CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 247, 8 March 1913, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

" NO GOOD GOING OVER THERE." There are quite a number of folks who go through life fully believing that .distant fields really are green; and there are some New Zealanders who are convinced that Australia is' a better country to live in than their own Dominion. Mr. M. S. Brown, of Christehurch, who has just returned from a flying visit to Australia, undertaken,for the purpose of raising money, when he got there found that money was tighter in Australia than it is in New Zealand. He tells us that he approached a number of financial people in Sydney, saw representatives of lending institutions, hunted around generally, and got in toucii with financiers of all sorts —with the result that he ascertained that people with first-class securities were freely paying 6 per cent, for advances. The demand for money even at this rate was so great that sufficient was not available to meet it. This was clue to the development of Queensland, of the West, and of Sydney itself. Mr. Brown came back with empty pockets.—Feikfing Star. A WORD FROM RIDER HAGGARD. Sir Rider Haggard, now touring New Zealand with the Trade Commission, is well known throughout this Dominion by his hooks. He had something interesting to say about afforestation to a Dunedin reporter. He has taken part in England in schemes of this nature, and lie said that in New Zealand, perhaps, there was more need for preservation and fresli planting than in any other part of the world. "I want to see one of your kauri forests," he said. "That will he one of the sights of New Zealand to me. T must find time for thai. There is enormous necessity for preserving your kauris. Do it at once. Don't delay. What will future generations say of you if you allow your kauri to disappear? lam told that the difficulty is to keep the fire out of the kauri forests, and that the solution is to cut the trees down. But it should not be an insuperable difficulty, and the proposed solution seems to be a terrible one. The guardianship of the forests is one of the most important duties of the State. Germany. Austria, Hungary and many other countries have realised their responsibilities in this direction, and I think that New Zealand should not be behind."