CURRENT TOPICS.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 25, Issue 39, 22 May 1914, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

The establishment of an up-to-date bacon-curing factory near Blenheim reached a more definite stage last week when contracts were let by the recently formed Marlborough Farmers’ Co-operative Bacon Company, Ltd., for the erection of a building and the installation of the plant and machinery. The factory will occupy an ideal site on the southern bank of the Opawa River, Mr G. H. Jones, of Wellington, has been appointed curer, and is said to be exceptionally well qualified for the position. s With the natural advantages the North Marlborough district offers for pig-raising the industry, under proper management should have a prosperous future.

MOST people, we think, will have read with a very critical eye the sour opinions of the Rev. W. Boys on the Takapau camp. That he is an enemy of the defence system appears to be made clear, not only by the general tone of his observations, but by his expressed statement that the “movement needs jealously watching, as an enormous expense is being thrust upon jffie ratepayers for little material good, and for grave moral harm.” Fortunately there is not wanting an overwhelming mass of testimony bearing in the opposite direction to that taken by the Rev. Mr Boys. The Rev. George Budd, one of the Presbj T terian chaplains, says that the management and discipline were in all the circumstances splendid, that the moral tone was good, that the camp was excellently democratic, and that altogether the camp showed that the system is going along as well as all good New Zealanders desire. The Rev. A. T. Thompson, of Masterton;' says that be was nduch impressed with the spirit of discipline, law and order, that the camp spirit was that of democratic good-fellowship, that the moral and religious needs of the men were fully met, and that the camp was of actual value for char-acter-building. Ensign Garner, the Salvation Army chaplain at the camp, mentions that Mr Boys was only a casual visitor, and adds on his own account, without approving such little blemishes as he noted, that Mr Boys’s criticism was unworthy of a clergyman. What makes Ensign Garner specially indignant is the slur cast on Mr Boys upon the permanent men and General Godly. Although the testimony of these clergymen was not really necessary, every friend of the defence system will be grateful to them for their prompt and emphatic refutation of unfounded charges.