CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 120, 30 August 1910, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

SUGAR BEET GROWING. ' Readers have lately ibeen informed by cablegrams from Australia that the cane sugar industry is in the hands of monopolists. It has been alleged in Australian Parliaments that the companies controlling the manufacture and output are sweaters of the deepest dye, that they are able to do what they like with the market, and that, considered from a national point of view, the industry is unhealthy. Sugar is one of the most important food constituents we have, and although all vegetables contain a good proportion of it, nothing produces a larger proportion of first-class sugar than the sugar beet. The cultivation of the beet for sugar producing is common and successful in Continental countries and America; splendid experiments showing large profits have been made in England; Australia finds that it is a payable crop; and New Zealand farmers will probably yet adopt an industry that caters for a never-satisfied market. Some recent published figures are interesting in view of the fact that crops of sugar beet grown in the Waikatp have proved to be richer in sugar than crops grown in the United States. Ntew Zealand land is clearly suitable. The average cost of growing one acre of the roots in America is about £7 and the net profit about £8 liOs. It has been figured out that the cost of growing sugar in New Zealand second-class land would be slightly iu excess of the American cost, but that the profit would ibe larger, on the basis of a larger percentage of sugar. The sugar beet industry needs no great amount of speculative courage. There are thousands of acres of land tihat could (be used for it; it would create & great deal of employment, and it would produce one of the prime essentials of life. I We consume in New.Zealand per annum ■ 55,000 tons of sugar—mostly supplied by ' monopolists—and it is shown that to produce this quantity from beet would necessitate the expenditure of one million pounds in mills and would give employment to 40.000 people in field and factory. Experiments made at Monmahaki were entirely ; 'sucßessful. The' Government offers, a bonus of £4500 for

the establishment of the industry, and Wanganui appears to be anxious about the bonus. The other day a meeting was held at Wanganui, at which the Mayor enthusiastically referred to the prospects ahead of settlers who went in for this branch of culture. He thought that the 2000 acres of land necessary to grow enough sugar to supply a factory could easily be found in the district, and that a capital of £IIOO,OOO would probably be necessary to lay the sure foundations of a permanent business. Other speakers | at the Wanganui meeting endeavored to I show that the beet industry was a "wildcat scheme," and point out that in beetgrowing countries the .business was made ' to pay because of cheap labor. The main need for sugar-growing, in New Zealand, ; however, is that we may be independent of outside supplies. New Zealand is so isolated that her endeavor sooner or later must ibe in the direction of producing everything her peoplo want. We cannot grow sugar cane, and as sugar beet will grow excellently, it is hoped that larger experiments may bo made with a view of showing whether an industry which can be made payable by Americans spells ruin to New Zealanders. As the idea is fairly new, it is, of course, likely to meet with antagonism from pessimists.

THE PEOPLE'S ENTERTAINMENTS. The people's entertainments have altered somewhat since the days when placards to the effect that "this is a forest," "this is a castle," and so on, did duty for the gorgeous scenery and ''properties" without which no one would go to see "Shakespeare" nowadays. . The other day Dr. Findlay, the Attorney-General, in a spoken essay, mentioned that the nature of a people's amusement fixed the national moral level better than their business pursuits. He did not mention the nature of the amusements of the people of New Zealand, but they are well known. Here they are in order of popularity:—Football, horse-racing, pantomic stage productions, vaudeville and melodrama. We frankly do not know what moral is to be derived from these facts, whether the "decline" of the stage which Dr. Find'lay says has taken place in the past hundred years, shows that our forefathers were more serious and therefore mpre worbtty than we or whether the strain of modern life has compelled the kind of entertainment that docs not tax the mind. The average playgoer in New Zealand is a hard-working person, and ] ift wants to be amused. He does not look the stage as a school, but as a pastime. In*,.: >$ no large class of artistic souls in this because the people have not leisure to gi„ " long hair and to lean in critical attitudes u.;- a dress circle while the earth's greatest something or other is pounding out VVagiil. :- '""iinnin. He has not had time to become a connoisseur *c° "'mnrossionist" an .- of bizzare plays. He wants physical anu. cental recreation, and, of course, he is fc-"*n what he wants. Shakespeare's plays nt."" r had any vogue in New Zealand until a smart entrepeneur decided to cut the "Midsummer Night's Dream" down, and to mount it with all the gorgeousness of a pantomime. Unlike Bernard Shaw, Shakespeare is dead, and so could not protest at the dissection of one of his greatest works. Some day a manager will rewrite Shakespeare into modern prose and throw in a few serios and sand dances. Then crowds will fight to see "King Lear" just as if it were "The Girl from Rector's." Most modern musical and other comedies are not complete unless they have the "Girl" in them. Probably, although the modern idea of entertainment is towards flippancy, not a great deal of harm is done by the entertainments New Zealand'ers are permitted to see. The test of the utility of a play lies in its ability to stir emotions. If one returns from the theatre after having had "a good laugh" or "a good cry," the play has helped one to take up the hurden of life next day.

PKOCHRESS IN CANADA. The agitation among the farmers in the Western districts of Canada for an alteration in the tariff calls attention to the enormous strides that have been made in that part of the great Dominion. Sixr teen years ago there was a certain hopelessness in portions of the West. Population was coming in slowly, the means of communication were scanty and inadeS ate, and the future seemed dark. The nadian Pacific railway was a single trade line with comparatively few branches. It now has branches in all directions, which are added to every year, and its main line is being doubletracked. What were struggling towns sixteen years ago are now great prosperous cities; what was prairie is covered with townships. These places grow with a rapidity which toffies all Old World conceptions of agricultural life. While an English county town is getting a few sheets of plate glass in its principal street, a Canadian village is equipping itself with theatres, public halls, electric tramways, libraries and newspapers. All these new communities have interests of their own and opinions of their own. They cannot be classed with the older communities in the East, but they have to be separately studied and considered, not only as they are at the moment, but still more closely as they will become even while legisation is being matured. The transition from purely agricultural to partially industrial organisation takes place as rapidly as anything else. As great market towns arise, where only a few years ago there was open country, so do manufactures spring up where there were only agricultural exchanges. With these rapid transformations the thoughts of the people also change. What was held good sixteen years ago may now .be very differently regarded. What suited the interests of an agricultural community does not exactly .suit one which is turning its attention to manufactures. In these rapidly developing regions men do not trouble themselves much with abstract theories. They are guided by a very keen perception of practical interests, and pay little heed to mere opinions. This, of course, is the way in which new countries are made "while you wait."