NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3844, 13 September 1928, Page 4

NEWS AND NOTES.

When the New Zealand forests vanish it might be profitable to start to mine for timber. The diversion of the Waikato River at Arapuni uncovered an ancient forest. Some specimens of the timber have been secured by the secretary of the Auckland Timberworkers’ Union (Mr. E. J. Phelan), and samples of black maire, totara and rimu are just as sound as they were when a forest flourished on the Arapuni Plain. In addition, Mr. Phelan has secured samples of some of the South Sea Islands timbers. One, loablo, grown in the Solomon Group, is very heavy, as is kiola, another timber from that group. Samples of kauri grown in the Solomons are hard to distinguish from that grown in the Auckland Province. The possibility of employers abandoning their usual attitude of passive resistance in regard to industrial disputes was mentioned by Mr. A. M. Burns, acting president of the Canterbury Employers’ Association, in the course of an address at the annual meeting. “One can scarcely hope,” said Mr. Burns, “that the workers’ organisations are satisfied with what they have managed to secure. In some cases the unions have refused to recognise any factors other than their own desirejj, and it is a question as to whether the employers should not, in such cases, take the offensive and file claims Embodying eon-

ditions less restrictive to enterprise. There is a large body of opinion which believes that the only hope the employers have of ever securing relief from the harassing conditions, which are contained in some awards, lies in abandoning the too-common attitude of passive resistance.” The 60th anniversary of one of the greatest disasters of the Maori War —namely, the second attack on Tc Ngutuo-tc-Manu, the defeat of the 'Colonial Forces, fell on Friday last. 'People of the present generation, says a writer in the Taranaki Herald, can hardly realise the feeling of unrest that existed in Taranaki during the prolonged Maori War. Commencing in 1860, when nearly the whole of the settlers’ houses —some within Mess than a mile of the town —were burned down, and the unfortunate owners and their families had to seek shelter as best they could “inside the trenches” —near the post office on the one side and Wjhiteley Church on the other—the struggle continued, and it was not until 1870 that settlers began to feel confident that it was safe to take their wives and families back on the land. Titokowaru’s outbreak in 1868 was a serious set-back, and when the Whitecliffs massacre took place in 1869, it was thought That the northern Maoris, who had been quiet for some time, would be again induced to go on the war path; but, fortunately, nothing further occurred.