CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 275, 12 April 1913, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

A GARDEN CITY. At present Great Britain has over a hundred model' communities living in districts that have been laid out on town-planning lines. .Most of these communities are to be found in the suburbs or on the outskirts of the large cities. At the present time, England. Germany and America lead the way in town-planning schemes; but although England was not first in the field in this movement, she now occupies; the foremost place. Letchworth, which is 33 miles from London, is the most effective example in the world of gard'en city principles. It is the only place in the world which is a separate self-contained town laid out on scientific lines, and providing factories, workers' homes and agricultural industries, The other garden cities in Great Britain and the Continent are suburban adjuncts of large centres of population. ' It is to Letchworth that all Continental and American visitors who are interested in townplanning are taken in order to see how a garden city is being created. The number of these visitor* h increasing year by year. Letchworth is not a large city, and though it is not complete, it is not intended that it should ever become a city with a teeming population. It covers an area of 4500 acres, and its present population is about 8000 people. Before the land was acquired by the promoters of the garden city there was a population of about 400, who lived in small villages, which were in a state of decay.

A DEMORALISING TENDENCY. Thus our Tariki correspondent:—ln reviewing the objects of the numerous deputations that stuck up the .Ministers here, there and everywhere, one is struck with the fact that practically all were alike —money, money, money! Many speeches were made by many deputants, 1 all advocating the same thing, viz., their particular claim to a dip into the Treasury chest. Unfortunately, this happens at present to be, as one speaker put it, like old Mother Hubbard's cupboard. So it would almost appear that much breath and a good deal of eloquence have been wasted. The demoralising effect of huge borrowing and lavish expenditure of public money is everywhere apparent. The tendency of the rural population to migrate to the towns is perhaps the greatest menace to the progress and prosperity of the Dominion. The lure of the city grows stronger every day. Ten years ago many of the Taranaki towns were anything but attractive places. One went there on business and was glad to g.'t away. Rut a great change has taken place. Kino public buildings, libraries, theatres, picture palaces, attractive shops, clubs, beautiful recreations grounds, pretty -residences and gardens all seem to have a fascinating effect on the countryman, and he is no longer in a hurry to get away home. . He lingers and begins to wonder if he isn't losing all the good things of life, and to compare bis lot with some town relative who seems to have a much more enjoyable time and doesn't have to graft half as hard.

"CITI'CKINf;" COUXTUY LIFE. The correspondent continues:—The district high schools, which a iiumlior of country school children now all end, have a similar tendency. 'Hoys from the country mix with tin; town lads and compare notes. They (the town hoys) don't have any cows to milk. Tlicv have more time for their home-wovk and more time for jinnies anil recreation. Kesnlt: Discontent and probably u resolve that when they're men they, too, will chuck the country and have a good time in the town. In all directions we hear the same cry, "Vou can't get labor." It doesn't matter whether you are prepared to give high wages or not, The workers prefer to work for less money in towns than put up with the dull time in the country. Plenty of women will tell yon (hey would rather "starve" in the town than he ''buried alive" in the country. The consequence of all this is that the science of farming is reduced to a very simple question,

viz., the amount of work the farmer can do single-handed. It is no good him wasting his time in considering the value of this or that fodder plant, or whether he will put in mangels or carrots or make ensilage. If lie has anything of a herd it won't pay him. I heard of the case of a farmer who made up his mind to go in for ensilage and put down ten acres of oats. lie scoured the country side for labor and paid top wages, with the result that now ho has it stacked. Totting up the cost; he finds be is going to be out of pocket, and that he would have been better off if he had never turned a sod. There are hundreds of acres which want logging up and clearing, and prices are offered that would ensure good men high wages, from IDs to lys a day. But they are going to remain as they are, and the "progress and prosperity" of the country will have to be maintained by other means, such as picture shows and skating rinks.

JAM ADULTERATION. j The most modern way of dodging the Pure Foods Act (says a London news- , paper) is very simple. If you want to sell some cheap article at a high price, such as cheap apple jelly f»r costly black currant jam, all that you need to do is to put on the label "Improved black currant jam." "Improved" is a see another and atruer re-grouping ot far better sounding word than "acfufkera ted," yet the difference betvreen the two words has excused the sale of thousands of tons of imitations of jam and marmalade all over the world. Mr. Ernest Marriage, lecturing at the. Royal Society of Arts on "The Adulteration of Jams," pressed' the above statement home by laying bare some of the practices of the jam-making trade. The form of adulteration referred to by the lecturer as so general and so successful that it threatens to corrupt the whole jam trade was the addition of the pulp or the juice (which is the filtered pulp) of'cheap fruit to dearer jams. The mainstay of this adulteration is the apples, whilst lemons, gooseberries and even red currants are used in some cases. Rhubarb, too, though not a fruit, plays a most useful part in "mixed, fruit" jams, and perhaps provides "fruit juices" in other preserves. "How widespread this practice is," he said, "a careful study of manufacturers* labels (aided again, perhaps, by a magnifying glass) will show. Of course, it is not called adulteration, but the 'improvement' of a jam "by the addition of other choice fruit,' where pulp is used, or 'by the addition of fruit juices,' if the adulterant has been filtered. Those adulterators who boldly take their chances of prosecution, or are confident in their ability to defy discovery, are no doubt the minority. The majority are afraid of the consequences, and seek to evade their legal liability. The Food and Drugs Act, misinterpreted by the carelessness or ignorance of magistrates, seems to offer a way of evasion by means- of cunningly worded labels, and the Act whose very purpose was to put an end to adulteration becomes the sheet anchor of the jam adulterator." The cost of the currants needed for producing a hundredweight of jam is about •21s 3d. If apples were used their cost .would be 4s fid-. .