CURRENT TOPICS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12084, 13 August 1917, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

MEDSCAL STAFFS OF ARMIES. During recent years every great army has reorganised its medical staff. When a man is wounded in war, tho medical staff takes absolute charge of him from the moment he falls back out of tho firing line. Medical dressing and equipment is distributed during war time on the general basis that 10 per cent of a division will bo killed or wounded in battle. During the Crimean War, typhoid fever, dvsentery, and other similar diseases claimed no fewer than 230 out of every 1000 soldiers, owing to the bad medical service. A field "hospital is pitched whenever it is possible so that it can bo reached both from the front and rear by road, and also near to buildings to allow for an overflow of wounded. The medical staff control the soldidr's food and drink. He is allowed about l!f pint of water after tho first seven miles of a march, and a similar amount for each succeeding six miles. When a soldier is killed or dies during war, it naturally becomes necessary for his body to b e buried as decently as possible under tho circumstances, and tho medical staff undertakes to dispose of it. A burial squad of five men can inter 140 bodies in an hour.

GOLD FROM BUTTER-FAT. The transformation of old gold-min-ing regions into agricultural and pastoral districts is noticed by all who have travelled through the provinces where the digger was the pioneer and where alluvial, sluicing and quartz-reef-ing were once the only industries considered worthy of attention. The "Golden Coast " from the Grey down to the extreme south of Westland is now far less concerned about the hunt for tluS precious metal thanf about dairying, cattle raising and flaxmilling. Hokitika and the districts immediately surrounding it and such places as YVhataroa and Jiikonui, once, considered hopelessly unsuitable for anything but goldseek'in", are now prospering on the returns from butter-fat, and a similar transformation k passing over the famous old northern goldfields. The evolution of the Thames from a mining to a pastoral district was the subject! of references at last week's Thames Jubilee gathering in Auckland. Speakers declare that while £8,000.000 -worth of gold had been taken out or the Thames, there was greater wealth =still in the farming future of the district. "A new glory rests on the Thames to-day," said one ot the speak, ers It has taken a new lease ot ilita in the agricultural and pastoral pur■suits at it's doors." The Mayor of the Thames expressed the opinion that the place was by no means "played out' ■in gold-getting, for there were grca < arC as still imperfectly prospected, and when the hills were grassed the goldseeker's opportunities would be many. But even he agreed that there was va-t promise for the Thames m dairy;„p Last year the old goldfield obtained £330,000 from butter- at and li.e new factories wore erected dunng the year; and that may be regarded as only the beginning of the new "Golden Thames.''

AN AFFORESTATION PROBLEM. An interesting question bearing on ■the reforming of dcuxudiedareas La recently engaged the attention o - Auckland City Council. A commit co w sot np .some time ngo to conside* the desirability of replanting an ami. of hill country at situated at the head of the Nihotupu watershed, from which Auckland City draws it, main water supply. The question has been considered by the committee with regard to scenery preservation, water conservation and possible future profits • a further point kept in. view was the Wive merits, from all aspects or native and exotic trees for afforestation purpose-, Many expert finesses were examined, and the various State forests in the north me visited, and as the result of its deliberations the committee has now reported recommending the planting of the stripped hills largely with pohutukawa and other hardy trees. The weight of evidence went to show that for the purpose 'of re-clothing the "Waitaker© area' for water conservation purposes native flora was unsurpassed. One witness said that if th;* area were protected from fire and cattle it would gradually revert to native forest suitable for water conservation with little troublb or cost to the; city. This preponderance of evidence, which influentfed the committee in favour of replanting with nativo trees, may well be recommended to the attemtioa of tlio Government Department responsible! for the management and extension of the State forests. Oneo belts of weather-resist-ing treep are planted as brcakwinds, native treaa will flourish in most Reforested areas, especially in thiol North Island. They may take a- little longer to <:o:no to maturity than foreign pines and other trfles, but in the end their ■value will compensate for their slower growth.