ECHOES OF THE WEEK

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1511, 14 February 1901, Page 35

ECHOES OF THE WEEK

The recent disclosures in Great Britain with respect to adulterated beer have induced a closer inspection to be made of various commodities in common use. Many articles, it has been discovered, are adulterated in a way that completely deceives the purchaser; and by a cunning method of branding, the vendor is plaosd beyond the pale of the existing law. Food and clothing are extensively adulterated. But the adulteration is scientifically done', and the public are unconscious of the deception that is being practised upon them. The woollens and worsteds worn by men and the silks and flannelettes worn by women ar© known to be “filled” and “weighted” with foreign matters. One of the causes assigned for the sudden drop in the price of wool a year ago was the extensive use 4 of “substitutes.” Worsteds mixed with cotton were too light to pass for all wool, and so certain manufacturers brought the weight up to standard by saturating the goods with such substances as chloride of zinc, lead, alum, Epsom salts and flour. As weight per yard is the' governing factor in selling worsteds, it is easy to understand that the admixture of two ounces of foreign matter, such as flour, into a yard of worsted coating would place the vendor of the adulterated article at an* enormous advantage over a rival house which sold the genuine article. A tricky manufacturer would produce in that way the same weight of worsted coating at twelve and a half per cent, less than his honest neighbour, and such a difference is sufficient, in large businesses, to make one man a millionaire and the other a bankrupt.

ADULTERATED GOODS.

Warehousemen in this country state that adulterated woollen goods are being imported into Now Zealand, to* the detriment of the colonial - made article, and a desire has been expressed that legislative action should be taken to stop the importation of “weighted” woollens, tweelds and worsteds. Further, we are informed that certain kinds of women’s underwear, and even silken fabrics, are not infrequently “filled’’ during the dyeing process with substances to give them body. This practice is not only fraudulent in itself, but is likewise inimical to the public health, and this forms’, another sound reason for legislative interference. If the underclothing of the people is saturated with, say, chloridel of zinc, what wonder is it that physicians often report cases of blood-poisoning contracted from clothing carrying chemical impurities ? Shopkeepers are not necessarily responsible for being in possession of such deleterious goods as are manufactured. It is necessary, however, that the authorities should see that none but safe and reliable wearing material is allowed to be imported into this country, and in that direction the Legislature might well take action.

INIMICAL TO HEALTH.

There is another aspect of trade adulteration that is just as reprehensible, if not more so. We refer to the adulteration of fcod-s tuffs. The adulteration of such commodities as butter at Home must materially affect our export trade of the pure article. An astonishing revelation has just been made in this connection in London* The Local Government Board; invited private persons to send in samples of butter sold to them by their dealers; and out of one da} 7? s supply of 160 samples, 111 were found to be adulterated. Prosecutions have not resulted in putting a stop to this iniquitous practice. What will those people who consume quantities c\£ imported jams think when they learn that out of thirty-two samples of jams it was discovered that only seven w T ere genuine P A well-known marmalade contained fifty per cent, of starch glucose ; in strawberry jam the percentage of this substance was from ten to. thirty-five per cent; while of nine samples of golden syrup the Home authorities found that six contained from twenty to eighty per cent, of starch glucose. The question of how the public is to he safeguarded against such frauds is difficult of solution. Legislation can do much, but the .retailers can do more. They can refuse the “cheap and nasty” products fN-udulent manufacturers, who may Then be forced to adopt the resolution of

FRAUDS AND PUNISHMENT.

the Bradford manufacturers, “not to fcell or offer any coatings to which foreign matter had been added to increase the weight of the cloth.’ 5 Moreover, supported by legislative enactment to prevent the manufacture as well as the importation of “mixed” goods, the public would be placed upon their guard and would be encouraged to insist upon being supplied with articles of guaranteed purity. The fact cf a Liverpool firm having been ordered to pay £I9BO damages for supplying a brewer with arsenicated sugar shows that the English law can reach the reckless adulterators of articles of diet. Tire people cf New Zealand ought to be similarly safe guarded.

In Mr Prouse's lament for the fine forests that are departing in the Motu district of Poverty Bay, there is much to arouse a deep interest even in the most sluggish soul. As he plainly says, much valuable timber is wasted every year apparently because no one will stop and think. Perhaps this waste is the natural outcome of the careless period when the aim of everybody was to get the timber out of the way of decent settlement. Nevertheless, the time iias come for facing the lamentable fact that much settlement is encouraged at a

CLIMATE AND FORESTS.

price positively ruinous to the country. Grass is a good thing, because the exports of dairy produce and wool, into which grass is converted, are good things. But the further growth of these exports can wait until a valuable public asset has been gathered in. Land that carries from £25 to £75 worth of timber per acre! is too valuable to he given away even to dairy farmers-

The Lands Department has in the past had to part with,'valuable timber land for nothing, and it has long understood that the settlement it . got in its place, though valuable, was by no means worth the waste. There is danger of a repetition, as everyone knows who has seen the Waimarino block, the best portions of what is left of the Awarua block, to say nothing of others. These lands should be administered with due regard to their value. There is timber enough upon them to pay for the one hundred and forty miles yet remaining to the completion of the North Island trunk railway. There is no reason why that valuable asset should be sacrificed in order to accelerate settlement. Until the railway is completed, neither the timber on those lands, nor anything that may take the place of the timber, can be worth much. In addition, the State is at its wits’ end to make roads fast enough for the advancing settler. .But the trunk railway once made, the sawmiller, while converting the timber into money, will make as many roads as the settler following in his footsteps is likely to require for some time to come. The forest regulations give ample power for arranging a solution of the timber problem on these lines in this fine district. Theiy also are drastic enough to enable substantial progress to be made with the all-important work of re-forest-inig. About the value o.f this work there seems to be considerable misconception. Men talk of half a dozen generations as the shortest period which must elapse before any planted area can be expected to be valuable. But experience has proved that in a generation and a half these areas begin to. give fair returns, and that the returns grow rapidly, once they are started, ensuring not. only a permanent but an increasing revenue. Trees, it is true, are not reproduced like the giant kauris of the North, or the great redwoods of California; but all countries can, by the exercise of a little forethought, be ensured a permanent timber supply at a cost which eventually becomes a lasting profit.

THE TIMBER. SUPPLY.

The re-foresting question has yet another side. It is the side of The French found out long ago that the de-foresting of the Alpine slopes caused their best country to be swept by desolating floods. In several parts of New Zealand the same lesson has been learnt —in no locality more than on thel plains of Hawke’s Bay. There the terrible floods of the past few years have been traced beyond doubt to the de-foresting of the summits and eastern slopes of the Ruahine Ranges. The same remedy is open here! as was applied in France. The French re-forested the slopes of the Alns. We must re-forest those of the

TREE PLANTING A NECESSITY.

Ruahines. The Lands Department has recognised the principle by making very large reserves for climatic reasons, and by establishing nurseries in various parts of the country, m order to discover the kind of trees best suiteld for planting in the various districts. The department has thus embarked on the expensive but necessary business of forest conservation. It may, therefore, be trusted to not only preserve this country from the disasters due to lack of foreists, but also to prevent the waste cf those forests which have taken so long to become valuable.

It is matter for general satisfaction that Mr Seddon has returned, invigorated by the rest and change he has enjoyed during his visit to Australia; the more because whil« away he worthily represented this country on a great historic occasion. From first to last of the Commonwealth celebrations the welcome extended to the New Zealanders was warm and cordial, beyond anything that, could have been expected'. From first to last no New Zealander of those representing this country in Australia ever did anything or said anything to cause their hospitable entertainers to lower their opinion of them. And amongst them all, no one, it is universally admitted, did more to bring about this desirable consummation than the Right Kon Mr Seddon, who stood at their head. Wherever he went he won golden opinions, and he did so without stooping to the methods of the man in search of praise. He did so by his manly bearing and sterling worth. His hosts, recognising this quickly, often placed him in the post of honour, and whenever aey did so, he acquitted himself in a manner worthy of the high distinction conferred on him by the people of his own colony. He always said the right thing, in the right way, with aK necessary knowledge of the subject entrusted to him, and all due courtesy to the people about him.

MR seddon’s RETURN.

Daring this Australian visit, the Premier was measured, perhaps for the first time in liis career, with men of the same nolitical station as himself, and the result is that he emerges in political and meataJ stature inferior to none. That is plainly the Australian verdict, winch New Zealanders will be proud of, because it endorses their own, in consequence of which he has so long held the reins of power on his own side of the Tasman Sea. The Australian interviewers tried hard to make him speak effusively of the prospects of New Zealand entering into the Commonwealth, and there were others besides the interviewers who attempted the same thing, in a way far more difficult to resist; but these efforts only succeeded in making his political sagacity shine with as bright a lustre as his natural warmth of disposition and his goodwill and courtesy towards everything Australian. In the matter of the Fiji ‘emhroglio he was more than politic. There his political sagacity struck the note of generosity, for he made it clear that, provided these islands came under the influence of the part of the British Empire lying south and west of them, he cared not whether the life-giving combination was with th© Commonwealth or with the island nation. After bidding farewell to the Australians, on whom ne made this good impression, Mr Seddon returns to find a warm welcome from his own people. To a man of his thorough temperament, it must appear that not the smallest part of this welcome is the excellent manner in which everything has been done in his absence. To the Acting-Premier who has secured this result, with an energy for the work only equalled by the loyalty to him whose place he was filling in doing it, Mr Seddon will, no doubt, when the time comes, address himself in suitable terms. It is to be hoped that the fitting public occasion to do this will promptly arise, and that Mr Seddon will at the same time give an informing address, recording his Australian impressions, and giving fuller information than lias yet been published of his conferences with Australian statesmen and of his exertions to. further New Zealand’s interests.

A DIPLOMATIC STATESMAN.

Intelligence from London states that there is considerable activity in the British naval dockyards. War velssels, whose tonnage aggregates four hundred thousand tons, are being rapidly constructed, while ethers are being fitted

NAVAB AND HARBOUR DEFENCES.

out and made ready for sea. It v.-Guld, therefore, appear that, warned by the fact of the War Office being found unprepared at the outbreak, of the South African campaign, the Admiralty is determined to be adequately equipped for any emergency. These preparations are not for war, but for the defence cf British countries and their commerce. Britain's naval preparations will he regarded in some quarters as a fitting reply to the menaces of France, and it may be said that they have already had a modifying influence upon Russian policy in China. Whilst such preparation* are being made at Home, it stands to reason that the self-governing colonies should not be inactive in the matter of their defence. One of the first questions that will ei.gross the attention of the Commonwealth will be defence; and among military authorities in this country it is considei*ed that the defences of New Zealand are utterly inadequate. Ie is net denied that within the past eighteen months volunteering has been quickened into more vigorous life. Our infantry is spoken of as sufficient, and our mounted men are as effective

could be wished. Still, that is not everything. More men are required to efficiently man our forts. There is only an establishment of 215 men in the militia, which gives about fifty men of all ranks at each of the four centres to work the guns placed in position to protect the commerce and shipping of our main ports. This cannot he called adequate, save as a nucleus or commencement.

Wellington, with nine batteries, should have about 300 men, and even that, number would not, in case of active service, allow for in-. teTvals of rest or for the replacing of casualties. Of course, there is the Wellington Naval Brigade, consisting of some 280 men, for t*.e most part efficient gunners, trained by qualified experts ; but it is to be feared that their numbers would be altogether unequal to the demands of the local batteries. The Naval Brigade has shown an eager disposition, we believe, to qualify-for its work; and having regard to the defence needs of the cities, the naval brigades m all centres ought to be given greater encouragement, and their numbers should be increased. In the whole country there is a total of 800 naval gunners, but our insular position requires that at least that number should be established in each of the four centres. Our youths have proved themselves reliable mounted soldiers, and there is no reason to doubt their fighting qualities either in rifie pits, or on board ship, or in batteries. The real need of the Defence Department is more naval volunteers, and it would be advantageous to the Imperial service if the ranks of the Australian squadron were recruited from the younger members cf our naval brigades. It is to be hoped that the authorities will give prompt heed to this subject, and will not delay taking action until, perhaps, the approach of naval raiders forces the matter unpleasantly x;pon their attention.

NAVAL VOLUNTEERS REQUIRED.