The Star. MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 1895. To-Day.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5328, 5 August 1895, Page 2

The Star. MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 1895. To-Day.

It says much for the public spirit of the community that such numerous and generous offers of assistance should have been received by the Industrial Association in connection with the approaching Exhibition. The season, it is understood, will be of four weeks' duration, and for every night that tbe Exhibition will be open an entertainment programme has been promised free of charge for services rendered. So it came to pasa that the subcommittee having this section of the preparatory work in hand had the satisfaction of arranging its series of entertainments from an abundance of material, and of feeling assured that the quality of the amusement or instruction provided would be thoroughly good. Moreover, in addition to the evening programmes, it has been found possible to arrange for Bpecial entertainments on the afternoons that will be set apart for children. Such a result is particularly pleasant, and this generous aid, it may be reasonably hoped, will have a pronounced effect in bringing that aspiration of the Association, an Industrial Hall, within measurable distance of fulfilments

That story of witohcraft in Ireland, which culminated in the Clonmel tragedy and the trial and conviction of the persons who were guilty of torturing a woman to death, produced a flood of comment. Much of it was wide of the mark, and some was utterly unjust; for there were writers who took the stand that in no country save Ireland could each density of ignorance be possible. Yet even while such nonsense was being foisted upon the public, ignorance every whit as gross waa being manifested in England. The London Daily Chronicle published the statement of a case of witchcraft that had been brought to light in Lincolnshire — a county, by the way, that in the good old days had the reputation of being full of witchee. The Chronicle's account says that in a little hamlet dwells a quiet old lady who, haying fallen on evil times, had sought and found the shelter of an almshouee. Her advent, however, aeema to have disturbed her neighbours, a farmer and his wife, who aver that she cast a spell upon the farm. Figs refused to grow fat, butter refused to come, hens caaßed to lay eggs ; in faot the witch worked acoording'totheirideasaswitohoshavebeen supposed to do from time immemorial. Superstition told thia precious pair that if a bone could be broken or blood dr,awn from the witch her spells would lose thei# power. They accordingly fell upon the poor old lady, and, pushing her over a fence, broke one of her armß. There was apparently firm faith that this bodily injury to the reputed witch had been productive of eminently satisfactory results ; though it is to be&oped that such an idea would be rudely disturbed by the outcome of the magisterial proceedings that had been instituted.

" No system of taxation can be equitable unless it includes the direct assessment of the enhanced value of land due to the increase of population and wealth, and the growth o£ towns." That declaration waß unanimously adopted by the House of Commons only a few months ago, and it is made use of by Mr Withy, in the magazine article to which we directed the attention of our readers a few days ago, in furtherance of his contention that the land must be looked to for any successful means of counteracting the great and growing poverty of the people, and of Bolving the unemployed problem. He tells us that in the United H.iugdom the land tax is yet [ levied on the values of 1692 ; while, if the land were assessed at its present value, the barriers of monopoly would be at once broken down. He regards a land tax as the ideal tax. Wo cannot shut our eyeß to the fact that under existing circumstances labour almost everywhere is in the unhappy position of Letting down buckets into empty wells, And growing old with drawing nothing up. And everyone, we take it, will be ready to admit that the ideal condition of labour, to quote again from the same poet, would be Softened into mercy, niadetho pledge Of cheerful days, and nights without a groan. Mr Withy puts the case in this way:— " If all men have equal rights to life, then since the use of the earth ie essential to the life of all men, all must have equal I rights to uso the earth. But all men have ' also equal rights to liberty. Therefore,