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Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17155, 26 May 1921, Page 6

A correspondent of the Sydney "Sun" elucidates the foundation of a- certain modern belief in a manner perfectly satisfactory to liimself, if not to its disciples. Referring to the Guyra "manifestations" and the connexion therewith 'of a young girl, he points out that the same things happened in Hydcsville, New York, in March, 1848. Kate Fox, a girl of nine years, asserted that she could communicate with the spirits of the dead. Subsequently, however, she confessed that the "rappings" which constituted the spirit communications were noises which she could produce at will by "erackins" her abnormally loose knee and toe joint's. "From this foolish act of a child of nine," comments the writer, "sprang up what we now know as modern Spiritualism, which has sinco sent thousands to the asylums and very many to a suicide's death." A queer basis for a still queerer fr.ith.

"Settlement v. Scenery'' well describes the action that has been going "on in New Zealand practically ever since thV white man .first began to make a homo for himself in the Dominion. The process is inevitable, but in many respects it is regrettable, because in earlier years it was pursued, with such ruthless disregard for anything but the most material needs of the day, and the individual settler. In more recent and enlightened times some effort haa "been made to preserve at least a portion of the natural beauty of the country against the devastating effects of axo and fire-stick, where this could be done without interfering seriously with the necessary spread of settlement. New Zealand owes much to-day, and will owe more in future years, to the farsightedness which created .the Scenic Reserves Board and framed its policy. There iB still, it seems, work for the Board to do. A northern exchange reports that in some of the most beautiful parts of the Hot Lakes district the bush is being burned off, and especially that this is being done round the shores of Lake Rotorua, and the vivid blue lake near Tikitere, while much of the beauty of a "perfect gem" of-a small lake'dn the Wairoa, road, not far frpm the Green* Lake, .is threatened with similar injury '! Settlement must go on, and in the prooess. much df .the still standing bush.must be out ■ down," but it seems a great pity that the ibeauties.of one of the most attractive reports in the Dominion should be diminishedy while plenty of "better land is available for settlement elsewhere. The Scenio Reserves Board should look into this matter before it is too late.

A form of protection which hitß the New Zealand householder, and especially his children . rather . hard, iB that which is exerted by the fruit-fly regulation issued by the Department bf Agriculture. . Under this regulation no citrus fruit—oranges and lemons—may be landed in the Dominion unless accompanied by a certificate' from the country of production that'no fruit-fly exists within a radius of a mile from where thd fruit was'grown. IV this regulation must be attributed the high price of oranges, which are now a luxury, instead of being, as was- once the ease, a frequent article of food. For the fruit-fly is all too plentiful in parts of Fiji and the other islands from which most of our oranges used to come. As a result, according to an Aucklander interested in the trade, inspectors prefer not to commit themselves in any way, with the consequence that mandarins are to-day practically prohibited from the New Zealand market. ' When, they do reach. Auckland it is by no means certain that they will get any further than the wharf-aide. A week or two ago a consignment of mandarins, valued at about £BOO, and of first arrived at Auckland from Fiji, at a time when there wias not a mandarin in the shops, but because they failed fix some way to fulfil all the requirements of this drastic, regulation, they were taken out to sen and dumped overboard. This would be bad enough if it was absolutely necessary, to prevent injury' to our fruit trees-by the fly. but this Aucklander asserts, and his statement is said to bo supported by many authorities, that the fruit-fly, being a' native of a tropical climate, cannot exist in New Zealand. Knowing the malignant readiness with which other insect pests have adapted themselves to a new environment, one is chary, of accepting this dictum without the endorsement of some recognised scientific authority. But if there is really any doubt on the point, the Government should get it cleared up without delay, so that once more oranges may be placed within the reach of all.