LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Thames Star, Volume LVII, Issue 159223, 12 September 1923, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Letters from the Argentine to the editor of the “Auckland Weekly” tell a story of selling out at a great sacrifice and willingness to take anything to get out of the country. One passage reads: “There is absolutely no protection for life or property in this country. For instance, a murderer will be set at liberty after the officials have got all his money and sold his goods and have pocketed the proceeds. We will be glad to get out of the place, even with light pocket hooks. The Government of the country is spreading propaganda to attract settlers from England. The propaganda in "England should be stopped by the British Government. We want to get to a country where there is British law. I sold out at an immense sacrifice, and will be the first of a large, party to arrive. The others are doing their best to sell out, and are willing to make big sacrifices to get out and make new homes in a country like New Zealand. Affairs here are grossly mismanaged. For instance my lawyer in Buenos Ayres informs me that there must be a couple of thousand titles which should have been signed by the former Minister of the Department. The new Minister is now revising these documents. They were formerly kept back for political purposes. I have suffered severely at the hands of cattle thieves, but it is useless to expect the authorities to do anything. If is only by the mercy of providence that my son and I escaped death at the hands of the thieves, and my son was wounded. Land may be dearer in New Zealand. But you have a superior climate,-• facilities we do- not have here, middlemen cannot so extensively rob the farmer, and you have not got bands of stock thieves allowed to go scot free,”

A few days ago,, when the traffic in the vicinity of Dunedin Stock Exchange was very heavy, a girl, .apparently about 20 or 21 years of age, sauntered along Princes Street in a leisurely manner, which indicated that she was deeply impressed with a sense of her importance. The sounding of the gong of an approaching tramcar was unheeded by her (relates the “ Otago Daily Times ”), and as she was midway between the rails the car was within about a fcfot of her. Even this fact did not induce her to hasten her steps, and the motorman was compelled to bring the car to a sudden stop. As the gH cleared the line and the car moved on again, the motorman looked hard

at her, but whether that look indicated annoyance or pity for her lack of intelligence, it would be difficult tosay.

A correspondent of the “ Lyttelton Times” writes from Pendarves : Those who chanced to look towards the sea early on Sunday morning last were rewarded by a beautiful sight. In the back-ground, for miles along the coast, and standing out against the bright blue of the sky, appeared a line of great sand-cliffs, their headlands and buttresses boldly outlined by deep shadows. In front of them lay a stretch of water of deeper blue than the sky, and changing into opalescent tints where it caught the sunlight. By some strange inversion it seemed as if the actual seacliffs and a stretch of the sea itself had somersaulted over to face the laud ; and yet the water before our eyes was no restless, everchanging sea, but a calm, deep lake. Most curious of all, dotted through its entire length, lay groups of phantom trees, bare enough on the lower trunks, to show gleams of blue water between. At each end and in the foreground stood the dark-green plantations of the district. We knew that in reality a prosaic countryside lay there —Kyle to the left, Seafield to the right—and that what we saw was a mirage, a freak of Nature. For Bronchial Coughs, take Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure. Over 10 million eggs were presere ved last season with Sharland’s “Moa Brand” ! Egg, Preservative, have you tried it ?—Advt. j