The Waikato Times, THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE, AND KAWHIA ADVOCATE. Established Thirty-Four Years, THE OLDEST DAILY NEWSPAPER IN THE WAIKATO. THE LARGEST CIRCULATION OF ANY DAILY PAPER SOUTH OF AUCKLAND. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER, 1, 1906. AN EPOCHAL EVENT.

Waikato Times, Volume LVII, Issue 8046, 1 November 1906, Page 2

The Waikato Times, THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE, AND KAWHIA ADVOCATE. Established Thirty-Four Years, THE OLDEST DAILY NEWSPAPER IN THE WAIKATO. THE LARGEST CIRCULATION OF ANY DAILY PAPER SOUTH OF AUCKLAND. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER, 1, 1906. AN EPOCHAL EVENT.

marks ;ui epoch in tlie history ol New Zealand. The great Exliibition which lias lieen tlie subject of conversation throughout the length

and breadth ot the colony, and in Christehurch the scene ot great industrial activity, has been thrown open to tlit) public, and it is to be hoped it will be thronged until closing day by crowds of delighted sight seers. The Exhibition will be the largest gathering of such u nature ever held in the Southern Hemisphere, and within its confines competitors from every civilised country in the world will vie for popular favour. As is always the case in an undertaking larger than anything that has previously been attempted, there is a grave doubt as to the financial success of the Kxliibit ion, and sonic pessimistic authorities have esl imated t hat I here will be a deficiency of f | ~ii.i m ii i. It i-, almost luo much to hope that the actual urate receipts front which alone will come funds to pay expenses, will be sullicient to defray the cost ol such a luig'e undertaking, but there is good reason to hope that the colony will not be mulcted in anything approaching £IOO,OOO. It is regrettable that the opening day could not have been reached without the unpleasant passages that have occurred in the relations of the Executive Commissioners of fate, The Chairman, Mr Munro. has come in for j severe strictures from many, but it must be admitted that he has done '

no more tluiu carry out the conditions lie insisted on, and which were ! allowed him, when he accepted his j appointment at the hands of the late j Premier. It is a significant fact that j most of the newspapers which have investigated the facts for themselves lake np a sympathetic altitude towards Mr Munro. Now that the most trying part of the Commissioners' task is over, and we have leisure to consider how stupendous their task lias been, we can forgive an occasional lapse in the methods of their chief. Is there a man living, who could occupy such a posi' ion and carry out his duties in such a manner as would give satisfaction on all hands ? Mr Munro's previous experience gave him a very full realisation of the responsibilities of his ollice and all those who have followed closely the various phases of the trouble cannot tail to recognise the fact that from the commencement of the preparations Mr Munro has been actuated In a desire to discharge his duty to the colony thoroughly, and at the same time economically. Of the advantages that will accrue to the colony from the Exhibition it is needless to speak; we can only hope that in the better knowledge of New Zealand in other countries, and the new avenues of commerce that will be opened up. will lie found ample compensation for the expense it will entail. The great show is now open to the peoples of the world, and for the next six months Christchurch will lie the centre of more stirring events than have ever before been witnessed in the colony. Long years hence may we be able to look back with satisfaction and pride 011 the success of the great New Zealand International Exhibition of the year of grace one thousand nine hundred and six, and from it date activity in fresh fields of commerce, and the friendly legard of all the great industrial nations of the world.

A GREAT PUBLISHER. Thkre lately fell into our hands a slim little volume, entitled " Life of W. Chambers," and we have rarely been more interested in biography or autobiography than in this unpretentious narrative. The brothers Chambers were born at Peebles in •Scotland, and commencing life without a bawbee to bless themselves with, built up the world-famous publishing business which prints Chambers' Journal, aud the Encyclopaedias and Dictionaries so wellknown aud so highly valued by all who appreciate good, sterling work. William Chambers tells how his father was ruined by giving credit to French prisoenrs of war 011 parole, and how they, by a wise resolution, moved to Edinburgh in lHlo. He became lyiprentieed to a bookseller, and his family living some miles out of town had to make both ends meet on four shillings a week. It was a hard scrimmage with semistarvation. Think of this, ye yoiinu New Zealanders ! —old a day for food! Freed from his apprenticeship, lie commenced business as a second-hand bookseller 011 the streets, and this led to him buying an old second-hand printing press, a wretched instrument, from which lie managed to punt a small volume of the " Songs of Robert Burns." After that he never turned back, and Chambers' Journal was commenced as a weekly publication in l8o"2. Its popularity was partly due to the fact that, not being a newspaper, it was free from the sevenpenny stamp duty. A headmaster of a large school wrote him that Chambers' Journal had sowed the seeds of his advancement and how live poor boys, of which he was one, joined at taking it in, and how they all rose to important posts, the tilth being '"one of the largest sheep farmers in New Zealand," Is such devotion to good literature as common to-day in New Zealand as in Scotland a generation ago, we wonder 'f Or have Comic Cuts and Chippy Bits and similar papers taki.n the place of the old serious publications ;

SANITARY MATTERS. A o iKHKsi'i i n I»K n i of 111 is journal called few days to the urgent need tliat exists for a coordination of our sanitary arrangements, so fiiat in addition to the very necessary disposal id' sewage, we may have a collect ion of the dry ruhhjsh of the town. We hold that the liorough Council should itself take this work in hand. A bi-weekly collection from every shop and house in the borough could he easily arranged for. The practice in many towns iu the Old Country is for householders to place their refuse iu a proper receptacle at the roadside, aiiu 'Jm• Borough collects and burns it. As things sue i.uw every backyard is a refuge for txii cans and similar truck, and the danger that may possibly arise from this loose method ot leaving garbage has hardly been overstated by oui correspondent. We trust the resident inspC"*' ll- with the Council, will consider this aspeC! the health question.