SIR RIDER HAGGARD'S DAIRY FARM.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 17 March 1915, Page 5

SIR RIDER HAGGARD'S DAIRY FARM.

Occasionally the brevity of an important cable message is very vexatious. The despatcher has always the precedent of the first chapter of Genesis, in which the making of the world is de-j scribed in a few sentences, but such a severe compression is unsatisfying to a generation which is notoriously curious j What is a New Zealander to make out of the following cryptogram ?—"London, March 12th. Sir Rider. Haggard, in a letter to The Times, states that if the cost of farm labor increases he will be obliged to dispose of his dairy farm." More than a decade ago Sir Rider began to have a keener interest in modern. England than ever he had in ancient Egypt. From the romance of the Pharaohs his mind turned to the problem of Hodge, and from the contemplation of great Imperial dynasties of old he passed to the pedigree of pigs and cattle—at certain times only, for this remarkable man's intellectual and other activities have a very wide range. He saw sadly a changing England ; he saw the ruddy faces of the country turned to pallor in the smoky, noisy cities. Always he gazed upon a migration from pleasant fields to the grey streets of crowded places* and in that exodus he had a vision of sorrow for his native country. Therefore, he resolved to do all in his power to help the land to hold its sons by the nvevs, by the lakes, by the plains and hiHs whe"e their fathers were the strength of England. Sir Rider Haggard has travelled the length and breadth of Britain in his tireless sesr.oh of knowledge: he has spoken with, observant men in all parts of the country :• ho has studied., he has written, and he has striven for his idp*»l of another Britain, where pepol© will be glad to stay on t^e lard. Year after year he has toiled—and to-day he is reported to have eloomv fo^ v <? f or tbe futum unless the lure of British cities p^d t> In"°s overseas nan be 'wintered. Meanwhile the of the message ™iav an ir?;i'-+ioe +o the of Sir "Riser's dairy form. The suggestion of the condensation is that the tabor factor alon« i<s the cause of failure Tvit the peoDlp here have to reserve judgment until tW havp f«H de+ails about tW, f«T«i—the me+WU of rtifna^aT"pnt the character of the ground, fh G rlim.of^. tbe ouplitv of the Tier.!, thein res-^ to markets." »»»d nthw necessary inf.ni~«at;.r,Ti. TTn to t>>» r.a'«!+- few vp^rs +1.0 OVJ Pountrv's rural V v%-Ws fc^d a hpr-d lifp f or Sf v aß t m v— pml t^o mcp^t. ijr^rovp^e^ts ar* not remarkable, fro™ tb e colonial noint of view (says the "Wellington Post)