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Gisborne Times, Volume VII, Issue 438, 10 June 1902, Page 1

Education Boards aro imbued with the idea that the duties of committoos should bo confined solely to attending to tho sanitary arrangements of the schools, to see that the teachers don’t run off at a tangent, and that the buildings don’t catch tiro, or got blown down, or aron’t stolen by disreputable people who have a penchant for walking off with old firewood.—Christchurch Spectator.

In the course of a highly laudatory article on the Premier of New Zealand the Bloemfoutein Post of a recent date says “Mr Seddon is a strong and enthusiastic Imperialist, impressed with a powerful sense of the destiny of his race, and prepared to lend strenuous aid in realising it. He has been to Now Zealand in some respects what Mr Rhodes has been to South Africa, and he has not infrequently displayed the same courage and daring resourcefulness in dealing with emergencies. Paradoxical as it may seem, he has succeeded in demonstrating that a healthy and fervid Imperialism can grow and flourish in a socialistic soil, for while the devotion and patriotism of the New Zealanders are unquestioned it is scarcely to be denied that New Zealand itself is the home of tho most radical and experimental legislation that our British system offers. But we have no need to regret a radicalism which produces such patriots as “ Dick ” Seddon, and the six thousand gallant New Zealanders who have offered their lives for the Empire on the soil of South Africa.”

The septic tank system of disposing of sewage is gaining in favor, and is being found suitable and effective for individual installations. Mr M. Lyons, the proprietor of the Club Hotei, Greytown, acting on Dr. Valentine’s plan, received from tho Health Department, let a contract for a tank for the hotel, which is now finished and in working order. The drainage from the house and outbuildings runs through 6in pipes to the septic tank. This is made of brick, and is Bft by 6ft and Sft deep. It is lined with lin of concrete, and the top and bottom are of 9in concrete. The holding capacity of the tank is about 3000 gallons. Adjoining the tank is a filter bed for the liquid matter, and about fifteen feet further on is another filter bed filled with coke or charcoal. By the time the water percolates through the filter bed it is purified and runs through pipes a distance of fully two chains to the back of the section, where it runs into a pit, It can, on account of being thoroughly purified, be allowed to run over the ground if required. In a fight between Chinese robber bands, 800 strong, and a Russian detachment in Manchuria, all but th rty of tire former, are reported to have been accounted fori &