THE KAIMIRO BOULDERS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 190, 10 February 1914, Page 6

THE KAIMIRO BOULDERS.

To till! Editor. Sir,—Willi reference In the formation and structure of sonic curiously ingrained or stralilicd boulder rocks, apparently carried down from ill. Hjfmont and dispersed in extensive a«cii- | initiations over the. country ill the vicinity of the. Kaimiro disUiul, the novel and wiyrtl aspect of .some of which was noticed by myself a considerable lime «go, f .might mention that outline drawings thereof having been submitted to the curator of the (icnlogi'-al Survey and Museum of London, Mr. (■lift, he obligingly examined t(ipin, and gives it as his opinion thai the form iti(wis arc wholly natural, and that be can trace no work of man in their markings, though not wishing to seem dugmalie or 100 positive. The late Sir 0. I.yell, iii his "Ueology," describes rocks..preciscly so grooved or "striated," to be found ill Alpine regions, .is so mentioned by "Air. Saxton, of ihe Survey oilicc in Xew l'lymmitli, and occurring iw numbers in diU'erenl pin ts of the world. They are all most evidently due to ancient glacial ice grinding, ihe ice smoothing and incising tli.i rock surfaces in rectilinear paral!"! lines, almost as a diamond might cut glass. The phenomenon being wholly |'unknown to me at I be. time of observing the. furrowed rock, i was inclined to attribute the appenranee to tlie tim-''-woru manipulation of some unknown prehistoric and vanished people. If, 1 according 1 to Lyell, such boulders may have originally been formed from sand, mud and silt conglomerate, pieces oi' tree limbs, broken-oil' librous roots, mosses and oilier substances, they may have been taken up and imbedded in the softer matter of the stone and jielrilird within the borders of the solidified rock, accounting for some other rather unexplained formations. The period of tlie occurrence of the ice-grinding among such old glacier-driven liouldevs must be lost in the. mists of u most remote antiquity.—T am, etc., C.W.W. Fitzroy, 5/2/ H. ! PRO BUCK COMMISSIONERS. ! To the Editor.

Sir,—Some time ago the Government. I. believe, appointed a produce commissioner to represent our butter industry and other produce at Vancouver and other American markets. No doubt this is a step in the right direction. .A reliable authority there will do much to foster the trade information in regard lo prices of butter, and be of value to dairy factories generally. But as .yet I have not seen in the News any account of sales of butter, etc., from •the agent referred, to. The London High Commissioner's prices cabled to ns oven week are of great value to the producer and enable us to know from •: •reliable authority what is being done at the other end. Can we get the, same from Vancouver? —I am, etc., •I. RICKARD. Tnglewood, 7/2/14'. : MK. WILFORD'S BELIEFS. To the Editor.

Sir.—So llr. Wilford has beliefs, or at least unbeliefs. This is how it ap- . pears from a paragraph in your paper on Friday. Yes; I expect, bis unbeliefs are more numerous than his beliefs, lie eideiitly believes in the liquor trade. ' and not in prohibition; and at the same : time apparently wishes to ''cheek evils." 1 and not do away with them. Oh, no: ■ I he is a lawyer and a politician, and a I mercenary politician at that. What sort of. contract does be wish to enter into with Mr. Masscy? Why, to give his valuable vote in favor of allowing • the people to settle the question of national prohibition by a 5o per cent, majority instead of the fib per cent. . which lie has hitherto thought (?) the proper thing—and he a Liberal, lo'i! lie will make this great concession if . Mr. ..Massey will relinquish the local issue altogether. If he be a statesman, or even a pretence for one, why ' nan he not say wltelhsr simple majority is right or wrong? And if he believes ; there is something sacred about *). and L no less or more, why not declare himself thereon, instead of trying to make 1 i a political bargain with those who are I opposed to him? In the end it resolves itself into this: Is the liquor ■trade of such a character, and does it produce such results, as to preclude free trade therein? Tf so. then who should decide whether it be licensed or not;' in the community? Now, it is ad nutted on all hands, and at all times, that free trade in intoxicants is dangerous and unwise; and. further, thai the people should decide this question. It follows, then, as naturally and evi-dently-.as it can be. thai a: majority shall'decide: Mr. Wilford says that a minority shall decide, if that minority be of a certain'way of thinking and I acting. Let our M.P.'s be men and legislate as they think right, and for

tin- good of the people; but to ollVr their votes for barter is not the purl .of statesmen, rt would be interesting to know what arc the grounds for Mr. Wilford's beliefs. "I don't believe il (no-license) checks evil." says our „\[.l'. Xo-Mcense is intended to cheek ilrnukenness, and it does, and many other evils, too. Now, what are Hie grounds of Mr. Wilford's belief thereon? They do not lie in facts as recorded in the police returns. These show (hat the evil of drunkenness in no-license areas is reduced, so that, according to papulation, where there is one drunk in a no-license district there are four in the [ license distrcts. Ashbttrton had :iflr eases of drunkenness during the two years before no-license took effe-t and only S7 in the two years following •and yet they quote Ashburton as a shocking failure! The other no-license areas show similar results (on wliioh Mr. Wilford niav ground his beliefs). M>. Wilford quotes Wellington.! and. seemingly, laments that there is the licensed bar so close to the no-license area of Wellington South. These suburban dry areas are not the test of what no-lieensc will do in the way of checking evils: ami yet in these there was the opportunity in 1!)11 to revert to license, and the voters by a very i large majority preferred to remain without the licensed bars. Tt is certainly more reasonable to conclude I.lml. Hie voters in the dry districts know belter than even Hr.'Wilford. Very | much more ought to be said on this subject, but 1 fear to trespass on your space, so T would thank you to insert this short letter.—l am. etc.. X. Xew Plymouth, fi/2/14. TBenN'K'AL KDUCATrOX. To the Editor. Sir.-- fn a leading article in your paper of Friday last referring to the above subject, you make use of the following words:—"U is admitted on nil sides that since Mr. Gray has filled the 1 office, of technical organiser, he has hi- | fused into what was fast becoming in I effete institution a most creditable I vitality," etc. Xow, Sir, in justice to | the lute organiser, Mr. Heatley, w'io

being absent from New Zealand has not the opportunity of replying to your criticism, I, as a friend of bis, desire lo take exception to what is implied in your article, that under his management the. institution was becoming elfete. I assume that a paper of such recognised .standing and fairness as the Daily News! (must have, derived its information from an authoritative source, namtdy. either from an oll'u-iul connected with the institution or from ollicial records and reports. if your article is based on the personal opinion of an ollicial, J think it is only due to Mr. Heatley that you should supply the name of your informant. If, however, on the other hand, you arrive at your opinion that the institution wns becoming effete from the study of ollicial records, I take it that you are prepared to buck lup your opinion by facts. You knowthe apparent success may be achieved by judicious advertising; but 1 assume, however, that you are too .experienced to be misled by such tactics. .ISefoiv you express the opinion (hat such' an institution is becoming ell'ete you should be prepared to substantiate your .statement, and' 1 would therefore ask you lo give a delinite reply ..to, the following questions:- (1) lias' the! attendance at any one of the night classes during the past year excecdee! the highest attendance, at the. same class hi.tlipast? (-2) lias there been a marked, increase in the total attendance of;pupils at the night classes over and alpive the natural increase that might reasonably lie looked for on. account .of ithe growth of the institution? (;i) Have the. students of the night clav.es Ijceu more successful during the year in publie examinations (such as the City iuul Guilds)? (■)) Have more tec'hrijeal classes been carried on at the Inglcwbod ' and Stratford technical schools lUiii'ing 1913 than in previous years? IS) ; ln" Mr. I lea tier's time classes for fanit-i's in wool-classing, dairy work etc., lyere organised throughout' the whole of -.he district. Are the fanners .so well caterled for now? 1 think if you aii-voi J these questions you will lino that J.he I j apparent progress is wny problonuUi ical. It might also be mentioned tjiat'l Mr. Ileatley was not on such n »>)■»]' j wicket as the present organise*. ' -In J addition to acting as organiser, he !iad I as dairying and agricultural instructor to visit and supervise all" the primary schools, taking these .subjects in t.hiV district in addition to.conducting-farm-ers' classes in dairy, work in 'various, parts of the district. " J, may be met ,b\ the argument, that the day classes have more than doubled themselves. Kven if they have, this increase may be largely credited to .Mr. 11 entity, as may vbe seen from this brief history of fih'c institution of the.se : duv classes. ■ At the beginning of 1!)I;J. Mr. flcatlev. after considerable elt'ort. got' these classes '.established with an attendance of close j on 30, and be was looking hopefullv t forward to this attendance doubling ii't j the beginning of the following year. I which it did. Towards the clo-'o 'of [lOl2 '.Mr. Heatley left for' Australia. {Had parents and others not been satisfied with the. work carried on in tjie classes under .Mr. Ileatley, there would not have been such a marked increase. 1 wish it to be clearly understood that I have not written with any desire .to disparage the present management under Mr. Gray, whom I believe to be" a thoroughly ollicient ollicer: but. solo'v to guard against the institution being "boosted" at the expense of past luijn- ' agenuiit.—l am, etc., > 1 TEACHER,

l.ln writing as we. did we had no idea of disparaging the work of the former organiser. Wo are aware that he did his best under conditions that were not so favorable as (bey -are at present. For the marked improvement in Ihe-e conditions the new organiser must be given a great deal of foe credit. lie wrung from the Fdueat'wn Board what it should have supplied.to Mr. Heatley, if it wanted the school'.to succeed and fill its proper place in the community. We had in mind the school as a whole; not the organiser particularly. Had the school been allowed-to go on as it was going the ablest organlser in the worHl would not have imtde the school a success. N'ow it has ; a chance: before it had little or none. Now it should justify its ■existence; under Ihe former conditions its best friend could hardly allirm that it did. —l*l.l