GENERAL NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 52, 26 March 1909, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS.

The strengthening of the Imperial Navy, so that it may stand securely against every probable combination,and the universal training of our populations, so that the Navy may not be deprived of its mobility by fear of what may befall any defenceless British coast in its absence on our business, are plain duties that confront every State of the Empire which honestly desires the Empire to stand iour-square against all attack (says the Auckland Herald), lint States like New Zealand haive another and not less urgent and pressing duly—the duty of filling their vacant lands with men, of garrisoning the country with complete settlement, of making it nractically impossible for even conquest to denationalise. This our Government can do at once and without any discussion at Imperial Conferences or consultation with Colonial Secretaries. If it would only unlock Crown and native land and thus bring milions of unproductive areas into use, it would enable ninny thousands of settlers to .make homes for themselves at the same time that it enabled New Zealand to do more than she docs in the great cause of imperial Defence. The. Bluir correspondent of the Otago Daily Times states that a mysterious discovery has just been reported from the vicinity of' .Murray ltiver and Saddle Point, on the Foveaux side ot Stewart 1.-laud. Au island cutter w:c. round in the neighborhood fishing, and one of the crew, an Austrian, went on shore in a dinghy. In exploring about lie discovered a solitary individual wandering anion'.' (lie rocks. On. being communicated" with (lie stranger was found to lie a foreigner, who seemingly did not understand a word of English. After a lime it was discovered that lie was a I'leuchmaii. To all appearances the, man was in tic depth of distress, both as regards food and clothing. Indeed, it was found that he 'was collecting shellfish for ills' subsistence. The Austrian was enabled to make him understand a few words, but the stranger seemed to be mainly desirous of being left alone. Indeed, he seemed to resent interference, and therefore the cutter people, left him as they found him. No one on the island knows anything about, him, neither as to who he is, nor the circumstances under which he came to be where he was found. The matter was reported to the police, and no doubt steps will be taken to probe the subject further.