NOTES AND COMMENTS,

Otago Witness, Issue 1148, 29 November 1873, Page 3

NOTES AND COMMENTS,

(JFrom the Daily Times, Nov. 19 to 25. )

The Christchurch Agricultural and Pastoral Association's exhibition, which was held last week, seems to have been on the whole a great success. The most important classes were better represented than they had been at any previous show, but there was a marked falling off in such classes as thorough-bred horses, poultry, agricultural implements, dairy produce, cured meats, and local manufactures. The telegraph has already informed us of Mr Tolmie's success with his merinos, and an examination now of the prize list shows that he succeeded in carrying nearly everything before him. In some classes he had to contend against sheep bred by .himself, but the superior condition of ' those he exhibited turned the scale in his favour. What seems to have been the most marked feature of the Exhibition was the number and character of the longwoolled sheep. Attention to this class of sheep is but the natural result of the fencing and improvement of purchased lands, and we are glad to notice that our I neighbours are determined to commence their flocks of Leicesters, Lincolns, Romney Marshes, and Cotswolds with the best blood procurable. In "Leicesters," all the prizes were taken by Canterbury \ owners, but we notice that the first and second prizes for "Five ewes xmderj eighteen months old" were taken by i sheep bred in Otago by the Hon. Mr Holmes. In " Lincolns," the honours were divided between Mr J. Grigg, of Canterbury, and Messrs Stttton Bros., of Otago. It was for the former gentleman that Mr Thomas Russell purchased some of the high-priced sheep he obtained at the Panton and Biscathorpe Ram Shows a few months ago. Mr Russell gave 200 guineas for a shearling ram at the Panton Ram Show, and at the same time he bought several other sheep at high prices. At Biscathorpe he purchased thirteen young rams for 447 guineas, being an average of 34 guineas. Referring to the fact that Mr Russell had succeeded in purchasing the shearling ram that took the first prize at the Royal Agricultural Society's Show at Hull this year, and the ,ram that took a similar prize last season, Bell's Messenger says : — '' It will thus be seen that England's youngest Colony takes from us our very best sheep, and, by the introduction of such blood, will be enabled to run a race of honourable competition with the mother country." Let us hope that Otago breeders of longwoolled sheep will continue to hold their own with breeders in the sister Province. The Lincoln or the Leicester may not bethe future sheep of this Province ; but there can be no doubt that in districts where long-woolled sheep will thrive, that class is bound, in time, to replace the merino. Too much, attention, therefore, cannot be given at the present time to the selection of the best strains of blood procurable.

The Western District Farmers' Club has taken a wise step in requesting its members to take particular note during the coming season of the depredations committed by caterpillars in the barley crop of the district. Last season not a little damage was done both to this and other crops in different parts of Otago by various insect pests, among which caterpillars and grasshoppers were pre-eminent. In publishing our annual reports on the state of the crops in the Province in February last, we drew attention to the ravages committed by insects, and we advised farmers to pay special attention to the subject, with a view to gaining further knowledge regarding it. Our remarks were not uncalled for, for already we hear that grasshoppers are beginning to show themselves in large numbers in one or two districts, so that the experience of last season is likely to be repeated, and perhaps on a still more serious scale. It is not a moment too soon, therefore, for farmers to turn their attention to the matter. In order that the evil may be combated, it is necessary, in the first instance, to ascertain the causes from which it originates and the conditions under which it thrives. On these points but little is as yet definitely known in Otago, the question having not yet advanced beyond the stage of surmise. In inviting farmers, therefore, to devote their special attention to it, the Western District Farmers' Club has, we repeat, taken a wise course, and one which we hope to see imitated by other bodies of a similar character in the Province. We are of opinion that the various Agricultural Societies and Farmers' Clubs do not accomplish as much good as might fairly be expectedfrom them, through their neglecting fields of enquiry such as that at present under notice. They are apt to bestow all their attention upon a few matters

of farming interest, to the exclusion of many others of scarcely less importance. We are the more strongly impelled to make these remarks, moreover, from a knowledge of what is done by similar associations, not only in other countries, but in the sister Provinces of Canterbury and Nelson. Nay, the Otago Farmers' Clubs have in days past done more in the direction indicated than they have been doing for a good while latterly. We hail the step taken by the Western District Farmers' Glub as an earnest of better things, and the forerunner of a revived interest in matters concerning the wellbeing of our agriculturists.

Great anxiety, if not consternation, undoubtedly prevailed throughout the Colony in the mind of the mercantile community, on the publication of the tele- 1 gram from London conveying the information that " a commercial financial crisis is imminent," and futher news on the subject will be anxiously looked for. The telegram we refer to was dated London, 12th November, and we presume that it was compiled by the Melbourne agent of the Anglo- Australian Press Agency, immediately prior to the departure of the Albion from Hobson's Bay on the 16th inst. We have naturally referred to our Melbourne files in the hope that some further information about the approaching monetary panic might be found ; but, although the Argus of the 15th, the latest date, contains London telegrams dated November 13th, there does not appear one word in Rkuter's special telegrams to the Australian Associated Press to justify the exceedingly sensational message which has been telegraphed through the length and breadth of New Zealand. If it really were the case that in London, on the 13th instant, a panic was expected on the Stock Exchange, that " great alarm pervades all classes," and that " the Bank of England rate of discount is at 9 per cent, and is expected to be increased to 10 within a day or two;" it is but reasonable to presume that Reuter's agent would have telegraphed such important news in preference to any other. On that day, hewever, the telegrams sent to the Australian Colonies from London tell us only of the death tf Lord Lyveden and of the departure of further reinforcements for Ashantee. The Argus of the 15 th contains an Adelaide telegram, dated the previous day, which says that " the rate of discount in. London has been raised to 9 per cent. " ; and in the commercial report of the Age of the 15th, there occurs the following passage :—: — " Telegrams from London to-day (Friday) report an advance in the rate of discount to 9 per cent., with a strong probability of a further rise to 10 per cent. : a state of affairs indicative of something like a panic." It is true that private telegrams may have reached Melbourne conveying the news which has excited so much attention, but it is remarkable that neitker the Argus nor the Age in their latest issues should have made any reference to what must have been common talk on the previous day. It may be urged that the telegram about the crisis was an unpublished one when the Albion left, but against the probability of such being the case, we have to bear in mind that it is dated the 12th, whereas London telegrams of the 13th appeared in print before the steamer left Melbourne. We are inclined to the opinion that the com'pilei- of the message which was telegraphed from the Bluff has included in it what were mere rumours in Victoria some ten days ago. The similarity of a portion of his telegram to the passage we have quoted from the Commercial Report, of the Age rather tends to confirm this idea. Altogether, we fail to find that any telegram such as that which was sent from the Bluff on Friday "was ever received in Melbourne from London, and until it receives confirmation, we think we are justified upon the grounds we have stated in regarding the news as untrustworthy.

A foreign savant of good scientific repute will shortly arrive in the Colony. We refer to Dr Ivajt Berggren, a Swedish botanist, who is now on his way out in the ship Helen Burns, which may be expected to arrive at Lyttelton in about four weeks' time. It will be remembered by some of our readera that at a meeting of the Otago Institute, held on the 13th May last, a letter was read from Dr Lauder Lindsay, announcing Dr Berggrbn's intended visit, and recommending him to the kind offices of the Institute. In this letter Dr Lindsay stated that Dr Berggren held office in the University of Lund, Sweden, as Decent of Botany and .Assistant Curator of the University Herbarium. The letter added :—": — " He is known to European botanists chiefly for his publications on Bryology ; and his attention in New Zealand will no doubt be directed greatly to the cryptogamia, though he will also collect phaenogams. His hobby is mountaineering, 1 and the study of alpine cryptogams. He

has already done good service, and gained much valuable experience in the Alps of Tyrol and Norway, as well as in Greenland and Spitzbergen, and he will be prepared in New Zealand for all the trials and troubles of glacier and alpine exploration." The letter also stated that Dr Berggren intended to devote a year to alpine exploration in New Zealand} and that his costs were to be borne by the University of Lund and the Academy of Sciences of Stockholm. It -will thtis be seen that Dr Berggren comes well adcredited, and though it has been stated by the Christchurch papers that the Alps of Canterbury are to be the chief field of his explorations, we hope that an effort will be made to get him to devote a portion of his time to exploring the great mountain range in the west of Otago. His labours will tend to direct the attention of the learned men of Sweden — and probably of other countries as well — to this part of the world.^ Since Dr Hoch.stbtMb, no foreign scientific man has paid New Zealand a visit of this j kind, and New Zealand has consequently gradually sunk out of sight as a field for scientific research. It is true that, as Dr. Begg remarked in effect the other day, we want people to settle upon our land and not merely to admire the grandeur of our scenery. Still, anything that tends to keep New Zealand before the eye of the world will have a tendency to dispel the ignorance that so generally prevails regarding her, and that will be an advantage gained. Dr Berggren's reports may have the effect of inducing travellers tired of "doing" the mountain chains of Europe to pay us a visit, and thus bring the Colony into increased notice. We believe that something of this sort is actually taking place with regard to the Territory of Colorado, in the Dnited States, the settlement of which has received a considerable stimulus from the reports of travellers who visited that region to behold its natural wonders. We hope, therefore, that the Council of the Otago Institute will endeavour to give effect to the feeling expressed at the meeting above referred to, by trying to induce Dr Berggren to explore some of the mountains of Otago.

The Sydney Town and Country Journal of the lsi inst., has a remarkably good article on the "Exodus of English Labourers." In it the writer refers to some of the more potent of the influences that have of late led to the increased rate at which English labourers especially are leaving the shores of the old country ; and to the consequent increase of wages, and its results upon those who remain. He also points out some of the various attractive influences brought to bear with the effect of successfully diverting so large a portion of the annual stream of British emigration to other and seemingly more attractive fields than the Australian Colonies. The writer having shown that notwithstanding the efforts of the English Press to prevent it, the exodus is increasing, and likely still further to do so, goes on to say: — " Seeing that there is likely to be an increased stream of emigration from England during the coming year, it is greatly to be regretted that a large portion of it cannot be diverted to the Australian Colonies, where it would at once meet with remunerative employment. Never before have these Colonies been so flourishing as they are at present. The prosperity of Victoria is indicated by the large sums which her Government is about to lavish upon public works, and by the general progress of all industrial interests ; while that of South Australia is shown by the fact that her exports largely exceed her imports, and are likely to exceed them still more in the coming year. Tasmania is more prosperous now than she has been for years past ; the revenue of Queensland is increasing and her prospects brightening daily ; and New South Wales boasts of having not far off three-quarters of a million of surplus revenue to dispose of. The final result of this prosperity will be a great demand for labour, which demand, we fear, it will not be easy to supply unless a portion of the great stream of British emigration can be directed to our shores. " From the above it is clear that our own Colonial and Provincial agents will have to contend with powerful competitors from our own immediate neighbourhood. While all are striving to excel in so good a work, and one in which individual success must certainly prove helpful of the progress of the whole, we take an opportunity to suggest a plan whereby a mutual benefit might be conferred in respect of what maybe called our "Home operations." It often happens that the breadwinner of a large family is in one Colony, while, owing to a variety of circumstances, the family is detained for a long time in another. The husband is unsettled in his new home, and having no domestic, ties to restrain him, easily yields to every new attraction which promises a better fortune, and so becomes a, mere roamer from

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one place to another. The consequences are that he himself is of but little help to the Colony to which he comes, while the wife and family become more or less of a burden to the Colony in which they remain. Hence it would be better for all parties that the bread winner and the bread eaters should be together in one and the same place» Would it not be possible, by some system of mutual aid or co-operation on the part of the Governments of the sister Colonies, to do good service at once to the Colonies and the families so situated, by affording facilities to the latter for reai-hing the place where the husband and father may be in a position to support them on arrival, but is not able to pay their passage out 1 This idea has often occurred to us before, but it was revived and given point to by a passage which occurred in the letter of our Christchurch correspondent which we published on Saturday. We reproduce it in the hope that it will receive attention in the proper quarter, and that something may be done to remedy the evil. Our correspondent says :—": — " I met the other day with a hard case that I think should engage the attention of the immigration authorities. A plasterer came to me and said he had been three weeks here, and had come from Tasmania. He had found employment, and had left his wife and a large family behind him, and could not afford to send for them. He applied at the Immigration Office, but of course nothing could be done. ...... The man told me that numbers of similar instances could be adduced, where the husbands are working here and the wives and families in another Colony, and cannot scrape up enough money for full passages to bring them over."

The London telegram of 12 th November, brought by the Albion, is somewhat startling in its tenor. Not that we have been without warning that a monetary crisis in London was a probable event. We were, however, scarcely prepared by the last telegram to hand, to find the rate of discount so soon touch a panic figure. The disorganised condition of • American finance is sufficient of itself to account for some c®nsiderable disturbance of the English money market, but the curiously cautious wording of the latter part of the telegram just received, and the rapidity with which the crisis seems to have come on, lead to the conviction that similar causes have been operating in England to those which have led to the disastrous panic at New York. The events, though intimately connected, can hardly stand in the close relation of cause and effect. What the exact causes of the stringency and impending panic of which we are now advised, may be, is a less important question for us than what the results may be. Monetary panics promptly affect the markets for all raw produce. Everything that New Zealand exports will be reduced in value during the continuance of the crisis, and experience shows that prices are often slow to rally again after being thus depressed. Again, Ihe funds for the completion of our great public works have not all been yet raised, and during such a financial cyclone as is now raging in England and America it is useless to expect much attention to our loans. We in New Zealand are therefore deeply interested in the condition of the London money market, and we can only pray that the crisis may be of very short duration. It is worthy of notice that the fluctuations of the rate of discount have of late years been more rapid and more extensive than they used to be. Whatever be the causes, it appears certain that the English money market has been growing with the lapse of years more and more sensitive and flighty. Perhaps the greatly increased facilities for inter-com-munication now existing in all civilised countries have much to do with this. Let us hope that in the present case the recoil may prove as rapid as the alarm, and that we shall not have long to wait for more cheering news.

Campbell Island, to which the French war steamer Vire, lately at Port Chalmers, proceeded this week, is situated in 50deg. 32min. S. latitude, 169deg. 12min. E. longitude, and is about eight miles square. It is very hilly, the greatest altitude being nearly 1600 feet. The vegetation consists chiefly of mosses and lichens, the scrub being both scanty and diminutive. It has two harbours, one on the northern and the other on the southern side of the island. The climate resembles that of the not far distant Auckland Islands, being both wet and boisterous. Pigs were landed on the island some years ago by Captain Normau, of the Victoria, and subsequently (in 1868) by Mr H. Armstrong, who visited the island on behalf of the Southland Government, in the brig Amherst. The island is a favourite breeding place for sea birds of all kinds, from the albatross to the mutton-bird. Mr Armstrong also reported that rats abounded on it, and attained a large size. His report, from which we have condensed the foregoing, may be found by those desirous of seeing it, on page 177 of the second volume of the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute.