NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12147, 18 December 1902, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

LAXD SETTLEMENT METHODS IN fcvXADA. While the Minister for Land/,in New Zealand is paralysed by the bigips of the order to settle 500 returned troojprs on the land, a correspondent of the LoiHon Times . points out that the Canadian government are offering inducements whici arc every J. year attracting thousands oi|settlers to [' that country, and she suggests (the corres-' pondent is a lady) that herein lies an op-1 > portunity for dealing with thj problem of! the returned Reservists who fare finding L it difficult to obtain suitable/employment; in England. NeaTly every shp going out;* to the St. Lawrence during! the summers months has it full complement of emigrants; —Italians, Galicians, Russian, all nation--alities; indeed, except those most desired'! by those who love Canada ajp would fain! see her vast resources opened ip to those of; our own blood. These foreirn emigrants'; settle down with varying sutcess, but iui the majority of cases remain alien and do! little to weld together ■ the j -eat interests! ol Empire. The present acutj trouble with the Dukhobors is a. sample a the difficulr i ties attendant upon so much oreigh settle-) ment of the country. When! I was there>!: (writes the correspondent} thd Governmentj agents made no secret of ther. dissatisfac-j tion with the existing state oj affairs, and] thinking people all over the Dominion pais?] sionately regret the apathy of those ; ati\ Home regarding this question, which 'will] seriously affect the future of the country.-) One cannot help feeling thai if the real' nature and possibilities ot the country] were better understood at Home, much o£ this apathy would disappear. The prospect* for settlers are briefly these. The Government will give to any honest, reliable, well-; conditioned man 160 acres of free land, and) if he does not know how to set about till-! ing it .their experimental farms exist for-, tho ; purpose of giving him advice ; and .; in-; '• struction. If he will send them a sample; of the soil of his homestead ■ they will tell, him what seed to sow;upon it,; what treesT and shrubs will flourish, and any other! Useful information he may require. The' money required to start a homestead is not'prohibitive; in some of; the newly-settled' parts there is a sort of ;co-operative good-' fellowship among the settlers who help each other, sharing implements and animals until the early hardships are . over. "' It is only ? the first year that the ' pinch ;is felt ;i; in these rich and fertile regions the first yield of the virgin soil' Will usually lift a man above immediate and sordid care. But how to bring together -\ this goodly land' and the men who would; willingly possess! it if they'had! the wherewithal?" This is l the problem before us. 'I We wonder what; this correspondent would say of the settle* < ment methods in New Zealand. .

HOW YOUNG ROYALTY IS BROUGHT UP. " Our Future King," is the title of an in*, teresting paper in the Ginl's Realm, by Alice. Stronach.; She tells many stories, some new,.; some old, of the children of the Prince of Wales. It is pleasant to know that their ■ parents are aware of the pernicious influences ■ of luxury in infancy: —" The Princes off Wales, remembering her own free arid happy; childhood, has wisely resolved that her chil«' en should have their early years as littler as possible spoiled by the accident of i their" exalted position/ rSo simplicity of surround-' ings, pf diet, of clothinga simplicity thatt would astonish parents and children of someof our upper middle-classes—are the rule im the nurseries of Sandringham and York House. True, when in London, the littler Princes and their sister have to submit to ; the four daily repetitions of the irksome* process of being • dressed but when garden-* ing -at Sandringham, and when playing on? the shingle at Osborne, they are not ; denied the supreme satisfaction of getting •as dirty ias all healthy children sometimes love to be.*' The toys with which the Royal nurseries'ara' stocked I are dealt with in a Way which may; be commended to other than Royal parents:! —" Toys are not allowed to accumulate in thai \ nurseries of York Cottage or York - House* Periodically, the Princess of Wales appears and makes a clean sweep of her -children's playthings in the interests of the little patients of ' the London hospitals." The charge made against the British people thai they refuse to master foreign tongues cannob be levelled against the Royal Family of Great Britain. We read that: "From their earliest ■ years the little Princes have been ; trained to speak foreign tongues. Already Prince Edward and Prince Albert speak French and German with almost as much ease ag English, while Princess Victoria chatters fluently in German, that being the language spoken by one of her nurses. For soma time French was the language spoken by, the Princes at mealtimes, a nurse who spoke that language being . engaged for the purpose; but by the late Queen's wish German was after a time substituted as the language spoken at table, even grace being said in - that tongue." History and geography are the favourite lessons of the young Princes. So far none except the baby Henry display any taste; for music.. All except Prince Albert are said to be remarkably sturdy, and free from even th« ordinary illnesses of childhood.

; DEVELOPMENT IS THE / BROAD PACIFIC. The San Francisco News Letter of No* vember 22 states:—The Oceanic Company's steamer Ventura came in on Monday night! last, only 21 days out from Sydney, New*. South Wales. She had called en route at} Auckland, Fanning Island, and Honolulu* at all of which places she took on passengers and cargo. Among many other notables persons she brought up ex-Queen Liliuokalani, oi Hawaii, who goes on to Washing-!*

;:.; : ton, where she has reason to expect that/ ~ - : , justice will be done her in the matter I compensation for the lands of which she w deprived, along with her throne. The 'Ventura brought 1,500,000 dollars in/Australian sovereigns, consigned to local Janks. The Eastern press has time and acton expressed surprise vat so much go]/coming v this way, and not long ago lie usually Springfield Republican took as evidence that, the Pacific/ Coast was doing " a hind , office biisine/s" with the ■new Commonwealth. It seeiis. to be taken for granted that all this cold comes in settlement of a supposed kilance of trade jn our favour. Perhaps sbm© of it does, , but that is by no means me case with the whole. Wheat buyers in/England can get gold to San Francisco cheaper by way d! Australia than by any/other route. It comes in payment of -wheat cargoes to be despatched, not to Australia, but to the United Kingdom. As between San Fran- . - cisco and Sydney,, the/balance of trade is - probably agtinst us, owing to the fact that we steadily import coal from Newcastle, ; New South Wales, the year round. That is how we came by cheap tonnage for our ■wheat shipnents. Deep water ships take on cargoes ;at Liverpool, deliver them in the coloniet, and there load up again with coal for Sax Francisco, where they secure a cargo oi wheat and return to the port of their original departure. It is usually a profitable i all-round voyage. Among the passengers by the Ventura from Fanning :. Island we-e the engineers who recently g|ig;laid the all British cable to that place, and who are new in San Francisco, under contract with Mr. Mackay's company to lay the cable hmce to Honolulu. The Ventura . obtained prtss despatches at Fanning Island I and delivered them at Honolulu only two days old. Verily, the sleepy Pacific is waking up. \ OUR CABLE NEWS.

• President Castro has suggested that the blaiins of tre Powers against Venezuela should be referred to arbitration. General Matos, the lealer of the rebels, has refused ' . to join him, md the majority of the released insurgents are rejoining Matos. Italy has now joinel Britain and Germany in their operation! against Venezuela. It is stated that the Marseilles strike has been virtually euded' all the unions, with the exception of the seamen's, having decided in favour of the resumption of work. An attempt, on a lsrge scale t to interfere with the free labour at work on the quays was .'•■■■'■; severely repressed. The situations in the

Balkans is regirded as grave, serious disturbances being expected to break out in " r ;• 'the spring. The visit of Count Lamsdorff to Vienna is interpreted by the London Times as connected with this situation, and ■ as pointing to 'special measures being arranged to avert a serious outbreak. Turkey has asked the Powers to. intervene at Sofia in order to stoj the agitation in Macedonia.

Great distress prevails in Austria, where,

owing to the terrible inclemency of the . weather, thousands of workers have been

thrown out ol employment. Mr. Rockfeller has donited to the Chicago University another, million dollars.. ■■'-'•'