Page 2 Advertisements Column 5

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2009, 19 February 1907, Page 2

The New Zealand Times states: The Country Party in the House of Representatives, consisting of the freeholders on the Government side of the House, has coine to the conclusion that for the present at any rate there is no necessity for commencing an active campaign against, the provisions of the Land Bill, A Star reporter attended the last mooting of the Foilding Brigade, and during the proceedings he committed the-offence of speaking to an exfireman in a whisper. Captain Clealand at once informed the scribe ho would like to see the report of the meeting before it was handed in for publication. This was refused with equal promptness, whereupon the chairman moved that the meeting go into committee, so that the reporter might be excluded, and said his reason was that a question had been asked of a man present who was not a member, and if the reporter wanted to get any information he should go to the head of the brigade for it. The reporter replied that he would please himself where he got his information, and would write such a report as he considered correct. Lieutenant Wilson, who has always been noted for commousense, said he was quite sure the pressman would give an honest report of the proceedings, consequently the meeting did not go into committee, and the subject dropped. In conversation with a New Zealand Times representative a commercial man had something to say regarding tlio handwriting of hoys from the schools of the city. “Lads come to us,” he remarked, “whose hand-writing is a disgrace. It is crabbed, scrawly, and altogether unfitted for the purposes of any ordinary business house, and though wo cannot devote much time to giving them that special instruction in caligraphy which they should already have received, still we tiro compelled for our own sakes, to give them some extra attention in this matter. And Wellington College is not much bettor than the other schools in this respect. Here are some samples of writing done by boys who come to us,” and the speaker indicated some sheets of paper covered with sprawling characters which exhibited a strong inclination to lean at all angles, the letters badly formed and of varying sizes. “You can imagine our difficulties in bringing them to a state of efficiency in this elementary part of their work that will enable them to bo of some use to. us us.” He condemned the efforts made in the schools to teach a great number of subjects, to the detriment of those of fiist importance. The experiences of many other commercial men in this regard have frequently been brought under our notice, adds the Times, and all have been loud in their complaints against a system of education that tends to neglect such an important subject. Boys on leaving school are constantly found to be incapable of writing an ordinary letter in a legible hand and concise, grammatical terms, a state of affairs that cannot be said to reflect favorably upon our education system. A good story is told regarding the flood at Kingsland a few weeks ago. A disconsolate looking man was gazing at a patch of water which covered his allotment, when he was asked what price ho would soli out at. The man replied with a laugh : “I’ll give you the land for nothing, if you will agree to buy the water at the city price of Is per thousand gallons.” As they say on the Exhibition, “Business did not result.” The careless manner in which our New Zealand forests are being depleted of best timber is a matter of great concern. In the rush to supply tlio demands of the building trade, those responsible for the work of tree-felling have shown, little, if any, ■ selection, and the result has been ruthless destruction. Pctone Chronicle. A large part of women’s .suffering comes from headache. No matter what the cause tlio cure is always found in Stearns’ Headache Cure, which is tasteless, easy to take, and nets promptly.—Advfc,