Notes and Events.

Manawatu Herald, 13 March 1894, Page 2

Notes and Events.

The Solomon Islands lie to the north of the fcew Hebrides' and to the east of New Guinea. From the account published by one who has been there, they do not seem just the place "to spend a happy day," as he states that the Mala islanders are the most treacherous, as well as the smallest physically, of all the Solomon islanders. They are continually intriguing to take one's vessel, and one never knows when a head hniijt ing party, 800 or 400 strong, 'will sweep down on your vessel.

cannon aquibbed. This answered a double purpose. It told the bushmen that a trader was in the bay, I and showed all and sundry we were ■ prepared. The guns were then j cleaned, primed, re-loaded, a slow j match was lit and burnt nightly on the little cuddy table ; every white kept his Winchester or Martini and revolver loaded in his bunk, day and night ; spare ones were kept in the captain's cabin, and arrangements made that during every hour of the ; night a white is on guard on deck, andthree sacks fall were lashed to the*' main mast. Guess what they held 1 Why, bottles broken small ho be" stamp 'on de°k in theevent df the. na^ave^ attempting to take the*ue"sse£ by Boarding. These broken bottles seemed admirable. They 'would not much inconvenience the whites with shoes on, but in the event of 100 savages bounding on to a glass strewn deck at night the effect may be imagined.

It is asserted that in these seas the English prestige is gone. The crews frequently get killed and eaten, the ship plundered and burnt. Result — another labor vessel missing! The natives understand the laws of supply and demand, and fcho sailors the latter, as at Alirt the natives asked double prices for everything, and when we refused purchasing the local chiefs on our own decks told us we were bad men, and he would take the vessel and settle the matter so. We told him to go home, and we would bring lightning to his town that night. He laughed, twitched his finger and thumb in our faces, and went off home. That night it was dark, so about ten we sent some three or four rockets close uponhis village. Next morning at daylight came the frightened cbiet with^the propitiatory pig, and " Oh, speak to your gods to bring na more lightning so close." So we agreed, had fresh pork for dinner, and ad» vised him not to be saucy to whites again.

The chiefs wear great wristlets, the size of a dinner plate, the larger siz* the greater rank, and half an inch thick, made from the shell of the gigantic clam ; these are often so heavy that the wearer has to sleep continually on his back with his arms crossed. Looking glasses, often 5 to 6 inches in diameter, are frequently worn in the slit ears, and on- retiring to rest the wearer has to slip the glasses out and twist his ears over his bead, to keep them out of harm's way. The girls wear, according to our historian, (who will be noticed leaves much to the imagination) pretty bracelets from •lbow to shoulder, called "okerties," as thin as a pen handle, made from the clam shell, also, and look ing like marble. It takes 10 to 20 of these to purchase a wife.

Tb,ejse islanders understand monopoly; tfnyho'w a=i the bushman will not allow the beachman to plant any food, yams or taro, nor will the beaebmen allow the bushmen to catch a fish. Trade appears based on the value of one yam tor two small fish. Wonderful knowledge of human nature is shown by the fact that women are entrusted to do the trading !

Leaving the Solomon islands in all their glory we will take a look at Old England. Times are hard there but Mr W. E. Bear, in the k'conomic Journal points to the decline of wheat growing in nearly all countries of the world. What he says "is not likely to be dear for many years to come, but it will not be, as a rule, nearly so cheap as it has been during the last nine years."

It seems impossible to get the real position of our education system before the public It baa beea ityled " free and compulsory " and everybody believes it except of course those who suffer from its not being ■o. Oar late Governor, Lord On ■low if no better, not so good, than he should be on this point, as he has written a paper in an English magazine in which he mentions " The State in Mew Zealand watches over the ohild at its birth, enforces education, &c." Ask the settlers at Taikorea, not ten miles 1 from Foxton how admirably the State enforces education : they have been paying through taxation for education the taxes are " enforced " but never a gohool have they, except one promised ! In America these things are. managed better by employing " pedge" or travelling schoolmasters. Nothing is so untrue and misleading as to call our educational system a compulsory one. Outsiders imagine all our children are taught, colonists living in the country know to their sorrow that it is not so.