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Motueka Star, Volume II, Issue 48, 28 January 1902, Page 5

In the Upper House not a single man connected with the farming industry has been appointed during the last twelve years, simply because the farmers have n)t raised their voices. : — Dannevirke Advocate.

A battle of hop beer, seized by the police at the Balclutha Show, lias been a xalysed, and, it is alleged, wis found t> c mtain 7i per cent of alcohol. The mmufacturer will appear before the Court.

Circumstances are still much in the habit of altering cases. A Yorkshire S >cialist, in explaining to a friend the -«».r:nciples of his belief made the state-

Plenty at the outset, 'That all possessi >as sa-ould be divided equally.' ' 'lf y>u had two horses,' said the "friend, 'wrnld y >u give me one?' 'O: course said the S >eialist. 'And if you had two c >ws. would you. do the same ?,'*. ; Of c mi-se I should.' -'Well, suppose, now, s-ai 1 his frie id, slowly, 'that you had tw> pigs ; vvnild you give me, one of them ?' 'Ehllad,-.-,that's getting •'; tdu near home,' said- the other, Slylyf <Tba k laws I've two pigs.' - Toe ce-isus statistics dealing with the s a'-cness and infirmity of the'people new complete." Th£y show.'that of •410 772,719 persons in the colony on

31st March, 1901, there were 9173 laid up by siekn«ss or accident. Of these 2505 weae entered on the schedules as " sick," 3207 as hufiering from specified complaints, and 1461 injured by accident. ] u addition to these 5574 persons were afnicied with certnin cdecified \ infirmities—viz., 226 deaf and dumb' 435 blind, 2675 lunatics, 105 idiots, 113 epileptics, 392 paralytics, 271 crippled and deformed, 927 debilitated and infirm, and 412 deaf only. ' It is,estimated that the Masterton and Wairarapa districts will benefit to the tune of nearly .£2OOO by the purchase of horses, etc.. for the Eighth: Contingent..

A great "deal, says the "Westport Times, has been said about blockhouses in connection with the South African war, but although the word is used glibly enough by the man in the street it is not given to everybody to know what it means. It appears that block houses are tiny forts, consisting of a hexagonal edifice of corrugated iron. They are the invention of Major Rice, R.E., who got his ideas from his experience at the seige of Ladysmith. The walls are made by placing two sheets of iron-four inches apart, and filling the intervening space with gravel. These bullet proof houses, when loop holed and occupied by ten or fifteen men, were sufficient to ward off any <>f the lesser attacks with which train wreckers covered their operations. After a time it was necessary to provide each hoiise with a barbed wire entanglement and a spider's web of wire so interwoven that it was cutterproof. Before the reclaiming of the country was started the railway communications were picketed with" blockhouse-; at'intervals of 3000 yards, so as to baffle any attempt at crossing the line under a rifle fire of at least 1500 vards.

Tom Mann, ihe visiting Labour leader-, is by no means pessimistic as to Great Britain's future, either as regards industry or trades unionism. Speaking at a meeting of the Trades Council, at Wellington, be said that no one need have serious concern for the Old Country's welfare in Industrial matters. Britain was not going under. The workers had inherently'"all the qualities whichwould enable them to work out successfully their own social and industrial salvation. Even in industrial competition the Old Country would .not go under.

Fruit will not be over plentiful in the Bunnyt.horpe district this year. There was a fair promise, but a hailstorm which occurred some weeks ago played havoc with the young fruit.