The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, January 14, 1911. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 941, 14 January 1911, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, January 14, 1911. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Attention has been drawn to the fact that South Island millers command a higher price for their hemp than do the northeners. One expert informs us that this is due to the extra care exercised by the southern millers in milling the leaf and that the southern phormium is not of better quality than that grown in the north. As against this statement a correspondent informs our Levin contemporary that he “once had the largest collection in the dominion of varieties ; others have the same now, because they have been circulated. At the Palmerston North Show, last winter, an old South Island miller showed me the difference between the South Island and North Island fibres — both being on exhibit. South Island fibre is cleaner, that is to say, the fibres are longer, so that drawing them through the hands you can get no tow, whereas the North Island all pulls away in tow ; you can keep pulling till almost nothing is left. This is because the fibres are shorter, and it is inherent in the g:o'.vth, and cannot be remedied by greater care in milling. My informant told me that milling is the same on both islands, and that appears reasonable. That improved means would improve both fibres is, of course, well known.” A gathering of Maoris of the Wairarapa, Hawke’s Bay and Manawatu districts is to be held at Papawai, near Greytown, in March, as a tangi on the seventh anniversary of the death of the chief Tamahau Mahupuku. A large marble memorial to the deceased rangatira will be unveiled, and the celebrations will last several weeks. For the native griet must be alleviated by material joys, and for this reason several of Tamahau’s anniversaries have been marked by the holding of dances on a very complete scale. The principle of taxing unimproved values appears to be gaining favour in New South Wales. Mr C. G. Wade, the exPremier, who has been touring New Zealand, believes that before long the system will be in operation over the whole of the State. When that condition obtains, the opportunity will be afforded of making a fairly trustworthy estimate of the virtues or shortcomings of this vehicle of revenue, of weighing the principle of taxing idle property against that of levying toll on industry, and of determining whether it is better to exact revenue from profits or from that which to its owner is unproductive. Land reformers have had much to say on these points, but have had no such practical guide as will be provided by the uniform operation of the scheme in the Australian Mother State. A weapon more deadly than the automatic pistols used by the Anarchists concerned in the Houndsditch outrage could scarcely be conceived. All that is necessary is to keep a steady pressure on the trigger and the ballets, to the number of six or ten, according to the description of the weapon, keep pouring out as from a machine gun. This enables a more accurate aim to be taken, and also provides for a far more sweeping effect than with a revolver of the ordinary type; It would almost seem the limit had been reached in the designing of death-dealing appliances, and yet we are continually apprised of new ideas, of something that will kill

more readily. Where the end will be it is difficult to say. As a result of a visit to “ The Beach,” Mr Robert Gardner, of Palmerston North, writes to the Standard, emphasising the need of a regular and easy means of transit between Foxton and the seashore. He points out that the road is almost a dead level: rails 2ft 6in well laid, light carriages, and a motor or a light steam engine, to run four or five times a day each way during the season of four or five mouths, would be all that was necessary. The Government would be justified in finding the money, but even were the town of Foxton to raise it themselves it would pay them many times over. In urging the latter course, the correspondent gives an assurance that Palmerston would second the efforts of Foxton, adding that they in the larger town know the value of a breath of fresh, healthy sea air. To suit the convenience of a few Palmerston sea-siders, the noon train from Palmerston on Saturdays has been delayed au hour, and as a result commercial firms and residents have to put up with the inconvenience caused by the delay. This pandering by the Department to a few irresponsible wire-pulling pleasure seekers is a matter of serious concern to Foxton, yet we are expected to put up with it. Would that we possessed some one to stir up some protest against this scandalous piece of business. It is time Foxton woke up to the fact that it is not Palmerston’s door-mat.