NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17780, 13 May 1921, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

"DP TO " THE DOMINION. In a valedictory interview, on retiring from the office of Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs, Lord Milner said the time lias come to " concentrate attention on the practical point, which is how six independent Governments at different ends of the earth can give one another the greatest mutual assistance and effectively uphold the interests they have in .common." Proposals emanating from Great Britain will, in bis judgment, do nothing to advance the organisation of an Empire partnership. " The impulse has to come from the other side, from the Dominions who, as they grow and think -out their own future, will realise more and more that the objects dearest to each of them are unattainable without the help of the rest." Lord Milner concludes: —"Dominion statesmen have said, and latterly with increasing frequency and insistence, that the Dominions are entitled to a greater share in the control of foreign policy. The justice of that claim cannot be disputed. The only question is how to give practical satisfaction to it. To my mind it is ' up to ' those who make the claim to take the lead in answering that question. Any practical suggestions on the subject emanating from the Dominions will certainly be welcomed by British statesmen."

CANADIAN OILFIELD. The recent discovery of oil in the NorthWast Territory of Canada, was described by Mr. George Howell in a, lecture at the Royal Colonial Institute. He said that a vast region in the environments of the Mackenzie River gave indications that it was rich in oil, suggesting one of the greatest oilfields in the world. Under Dr. Bosworth, assisted by several other well-known geologists, an exploratory party set ont to discover the character of the neighbourhood, and was able to declare the basin of that river petroliferous. At Fort Norman, on the' Mackenzie River, a well has been brought in giving an initial flow of 2000 barrels of oil a day, at a comparatively shallow depth of 800 feet. The oil is of a very high grade of a paraffin base. The area is vast; the transport, however, is difficult, but the difficulties can easily be overcome. It is contemplated, tinder the auspices of the Standard Oil Company, to build a pipe-line across the Yukon, through Alaska to the Pacific Coast, and there make a large and important oiling-station and port. The well referred* to is the first well in the North-West Territory, a province about the size of Europe. The strike of oil is the direct consequence of geological work. The series of strata, now proved to be petroliferous, extend over a very large area. This is an oil region comparable with Mexico or Oklahoma— there will be many oilfields. It is the largest oil region in the Empire, and quite possibly the largest in the world.

FAIRY PHOTOGRAPHS. So much has been heard of the Yorkshire fairies, and so little has been seen, of them, that it was not surprising the display of their portraits in a hall in London recently should have an eager and even excited audience. The pictures of the " little people" were shown with the aid of a magic lantern in the hall of the Theosophical Society, with an explanatory lecture by Mr. E. L. Gardner, who was associated with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in investigating and publishing the so-called Carpenter photographs. In addition to the pictures previously published in an English magazine, Mr. Gardner presented one which he said was taken last August, showing a band of " little people" playing among flowers. One of the fairies was half hidden in a cocoon, which the lecturer explained was a sort of health-givingbath used by them after bad weather. Witnesses in Scotland and the New Forest had testified to seeing the same sight. Mr. Gardner declared that the plates from which the slides were made had been submitted to every possible test to detect fraud, and none had been discovered. Bui what are fairies? The actual clear perception of them is claimed to be possible only to people with clairvoyant sight. They can be photographed only if they become, with clairvoyant aid, partially materialised. Their duties are concerned with the colour, growth, and shape of flowers. They have a definite task in the) scheme of nature, and are subject to evolution. They live on a very humble level, and are about as intelligent as a Newfoundland dog. The matter composing a fairy's body is plastic to thought. Currents of human thought give fairies the form in which they are seen by the clairvoyant. It was also stated that in the spring an attempt is So be made to film tie fairies, and so establish once and for ever the hard fact of their existence and visibility.

MR. WILSON'S NEW HOME. A pleasant mansion in Washington is now the residence of Mr. Woodrow Wilson—the first among ex-Presidents of the United States to make his home in the capital. The house is a good example of the modernised " colonial style," having an air no different from a hundred other residences of Washington folk with ample means, says the Washington correspondent of the London Times. Alterations have been necessary, and it is a pathetic commentary on the state of Mr. Wilson's health that a small lift has been installed. Already the furniture is in place, and the many gifts received by Mr. and Mrs. Wilson when in Europe have been transferred under Mrs. Wilson's personal superintendence. Yet one more change remains to be made. A new wing must be built out into the garden to accommodate Mr. Wilson's b'brary, which was always large, but is now swollen by great masses of official documents and by presentation copies of every book even remotely concerning the world war published in recent years. This quiet house is now added to the number of places which pilgrims to the national capital feel they must see and it is not improbable that as time passes it will become a centre for the more thoughtful leaders of the party which is facing four years of Opposition. Mr. Wilson has made it known through his secretary, Mr. Tumulty, that he does not intend losing touch with public affairs. To those who have seen the tragic shrunken figure taking the air in an automobile, or, more recently, seated in a box at the theatre, it does not seem humanly possible that he can ever again actively participate in the affairs of the world, but it would be strange indeed if the President did not follow the development of the situation in which he is so deeply concerned, and there is general expectation that he may occasionally intesyena, with & statement or article^