FROM HERE AND THERE

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8363, 25 February 1913, Page 11

FROM HERE AND THERE

• In their report issued some time ago the Committee on Emigration from India to tho Crown Colonies and Protectorates recommended that an officer of the Government of India acquainted with the business of emigration should be periodically deputed to visit the several colonies which receive Indian emigrants. This was in accordance with a previous recommendation of the Government of India themselves that such an officer should be appointed and should be always resident in the colonies. It was found, however; that the cost of such an appointment would be prohibitive. As an alternative it. was proposed that an officer acquainted with the details of tho Emigration Department in India should visit tho colonies periodically, it being considered that the report of such an officer would sufficiently supplement tho sources of information already available. In pursuance of this recommends tion (states Router’s Georgetown correspondent) it has now been announced that two such officers will be visiting tho West Indies and British Guiana early next year. At the instance of the Secretary of State for the .Colonies an officer of the British Guiana Immigration Department will also shortly be proceeding to the Emigration Office at Calcutta, where ho will bo seconded for a period of two years, during which, time ho will be afforded the opportunity of acquainting himself with the details of recruiting there, and at the same time be available lor affording" all required information as regards tho general conduct of the system prevailing in this colony. The destruction of four-fifths of tho citrous crop of Southern California, valued at over £4,000,000, is a calamity the extent of which will only be realised by those who have passed through the sunny valley which stretches from the Pacific Ocean inland to San Bernardino. In this smiling region, hounded on the north by tho often snow-capped peaks of the Sierra Madre, on the east by San Berluuamo Mountains, and on the south by the hills which stretch to the Mexican border, the orange-growing industry reigns supreme. A dozen or mors of flourishing little towns, such ...as Riverside, Han Bernardino, CJoltou, Corona, and Ontario, have grown up at the points where the fruit is packed and loaded into the special rafriger ator cars which convey it to the Eastern and European markets. Consequently the disaster which has fallowed an exceptionally severe frost will be felt by a large number of people. At this time of the year orange-pick-vag is just about to commence. 'Hum sands of pickers, of a most cosmopolitan type, including most of the Southern races of Europe, as well as Japanese, have been flocking ,to the San Gabriel Valley foi weeks past in readiness for the four or five months of bustling activity which hegina towards the end' of J anuary aud lasts into June. 'The well-known “navels” ■ are the first to ripen; then come the “Mediterranean sweets,” bloods, Jaffas, tangerines, and St. Michaels. Lemon-picking goes on during tfie greater part of tfie year. Orange-growing in California is a highly organised industry. The or. chords have to bo carefully, cultivated and irrigated at given periods, while constant vigilance is necessary against the attacks of gophers and other rodents which “ring” the hark of the trees and cause them to wither unless their operations are carefully guarded against. Then, in winter “smudge: pots” have tobe‘ kept ever ready to keep the temperature above danger point in case Host should bo reported by the 'Weather Bureau. It would be interesting to know whether a warning was sent out in this case orwhether the frost was too severe to be checked by the use of “smudge” fires. i The orange-pickers are paid by the day or by piece-work. Tho former practice is becoming more general owing to the damage dona to the fruit by piece-workers in their, efforts to pick as much fruit as possible. The dayworkers are paid from- 7s to 8s 3d a day; and are expected to pick from thirty to fifty boxes a day. The shipments of oranges from California amount to about 40,000 large railway; carloads a year, though the crop varies considerably. The greater part comes from Southern California. Florida is tho only other State of the Union which produces a large quantity ot citrous fruit. , Describing the Pennsylvania as “the largest battleship yet designed for the United States navy, and, so far as is known, the largest that has been designed for any navy,” Mr Meyers, the Secretary of the Navy, States that the following plans have been adopted for the new monster: Length on designer’s waterline, 600 ft. Length over all, 608 ft. Breadth, 97ft iin. Draught, 28ft lOin. - Displacement, 31,400 tons. Speed on four-hour trial, 21 knots. Heavy battery, 12 fourteen-inch guns. Four submerged torpedo tubes, supported by a torpedo defence battery of 22 five-inch guns. The vessel will carry 12 fourteen-inch guns, be armoured with 18in plates, and will bo driven by reciprocating engines or turbines as may be decided after the bids are received- ■ She will use oil-burning boilers of the water tube type. A perfectly straight log of Douglas fir, 220 ft long and sft in diameter at tho butt, tapering to a diameter of 2ft at tho top. lies at the PanamaPacifio Exposition grounds waiting to be erected as the lower portion, of what will probably be the biggest flagpole in the world. It was brought down the Pacific coast from Washington as part of one of the giant rafts of logs for which tho section is noted. To replace the tower of the German Wireless Company’s station at Nauen. which was blown down a year ago, a new tower 917 feet high is being erected. It is expected to have a radius of 6000 miles.