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Ashburton Guardian, Volume 1, Issue 87, 15 April 1880, Page 3

The Eight Color.—Jones said it isn’t the color of the hair that troubles him in choosing a helpmate. The color of her money interests him vastly more. “ I say Mick, what sort of potatoes are those you are planting V’ “ Raw ones to be sure. Your honor wouldn’t be thinking I’d be planting biled ones.”

Rather Rough.—The local journa thus discources for the benefit of the Marton Volunteers :—Without wishing to discourage any member of. the Marton Volunteer Corps, or throw cold water upon the upholders of a praiseworthy movement, we would suggest that a closer attention to the directions of their drill-sergeant would have a beneficial efiecc upon their appearance when on parade. They should bear in mind that the volunteer movement originated in the desire to obviate the necessity for increasing the standing army, and while it is net to be expected that they can rival the regular soldier in discipline, they should at least endeavor to attain as high a standard in that respect as possible. With a view to assisting them, so far as externals are concerned, we would suggest that the wearing of white linen collars of inordinate dimensions is not conducive to a martial appearance, either in officers or men, nor is a wide-awake hat generally recognised by the War Office as a suitable adjunct to a military uniform. In marching, too, it might he as well to keep their “eyes front” rather than in any other direction—their boots, for instance—and to remember that in wheeling into line a well-dressed “ front ” is preferable to one resembling a slackened bowstring.

A. New Local Industry. —The arrival of a vessel from a South Australian port, with a full cargo of bark for tanning purposes (says the “ New Zealand Times”), should induce those who take air interest in the development of local industries to ask themselves whether equally good material could not he collected in the extensive forests of this colony. So far as the existence of suitable bark is concerned, the answer can only be in the .affirmative, as there are many trees, both large and small, which would furnish it in almost unlimited quantities, most noteworthy among them being the limau, a tree which is abundantly produced in all the forests both Ninth and South. Why its hark is not gathered, especially during the present depressed state of the labor market, is a puzzle which we shall not attempt to solve. It might- however come within the scope of the Local Industries Committee. We may add that Australia, especially the colonies of Victoria and South Australia, has regular wattle-farms, which prove very profitable, although the bark collected from the young trees is the only return. As it would take many years to exhaust thp native supply in New Zealand, the local product should prove the most remunerative.