NEWS-NOTES.

Grey River Argus, 5 February 1908, Page 4

NEWS-NOTES.

The Bishop of Melanesia, who has been visiting his ocean diocese, cal4ngin ten weeks at ode hundred and thirty-six sjations, has given some interesting information about these natives who had been sent back to the islands from Australia. lie had never believed, be said, that the. returned kanakas would be in' any danger from resident "natives, and he Avne '. !;ased to find that he had not L-.>a too optimistic; but Malaita, he said, was veiy disturbed, and there had been, many murders by bushincn, and some by kanakas themselves. In Malaita it was thought and hoped thatthe returned Christians ■svould'establislt themselves in colonies, but the op-> position of the heathen bush men was too greal, and- the men had togiy it up and take refuge in the school villages already existing. In every other island, however, they teemed to have settled down peaceably, and there has been no trouble at all. The., returned kanakas have great notions of the value of their labour, and it iextrernely difficult to get them to work in boats, except at exorbitant rates.

There is a theatre in America, erected out of oil. In Shawnee township, just west of Lima, Ohio, in a sparsely settled locality, a new playhonse recently erected was dedicated the other day. This building is the result of municipal funds strangely acquired. The Government of Shawnee ■ has a large revenue derived from taxes regularly levied upon Standard Oil property located within its borders. The inflow of money from this taxation has been used to pave all the country roads, and other public improvement's just as if Shawnee were Monte Carlo and the Standard Oil gambling profits funds for which there was no immediate use began to accumulate, and finally the farmers of the district de* cided that they wanted a theatre. And so the theatre has been bnilt. And Standard Oil has paid for it.

Street music has been prohibiiediii Leipzig by an order of the municix pality. This order applies not alone to barrekor^ans and street musicians in general, but to gramophones, pianos, and other instruments played indoors with open windows. The Tageblatt remarks that by the enforcement of this measure the authorities hope to lessen the number of suicides and murders which occnr daily.

Speaking at the Liverpool confers ence of the National Federation of the Boot and Shoe Retailers' Association, Professor H. B. Procter said that squeaky boots were a matter of taste entirely. I-Je knew that one North-* ampton firm received a large order for shoes for the Amir of A fghanist'in, and it was made a strict coudition of the order that half the bocti were to spueak and tlidcther half were io be silent.

Professor Rlauiudyen, a bacteriolc-. gist, of London, annoui cjs that he has discovered a new method of preserving milk in closed vessels for an indefinite period. He asserts that if all the micro-organisms can be excluded milk will never turn sour, and he says this i'isnlt mpy be achieved by replacing the air by carbonic acid gas. In this manner miik can be stored in b >ttles or other sealed vessels for a prcl inged period without sonriug.

The Minister ftr Lands in his journey from JS'apier to Opoiiki and Rotorua saw only slight deposition on the part of the Maoris to better themselves and improve their sgricnltnral conditions. , None of the atterr.pts he saw at dairying or fanning were of a high order, though there appeared to exipt a desire to do some thing. He believed that in the country north of where he visittd more sue-ce:-sfr.l attempts were being made.

Theoretically (fays the British Australasian) the princiila of industrial conciliation is admirable. .Iv practical working in Australia it has been shown that the men desire it should work all one way, ajtid so they render the industrial courts ineffective.

If England, France, Germany, and the United States would agree to prohibit all war loans to Governments that had refused arbitrations (says the Eeview of Reviews) that nstrnmeut would become the Magna Chatta or the peace of the world.

Tibe aa horses are big and long in the body, some even the size of Norman horse.*. An ordinary saddleshorse. fetches eighty rupees at Lhn&sa, but only fifty at most places. These. prices are doubled for a horso fit for an. official. The grazing grounds -of the Koko Ker, probably the best in Tibet, feed oxen and cows similar, and not inferior, to those of Switzerhmd. The crossing of the cow with the yak gives a special product called the mcko. i Donkey tt ve found only in Ladak. ! At L.-tti-sa i hey know of that miitual's ! existence, but hold ft in supreme con-- j tempt. Tooft'ora clon'cty us a present is considered little short of an insult.

Speaking to a local reporter on tire question of veterinary surgfOiis, the iliuistcr for I r.iuls .said that last year not one student had came forward in respdrtr-Q to the effort to establish a veterinary college at Dunedin. This year the Government had had inquiries, but it was not yet decided whether they would make any further effort. If anything was done it Avonld be urn der the education 13o:»; i, and Ayould involve an expeirli!;-;' -J, perhaps, £1500 a year, for ti.it;. appointment of a professor and other expenses. There was no doubt, said the Minister, that if veterinary surgeons were trained in this country the Government could utilise the students from the college for many years to comfe. Our own deruands for skilled veterinarians wpnld ba equal to 'the supply for a lo"g time,

Beacli nsiuing among the Shetland-, ers'at Charleston has been almost at a standstill since some time before Christinas. This is owing to fine weather and consequent absence of high seas. . It is the latter condition which drives' up the beach sarid cons taining gold, and enables the claim* holders to work to advantage. How* ever, the holders of th© claims are not idle, as they possess small agricula •tural holdings /and find profitable occupations in connection with fencing, improving their land and looking aftet tock. Probably the largest plant in the world is a species of serweed, whicii often attains a .length of' 303 ft. The stems are dried and used as ropes by the South .Sea Islanders. • Honeymoons(says the Bystander) are going out of fashion, and will probably eventually disappear— at present they are of ten shortened to four or five clay,, or even a paltry week-end. Marriage is getting to be looked Upon in a niore mattertof'fact way, and it is, no. doubt, we'll that "tlie romantic girl should not expect absolutely xmreachable things of wedded bliss, ,