The Pahiatua Herald with which is incorporated THE PAHIATUA STAR. Published Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1897. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume V, Issue 546, 20 September 1897, Page 2

The Pahiatua Herald with which is incorporated THE PAHIATUA STAR. Published Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1897. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Yet another rumour that Andree’s balloon lias boon sighted. When is tho uncertainty surrounding his whereabouts to bo cloared up ? It is now over two months ago since be set ofT on his aerial voyage and up to the present there has boon nothing authentic heard concerning lnm. The latest report, circulated by Reuter’s Agency, is to tho effect that on the 14th September the balloon was sighted in Yeniseisk, or Yenisei, in Siberia, if AndreC has been seen in either of these places then, since tho glimpse alleged to have boon caught of him over the NVhito Sea, his balloon must have drifted many degrees south and east. If the report comes from the town of Yoniqpisk then his southerly drift has exceeded ten degrees. It may well be that from the time of setting out the balloon has mot with persistent contrary winds and has boon blown steadily south. Or it may be that a considerable advance was made towards the north nod that now Andree waits on v ;•> bo blown to more accessible parts to allow his balloon to descend. The whole world is waiting for news of this intrepid explorer; and if he now comes back safe and sound be will be hailed almost as one raised from the dead.

Ar a mooting of agriculturists bolonging to Perthshire in Scotland, held lately in Dunblane, it was resolved to petition the British Board of Agriculture in favour of experimental farms. A committee

was appointed to draw up. the petition, which, after being signed, was forwarded to Mr Long, president of the Board of Agriculture. It remarks that in the United States there are about 45 agricultural experimenting stations, apart from colleges, receiving Government support to the extent of £3OOO to £4OOO each ; while in France, Denmark, Norway and other countries large sums are annually expended by Government in aid of agricultural education and research, and in Germany about a dozen colleges and experimental stations combined receive an average Government grant of about £BOOO each. In Great Britain there is only about £BOOO of Government money distributed among eleven colleges and three dairy institutes, and that mostly expended on teaching. The petition also states that a great deal of money is annually lost to farmers through the misapplication of manures, as well as by the injudicious feeding of stock, and though much knowledge has been accumulated by wise and observant farmers, yet this knowledge is continually being lost through want of proper record and conformation, and that while some of the suggested remedies for agricultural distress are objectionable, petitioners believe that a judicious and extended system of experiment would tend, on the contrary, by teaching farmers how to grow larger crops with the same or less expenditure, to increase the supply of home-grown food without increasing its cost.

The South Australian Commissioner of Police, in his annual report, states that there is an alarming increase in the prevalence of potty thieving, mostly by young lads. He shows plainly the direction in which the immorality of the juvenile portion of tho community is drifting. A rapid increase from 624 cases to 1085 in the annual record of larcency in the short space of four years indicates an apparent moral retrogression which naturally ought to lead to searching investigation. Lack of parental control is the explanation generally given in Adelaide of the increasing evil, and when asked how it is that parents are so powerless to stem the evil, Colonel Madley states that “ the prevalence of gambling and the facilities offered for small staking by those who carry on shop and street totalisators are responsible.” Marinestore dealing and night-prowling are added as accessory causes ; but as these were in vogue before the alarming increase of larcency began the principal blame must, it seems, he laid on the recent enormous increase in street and shop gambling.