A BEET SUGAR FAILURE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXX, Issue 62, 10 September 1910, Page 6

A BEET SUGAR FAILURE.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,— After reading in yesterday's Post an article headed "Much About Sugar" I would be pleased to express my views of the matter. It would be. ■•vise before going any further for tho Government to find out the cause of the failure of tho beet sugar industry lit Maffra, North Gippsland, Victoria. It ■was started at a cost, as near as I can remember, of something like £95,000, if not* more, and only run for two seasons. Some argue that failure was caused by Germaji management and German instructors who,, by the way, supervised the -erection of the plant a>s well as the working of the plant. Also, the machinery was German. But not so much German or Germany, wasthe cause of the failure as dearth of labour. Tho soil and climate- were both good for the cultivation of sugar beet, and it was estimated the roots grown carried a very high percentage of sugar, but both dear labour and scarcity of labour were the main trouble. Then on the other hand sugar beet requires good land to grow it and tlje farmers soon found that their oowa and pigs returned a better profit with less labour than did sugar b&et. Now the beet root has to be harvested in the dead of winter and only for about three or four months, i so to get men and boy 9to go out and plough or dig up the beet, filso to cut the tops off and cart it to tho factory or railway was next to impossible. I, for one, am quite willing to pay 2_d per pound for my sugar- and see both the Government of New Zealand and the promoters of such .1 scheme leave it severely alone. It was said by an old German farmer in the Maffra. district that, "every pound of sugar they maile would cost a shilling and they would only get 3d for it." This was before a penny was p-penfc on the bget sugar industry at all. The only mistake he made was, he should have said it wouitl have cost 5s per pound, and he would have been nearer to it. — I am, etc., G. J. THOMSON. Wellington, Bth September. 1910.

A life assurance society requires two ordinary and two industrial canyaeeerß.

The, Dunedin City Council has passed the following resolution : — "That a letter of thanks bo forwarded to tho Mayor of Wellington for placing the services of the City Solicitor at the disposal of the Dunedin municipal representatives on the occasion of their visit to Wellington in connection with the Tramway Bill, and that the council also convey through his Worship their appreciation of Mr. O'Shca's services and assistance." By some people who know no better, Waikawa is classed as a back-blocks community (remarks the Wyndham Herald), but in one particular it has placed itself in the forefront of enlightenment in New Zealand. Daylightsaving is only talked about in other parts of tho world, but it has been put into operation by the people of Waikawa. who are ahead of all the rest of the world. Whether the wealth that follows on the principle of "early to bed, early to rise" is vouchsafed to those enlightened people "time" will tell. They keep their clock time about ai: hour and a-half ahead at present. The Wellington City Men's Brotherhood meeting, open to all men, will be : addressed to-morrow afternoon by Mr. I J. W. Black, on the subject, "Heredity ' and Environment." Tho meeting will , open in the King's Theatre at 3 p.m. At [7 p.m. tho people's service will be held ■ in tho same building, tho subject of the ! missioner's address being, "Our Need of the Cross." Special musio will be rendered on each occasion. A reminder of the tragedy in which I Sergeant Al'Guire and Michael Quirke 1 were fatally shot at Palmerston North in the search for the escapee Powelka is furnished by a petition presented to Parliament yesterday. The father of the late Michael Quirke is petitioning for an enquiry into the circumstances of his i son's death, with a view to compensation. It is urged that deceased was engaged in assisting the police in the search for Powelka when he met with his death; that the voluntary offer of his services in that capacity had been accepted ; and that sufficient care was not shown by the others concerned when such a mishap could be possible with the light of an acetylene 'bicycle lamp playing on the deceased at a distance of some fifteen yards. Compensation is asked for on the ground that deceased had contributed materially to the support" of his parents, both of whom are advanced in years. * The Gei'aldine branch of the New Zealand Farmers' Union has agreed to support a remit : '"That the Government be requested to enact that Hospital and Charitable Aid Boards be the recipients of all auctioneers' and public-house license fees." , A correspondent asks us to state the distance by road from the Newtown Fire Station, in John-street, to Island Bay, and thence back to the starting point by way of Kilbirnie, the Patent Slip, and Courtenay-place. The question was submitted to a Government surveyor, who states that the distance is about 14i miles. Mrs. F. A. Steel, the novelist, writing in the London Times on the refusal of the vote to women in England, says : — "It is not Orientalism; it is the gra-v-est mistake to ignore the true position of wonian in Eastern philosophy — it is the pure sex antagonism, which began in the very beginning ; some say in tho Garden of Eden. That this is doomed to pass in the upward evolution of humanity who can doubt who reads as he runs ? The day must come in which the promise given to womanhood shall be fulfilled , when the slavery of sex as sex which she brought into the world shall cease, when the ecstasy which found voice in the Magnificat shall be the portion of every parent — man and woman alike. Till then let all women try to minimise the evil men are doing to themselves by this refusal of justice as much as possible. To aggravate it by violence is but to retard tho ripening of their harvest as well as ours. "Let . us remember that every man is half a woman ; every woman half a man ; that which is evanescent — or female — in both will disappear; that which is permanent — or mala — will endure." The Marlborough Press reports an unusual accident that occurred the other day on the Blackball timber mill's railway'line. It appears that the driver of the company's locomotive, who was accompanied by his wife, was thrown off the engine through a jerk occasioned by the couplings giving way. He called to his wife to shut off steam and apply the brake, but she apparently misunderstood him, and jumped off. The engine continued merrily on, gathering momentum on the down-hill grade, until it reached the end of the line and shot over tho end of the -wharf. The Wanganui Herald states that the new convent, which it is proposed to erect in Campbell-street on the site now occupied by Villa Maria, will be a handsome brick structure of three stories, and will be an ornament to the town. The Building Committee is negotiating the loan of the money necessary to carry out the building operations. When the nuns have removed into the new building the sections now occupied by the convent will be leased. At a recent meeting of the Timaru No-license League the following resolution was carried unanimously : — "That we enter our emphatic protest against the unwarrantable utterance of Mr. V. G. Day, S.M., from the Bench in Timaru, to the effect that there are more temptations to drink in No.license districts than in license districts ; that we characterise the statement as uncalled for, unjudicial, and altogether contrary to fact ; and that wo direct the attention of the Minister of Justice to the unwisdoni and unfairness of such a statement being made from the Bench, to the prejudice of a great moral reform, when unsupported by a, single particle of evidence." Lieut.-Colonel Sir I?. Havelock, M.D., initiated, in the Tropical Medicine section of the British Association, a- discussion on the special factors influencing the .suitability «f Europeans for life in the tropics. Ho gave investing descriptions of the types of men and women needed for the tropics and the types not wanted. The best kind of man to go to the tropics was the good, ordinaiy type of Britisher, v ith a- good head well screwed on, a good temper, j but not over-intellectual. He should be one who would take an interest mi the j ! things around him and not for ever be j sighing for the fleshpots of the Westend. He should be one who could work , I hard and exercise practical temperance j ir. all things, with self-control, and common sense. ile should have a | mouthful of good teeth and a healthy j digestion; a chest with plenty of ex- I pansion; and «. regular pulse and liealthy circulation. He should not be over-much of the blonde type. The bes=t | type of woman wa» built 611 similar lines, and would bo a. valuable helpmate to her husband. Her chief danger [ would be lack of occupation ; but if s>he ' interested herself in her house and pursued some hobby to while away the time she also would find the- tropics not unl earable. The type of woman who was not wanted was the irritable and capricious, who considered the was not vii- . derstood by her husband, and who was 1 given to iits and backaches and headaches and vapours. The ferry steamers will run excursions to Day's Bar on Sunday morning and afternoon at the iifciial hours. Tho full time-tablo is advertised in this issue. Miss Daisy B. Reid, L.A.8., will re- < commence teaching on Monday next.

Some of the remits to be submitted by tho Auckland branch of the New Zealand Educational Institute to the annual meeting of the institute, to be held at' Hokitika in January next, make interesting reading. They are :—l.: — 1. (a) That this institute reaffirms its request for legislation providing for the promotion of teachers upon a definite plan ; (b) that this institute, believing that the scheme approved in Auckland in January, 1908, sets forth the true principles upon which any equitable system of promotion must be based, again requests the Minister for Education to give that scheme his most careful consideration, and urges him to introduce the necessary Education Act Amendment Bill forthwith ; (c) that the incoming executive be ex- j pressly instructed to make every possible j effort to secure the passing of the necessary legislation this year. 2. That in the opion of this institute the inspectorate should be centralised. 3. That a colonial scale of salaries for inspectors should be drawn up. and that the minimum salary for inspectors should be the maximum salary provided for headmasters. The Public Works Department invites freßTi writton tenders for the erection of a new courthouse at Petone. Miss Lulu Arnold ia prepared to take a limited number of junior pupils in elocution. The men's meeting of the V.M.C.A. to-morrow afternoon will be addressed by Mr. A. H. Scriven, who is a member of the Auckland representative football team at present in Wellington. The strangers' tea will be held immediately following. Tenders are invited for the lease of Waddington Settlement, Lower Hutt. In connection' with the Town Hall services of the Anglican. General Mission, those desirous of assisting in the choir are requested to. meet in St. Mark's Church on Tuesday evening. The Bank of Australasia notifies in our J advertising columns that a half-yearly dividend and bonus will be payable ,on 7th October. Miss Pringle, L.A.8. , notifies in our advertising columns that 6ho will resume teaching on 12th inst. x The annual meeting of the Young Women's Christian Association, will be held on Wednesday evening. The Wanganui Education Board_ is inviting applications for the position of second special assistant (male or female) at the Hawera District High School. Tho postponed Masonic church service will take place at St- Mark's, Sussexsquare, at 3.30 o'clock to-morrow afternoon. The board of directors of the V.M.C.A. have secured Mr. B. Dovey, the instructor of the Wellington Physical Training School, as their physical director. The appointment will date from Ist March of next year, although all Mr. Dovey's classes until the end of the present year will be held in the V.M.C.A. gymnasium.