The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, May 13, 1911. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 991, 13 May 1911, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, May 13, 1911. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

There was a big falling away in exports from New Zealand last month, as compared with the corresponding month of 1910, and for the year ended April 30th last there was also a sizeable decrease on the figures for the preceding period. These declines, no doubt, are chiefly due to the extreme dryness of the late season, for of recent years ’the sum total of our exports has bad a marked rising tendency. With the growth of population, and particularly the progress of settlement, it is reasonable to surmise that the producing power of the country has been greatly augmented. That agriculture is the mainstay of the Dominion’s commercial life is amply demonstrated by the returns quoted for the last nine years. (The official years, it should be noted, end on March 31st.) Within that period the value of wool, the staple export, rose from a little under four mini'.ns sterling to something over seven millions, and that of cheese from j£iSx ,604 to ,£1,216,137. Hemp has fluctuated a good deal ; in 1903 the total quantity shipped was worth jC575> 1 53> in 1907 the highest point, .£850,653, was reached, and last year’s consignments came to ,£405,679. The figures for tow r which were .£7727 nine years ago, climbed to ,£52,298 in 1908 ; last year’s export was ,£3:1,090. Frozen mutton has fallen off slightly, but lamb has more than doubled. The returns for wheat give an increase, and for oats a decrease, but the course of each is erratic. Butter, beef, skins, hides, tallow and timber show satisfactory progress, and gold and kauri gum have declined somewhat. Taking the report fairly and squarely, wo. of New Zealand may feel that we are on the right track aiod in a position to appreciate an; era of ’ prosperity following on the learn years.

The Christchurch case in which a man who married his niece is charged with making a false declaration, opens up some interesting avenues of thought. By the Act of William IV., the marriage is already void, its performance within the prohibited degrees of consangaiuity being invalid ; and so the offence with which the bridegroom is charged is rendered slightly more technical. The accused has pleaded ignorance of the prohibition to which the contract was subject—a lack of knowledge which, considering the existing classification of forbidden degrees, is not very remarkable. A man may not marry his grandmother, nor his sister’s daughter—as this young man has done—but he may marry a female cousin, who is only a shade further removed than a half-sister. The inter-marriage of relatives entails confusion of designations: for instance, a girl who married her uncle, if such a contract were legal, would become her own aunt, while her husband would be blessed with a sisterly mother-in-law; the children would be cousins to their own mother, and might call their father greatuncle. No, it would never do, and besides there is a more serious aspect of the matter. The marriages of persons of like temperaments are injudicious enough, but surely, with the now prevalent knowledge of the laws of eugenics and heredity, it is expedient that the prohibitory regulations be revised with the view of enlarging the scope of their application.