ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIV, Issue 2, 4 January 1910, Page 6

ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Of modern society in England, the Rev. G. P. Davys, of Wellington, who returned on Tuesday from a trip wand 'the world, had a dolorous tale to tell a Post reporter. "The state of society in England/ he said, "is really shocking. It is comforting to know that side by side with this sad condition of things- there is a mighty spiritual force at work in the Church; but I" cannot say that society ever presented itself to me in such lurid ■colours. It is entirely wanting the old grand manner, and instead of bla-1 tant, noisy—vulgar if you will. It is depressing to think at times of the shocking waste and luxury. The tone is altogether un-English. I cannot say exactly what it is like; but it is not English as we used to know it."

Buying futures in wool has. been inaugurated in the United States. The American Wool and Cotton Reporter pays that last year half or more of the domestic clip was contracted for on the sheep, in' February and " March. That was a gambling: proposition, and the . dealers won. Last year's contracting has been handsomely outdone this year, as already several million pounds of wool, that' will be shorn six months hence, has been contracted for, and in one ..instance, in Utah, 22£ c. has been-paid, against 18£ c. to 19c, for th© same clips last year. There can be but one result from contracting for wool six or seven months before shearing at. an advance of 20 per cent, over last year. It spells trouble sure enough."

"Though the display of Friday night was. a parody upon a deliberative assembly, we (New Zealand

Times) must confess to deriving a certain degree of sardonic pleasure

from contemplating so apposite an object lesson of our frequent contention that the rules and regulations of Parliament have made Members the slaves of antiquated formulae.

We have had many instances of this

during the session, but not one of these revealed with such force how antediluvian the legislative machin-

cry is as Mr Massey's announcement

of his intention to force the. House to "399 divisions" oven a single vote on ihe; Supplementary Estimates. . . Mr Massey has'done something; else excellently well ; he has shown how idiotic the forms of Parliament are, and \y;e thank him for the support" his folly' gives to our frequent argument that the most pressing work before the Legislature is the amendment of its own regulations and forms."

The Government Gazette of December 22nd contains a list of the alterations in the scale of fares, etc., on the Government railways to come into force on January 9th. These show that the general scale of ordinary single fares is altered so as to malce uniform charges of Id per mile first class, plus Id for the ticket. These rates are doubled for return fares, and 2d is added for the ticket. The present scale provides for reductions on journeys over 50 miles. Urder the new scale, the return fares from Timaru to Christehurch willbe: First return 25s 2d (old fare 22s Id); second return 165,10 d (14s 2d). Timstru to Dunedin, first return 33s (28s 4d);. second return 22s (17s 4d). Betwe,en Qamaru an d Timaru the differences will be very si ight—First return 13s 4d now, will be 13s Cd; second return 8s lOd, 'will be 9d. Tourist tickets available over both islands are rated at £10 instead of eight, but the term is increased from six .weeks to: seven. For either island a ticket good for four weeks is £6 instead .of £5. Extensions up to four weeks can be had in either case, at 30s per week, or part of a week.

The Argentine Beef Trust wastes no •time'; and misses no chances, to push , its great business in London (says a Sydney writer). Its platform is really a challenge to Australia and New Zealand. The' latest movement is to arrange for swifter steamers to and from London, and so timed that onej of the mammoth liners will berth in London every Monday, freighted with, beef and mutton. There is also to be a regular line, to Liverpool and Manchester to mop up the trade •there. These steamers, of which there are to be nine, will be 15-knot-ters,:: equipped with the latest methods for shilling. They are de-. termined, this big meat ring, to completely monoplise the chilled meat trade of Great Britain, no matter at what! expense. As it is of British origin, there is no doubt that the trust, will be able to pull strings to suit its own ends, and the sooner that Australia really realises what a formidable competitor it has in South America the better.

What struck the Rev. G. P. Davys, of ■Wellington, on his visit to England—whence he returned on Tuesday—was the lusty growth, of English Church life. There was no question" in his mind, he said to a Post reporter, but that the Church of England had become a great spiritual force in the land when compared with her condition some fifteen or twenty ! years ago. "The number of men (one i might almost say that they pre- j ponderate) .that one sees in. ..the j churches in city, town, - and country j is remarkable. The daily services at i St. Paul's Cathedral are most largely j attended by men, and this is especi- \ ally noticeable at the Holy Commun- j ion, service. There is then a con- i etarit stream of men of all sorts and i conditions going up to the altar. I \ myself went up side by side with a j Chinese. I attribute the vigorous i growth of the Anglican Church, so far. as men are concerned, to the Church of England Men's Society. This organisation has made phe- ] nomenal development." So far as I the Nonconformist bodies were con- !

earned, Mr Davys appeared to think ! that they had attained to great poli- j tical strength and influence within!'

quite recent years, and were most ac- I tiv© in that direction. [

Why do young men seeking a career in life fight shy of the teach- ; ing profession? The answer to this question was promptly afforded in the discussion at the annual conference of teachers in Sydney last week, when on all sides complaint was made of, the "miserably small remuneration offered to those in the lower ranks of ' the service. The president (Mr Alan- ; son) sounded a definite note of alarm ' <»\ the subject, asserting that with so few :nen teachers offering, education was in danger in this State. The great purpose of education, he said, was the formation of character, but that ecrcat purpose could never be accomplished while the service failed <tyo attract men. Several speakers pro- , tested that while the tariff had in-, creased the cost of living, salaries' had not grown, hut in many" instance's had been reduced. One man told of a teacher'who received £104 a year, while the cleaner in the same biuH-

ing got £120; and other instances to like effect were quoted. A delegate from the country declared that the Lithgow branch intended to obtain the opinions of all candidates for Parliament as to whether they \v;ere prepared to do justice to- teachers'; ''and," he;added, "we are <juit«| pu^r rights in ' (Joiilg fsp.;'•' "Let lier' get adequate compensation, while she is in her prime;" pleaded one lady, urging the claims of the thirdgrade teacher of her own sex. "Don't wait till she is really old," she said, persuasively; but one cynic interjected, "She never is!" to the great amusement of the conference.

A very handsome collie dog followed a smart-looking citizen up Cuba Street in the sunlight on Wednesday morning (states a Wellington contemporary). Keen on doggy points, a big Maori eyed the collie in passing, and having allowed it to trot five or six yards past him in the track of its master (who was engrossed in the contents of a letter), shouted out loudly, "Hi! I buy that dog!" Several heard the native, but not the dog's owner, now a good bit ahead. Not to be beaten, the Maori followed up, singing out, "Hi! you— I. give you £5 for that dog." This time the owner's notice was attracted. "What's that?" he asked, seeing he was addressed. The Maori dipped into his trousers pocket, and, pulling out a roll of notes, said, "1 buy your dog;* I give you £5 for him!" I wouldn't sell him for £25," said the owner. Disappointment travelled over the native's countenance, and all within hearing waited for him to raise his offer. He looked at the master and at the dog, then said, "Orright, good day!"

The forty American boys under Major Peixotto, who visited Wellington some three or four months ago, have just completed a tour of South and West Australia, and Tasmania', arid .are sojourning in Melbourne during the Christmas holidays. The trip (says the Age) has been an unqualified success, unique in the annals of boy life, and memorable in the history of •- sport. Financially the task has not been easy, but by ther hard work the boys have not only paid all the expenses of their tour by giving entertainments, b«t they have given over £800 to the charities throughout Australia, and are nowdevoting their attention to raising sufficient funds for their return fare home. Their en-' gagements .have been seriously affected by the coal strike, as, owing to the irregularity of boats and trains, they have often been obliged to rearrange their programme.

"A life on the ocean wave" is proverbial for deprivation of .the ordinary means and modes of pleasure, but to bo deprived of one's Christmas Day .through the inexorable necessity of latitude and longitude is perhaps the keenest of a sailor's losses, from a sentimental point of view (says The Post). This experience befel those on board the big steamer Clan MacLeod, on her voyage from Bxienos Ayres to Wellingjton The "international date-line," j which coincides with the one huhj dred and. eightieth circle of longitude, I was approached on Friday night, the i 24th hist. A ship going westward ; changes her calendar by leaping a {i day on crossing this line, so as to ! synchronise ■ with the date reckoning iof places to the eastward of Greenwich. The Clan McLeod's calendar j accordingly passed from midnight on • Friday to a.m. on Sunday, leaving ; Saturday (Christmas Day) as the day I lost in circumnavigating the globe. i Such an experience is perhaps

t unique. The Clan McLeod's coraj pany, however, said Captain Fishcnden, entered upon the enjoyments of | Christmas Day on Sunday with as much zest as though the day were the 25th. The sale of crackers and similar fireworks is subject to very strict regulations under the Explosives Act, and Invercargill shopkeepers received notification from the police on Christmas Eve that the provisions of the | Act were to be enforced' in future. j When explosive fireworks are sold, it ' is the duty of the salesman to write ; the name and address of the buyer I on the packets, and to enter these i details also in a book of records. The ! law has not been enforced in the j past; but it is evidently the intenj tiosi of the authorities to see that in future fireworks are sold only in compliance with it. Shopkeepers received the notice on Friday, some early in the evening, and some too late to affect sales, but those who were notified early found that the public objected to the new demands, and many intending purchasers went away without buying. On busy j nights such as Christmas and New Year's Eves when the shops are crowded, salesmen would not waste the time in taking the name and address of every urchin buying a Id packet of crackers and writing it on the packet and in the record book, and the opinion is general that the new regulations will greatly restrict the sale of fireworks. There is some i show of reason in the compalint that longer notice was not given of tte intention to enforce the Act, as they are now likely to have to carry over considerable stocks. Had they been | warned in time they could have or- |. dered smaller quantities than usual.

A novel Christmas visitor made its appearance on Monday evening in a residence in Upper Walker Street in the ■. shape of a large. opossum (says the Otago Daily Times). It entered the back door from the garden, and sought shelter in a spare room. The inmates, there being no males\ present, were somewhat alarmed, as the animal was making considerable stir in the room, arid their acquaintance with Australian fauna being limited, they concluded that their guest was a monkey!. 'Assistance was obtained, and ithe opossum was.fouiid perched on a shelf. Dislodged'1 from this advantageous position, it made things lively for a few minutes. Opossums have formidable claws, and this one used them, with some effect, but eventually it was stunned and placed in captivity. It has now recovered from the somewhat rough usage to which it was necessarily subjected, and its owners are solicitously, trying to learn the nature of the proper food to give it. These animals are now fairly plentiful in the.bush in the Catiins district and at Longwood, where they were liberated some years ago, but the appearance of one in town naturally causes some surprise. The animal is a grey one, and, s,s it is almost incredible that it should have made its way into the heart of the city from the bush, it is conjectured that it is an escaped captive. Nevertheless, its fierceness seems to discount that suggestion.

Waihi, the township which has grown round the great gold mine, is now in a prohibition district, and naturally there is much work for the police in that town at the present moment. Recently, the Thames police journeyed to Waihi, and arriving at three o'clock in the morning, made an extraordinarily rich haul,and seized several waggon-loads of alcoholic liquor. The fines imposed on the sly grog-sellers totalled several hundreds of pounds. The whole of the liquor seized was taken to Thames, and there sold by auction. A Thames man who witnessed this proceeding, mentions that many of the buyers staggered away with cheap drink, and showed by their condition that they were glad that such a glorious opportunity should be given them by the authorities. It seems reasonable that when liquor is taken from unlicensed premises- it should be destroyed. By the time the sly grog-seller has paid his fine (varying from £10 to £50), the State would appear to have been paid suffi-, ciently for the breaches of licensing law. If it is immoral^ for a Waihi man to sell drink it. is surely immoral for police Uto sell cheap liquor toThames citizens.

The M.P. for Lyttelton (Mr George Laurenson) who may be taken as representative of radical feeling in the House, is well satisfied with the session's work. "The biggest session of advanced democratic legislation I have experienced during my twelve years of Parliament," he declared to a New Zealand Times representative. "The Death Duties Bill is a big adr vance, and there lias been a revolution by the extension of the franchise in connection with hospital and charitable aid administration. The Native Land Bill, the Defence Bill, and the extension of the privileges of old age pensions and advances to workers, are other important achievements. I admit it has been a very trying and strenuous session, but the work done is the most advanced I have ever seen in Parliament. Next year, the adoption of a system of national annuities and other important measures now on the stocks will make this Parliament memorable."

An extraordinary instance of pluck and endurance occurred in a country town in Victoria last week. A young farmer was engaged in yarding horses, when one of the animals kicked him, on the head, inflicting a severe wound. Though terribly injured, lie drove a distance of thirty-one miles for medical aid. His only, companion was a little boy. After alighting he walked into a doctor's surgery, with brain substance oozing from his wound. He was immediately conveyed to a private hospital, where chloroform was administered, and the operation of trepanning performed. A piece of bone about an inch and a half long was found embedded in the brain, where the horse's kick had driven it. The man, at latest advices, was recovering.