The Stratford Evening Post, WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. SATURDAY, MAY 4, 1912. CAPTAIN COOK.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIII, Issue 6, 4 May 1912, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post, WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. SATURDAY, MAY 4, 1912. CAPTAIN COOK.

April 27th was the one hundred and forty-second anniversary of the landing of Captain Cook at Botany Bay, and Sydney paid tribute to the entrepid circumnavigator. In the course of a very interesting article published in this connection, the “Daily Telegraph” expresses the view that as the years go by and each successive anniversary of the landing of Captain Cook at Botany Bay comes round, the figure of that heroic man seems to stand out with greater prominence in relation to Australia, while the earlier sailors of various nationalities who touched at her shores recede further and further into the mist. It is naturally of the greater interest to the professed historical inquirer to search out and piece together every scrap of evidence concerning the discoveries of those early adventurers, but when the importance of the various discoveries comes to be tester by actual results the verdict of history must be—Captain Cook first and the rest nowhere. The “Telegraph” also considers it is curious to reflect that, if the brig Endeavour had been in a more seaworthy condition, Cook, in compliance with the instructions of the Admiralty, would have returned to England by Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope after visiting the New Zealand coast, and consequently would never have seen the coast of New Holland, or entered the harbour now called Botany Bay. The unseaworthiness of the Endeavour led to the settlement of Australia under tiie British flag. By such small obstacles is the course of the mighty river of history deflected. Unwilling to jeopardise his ship and crew, the circumnavigator in search of smoother sOas hauled up for the coast of New Holland, and when he found it proceeded to chart it, to ma ke soundings, to name each point that ho passed, and thus with characteristic thorough-going efficiency to clear a path for all the navigators who succeeded him. Had Cook been able to follow out his original design of returning from Now Zealand to England by way of Cape Horn, it is more than likely that the French, who wore so close upon the heels of Captain Phillip, would have planted their flag upon the island-continent which Napoleon a few years later regarded with unfeigned interest, absorbed though he was in his colossal schemes of conquest elsewhere. Australia, therefore, if not actually discovered by Captain Cook, owes much to him, and does well to keep his deeds in mind.

CHEAP FUEL. A cheap substitute for coal in open grates is described in the London “Evening Standard.” It says that ■alien the price of peat, wood, and oil is raised still further, ingenious minds will he obliged to turn to other resources for fuel. The newspaper lire is not unknown in Scotland by carelul and economical housewives. Jn the

average bouse newspapers often accumulate until the butcher or ti e bottle and rag merchant is coerced into removing them in return for the trouble of carrying them away. lo turn spare news-sheets into fuel the paper should he rolled up tightly, one separate page being used after another until a large ball about the size of a grape-fruit or a small melon has been put together. A number of these should then be placed in a pailful of warm water and left to soak for a few

hours. At the end of that time each ball must he well squeezed between the hands until almost all the moisture has been pressed out, and it can be worked into a tight, compact ball. To use the paper fuel, the fire must first of all he well burnt up, the coal in the centre being red and glowing. After making a depression in the middle of the fire, this should be filled with six or seven paper balls—the number depending on the size of the grate, and surrounded with fine coal, coke, or dross. A fire made in this way will last for hours.