GENERAL NEWS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 180, 21 July 1908, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS

Sir Jack London, tlie American author, has the following notice on the door ol his residence iu San Francisco: "No Dnsiness Transacted Here." On the back door is this: "Please do not Enter without Knocking; Please do not Knock.''

A delightl'ul storv is told by Mr JCilward Uoyd, the famous tenor, who onee sang at a friend's house. At the conclusion or tiie aong, n clergyman, who was evidently unaware of the identity of the singer, approuehed him. "Keully, sir," he remarked, "you should not wnsre your voice like this. "We need another tenor in our choir, ami J shall be glad to give you .C.'iO a year. Think it over!" The Am

lekland newspapers are usually

at oho 011 all mutters ail'eeting the bar North, but they appear to be at loggerheads over the question of the North Trunk railway timetable. The llera'd j wants the trains to start from the north in the morning; the Star is anxious that they should leave in the afternoon or evt-ning. it is merely a coincidence, of course, that tho Herald is a morning and Die Star an evening paper. In stating at the Native Congress that many of the Maori thiol's had set a personal example of hard work, Mr. A. T. Ngata, said that this was the more ereditable on I heir part, as in the olden days a ehief was not supposed to lultor, lie told a. story of an old ehief who showed before the Native haul Commission that lie still h<?ld traditional ideas about the dignity of his ebi»s. "Where are your cultivations?" he was . asked, indicating l>v a stately gesture I the ranks of his followers, he. replied. ) "Those are jny cultivations."

All extraordinary scene was witnessed in the Vatican 011 2SJtli May, when a hundred British bluejackets puiictiuitad an address liy the l'ope with rousing cheers. The men, who were from llis Majesty's battleship Queen a Jul the gunboat Hussar, were accompanied to the Vatican by several officers. "H takes British lungs lo make such a violent noise," was the smiling comment of the Pope, who exhorted the men to be "good Catholics, good patriots, and brave seamen.'' The Pope, by the way, was 73 years of age on 2nd June. Kubelik sent .the following faroweM message to New Zcalandcrs from lnvercargill: "Am leaving for Tasmania. Kubelik desires to take this opportunity of thanking the musical public of Xcw Zealand for the warm appreciation extended to him at the several concerts of his recent tour, also for the many kindnesses and courtesies that have been bestowed 011 him and his wife. His only regret is that bin tour has been so limited. On his return to Kurope .he will have volumes to relate to his friends of the hospitality and warm appreciation'of the highest in music* of tlie Xew Zealand public. Au revoir."

In the Canterbury Commissioner's statement in the la nils report, the following occurs: "The two dry seasons which have been experienced, have caused tile failure of much newly-sown pasture, and judicious relaxation of the cultivation conditions will be necessary to assist the lessees in re-grass-ing these lands. Probably the sever-

est suil'erers from the dry seasons are the tenants on the recenily-establirfhed Moriee and Kinbich settlements, near

Kittle River, Bank's Peninsula. These have encountered very unfavourable circumstances at the beginning of their

cann' ;is Crmm Lena ills. and may Ik 4 found t \o ni'cil sonit* consideration to riuiblc them tu tul<» over their diflioidlios."

A commission sitting in Pretoria to discover why the "poor whites" were daily increasing, found that the position ■"ii Iraeeable to the prejudice, existing in the entire community against manual labour." To be frank, (says a writer in the Wellington Times), this prejudice has always existed in Africa, and British Africanders merely follow in the footsteps of their Dutch relatives in believing that the Almighty created the large robust nigger to do jobs for the white man whose place it is to sit in tiio shade with a sjambok and see that the large black gentleman doesn't loaf. Whites in Africa generally become so useless in their dependence on the nigger that the thrashings they give the said nigger only makes him grin. On the other hand when the nigger raises his knobkerrie tn smite the feeble "baas," the "baas" is the chief element in a funeral party—before Ihe execution of the nigger. The big nigger doc* not like work any more than does tliu white "baas," and.lie is at present reHeating to his kraal more frequently where he drinks kallir beer, and depends entirely on his wives, who pound the mealies, make the beer, and minister generally to bis simple wants. The African white* is usually an adventurer whoNias exploited anybody who comes in the way for a living, lie hates real work, but lie dearly loves to see a man swing clubs for sixty hours. Appaventlv Ihe reason he cannot work is that the climate generally, is the Invest in the world for work. The reasou the white doesn't farm ' extensively in Africa is that, the soil is fertile and there N plenty of water if it is sought for. There are all *ort» of insect plague*, but the biggest living plague is tie' white man who goi's to Africa with th ? intention of living on the manual labour of somebody else.