Sketcher.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 410, 17 March 1904, Page 7

Sketcher.

TRADERS AND SPECULATORS; tCTJRO the large majority of English VmJk people the Sirdar's great victory 'fjgLs over the followers of .'the- late Mahdi and present Mh&lifa is only a matter of concern because England has.once more fought and won. They know-that some advantage will follow the vague process known as 'Opening up the country,' but there their knowledge begins and ends. As far as English trade is eonoerned, Lancashire will probably benefit most; and the opening of the Soudan, which cannot now bef long delayed, should mean increased activity in all the cotton mills. Cotton goods are, I think, the 'strongest connecting- link. The opening up of the Nile must do good all the way round} but whereas machinery, hardware, Brummagen goods, andi the rest find a moderate market,, the cotton merchant does as. much.trade as. all the others put together. And'for this: reason, if L*neaßhirja were a limited liability, company; I should not even wait for" advice Jto take £(£ I fjfai%, reason to know that members of the Government have been approached on many occasions during the past few years and,asked what -was-to be done tvith the Soudan oh behalf of the English cotton trade, whjob, owing to the fall in the price of silver,-and troubles in India, has been in rather a bad way. Mills have been shut down, and profis have been cur,tailed; but I expect the Sirdar has changed all that, and the good merchants of Lancashire must be blesaing Thomas Atkins, Esq, and the quarrels between Mahmudand the wily Osman Digna that led to the. plan of campaign that has wiped Mahmud out, and made; Oaman Digna scarce. .."'. ;■ TOWNS THAT TSADIi. At the present'" moment protests are being raised against the increasing practice of municipal socialism, and without entering into the pros and cons of the question, it is interesting to note in how many and varied businesses towns as towns are now enrage. As purveyors of water, gas, and electricity, and .tramway masagers,' the*" majority of corporations are" engaged in trade, with more or less profitable results; 7 " " -

B at a. municipal coal-mine is distinctly but of the ordinary, and this is what Bradford is setting itself to acquire. The city of wool burns abont 1,600.000 tonsof coal a year in its gas works, electric lighting and tramway stations, When fuel rose to so high a price two years ago, Bradford found that her coal bill correspondingly roße by ,£370,000. This set the city a-thinking, and, to be mistress of her own hearthß, she determined to bay a eolli|ry and Herself. | ■ ■:} ;- |. To* make tfne 1 new/^avenuel from the* Strand to Holborn the London County Council had to bay more than a dozen! .pnMic-hoiues. Instead'of turning mine host; the County Council has allowed the licenses to lapse. Bat Bradford is going in for catering in an energetic fashion. ToOimprove the Market : Hall : ;thp Corpo;; ration bought up an inn. The old building has Leen pulled down, and on the site the city has erected a fine hotel for the use oZ marketers. J

ground loot a saloon and tap room, with the_ other three storejs * devoted to; a .dining hull, club room, and bed rooms. The building has 'cost J620.000 to erect, and, *8 proprietors, the- Corporation applied for and obtained a fall licence at the breweter Bersionßvv- j, x,

On the other hand, Battersea has just established a municipal milkahdp. * In the . •SpnthjgLondotf borough the infant morvery high, and chiefly arises from ".improper feeding. In order, therefore, P^Sjne. babes/ of Battersea shall' have ''pure' food the fatherly Corporation has opened a shop for the sale of sterilised milk. The" venture is already' a commercial success, but this will be as naught compared with the saving of life and the rearing of healthy, children. Yet both! Bradford >nd Battersea are surpassed by Tunbridne Wells in sheer business enterprise.' While theorists have been discussing the question of municipal theatres, Tuubridge Wells has actually got one. The building bill WBB half met by the donation of a local pentleman, but the Corporation itself manages and runs the show, and not unsuccessfully, a Srofit of £2(fo being made on the first alf-year. In addition Tdnbridge Wells is the first town in England to establish municipal telephones. ■ Its service covers a radius of ten miles, and the annual charge is a third less than that of 'the National Telephone Company. Glasgow Corporation led the way in this, as in many other respects, and other municipalities are vigorously following suit. As a third and unique string to its bow Tunbridrfe Wells grows hops. Last summer the Corporation planted eleven acres of land on its farm with hops. The crop was the best in the neighbourhood, and commanded 10s per pocket more, than .any other grower's hops. , ; I The sand-hills of Torquay belong to the Corporation, They swarm with rabbits, which have become rather a nuisance—and also a source of civic income. For Torquay has turned rabbit-catcher, laying down 300 traps and employing two men as Corporation trappers. As some 20,000 rabbits are caught yearly and sold, while the annual expenses of capture are only £l5O, Torquay finds the"business profitable.

Prom rabbits to greyhounds—of the ocean—is not a big step, and the city of Bristol owns one of the finest dock estates in the kingdom. No other Corporation owns each big docks, and when Bristol has finished its .£2,000,000 scheme of extension, each person in the city will have a share in the most up-to-date dock in the world, ■«&.. rThiß city of Bs,th also extracts gold from water. The Corporation own the famous thermal springs of great medicinal value, so that the city practises as a doctor. So, too, does Harrogate. Many towns, though not setting up as M.D.'a, undertake < your burial,,and fiad that cemeteries pay. Hudderafield, for instance, makes JBI.OOO a year profit from its burial-grounds. Hullhas jnst opened a municipal crematorium, and Sheffield is about to do likewise: Doncaster owns a racecourse, and finds the meetings on the famous Town Moor so satisfactory a business that it ia in the enviable position of having no borough rate. For three days in the spring and the four September days of the St. Lager meeting the Corporation holds races. This annual week of sport, together with other investments, yields £20,000 a year to the citizens. 'Therefore,* s*id the town clerk, in a recent Board of Trade inquiry, 'there ia no borough rate in Djucaster, as that amount is more than sufficient to meet all the expenses of the municipality.',- ; . '*-#* -,- ■-,