The Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 1911. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 971, 25 March 1911, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 1911. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The penalty for tailing to fill in a census return in New Zealand is /20, and the onus of seeing that a schedule is properly filled in is placed upon the householder or person in charge of a house wherein persons are resident. It was the same in the old Commonwealth Act, but this year amended regulations provide that “it shah be the duty of each person who abides in a dwellinghouse on the night of Census Day to fill in the particulars required on the personal card so far as relates to himself or herself, or to supply to the occupier all information necessary to enable him to fill in such particulars.” Here a personal liability is not yet enforced.

The question of religious instruction in State schools is being kept alive by correspondents in our Wellington and other contemporaries by interested parties. The Roman Catholic argument is that religion cannot be divorced from a child’s education and they conscientiously object to send their children to our State schools where education is purely secular. They are denominationalists and urge that since they relieve the State from educating their children, the State should endow their schools. There is one other party, at present militant, also on the warpath, against our present system, viz., the Bible-in-schools party, who ask for general religious teaching in our schools without dogma. The great majority in this country, however, favour the present secular system, not because they are atheistic, as has been wrongfully implied by certain writers. The State is neutral. They lay as the foundation of citizen duty the maxim “Render unto Cresar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.” They oppose the union of Church and State, and the grant of one farthing of State money for the propagation of any religion. The injunction, “Feed my lambs,” was not, they believe, addressed to any State organisation. The State by confining its functions strictly to secular subjects violates no one’s conscience. If any change is to be made in our educational system

it should be iu the direction of making the State primary schools absolute, but afford the necessary facilities, under proper supervision, to all denominations at certain stated times to give religious instruction to the children. This would not compromise the State and should meet the wishes of all sections ot the Christian Church.

Asked his opinion on the prospects of the hemp market, a wellknown flaxmiiler told our representative the other day that the industry was now fully established, and iu fact so sound that anyone could “bank on it.” He further voiced the opinion, that the outlook was better at the present time that it has ever been before. The miller iu question has been connected with the hemp industry for the past twenty years and, consequently, is well aware of the ups and downs experienced during that period. He stated that when flax was “down ” fair current Manila was quoted at a price far in excess of the present market value. Since that time the price of phormium had fluctuated considerably, but of late years had not gone below whereas the price of Manila had gradually fallen until at the present time it was quoted at about £i per ton less than the price of New Zealand fibre. The miller interviewed was also of the opinion that the present price, £iq 10s, was the lowest at which Manila could be produced, and if a further fall were experienced the output of this fibre would decrease very considerably, which would be the means of increasing the market value of the New Zealand article. Taking everything into consideration he was firmly convinced that money invested iu the flaxmilling industry was one of the best investments possible at the present time.

At Home there is a long-delayed campaign against poor bread, lor which, of course, in the Old Country as in this new one, the eater has to pay the same price as for good bread. The Daily Mail undertook the task of “standardising” the loaf, and each day published the names not of those bakers who sold bad bread but those who conformed to the “standard.” The King was influenced to insist on standard bread lor the Royal Household, and the vogue spread. Stoneground, whole-meal bread is considered the ideal for consumption, and is not related to the pitiful apology tor sustenance disguised under the name of “ brown.” lire ideal standard loaf is thus described by a London miller : —“ It is made of the best English wheat blended with fine samples of foreign wheat, which, after having been washed and cleansed by modern machinery, is milled on stones. The colour should be creamy, or a creamy brown ; and the smell should resemble the sweetness of newly-threshed wheat. The variation of colour arises from the class of wheats used, and from the percentage of germ and the amount of fine middlings (the inner skin of the wheat berry} left in.’ The following recipe is of the standard bread exhibited at the Mansion House, the Ideal Home Exhibition, and other meetings organised by the Bread and Food Reform League: Halfquartern flour, iY\ teospooufuls salt, >3oz. German yeast, i teaspoonful sugar, 3 gills tepid water. Cream the yeast and sugar together until liquid, add two teaspoonfuls of flour and the tepid water. Cover this with a cloth, and set to rise in a warm place for about twenty minutes. Mix the flour and salt, and pour in the yeast, and mix the dough, adding more tepid water if necessary. Knead the dough until it is quite smooth, form into a loaf, and put this into a greased and floured tin. Set this to rise in a warm place until the loaf has doubled its size. Bake in a hot oven for about one hour,