NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13768, 5 June 1908, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

MR. WINSTON* CHURCHILL.

"Lord Randolph Cut ecu iu., km a Cabinet Minister at 36; hit son is only 53, and the wonder Ls that Mr. Winston was not sooner, within the circle which meets at Downing -street and governs the Empire," writes "A.M.," of the British Weekly. "Some year* ago he was found standing in front of a.portrait of William Pitt. 'Have you ever wondered.' he said to a friend, "flow Pitt managed to become Prime Minister at 24:' Perhaps lie was trying to ascertain how his own career had been sc slow. In spite, however, of ambition, he has been patient, and almost long-suffering as an Under-Secretary. Effort* have been made by eminent leaders of the Opposition to excite jealousy . ■>' Lord Randolph's son in th* mind of Mr. Lloyd-George ; hut these two have worked together in harmony. There is room for both. The new Chancellor of the Exchequer encouraged Mr. Churchill to cross the floor, and if they are rivals in service to the State then rivalry is frank and friendly." Mr. Churchill, he adds, "take.< Himself very almost grandly. See- him in the lobby as he passes with long, steady stride.-:; he has the statesman's stoop of the shoulders, and he glances sideways at the lounger as if his eyes, like Mrs. Jeilyby's, could see nothing nearer than Africa, although nothing really 'escapes them. In debate also he is majestic, while he pours forth his Macau-lay-like sentences, swaying his body, clasping and unclasping his fingers/and touching the plain gold signet ling which lie wears, and which his father wore. One. has almost forgotten the nasal defect in Mr. Churchill's oratory, or the hesitation which sometimes marred his utterance. It was after much practice that he became a readyspeaker. Now he is one oi the most impressive speakers in the House <>1 Commons or on the public platform. If he 's not eloquent, he is at any rate magnetic. He can seize an audience and fire it with his own vehement spirit. What is the secret of Mr. Churchill's success? Why did Sir Edward Grey say of him three years ago, "It is probable he will be one day Prime Minister? And why do others repeat this prophecy'' He has inherited his father's political instinct faculty of interpreting the popular will, but he possesses to a greater degree than Lord Randolph the art of leading and governing men. He will grow, with life and health, to a greater size than his father, for he has in him the material of which the biggest statesmen are made. Free trade has in Mr. Churchill one of its bravest, most resolute champions."

HOW TO MAKE SMALL FARMING PAY. The Loudon Daily Mail has been publishing some facts about intensive cultivation in France. It says: —"It is a common* place,that in Franco by intensive culture market gardeners often contrive to obtain £500 worth of produce' from an acre of land. The secret of success lies in raising tiro temperature of the soil by placing beneath the surface stratum a deep layer of manure and covering the beds with frames, which again are embedded in manure. By this means a temperature of 90 degrees has been maintained in January and the asperity of the British winter air soothed and tamed. The system is not, as some might suppose, a mere plaything or an experiment. It has been tried in France for many years, while in 1905 it was introduced at Evesham upon a fairly large scale, with the result that, according to ;\ local firm, the gross produce of an. acre works out at £600 to £700. The expenses, of course, are heavy, but, according to the same authority, there is a good margin of profit. Within the past year the system has been introduced at- That chain in Berkshire, by a. French market gardener, M. Coq-. His intention is to produce fruit and vegetables out of season, when they fetch a fabulous price. Lettuces, youn? carrots, and melons are. among the crops which lie grows, but there L> an almost infinite variety from which enterprising imitators; can choose. When we remember that during the season the export of new potatoes from tiheffketon ports reaches 1000 tons pel day, and that whole trainloads of early French potatoes are made up at. Southampton for London, we obtain some, "idea of the opportunities- await the enterprising English agrk-nluuhd. Though complaints of the British railways are common, the Paris gardener makes money, despite Mis fact that he pays ipiita twice the freight that the English small holder would have to face. Early asparagus is conveyed by fa*t trains from countries so far afield ,as Italy, and sold in London at 9s per bundle." The imports of early lettuce from Paris and: Northern France reach hundreds of era tew per day and fetch a, high price. Yet there is really no reason why the asparagus and lettuce should not be' grown upon British, soil, or why the profit of their culture should nor. pass into British pockets, ft is true that- if the business were carried on upon a very large scale in England the price might somewhat decline, but filer© would still "remain * good margin, as experience: shows that with each fall in the price + -he market expands. No occupation is more healthful than that of the market gardener, and probably no one derives greater pleasure from his work when it. can be made, to pay. A man who displays such 'prodigies of labour, intelligence, and imagination*' cannot be said to vegetate or merely to exist. The true art of life is to enjov your work, and this he does."