Notes and Comments.

Feilding Star, Volume XII, Issue 2887, 6 March 1916, Page 2

Notes and Comments.

—, — «». The Need for Extreme Care

"Housewife" writes from Umuioi drawing our- attention 1o a matter that has already attracted some attention in New Zealand ami Austra-lia—-the receipt of presents of beautiful siik -scarves '.sent by our boys to their mothers and sisters and swe-ei-hearts from Cairo. Some of 'hoe havo been found to carry the germs of dreadful skin diseases, which become catching when the silks are worn on warm skins. Our corresixmelent wants to know what should I c done about it?. We would advise every care being taken with every article of clothing or adornment 'ruin Cairo. They should bo fumigated wit.', a mixture which any chemist will supply. Many of our boys aro quite unsuspicious of the presence of v sease. and they buy their presents in the bazaars in the native quarters— hotbeds of disease—instead of in the .shops in Cairo, where the cleanliness of the articles sold is guaranteed.

The Time of Testing. Will the British .nation stand tintest of the war trade against Germany and Austria as loyally as it is meeting the military test? "The Britisher, or the New Zealander, will be a very plucky man who first offers German gooels te> the ■ public again in this country." observed a speaker at the British trade mectiwi in Wellington. We are pessimistic upon this point. John Bull aud bis children have short memories and a keen deYire to buy in the e-heapest market. Why.. even at this late stage, of the war complaint i.s actually being made iv both Manchester and Liverpool that enormous ejiiautities of German-manu-factured goods are being exposed for s:de in those cities. And ihe; other day we were shown au article pur-e-based in a large shop in Wellington which plainly bore the sfamn "Made iv Germany." Can wo fight a trade war?

Hard Hit in the Pocket. Says a cablegram: "Despite theGerman claims of a success Verdun, the value of the mark continues to decline." On January 5 last th" mark, which before the war ranged in value from Is to Is I'd. was quoted on the Stock Exchange in Amsterdam at Bd. On the same day in New York the German mark reached the lowest level in the history of Genua itAuierican trade, being quoted at 73J cents (a cent is a-halfpenny) for four marks, .whereas the normal exchange was 95.1. At the same time the British exchange in America rose steadily. closing at 'Idols. 78-J cents" per CI. which is about: 8 cents (Id)' per £'l under normal. The Anglo-French loan bond was also moving upward, beiint quoted at about 95. with parity represented as 100. On the other hand, a German 1000-mark 5 per cent, war loan bond, which was valued at par at 237*r1015.. was quoted at IDSdols., while the German .4 per cents., of similar nar value were (Hinted at LSOdols. The Austrian 51 percent, war- loan, of which the par Value was 205d015.. was offered at L'lOdols.. while the Hungarian 0 per cent, war loan, of the same par value, was obtainable at 135 dols. And it is all due to the success of the/British Navy's blockade of Germany.