NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 568, 24 July 1909, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

A cable message published yesterday reads a,s follows:—"The schedule of closing prices >at the late wool sales ivas slightly reduced in three, insignificant instances, as compared with the May Sales." From this it would, seem that there was no fall in values, except in "three insignificant instances," which does not accord with the. private cable' messages received by local brokers, nor yet with the quotations furnished by the High Commissioner. The latter has given tho following:— , ' '

July G. : July 21. Superior merino.,. . 1/1 to 1/3 V ; IV- to 1/2 Medium , merino... lljd. to,l2Jd. lOd.to lljd. Inferior merino ... 9d. to lHu. Bd. to 9JU. Fino crossbreds ... 1/1 to 1/4J 1/- to 1/2| Medium crossbreds, 10} d. to 1/2 lOd. to 1/1 Coarse crossbreds.... : 7d. to lljd. 7d. to Ilia. Tho above are the opening and. closing quotations of the past Bales, and as there was ,a decline at, the opening of these sales as compared y?ith the closing rates of: the May sales, it is obvious ! that the decline has affected all grades, except coarse ~crossbreds, which; -.on the High Commissioner's figures, show no alteration. • Despite this •; slight decline, 1 however, the prospects ahead for the maintenance of satisfactory prices are good.'

. The Ministerialist' journal in - Christchurch is still insisting very loudly, for what reason wc utterly fail to see, that "just for ; the moment the Northern, lines [of the railways system] .ire earning less and!'costing more to maintain than the Southern lines." Nobody has questioned that fact. In the darly part of the financialy.ear the Southern lines always appear, a good deal more healthy.than the figures for the-whole ;ycar show : them to be.:' Our- Southern 1 contemporary, which argues on selected moments, suggests that we should '.keep silence until . the figures take a turn in favour of the North. Our" case does not. require such primitive tactics, whatever may be tlic case of our Southern friends. On page 6 of .this issue we print an illustrated article .showing'the trend of the figures in each islarid in-recent years. ' The-diagrams speak fjar themselves. We will only_ ask here that the public of this islarid give their attention to the fact that'the question'- is not merely one of the rival: earning 'powers' of the'' lines;.in. the two ■ islands-r-it' is a question of the users of the railways in the North being penalised;to meet the losses | on! the non-paying' railways in the South. But for the losses on the Southern i lines large concessions, could be granted on the North Island, sections. Yet further ■' non-paying > lines are, being built in'the South \lsland without protest being made. /<' ■/ -• - ;■ ■

I It is pleasing to note that a strong effort is to be made to raise - the,' £1000 which, with the Government subsidy of £2000, will enable the Victoria College Council to make the rauch-npeded addition .to the College building. The, rapid growth and. popularity of Victoria College has been," a gratifying feature in connection with higher education in the portion of the Dominion over which the influence; of the : College extends.' In some respects the College has outstripped the older in / the other/ centres, and had its financial. resources been equal to those of the "other Colleges even more gratifying results 'would; no . doubt have been recorded. Now that, an opportunr ity has arisen by means of which'the admirable work oi the College may' be extended, it. would be a great pity to allow it to pass by. The public has had so many calls on ,its,;purse of recent times that it may seem a little unreasonable, to press this \ further, one at' the ; present 'time,/: The'sum 'required,, however, is , a comparatively small one,; and. as it is proposed to spread,the': collection of it over : the whole ;of the College district, which extends-as far north as' New Plymouthy and in the south crosses the Strait into Nelson and Westland, there should be no great difficulty in raising the required funds. . We shall be pleased to receive and forward on any'donations toward the cost of the proposed work at the College, which it should be borne in mind must react beneficially on the whole community. .-. -