonial relations of P uno i, 3 and Judy will be exhibited as an awful I warning to young people, and we believe > that the Garrison Band will play a selection J of their brightest muaio during the aftorl noon. All that remains to make the fit« a i complete aucoees is fine weather and a large ) attendanoe of the public We have to Uk« i the first as it comes, but tha matter of . patrouage does Ho in our hands and panes, [ It will be a good show for a Rood cause, and j this is a combination of inducements which ; should appeal to every oue with a spare I; chilling or two. 3 The end of tho holiday? f Ferns in sees the return to town of Doooration. many families who have j. spent the last month or six , weeks up country or in other placea neater i Ohriatohuroh, where ferna are to be obc tamed. '•Ferning" is a popular and pleasant way of filling in the time In the bush, and very pretty the ferns look in their cool, moist beds. Their subsequent ' career in suburban gardens or in pots in a room ia leas calculated to show them to ? advantage, and a good many finish their *■ Uvea on the dust hoap. It may, therefore, ' be of interest to many people, especially ladies, to hear of a way of keeping feme I in good growing order, whioh ia said to 3 be both easy audeffootive. AOalifornian lady T noticing how ferna in their wild state cling t to rocks, their roots being merely covered ) with a thin layer of damp moas, determined L to apply the principle to indoor deoorativa b purpoaes. Tho result was so successful, and ■ was so generally admired, that she patented 3 the invention, and is doing a large business, 3 the demand much exoeeding the powera of I supply. The method she adopted waa really . very simple. Wire netting of suitable size , and ahape is laid out upon the ground, and l upon it is placsd a twe-iuch layer of most, \j roots uppermost. Then fern roots, stripped r of leaves and sterna, are placed on this at a . dietanoeof about four iuohea apart, and kept in plaoo by atranda of wire or thread. An open mouthed porous earthen vessel—unglased torra cotta would probably do—is then placed in the cont-e of tho mat thus formed, the sides of which are drawn up around, and shaped, to the vosael, and tho whole eus* r ponded by means of cords round tho neck. The veaael ia then fillod with I fresh water, and the moisture soaking , through the jar the fern roots soon put . forth their delicate fronds, and may i be so kept for! any length of time. The vessol muab be kept full of clean water, and it is well to place some other plant! 1 beneath it, as the water drops slowly from } time to time. Tho idea is, of course, not) ', quite new, but it ia none the worse for that. Any fern roots can be used, but the thick- ' growing varieties would no doubt look best. 1 A ekoknt English traNew Australia veller in Paraguay hoe Visited, aont to a London paper an account of a visit • whioh he paid, ia the course of his wav , , deringa in that country, to the "New Australia " colonies, old and new. After describing briefly tho inauguration of the , scheme in Australia, an old story with whioh i our readers are by this timo familiar, he re* t marks that many had come to Paraguay expeoting to find a land flowing with milk and , honey, and had a rudo awakening to the > discomforts inevitable in openiDg up a new colony. The settlement ho describes a« beautifully situated on rising ground, backed by stately forest, and approached over ft '-. fiae strotoh of open pasture land, though to his unacoustomed eye tho blackened tree etutnpa in tho forest? oleariags formed rather a blot upon, the landscape. . "We wero," he says, "very kindly re. : ceivedby a lady and gentleman who hod given up a very good poeition in Australia, and in exchange had, at the, time of our ' visit, one one-roomed mud hat and a share of ' another. We thoroughly enjoyed a good 1 meat tea after our thirteen hours ride, and it was very curious to hear our hostess sending to the common store and the common kitchen for beefsteaks and tea. After tea we smoked cigars made out of the native ; tobaoco, and rolled for us by the hands of i the daughter of the house." Strolling about, i in the evening he found a singing class in f full swing in the schoolroom. Tho next, day I was spent in inspecting the colony, which 1 is described as a very interesting sight, ) none the less so becauae everything is still i very much in an embryo state. "Ouly . some hundred acres had bo far been cleared f and planted, but everyone was at work, and , the fact that they were working not for money > wages but for the common good did not 1 seem to make them more inolinod to be I idle." He then started for the new settle; i ment, better known as the Coemfi colony. > which was fonnded by Lane and some fol--9 lowers after the split in the ranks of the b New Australians. It was a three hours r ride, the way lying for the most part along i a difficult forest track, and eudioft with » i long and treacherous marsh, whioh was j only negotiated witli great I When the traveller reached the new settleb ment he found it in "an even more primi- , tive condition than the other, ss the coloi niste were still under canvas, and had not I got far even with the work of clearing the s forest. The situation was rather too near i thfc marsh to be pleasant, for the mosquitoci i were larger and more venomous than auy i we had come acrots. The founder and • governor of the colony had ridden over with , us, and it was a carious experience to Ho ) under the stars and orange trees in this i remote forest, and hear the history of the ■ origin in Australia of this strange move* k ment." However the colony has prospered • the writer says it is quite certain that i there are boundless areas of land in Paraguay where European colonieto can . I live and keep their health. So there 1 are, it may be mentioned, in the Atuitralian I colonies, and as long as that in the case there does not seem any reason {or going to

Paraguay. The New Australians, we Irarn, keep up the national game, for when the travbller reached the town of Villa Rica, some forty miles away, ho learned that on the previous Palm Sunday a Homeric cricket match had been played there between the English and Auitralians in Paraguay. " The latter had a regular Turner and Ferris pair of bowlers, and won the day. The inhabitants of Villa Rica could not understand what it was all about, bo came to tho conclusion it must be A revolution aud baited their doors ! "