The Otago Witness. (WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 1917.) THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 3292, 18 April 1917, Page 35

The Otago Witness.

(WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 1917.) THE WEEK.

WITH WHICH IS INOOBPOBATED THS 80UTHEBN MEBOUBX.

"Nunquam allud natura, allud Bapientia dixit."—JUYEKAL. "Good nature and good sense must ever join."—• Pops.

It is evident that Germany has reached / such a stage of savagery" Submarine an &< desperation that eh© : Frlghtfulness. no longer cares a jot for the opinion of the rest of the civilised world. The catalogue of her crimes against humanity, honour, and international law has developed into the most terrible black-list in which a nation claiming to ' be civilised could figure. In her latest frenzied attempts to make good her boasts about the effectiveness of her submarines to sweep the mercantile marine of the > Allies from the North Sea she is attack- . ing everything afloat that has the • smallest "chance of retaliating. Her attacks on ships employed by the Belgian Relief Commission are in keeping with '.- her war upon the Red Cross and all that it symbolises. She gave her undertaking —her "scrap of paper"—that _ these vessels, carrying food to a population reduced to starvation by her deliberate neglect of her aim obligations, should not be inter- • fered with. Two or three weeks ago it / was announced that 12 steamers had been) lost since the Relief Commission started -\ work, five of them since the unrestricted ?

submarine campaign began in February. The number is being steadily increased, just as the number of hospital ships attacked has been increased. The sinister catalogue of crime grows almost daily. The Germans have shown that to win the war they would bathe in blood and horror, and that to avert defeat they would fiiiu no crime too horrible, no infamy too degrading, that would serve their end or even minister to their hate. The Foreign Office has announced that attacks on _ hospital ship 3 would be followed by reprisals. Of what nature these were to be was not disclosed, and the fate of the Gloucester Castle suggests that, if they have been put into practice, they have either been rather long delaved or not very effective as a deterrent. But for a nation that is governed by ideals such -as those for which the Allies are fighting to taxte reprisals on a nation that is under the spell of the savage distemper with which Germany is convulsed is not easy, J-he great reprisal must bo the winning oi the ■war, when Germany should find by how much her crimes against humanity will weight the balance against her.

To look back upon the disappointment brought to the Allied !„'„ neonles by the failure of Rumania s peuwioo uj „j_vi k v Failure. the high hopes founded by them upon the entry oi Rumania into the war is to contemplate a painful page in the history of the great European conflict. Instead of realising these hopes, the intervention of Rumania brought upon herself invasion and grave danger of annihilation, and so far irom assisting the cause of the Allies, only tended to their embarrassment in enabling the enemy to reap welcome advantages. If we are to credit the revelations now made by the Rumanian Chief of Staff, Rumania was betrayed by the Russian Government under the proGerman, M. Stunner, who is said to have died of fright after the revolution—a not very surprising end in view of the position with which he was then confronted. According to the statements of the Rumanian Chief of Staff, the Stunner Government was guilty of deliberately pushing Rumania into the war, with the intention of abandoning her and of furtherits own ends, which included the conclusion of a separate peace, and that this precious scheme was carried thcough with disastrous results. It is said that the Russian troops for which Rumania looked were held back, and that even British and French consignments of munitions were stopped. If these disclosures are well founded, they surely explain a great deal that has hitherto seemed more or less unintelligible. If through the agency »f a Russian' Government help was deliberately and treacherously Avithheld from Rumania, simply in order that the Central Empires might achieve her subjugation, the tragic tale of her defeat requires no further explanation. The story ■of M. Sturmer's perfidy furnished by General Iliescu is sensational enough, but in the light of past events it by no means lacks probability. Its verification should be a simple matter. If. Rumania was in truth thus betrayed by s/L. Sturmer, the obligation upon 'the new Government at Petrograd, and upon the Allies _ as a whole, to render her all assistance in their power to recover compensation for her sacrifices is only the greater. Fortunately, the armies of Rumania, hard pressed as they have been, remain intact, and, after reorganisation, may bo capable of a recoil movement that may yet prove of great value.

There appears to be some prospect of the . trouble among the coalCoal Miners' miners on the West Coast Strike. extending to some of the mines in the northern coalfields —upon the supposed pretext of opposition to the Military Service Act. In the meanwhile, however, as. the outcome of the conference which the Acting Prime Minister and the Minister of Mines have been holding with representatives of the miners who have "downed tools" on the West Coast, a secret .ballot on the question of the resumption of work will be taken this week, and it is assumed that the action of the men in the northern coalmines will be influenced largely by the decision that will then be arrived at. On the West Coast also the ostensible ground of the stoppage of work was the opposition of the miners to the Military Service Act. Mr' W r ebb, the member for Grey, apparently as an afterthought, sought to mako out in a speech at Christchurch that the miners' grievances consisted in the diminished purchasing power of the sovereign, in their inability to "get along fairly," and in the prices that aro being realised by wool and meat. It is to be regretted that Mr W T ebb has not seen his way to remain in his own constituency and study the position on the spot. Unfortunately, our Labour leaders are not prepared to follow the example of the better-informed Labour men of the Homeland, and join with all other parties in an effort to win the war instead of following a course which necessarily hampers and de'iavs the shinment of rimch-needed foodstuffs.

Tho Dunedin Horticultural Society has received a letter from Mr E. J Healey suggesting that tho committee should take steps to acquire from the City Council or Domain Board several areas in different localities in the city and inaugurate a competition in the growing of potatoes during the next year. " If such areas," he writes, " were divided up into equal plots, containing a few square poles, and these plots were given over to competitors on the payment of a nominal entrance fee, the supply of potatoes would be much augmented, the crops of the country districts could bo exported to relieve the wants of the Homeland, and much information could bq gathered anent the varieties, manures, and culttival treatment of potatoes in the several localities. Also, by making it a condition that each competitor should ex-

hibit at the show in • May, 1918, additional interest would attach to the vegetable class in the society's show." Tho suggestion has been referred to a committee of the society for consideration.

The new bridge to span tho Shotovcr River near Arthur's Point will be of the parabola, or more or less arch, shape. It will bo of reinforced concrete, and tho highest point of the parabola will bo 48ft above a straight lino drawn from point to point of tho arch. The superstructure will bo on pillars from the arch, mounted on top of it. Provision will bo made to allow oLJhe expansion of the concrete through changes of temperature. The old wooden bridge over tho Shotovcr is just about clone, and tho commencement of work on the new structure, which will bo practically the first of its kind to bo built in the dominion, is eagerly awaited. Tho stono abutments at each end of the old bridge are to bo utilised for tho now crossway, which will bo about the same level as the old structure.

All the elements of a tragic accident were present in a " runaway" which took place in the Clyde-Cromwell gorge la-it Thursday. Fivo little- girls, dismissed for the day from the Yvaenga School, which is situated close to the Halfway Hotel, were being given a ride home towards Cromwell in a two-horse empty wagon. The wagon had gono but a little distance when one of the traces camo loose, and the driver, with the reins in his hand, got down from his seat, and foolishly stretched himself along one of the swingletrees to reach the pole, with his legs resting horizontally on' an outside trace. In a moment tho horses bolted, and the driver was carried some 30 or 40 yards before he was finally ejected, unhurt, on to the roadway from the peculiarposition in which ho had placed himself.. The horses galloped on, while the five littlo*; girls, paralysed with fear, clung to eachy other in a pitiful manner and screamed in* terror. Tho horses had just reached the] top of an incline, and wero gathering greater speed, when a man ploughing on the river side of tho road, heard the screams, grasped the position in a flash, scrambled through a close barbed wire fence, -and pluckily stopped the startled animals. The Clyde-Cromwell railway line h now completed to the Halfway House, and the rails aro also laid and a great portion of the ballasting done to Gibraltar —some 10 miles 30 chains from'tho starting point at Clyde. Tho length of the line will be 12 miles 30 chains, and it will end about a quarter of a mile from Cromwell. The great cost of a railway bridge over the Molyneux is, it is understood, the reason for tho lino not being taken right up to the township. The excavation at the Cromwell end for the station, sidings, turntable, etc., is well under way. It is satisfactory to know that a considerable quantity of produce and fruit from the Cromwell district was this season placed on the train at the Halfway House for transport to Dunedin. The line crosses and recrosses the main road, but the advent of the motor car has apparently accustomed horses in the district to unusual sights and sounds, and they take little notice of the ballast engine, and trucks, which now run on the line .as far as Gibraltar. Mr J. E. Menzies (Vincent County engineer) states that so far as ho is aware not one accident has occurred through the horses taking fright at the engine and trucks. The damage which may bo clone fe the line and tho road by thunder plumps cannot, of course, be totally averted by any engineering, devices, but residents in the locality accept the possibility in a philosophic spirit. State control of tho liquor traffic was suggested by the Timber Workers' Federation to tho Acting Prime Minister (Sir Jas. Allen) on Thursday, and received short shrift (says the Post). "I do not know the mind of Cabinet on this question," said Sir James, "but personally I think it would be disastrous to place such a powerful force in the field of politics." "You think it would bo used to keep a government in power?" asked a member of the deputation. " Or to help a candiclato into po/wer," replied Sir James. "That goes on at present," said another member of the federation. " Well, I think it is a great pity if it docs," said Sir James. " I believe in straightout platform work and free speaking, with none of this underhand work." The attention of travellers up the Kawarau Gorge cannot fail to be foeussod on the two large concrete columns now being erected by the Cromwell-Development Company on cither side of tho river, a short distanco from the entrance to the gorge at the Cromwell flat end. These columns aro being constructed of reinforced concrete. They are each 16tt square, and aro to be built up to a height of about 50ft. | They have already reached a considerable height, and their construction has entailed a work of great magnitude to the employees. The columns stand on a rock foundation, and when they are completed, and everything is ready, quantities of explosives will be placed in the cavities provided at the foot of the columns and tho two huge piles of concrete "felled" into and across the river. It is hoped that the columns will fall in one piece and not be too much shattered—that -is why they are reinforced. They should clam back the river, and from this dam the company anticipates that it will secure a velocity flow down a race on the laud side sufficient to drive turbines and force tho water up 27in pipes a considerable height so as to allow it to gravitate along the irrigation race provided at the foothills abut ring on the Cromwell flat. A large area of ground has been cultivated on these foothills by the company, and many thousands of fruit trees planted. The trees are growing very well, and the long lino of cultivated foothills shows that great care and patience have been expended in the work of getting it ready. Presumably

the water not required for the foothills properties will be carried out on to the Cromwell flat proper, where a piece' of ground, which has just been ploughed, shows black and productive-looking soil. I'ho work of tho Cromwell Development Company is fraught with tho greatest promise to the people of tho Cromwell district, and if it is as successful as it is hoped it may bo it will also mean that many tons of produco and fruit will one day be carried on the gorge railway line. The company is risking ,a largo sum of money, and if its venture is a success it will net only reap its reward, but the City of Dunedin, and also the dominion, will benefit by that success. Moreover, the company has in hand a scheme for generating electricity, and distributing it to fruit-growers and others on the banks of tho Molyneux, to be utilised for pumping water from the river for irrigation purposes on the present unproductive flats.

" There has been considerable talk lately about the running of race trains," stated tho Hon. W. D. S. MacDonald at Masterton on Monday last. " Well, I have been racing for 32 years. I own horses—in fact, I was represented at the Tauherenikau meeting. I have not seen my horses race for about two years. Racing has never clone me any injury or caused mo any loss. But it is not an essential industry, neither is it profitable to some. Everyone is of opinion that luxuries and non-essential luxuries must go, and our whole attention given to the cssentia.l industries. Right on top of the essential industries are agricultural pursuits. The Government will organise labour and help the producers." The Hon. Mr Myers stated on the 16th (says a Press Association message from Christchurch) that it gave him great satisfaction to announce a record collection through the customs. He said that in view of the curtailment of shipping tonnage investigations were being made by departmental officers to show in what directions, if any, importations could bo restricted. In the Supreme Court on the Icjth Mr Justico Sim gave judgment in a will case. Mrs Helen Cockburn died on September 7, 1916. She was about 73 years of age, and was tho widow of a farmer at Mataura, who had died in November, 1909, leaving all his property to her by his will. In 1910 Mrs Cockburn signed a will disposing of her estate. On April 29, 1915, she signed another will, of which her three sons, John, James, and Henry, were the executors. In December last they applied for probate in common form of this will. A caveat had been lodged previously by another' son, William, and on December 15 an order nisi was made for a grant of probate to the applicants. This came on for hearing at Invercargiil on March 9, and the hearing was continued at Dunedin on March 15. Mr A. S. Aclams appeared for the applicants, Mr W. C. MacGregor, K.C., and Mr A. B. Haggitt for tho caveator. His Honor, in his judgment, expressed the opinion that the applicants had failed to prove that the instrument propounded was the will of a free and capable testator,' and the order nisi was discharged. No order was made as to costs.

A Press Association telegram from Wellington states that owing to the coal trouble the Mapcurika has been withdrawn from the West Coast run.

The men employed on the public works in Oiago Central apparently set out to have a " good " time when there are holidays. On one of the works the men went off on the Wednesday before Good Friday, and many of them could not be prevailed upon to turn to till the 16th. The holidays mean . good business for th> hotelkeepers, but it would appear that the licensing laws are not very closely observed. On one road last Thursday one "good timer" was noticed sitting on the bank side with a far-away look in his eyes, while his mate danced the fandango as a motor car went by. A third man who came staggering down the road apparently could not see the car at all. A fourth man rolled along with vacancy in his eyes and a full bottle of beer in each pocket, and a fifth lay half slumbering on the roadside. These were a few only of the men who were out for a good time —some of thorn single, some married. How these men were allowed to get into the condition they were in might perhaps be a matter for police investigation. On a rough estimate it would appear that there are more hotels in the gohifields than in the City of Dunedin itself. A few surprise visits by the police to the hotels of doubtful reputation—there are. not many of them —would no doubt aid considerably in preventing the men being "retained," as it were, till all their money has been exhausted.

" There are very wise people in England," said Dr Newman, M.P., on the-16th, "who believe we are on the verge of world-wide famine." lie found people in the Old Country exceedingly anxious about the shortage of food, he said. The food menace was a very serious one. The food reports from all over the world showed that there was-a, shortage everywhere, and it was obvious that the energies of most of the nations were being directed increasingly away from ordinary productive channels. He advised all his hearers for a year to plant all tho food they could, and, if necessary, to give their flower gardens a rest for that time. They would yet see how much all the food they could grow would be needed.

With an irrigation system and rabbitproof fencing a great proportion of the vast track of country in Otago Central can be made to, flourish as the green bay tree. Ocular demonstration will prove this assertion. At the present time there are large plots of land in the Ida Valley, rabbit netted and irrigated, which in the-greenness of their grass stand out as an oasis. The

cattle, horses, and sheep look sleek and fat. In fact, the solution of the rabbit pest would seem to rest in the proof netting, as where there is netting, even without any irrigation at all, the land bears a heavy sole of grass. If any farmer desires to know what can bo done .by irrigation and netting let him visit tho Ida Talley or Gibbston district. This latter place provides quite an object lesson. The farmers hero have evidently had enterprise and initiative, and tho netted, irrigated padclocks have responded in magnificent style. It is interesting to compare one unnottccl paddock with a netted paddock anywhere in Otago Central. Tho ground is apparently of the samo quality; but the growth on the two is vastly different. With tho addition of a supply of water to tho netted paddock tho difference in growth is even more pronounced. With rabbit-proof netting the Otago Central district could produce many times the quantity of stock, wheat, etc., it now. grows.

The sequel to an affiliation case in the City Police Court was tho arrest of the parents of the complainant. It appears that as the parties left the court the girl's mother, who was somewhat irate at the easo being dismissed, attacked the defendant, and a general melee took place amid tho shrieks from the girl. Constable Sivyer (court orderly) then appeared on the scene, and was in the act of separating the woman and tho defendant when the husband took a hand in the proceedings. Ho was promptly placed under arrest along with his wife. A few minutes later Lena Hanley and Ernest John Hanloy were brought before Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M., and charged with assaulting Hugh Paterson. Senior Sergeant Hutton applied for a remand until next Monday, which was granted, the accused being liberated on bail in their own recognisances of £5 each. Rabbits in the Otago Central district are being purchased at present at 7d a pair. The rabbits are trapped, cleaned, and hung on a convenient fence, and the buyers' carts come along and take delivery:' The rabbitcanning factory at Alexandra is in full swing, and it is said that its output has been purchased for export at £1 per dozen 21b tins, equal to lOd a lb. There are rabbits everywhere in Otago Central," and the trappers are making very large money. One family is said to have trapped over 200 rabbits in ono clay, and to be making anything up to £l7 a week. One resident of Clyde has a boy 10 years of age, going to school. The boy has some 18 traps, and night and morning sets them on the Clyde Domain. His father had just received a cheque for £3 lis for a short period of work by the boy. A story is told' of a huge catch by a man living near the Manuhorikia. Tho thought struck him that if he blocked up the end of a long road fenced on each side with rabbit-proof netting and then dragged from the open end he might meet with great success. Ho blocked the road accordingly, and after the requisite interval started a drag from the other end. Whether the statement that 800 rabbits were captured, and that more than this number escaped past the outsides of the drags is an exaggeration or not cannot be ascertained, but it is certain that a huge haul resiilted. Some farmers are now prepared to assert that more money can be got from rabbits than from sheep. The rabbit trapping season lasts for about.five months, and the pay is so satisfactory that it is now freely stated that in some localities the rabbits aro being farmed. Any working man with a few traps can, at the present prices, considerably add to his wages. If he is a trapper pure and simple, and can secure a good "pitch," ho can, .with hardwork and a good knowledge of the art, bo assured of earning at least £6 or £7 a week.