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Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 44, 22 February 1915, Page 6

Owing to the inability of the Union Steam Ship Company to provide the necessary cool storage space, it will be im. possible to ghip by the Moana, leaving early next month, the first collection of fruit which New Zealand growers in» tended to prepare for the Panama Exposition. The Agricultural Department has, however, received a promise from the Union Company that suitable space will be reserved in succeeding steamers for fruit intended for the Exposition. " As I told you before," writes Private Horace Simon from Zeitun Camp. Egypt, to his relatives in Invercargill, "our camp is right on the desert, and there isn't a speck of grass on it. Well, some ingenious fellow pounced upon half a, bag of oats and wheat, and sowed it round some of the tents. The seed took root, and now a good number of the tents are like miniature garden cities. They look very decent. . . . Soon there will be com in Egypt, and very handy, too. "—Southland Time«. Signs of much unemployment were observed in Sydney by Mr. C. M. Luke, who has just returned from » visit to the Commonwealth. In Melbourne the position was not so acute. People affected appeared, for the most part, to be clamouring for State assistance, and looking to the Government to relieve the situation by reducing the cost of the necessaries of life. A great deal of interest was manifested in regard to the wheat contracts which New Zealand had entered into, and the general opinion was that these contracts should be carried out but no others should be made. There appeared to be fear c-f a shortage of wheat for Australian requirements, as the harvest may suffer severely from the drought. The adjourned meeting of the Otago High School old boys will be held on Tuesday evening next, at 8 o'clock, in Turnbull's auction rooms, in connection with the formation of a unit of the National Reserve. The committee appointed at the last meeting reports good progress, and that a large and enthusiastic gathering tis expected. The old boys, at some time or other, have been members of the famous Otago High School Cadets, and there waß a time when the Cadets, with their field service pounders, used to do splendid shooting when firing at White Island, off Ocean Beach. The way " the boys " used to toss the guns about was a treat, and :t parade was a sure sign for a big muster of an admiring public. The old-time enthusiasm has again run through nil the old boys now located in Wellington, who are responding well to the call foi home defence. Fish, boiled, baked, or fried, is a' l very well, but to have it flavouring the drinking water i« enough to drive the « most zealous prohibitionist to drinktea. The fishy flavour of past years is again noticeable in the city water, and although there is the authority of the City Engineer for the fact that it iis quite harmless, and is gradually diminishing, it is decidedly unpalatable all the same. However, it has been found to disappear in filtration, and it does 'hot appear to have any objectionable influence upon tea. It is not of ichthyous origin, but arises from some form of vegetable growth. This should assure vegetarians that the water is all right. According to the City Engineer, other places have experienced the same trouble with their water supply, and London, Dunedin, and places in America are cited as instances. Rain has 'fallen in Wellington to-day, and all that is wanted to prove the water is rain, so that the disappearance of the fishy taste in the water should be presently discernible. Great progress, marred at the present time by the effects of the drought, were observed by Mr. C. M. Luke, presid mi of the Central Chamber of Commerce, o a visit to Australia,, from which he A;» just returned. It is nine years since hit last visit. an«l in Sydney he noticed great changes, especially in the develop ment of the suburbs. Large areas thai were under cultivation nine years ago are now covered with modern eurburbar. residences. t In the city also many of the old buildings have given place to more up-to-date structures, some of which approximate in size to those in American cities. Mr. Luke thought that commercial life was more depressed than on any previous visit he had paid, but he was informed by a very good authority that this arose more as a consequence of the drought than owing to the war. There was } of course, a great deal of excitement _in connection with the war, and splendid efforts were being made to inere&s* the number of men being equipped for the Expeditionary Forces. The country between Sydney and Melbourne, as Mr. Luke saw it on the train journey, resembled a desert for the most part. There was no evidence of grass or greenness of any kind, and little or no stock c-r sheep along the whole route; but at various stations stock trains were passed, the trucks containing sheep in very poor condition. "It made me think," Mr. Luke told a Post reporter, "that one mile of our country was worth ten miles of theirs in its present condition." In Melbourne Mr. Luke observed progress, but not to the same extent as in Sydney. On the other hand, trade appeared to be good in the Victorian capital, and the enecU of the drought were not bo marked *s in New South Wales.