TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 9186, Issue 9186, 9 April 1910, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Apropos of the saleyards site discussion, it is interesting to Saloyards note what has happened and to Oamaru as the result Business, of tampering with the

saleyards. Up to some three or four years ago all the sales were held in the one yard—at a site known as the Junction—and at about that time the auctioneers divided, some establishing new yards on tho opposite side of the town, about two miles distant. This led to sales being held in both yards, and the market being disturbed the sales diminished in importance until now Oamaru is not the stock centre it formerly was. But, on the other hand, the sales at a locality thirty miles distant (Studholme) have gradually improved in consecjuence of the erstwhile Oamaru buyers deserting the sales in that locality for the Studholme market. The result is that the farmers and others who at one time regularly visited Oamaru do not attend there now to anything like the same extent as formerly. This-shows the necessity of encouraging the auctioneers to continue their sales in Palmerston.

The fact that the Parliament of Orangia has adopted a Dutch Bill imposing disabilities or on school teachers who English? are unable to speak Dutch as well as English draws attention to the struggle that is taking place in the colony over the language question. The Government, which is dominated by the Dutch element in the population, has been enforcing a system in the schools requiring teachers to have a knowledge of two languages that is educationally unsound, is offensive to the Englishspeaking community, and is resented almost as bitterly in private by many Dutch parents, who consider that their children are being sacrificed to politicians. In May last three English inspectors, who administered the law so faithfully as to show that it was unworkable, were dismissed. In October the headmistress of the Girls' High School and four colleagues resigned, because they were out of sympathy with the movement, and the posts were immediately advertised at higher salaries. One of the retiring teachers was appointed to a school at Pretoria at treble her former salary. A conference held at Bloemfontein a few weeks ago to try to settle the difficulty j failed, the Dutch Minister for Education declining to make any concessions to English-speaking parents.

A remarkable feature of the London share market during reCompany cent months has been Booming, the great boom in rub-

ber shares, due to the increasing demand for the material and the comparatively limited sources of supply. There is, however, no warrant for the way in which paper values have been created in a manner reminiscent of the days of the South Sea Bubble. The brokers are the only ones who are profiting by the inflation of shares, and they are reported to have made enormous gains. Two Stock Exchange firms are credited with having netted over £100,000 apiece since the beginning of the year, and small fortunes are made almost weekly. How prices in rubber stocks have risen since the beginning of this year may be indicated by a few examples. For instance, the premium on Rubber Trust shares has more than trebled, rising from 12s to 39s 6d; i Straits Bertam shares have risen 32s !9d from 37s 3d to 70s; Vallambrosa Option Certificates have nearly trebled in values, having risen from 11s 3d to 31s 6d. It is the old story of an artificially created demand for shares, and there will surely follow the usual results. The credulity of the public in these matters is great. People with sufficient assurance can always persuade them to take up shares in any wild-cat scheme that is promulgated, and in the end it is always the public who suffer. Even in New Zealand there are propositions whose supposed merits are being enthusiastically extolled by interested parties, but which give little hope of proving to be sound investments, and in this respect the Dominion is no better off than some older countries.