CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVIII, Issue 12973, 14 November 1902, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

Fuller reports brought bf, the mail show that the cable accounts did not exaggerate the distress and the serious-

TOISOXED riCKICKERS.

ness of the wholesale poisoning of Williamstown picnickers on Nov. 4. The children attending three Williamstown Sunday-sehook —numbering probably 1500—combined to hold their-annual picnic at Werribee Park. In the Park the schools separated. It was just after lunch that trouble arose among the Electra Street scholars.. Little mitei complained of stomach pains, and in a. few 5 minutes adults began to be affected. Soon the strange plague had claimed fully one. hundred victims, and the symptoms io many cases were alarmingly severe. Chil* dren were seen making pitiful but vain »t>.li tempts to relieve their suffering by vomiting, and wherever the eye turned it lighted upon some sufferer in all the agonies of cholera. Boys dropped their cricket ba.taj : and fled towards the stream, wher* they leaned over and greedily swallowed deep draughts of water to allay their burning thirst. . Several adults rapidly became too weak to move, and lay apparently lifeless on tho ground, their forehead* be-. dewed with cold perspiration. It was as though a sudden pestilence had fallen upon them, says the "Argus" striking them with such fearful suddenness that they fell where they had stood, and writhed in deadly pain. It was the hottest day of the season. The sufferers were speedily collected in a marquee, and help was summoned. Fortunately a doctor was promptly on the spot. For two or three hours he was kept constantly busy, administering emetics of mustard and water, salt and lemons, and caistor oil in large doses. In three cashes it was necessary to inject strychnine in small quantities to stimulate the heart, and in other cases a stomach pump had to be used. The cause of all the trouble - was the popular, necessary and generally harmless ham sandAvich. The Electra Street school teachers had made their preparations in tho usual way. On the previous night they had held a "eandwichcutting bee." Some cut bread, and others buttered it. - Others cut the hams, and others again made the meat and bread into sandwiches. AVhenos much as possible had . been carved from the hams in the usual . way, the bones were scraped, and the scrap- ' ings, with "ends," were put through a mincing machine, and made into sandwiches. There is little doubt thaifc it was in these scrapings that the dread ptomaines lurked. The sandwiches- were stored ia boxes through the , hot night and hotter morning, under conditions especially favourable to tho development of the poison.

MEAT CONTRACTS.

The Government has received a brief report from Mr H. C. - Cameron, its' Produce Commissioner in!

London, on the recent decision of tike, War Office that in. all future contracts for meat) supplied to the Army, frozen mutton, must be from British colonies exclusively. Th« new clause, Mr Cameron, says, applies to* supplies for troops stationed in the United Kingdom only, and not to those on foreign: stations. These contracts are usually let twice a year.' The difficulty, of course,; Trill be to guard against River Plato meatl being supplied instead of New Zealand" meat. The honesty of the contractor is the important factor in the matter. "Unfortunately," says Mr Cameron, " tha present system of attaching a teg to the leg and enclosing th« meat in marked wrappers, both of ■'■which are easily removed and replaced on. other meat, te insirfficient guarantee of the source of origin. The War Office does not appear to consider it sufficient protection. It lends itself to dishonesty. I have found, in my experience, that governors of Unions, and other institutions where largo quantities of meat are consiimed, have) refrained from stipulating in thtir contracts that New Zealand meat must be supplied, owing to) this want of proper means of identifica.tion." Mr Cameron 'has also briefly reported on the amalgamation of the South African and Australasian Supply and Cold Storage Company with the Imperial Cold Storage and Supply The fact* of' this "deal" were cabled to us some weeks ago. The South African and Australasian Company at one time looked: lika bringing salvation to South Africa meateqters, who have , long been under the thumb of the Imperial Company. A healthy competition between two great companies would materially benefit consumers, and as the South African and Australasian Company proposed to establish) depots in New Zealand we bad some reason to congratulate ourselves. Of course, at present Australia is badly out of tie running. A meeting cf shareholders in the South African and Australasian Company was held in London in September, and the ■Chairman'threw* a bombshell into tie meat world of South Africa 1 by announcing that) the directors had agreed to an amalgama,- - tion, with the Imperial Company. "Tbera' is, therefore, every probability that nowi the interests of these companies are being merged," says Mr Cameron with suspicious mildness, "there will be a controlling', power in the frozen meat and produce tradel ■ in South Africa which, will be practically a, monopoly."

THE VALUE OF FORESTS.

According to the Athens correspondent . of tha "Times," huge tracts of forest have been destroyed.

by fire in Greece during the present year. In some Oases the woods have been deliberately set on fire by the peasants for the purpose of making clearances for arable laSid, or by the shepheivls, in order to increase the extent'of pasturage; in other cases conflicts between neighbouring commune* oyer the, right of cutting timber hiX§ I*4

to wanton acts of incendiarism, while lighted matches or cigarettes thrown carelessly into the thickets, or sparks from the fires in- the shepherds' cantonments aire often productive of widespread destruction. The Government professes to check this general devastation, but its officers are very negligent and incompetent. "When the woods, which serve as reservoirs of moisture, dis- j appear," says the correspondent, "rain becomes less frequent, but more violent, and long drought* are followed by cataclysms which complete the denudation of the mountain slopes already begun by the hand of man. The surface soil, deprived of its natural shelter, is washed away, and the rapid descent of the water into the plains causes disastrous inundations. Thus the process of destruction once initiated goes on automatically, and cause and effect re-act •upon each other." Commenting upon the position, the " Times " says it is undoubtedly true that the climate of Greece, which used to be praised by ancient writers as mild and equable, has changed for the worse v in modern times. In all countries, it continues, the gradual disappearance of the primeval forests goes on as population advances. In the West Indies, when a negro peasant wants a, piece of land for the cultivation of his "ground provisions," lie just sets fire to the hush, and leaves it to burn itself out. Where the forest is virgin it is often necessary to burn it, in order to get rid of the tangled growth of -underwood and the teeming multitudes ,df insect life. But the Chinaman who burnt down his house to roast his pig was almost an economist in comparison with the negro who sometimes burns down a whole mountain side in order to .clear half an acre. Scientific forestry, continues the " Times," is the antidote which man has devised to remedy the evils he has himself caused, but it is rarely applied systematically. Greece is rapidly losing its woodlands, and "sooner or later ita scenery will be shorn of its beauty, its climate- despoiled of its amenity" ; but almost every civilised country can tell the same tale. Here in. New Zealand a few enthusiasts like Mr H. G. Ell raise their, voices "with somejittle effectj but they can only influence the community "in patches." What .we need- is a healthier on the subject in Government and people.