The Oamaru Mail. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1908.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXV, Issue 10015, 4 December 1908, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1908.

In. connection with yesterday's Flower Show there were one or two matters which time precluded our dealing with last night. Quite an extensive array of wild /towers was set out by the school children, and this entailed much serious work for the judges—lire J. M. Forrester, aiiss Clifford, and Miss Hewat,—who dealt with their task methodically and eventually awarded the first prizes to Jas. Allan and C. Kibblewhito .(North School), seconds to Kate Allan (North School) and J-ucy On- (Middle School), thirds to Lily Godfrey and John Gibb (South School), and fourths to Arthur Kibblewhite and Elsie Taylor. Besides the three local primary schools, entries were received from Kakanui and aiiss Church's school, which reflected much credit on both institutions. A special prize awarded by airs Dousrlas for .the best bouquet in aiiss Church's school exhibit was won by aiiss Adeline aiatson, and a- special given by Mrs J. ai. Forrester for best bouquet made by school children under 12 years of age fell to a pupil of the Kakanui School. There were several displays made bv friends of the Society, and of these an exhibit of 15 varieties of sweet peas shown by air Bond, Ngapara, was very attractive. In awarding paints in the Rose Cup competition the judges gave air M'Laren's collection 11% points and Dr Douglas' 15£. There was a large attendance last night, the music supplied outside by the Garrison Band and inside by ilessrs 11. J. aieldrum and Dorward assisting in attracting patrons. Financially the show was a success, and the Society may well feel pleasure at the <*enerai; outcome of the summer show of 1908. ~ .

11l the event of the shuffling of Ministerial portfolios. resulting in the assumption of the position of Minister for Kailways by Mr Millar, Mr Davey would make an excellent Minister for Labor. He is not only entitled to be considered one of the people's representatives in the highest sense, but he displayed ability and tact when he played the thankless part of pacificator during the slaughtermen's strike. No member of the Liberal party is better entitled to the nosition than Mr Davey, and no man available could till »t better, and, of course, under these circumstances, his appointment would meet with the approval of those who are worthy to be consulted by a, Liberal Government.

It is not creditable that, even now, inadequate special and suitable provision is made fnr those who suffer from delirium tremens''. For instance, in Nelson these dangerous and mortally sick victims of drink must either be sent to the hospital or the prison, and the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board of that town have protested atainst receiving such patients, or allowing any to remain who develop the frenzy af'.er admission, and call upon the Government to erect a padded cell at the police station. If the Eale of intoxicants is to continue, the State must accept all the consequent responsibilities and obligations in cennection therewith. It is cruel in the extreme to neglect, or maltreat, the miserable sufferers through excessive drinking, a id it is as bad to force them into institutions where delicate patients are passing through critical periods. The chairman of the Nelson Board said that "it was laraely the police's fault that delirium tremens cases arose, as it was their duty to see that publicans did not sell too much Honor, and that all liquor was of goo,d quality." But, even if a policeman ware at every drinker's elbow, in dramshop and home, so long as the liquor is procurable men will >jet it, and, if so inclined, wil' lake it to excess. As tothe quality of the liquor sold, the purer it is the more potent in its delirium producing effects. Evidently the chairman of the Nelson Board is one of those who are misled by the distiller's advertisement : "There's not a headache in a hogshead of it!" It is the alcohol—much of which is of the rawest kind—that -nroduces delirium, not the water which attenuates it so as to make the dealer's profits all the larser. In these days nothing so ruinous as the alcohol' itself is comprised in a bar drink.

The poll for the election of a candidate to the.vacant seat on the Otago Land Board v.-ill close to-day at 4 p.m. (says the Otago Daily Times). There are live i aspirants \to office namely, Mr Thomas Barr, of \Owaka; Mr Alexander Fraser, of Forsyth, Lawrence ■ Mr George Livinstone of Windsor; Mr Robert Logan, of Kokonga. and Mr Arthur Edwin Wilde, of Waitahuna, Out of 2650 Crown tenants entitled to vo{e, mme 2000 have so far their; privilege. The envelopes containing the Voting papers "will not be opened until ne'-xt- Monday morning, at 11 o'clock, the regulations for the conduct of Board elections stipulating, for some unknown reason, that the countingshall not take place umtil the third day after the close of the \noll. On Tuesday evening of Jast week a large number of railway employees met in the guards room at Clinton to bid farewell to Mr C4eorge Travis (guard), who -has been transferred to Oamaru and appointed to the position of clerk. Mr Veal (stationmaster), on behalf of the staff, presented Mr Travis with a handsome dinner set, also a silver-mounted cake : dfch, and expressed the regret the membersAelt at losing the comradeship of Mr TrjTyiii, and hoped that he would, succeed afgrogU 'in Oamaru as he had at Clinton. were also made by Messrs Meg|pbjplMaloney, Slowey, and others, aftf? ri faWcmMr Travis suitably replied. *>?j£C-'"* : \ Messrs Gresham, offered yesterday, on

Pryor, his freehold borough, containing 1J- .a&J!eSs§Siu&grd% iierty was put - up in two of-\ which were spiritedly bffl^Si^?s(jb?l''ot, ; half-an acre. inc. with all bid of ilr Peebles was the puielnsei sections. Both preggffes xV^^^^^^^^t At the meeting: Board ye=terda\ , , W. Baunett for or fourteen \ earsyLot^fj|jjHkj^^^^^^^M|

Waikakahi Settlement, comprising 243 a 3r 17p. was declined, the Board considering that one year would he long enough to sub-let. The Standing Committee of the Harbor Hoard this morning discussed Mr \V. H. Paiersnns proposals for the dredging of tin' harbor by means of gold dredging methods, and'it was decided to take the opinion of an outside expert on the matter The name of a gentleman was suggested, hut we are not at liberty to mention it. as lie may not be disposed to

a ° Another big shipment of butter from the Auckland province (says Monday s Auckland Star) was sent south yesterday by the Corinna from Onehunga to New IJymnuth. and thence to Wellington, taking over 15,000 boxes for transhipment to the next vessel leaving Wellington for London. There was also a quantity ot cheese shipped. The shipment of Aue.c-land-manuiactured butter has been heavy so far this season and it is probable that a record output will be reported at the end of the season. The running ot the Takapuna and the Rotoiti has been exchanged, so that the Rotoiti will leave here °on Mondays, and, following the day after the Corinna, will be able to take south in time for the same Home boat as the Rotoiti connects with any produce which the Corinna may have had to leave. Professor Babcock, of milk-tester fame, has been making some interesting experiments regarding the effect upon dairy cows of giving and withholding salt. He found that ii salt were absolutely withhold the effect was seen with some cows in from two to three weeks, and while some went longer without ''giving the show awav," they sooner or later developed a state of low vitality, ending in a complete breakdown. The effect was most obvious at calving time, or. immediately afterwards. In general, the" cows !>i vins the largest amount of milk were the first to show signs of distress, while there was less trouble when the animals were on grass than in the cowshed. In an ordinary daily ration there should 1 be about 30oz'of salt; and even this, though sufficient for dry stock ner head, is hardly enough for a cow in milk. The milk drains away a lot of salt out of_ the system, and, therefore, an additional ounce per head should be added. Some time ago the French Government carried out experiments to test the amount of salt required by the different kinds of farm stock. It' was then found: that a milk cow required a total of 2oz daily, which corresponds with Professor Babcock's figures, allowing for differences in the size of the different breeds. _ In the paddock the best way to administer .-•alt is to let the animals have ready access to a lick, but indoors the salt must be given with the food. The .'primary object of the establishment of the steamer Amokura as a training ship by the Government was the training of young New Zealanders to man the mercantile marine. Ten boys who have recently completed their term of eighteen months' training "on the Amobura, and have qualified to ship as ordinary seamen, have been found berths on vessels trading in and out of Wellington. The object of their service on the Amokura has thus been attained, and it now remains with these boys to improve their positions by their own individual efforts. The boys and the vessels on which they have been found berths are as follow :—J. Hannan (Orepuki) and A. Stemp (Wanganui), on the Ripping-ham Grange; A. Mac Yean (Waiau), on the Pateena; T. Guthrie (Oamaru), on the Union Company's Maori; A. Johnstone (Dannevirke) and E. Miller (Levin), on the barquentine Helga; E. Heaphy (Greymouth), on the sjhooner Clyde; J. Reeves (Nelson), on the Putiki;" J. Campbell (Gisborne), on the Tutanekai. A few more boys will soon complete their term on the Amokura. Within a day or two the Amokura will leave Wellington for another cruise. A dispute is in progress hetween the Otago Daily Times and the Lyttelton Times as to* whether or not Mr Jennings, who expressed approval of a single-taxer's sentiments, is himself, therefore, a single-taxer. Anyone who reads the sentiments of which he approves will see that, probably without knowing it, he did express approval of single-tax principles. He agreed that the freehold should lie sold to Crown tenants, but that "a proper and substantial tax on the unimproved or saleable value of the bare land is by far the best, and that there should be no exemptions, but those who cultivate or use their own land shot' 1 ! be charged less; those who let out k.nd for others, either in town or cou;.lr.\ should be charged higher, and absentees still higher." It really dr.es not matter what ideas Mr Jennings has expressed—if they don't suit, they can be changed—but the ideas here expressed, and of which Mr Jennings said ho approved, are the ideas of a single-taxer. He first sells the land and then he taxes it for all its worth. Millions of aching heads every year obtain quick and happy relief from Steam's Headache Cure. Many millions more could if they would take it. Do you make use of this great remedy? 8 A young man named T. Donovan met with a. painful accident at the WoolUm Factory yesterday. He was tending one of the' machines when one of his hands was drawn under the rollers of the carding apparatus, and but for the timely assistance of another operative the injuries would assuredly have been much more serious. As it was the accident involved a 'crushed hand and a bruised arm and considerable pain, which was alleviated by Dr M'Adam.

"During the past few months (comments the Wairarapa Daily Times) no trade has suffered so severely as the building trade. Both employers and employees are anxious, for this industry to revive, and it seems to us that they might- do something even now to better its prospects. We understand that the carpenters' award, one of those awards which are "made in Wellington,' has expired by effluxion of time. Why should not masters and men meet together and fix up an industrial agreement —not made in Wellington—which would tend to revive a languishing industry? Such an industrial agreement could, if arranged, be submitted to the Arbitration Court when it visits Masterton early next vear.''

Speaking at a Home Missionary meeting in connection with the Method's! Synod (says the Dominion's New Plymouth correspondent), the Rev. Robert Haddon tonight, referring to the good .effects of the prohibition of the wholesale selling of liquor to the Maoris, said that unfortunately the law applied only in daylight. In the dead hours of the night hogsheads of beer were carted into the Maori pas and sold to the Maoris, especially if there was a tangi on. He wanted to expose, this thing' to the whole of New Zealand, for it was a downright shame. One case of this had been unearthed by the president of the Maori Council of Taranaki, and a strong prosecution would be brought in a. week or two. It is now absolutely certain that neither clay, leather, parchment, nor the papyrus was at any date ever used by the ancient Chinese for the purpose of making records, which fact alone goes far to negative any prehistoric .connection with Egypt, Baby-

lonia, or' Persia, touching which, moreover, there is not the faintest specific evidence to be found either in Eastern or Western records. It seems also equally certain that the Chinese never used a, metal style to scratch characters upon wood, bamboo or palm leaves, as natives of India—for instance, Banyan bankers—may be seen doing any day, even now, not only in India itself but a'lso in Singapore and perhaps Hongkong. What the Chinese used was a stick or style of bamboo, such as one or two of the older historians describe as being very like the Chinese joiners' "inkstiek" "or wooden stick and line" of the sixteenth century (when first mentioned), and also like that of to-day. As there were and are no bamboos in tKhoten the natives, and probably also the Chinese of that place, in imitating as best they could their own bamboo slips and styles had perforce to avail themselves of the tamarisk, a tree which the Russian traveller Pizewalski found' thirty years ago all over the Tarim Valley. From the most ancient times ink had been employed in China chiefly for the purpose of branding the foreheads of criminals, but it had also been used, concurrently with varnish, for inscribing bamboo and wooden tablets with written communications. Presumably the ink was the same in both cases. For books nothing but bamboo seems to have been used, except that records of dynastic importance . and State laws were also occasionally cast from moulds upon metal tripods in order to secure permanency. As the bamboo stem is usually no thicker than a brandy bottle .it follows that the plane surface available for writing characters could never dbe very broad: accordingly we find' that Hie most important works, such as the were written upon slips of pared about two. and one-half English Bt long and about one inch broad. Works secondary importance were inon narrower strips of half the The number of ideographs on piece of bamboo varied with the

importance and dignity ot the subject, J but in no case does it appear to have i exceeded thirty. These bamboo laths would therefore resemble our variously craded modern boxwood paper knives, and it may be reasonably supposed that four of the smallest would about S<> *» the ounce-say. 100 words to the ounce, or from 1000 to 2000 to the pound, according to the si/.e of the strips- . thus an average book of one volume, as issued bv a modern European publisher, would Weigh the best part or a hundredweight. Bad Legs. Old Sores, Recent Cuts, and Abrasions" quickly healed by "Red Cross Ointment. Is 6d everywhere. We offer the best value in knives, forks, and spoons. Our prices for teaspoons are 5s and 7s 6cl per half-dozen ; dessert fork* and spoons, 12s 6d per lialt-do/.cu ; table forks and spoons. 16s 6.1 per liali-dny.cn - all guaranteed electro-plate on pure nuke silver; Sheffield table out levy, warranted secure handles, 8s bd and 10s Cd per baitdozen. We can also show you a nice ramie in case goods at lowest prices.— v. G Marshall, Jeweller and Optician, Thames street. Mr GEORGE ROBINSON Dental Sur.eon, may be consulted at lus rwrienco, EDEN STREET (opposite Wesley Ohuun). Embrocations and liniments won't cure Rheumatism, Gout, Lumbago, or hciatica. The cause of the trouble is hi the blooduric acid-nnd the only poss.bio cure is to eradicate this poison. K' ll ™ this, and does it ...oroughly. lhous. nets who once suffered have been restored to health by RHEUMO. All Chemists and Stores, 2s 6d and 4s 6d.