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Press, Volume LV, Issue 16421, 15 January 1919, Page 6

The establishment of the Opawa Community Welfare Association is a sign of the times •which all must 'welcome. Its Jio'.c! of action as described at the meeting on Monday night, covers, in part, tho ground occupied in their respective districts by tho various Burgesses' Associations oxisting in and around Christchurch. But its scope is much Avider than theirs, and it is this difference which gives it its poculiar interest. We look upon the Welfare Association, with its desiro to relieve distress due to sickness or misfortune, as an expression of that quickened sympathy with suffering that has grown out of tho two great tragedies of recent years—tho war and the epidemic. The war created the wish, to which practical form was ao abundantly givon, to help and comfort the men at the front and in hospital and from that movement sprang the desiro to help those around us when diro sickness was ravaging tho community. Tho response that was then mado to the call for aid would not, ive believe, liavo been so immediate and so generous, or so efficient, if it had not been for the discipline of fojir years of war. It was ,n. great and noble effort, and the Opawa Community Welfare Association has done well to 6et up an organisation which may make tho spirit of self-sacri-fice and public well-doing a permanent force in the community, ready to meet any similar grave contingency which may arise, but in any caso prepared and anxious to make, as far as possible, life better worth living.

The official notes of that portion of the proceedings of the Imperial War Conference, 1918, which it has been deemed prudent to publish, refer to what we may term a little "sideshow" about which little or nothing was heard at the time. We refer to a recommendation from the Colonial Office that there should be established an Imperial Bureau of Mycology for the purpose of supplementing the work of the Imperial Bureau of Entomology. There are indications in the report that some of tho members of the Conference were not very sure what a Buroau of Mycology would have to do. Sir Joseph Ward hazarded tho observation, "If this Bureau of Mycology is to get rid of objectionable insects I think it is worth the money." Mr Massey was nearer the mark when ho asked whether rust in wheat would not come within the scope of the Bureau. Mycology, of course, is really the study of fungi. The explanation was concisely put by Sir Herbert Read, Assistant-Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, when he said: "Thero are two main destructive agencies in agriculture—there aro what are called insect pests, which come within the domain of entomology, and there aro these fungoid diseases which come under the heading of mycology."

It appears from a 'memorandum prepared for the War Conference by the Colonial Office that there is at present an Imperial Bureau of Entomology which publishes every month a summary of current literature on all aspects of economic entomology, and every quarter a Bulletin containing original articles on entomological research. It also does a great deal of work in identifying the insects which are sent by collectors from all parts of the world, 110 fewer than 86,000 specimens having been received in the year 1914. It costs £4346 a year, of which New Zealand contributes £200. It is proposed to supplement its work by the Bureau of Mycology, estimated cost £2000 per annum, of which New Zealand is asked to contribute £100 per annum. Its resolution approving of the establishment of such a bureau was agreed to by the War Conference. We shall be glad to learn that the Agricultural Department here is co-operating with these institutions not only for the purpose of acquiring information about our own insect and fungoid pests, but also of communicating information and thus helping in a work of Empire importance. As Surveyor-General of Supply at the War Office, Mr Andrew Weir, who has now been given the portfolio of Munitions and Supplies, in Mr Lloyd George's new Ministry, and has been mnd6 a peer in recognition of his past services, was for the last seventeen or eighteen months of the war the head of one of the greatest agencies in the world. Briefly, ho was responsible for the purchase of everything that the Army wanted, except as regards munitions, mechanical transport, aeronautical stores, and n few articles of food that wero controlled by the Food Ministry. His purchases, which were made in thousands and hundreds of thousands, ranged from uniforms to buttons, from boots to soap, from cement and paint to tents and pills, and included bully beef, buildings. • scissors, saucepans, and razors. He bought during the last year of the war eight million khaki caps, twenty million flannel shirts, 90 million bandages, 300 million

lb of bacon, 40 million lb of tea, 100 million tins of condensed milk, and cigarettes by tlie thousand million.

To ensure that he bought well, he had at his elbow a staff of men expert inl their particular lines, and could cal) on the advice of trade committees, while to guard against anything like profiteering he had a corps of accountants and costing investigators who examined the books of all firms having Government contracts, and saw to ib tliat no more than a fair profit was made on the actual cost of production. Rut though it was decidedly not a case of '"money no object," the saving of money was not tho first consideration. The Army had to get what it needed, and Mr Weir was there to see that it# got it. If firms proved unwilling to sell commodities at a fair price Mr Weir invoked the Defence of the Realm Act and took them; if the demand was greater than could be met, lie arranged new sources of supply. In one way or another the Army's needs were met. frBut Mr Weir's sphere of action extended beyond the Army. When, for instance, the Government contractors for Army supplies had received all they required of the wool that he drew from Australia, New Zealand the East Indies, Iceland, South Africa, and elsewhere, at an annual costof £150,000,000, the manufacturers of standard blankets, etc., for general use were supplied. and after them the ordinary traders. The whole of the woollen goods used by all Government departments and by over 2000 public services —railways, tramways, hospitals, etc. • went through Mr Weir's department. It was his business also to deal with, the salvage of things that liad bee it used by the Army—old cases, tins, iron, machinery, clothes, boots, and so on. The rubbish tips of an army that numbered millions proved, in a way, little gold mines. By this means tho Sur-veyor-General got back at least a fewmillions of the three hundred millions that, without reckoning wool and other raw materials, he spent annually in purchases for tho Army. « Tho great diamond, -weighing 288 carats, which has just been found at) the Jagersfontein mine is not the biggest that has been discovered there. One was found in 1595 which was known as the "Jubileo'' diamond, and weighed 640 carats in the rough and 239 when/ cut. Until 1905 Jagersfontein had the distinction of having yiolded the largest! known stone in the world, tho "Excelsior," which weighed 971 carats and was cut into ten stones. But in the year mentioned every other great diamond; •was put in tho shade by a huge irtone, tho "Cullinan," found at the Premier mine in the Transvaal. It weighed over SOOO carats, or and Tvas of the purest water. The Transvaal Government bought it, and presented it to King Edward in recognition of tho. gift of self-government. When cut at Amsterdam it was divided into nine large stones, of which the largest weighs 516} carats, wliilo llie next in size weighs 309 i carats, tho two being the largest brilliants in existence. The smaller of the two is one of the jewels in tho Imperial crown. Tho value of such a> diamond as that -which has just been unearthed cannot be computed with accuracy, so much depends on how it stands cutting. But much, smaller stones have been sold for sums varying from £40,000 to £80,000.