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Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 5628, 12 September 1889, Page 2

The Home News has an article ou colonial coal, which may have been written with tho very best intentions, but in some respects— especially as regards the facts-is very misleading. It is one more illustration of the i«-noranco of English writers when dealing with colonial questions. Our contemporary gayß •_>< The excellence of Now boutu Wales coal has been known for a long time past, but now there seems to be approaching something like a boom in the coal mining industry in that great colony Almost simultaneously comes a reminder from New Zealand as to the great treasure of fossilised primeval prests therein to be found. Ibis competition is a healthy one, and rich coal mines aro not like bogus diamond mines ami sham phosphate deposits. Newcastle has hitherto been ono of the main centres oi toe New South Wales coal mining industry, and very excellent coal the district has proTided. Another place that will probably fcifco tho lead iv the near future is yong, on Lake Luggarah, nearer to Sydney than are __ Newcastle mines. Furthermore, it "in close proximity to the I*™ ke W liver But whatever be the fortunes of th.s particular Wyong estate, the unpor aneeol the New South Wales coal trade is growing A vw or two back about 2,b O.UOO tons was tie total annual output, whereas now, figure of two million tons, while tho purchasers belong to all kinds oi countries. The New "ouland coalfields, to which reference has lately been made, are situated m South Island between Nelson ana Port Ly.tehon and it is urged that the British Government »hould secure at least a portion of these , splendid layers for the purpose of providing \ nirships with coal. Otherwise the land is h, 'ring so rapidly snapped up by private iv , dividuals and companies, that thero may bo none left in caso of need. It is clear, the reforc, that the coal question is of much imp ortance, alike in New _ealaud .and in Nov South Wales."

The English sparrow has come to be a plague in most civil:*.- lands. Originally imported because insects were doing great damage to trees, it was thought he would be of service in keeping, the plague of insects down, that is his characteristic in the old land, but when imported into other countries, like all other importations, he has undergone a change, his habits have altered, and the sparrow himself has become a much greater plague than tho insects ho was thought likely to suppress ever were. In America he is a nuisance in New York, while in San Francisco he is the bane of all fruit-growers. In Australia he plays havoc wherever fruit is grown, aud ho seems to thrive best where grapes are abundant. Measures are taken to diminish the evil, but the sparrow, it is evident, has tome to stay. Instead of the insects disappearing in the localities where the sparrow is found in most abundance, it is the smaller birds, on whom he preys that have disappeared. In America the linnet, robin, thrush, wren, and song-sparrow arc fast vanishing before the voracious English sparrow. In New York a Blue Book, based on the evidence of three thousand witnesses, has been issued, and be is declared a pest, but despite all measures taken for his destruction, he still thrives on. ■■'~•