A NEW AMERICA.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIII, Issue 7943, 18 January 1906, Page 7

A NEW AMERICA.

The prediction that West Siberia will be the America of the future sounds rather strangely to alien ears. The popular idea of Siberia has been formed from the tale 3 of privation and suffering which have lingered round Russia's policy of punishment by exile, and it is a little startling, therefore, to read of it as a laud which may bo expected some clay to flow literally with milk and [honey. Mr Oscar Eden-Zeller, who has just returned from an extensiva tour through the country, states that it will almost certainly become the grain belt of the world For the ' time being, ODly tho rich tracts of agricultural country on either side of the trans Siberian Railway are under cultivation, but there are millions of acres on the vast tableland whioh are only waiting to be "scratched" to smile back at the enterprising farmer. The land is particularly suitable for grain-growing, and as the temperature is equable there is nothing outside political restrictions to retard its exploitation upon a large soalo. As it )s, the country simply languishes for lack of enterprise. Yakutski, the northern capital, and incidentally the roo3t v nortnern telegraph station in the world, is quoted by Mr Zeller as a typical Siberian town. From' May to.September, during which period the steamers run uo and down the river Lena, tbipgs are brisk and lively, but for the balance of the year the I efforts of the inhabitants seem to k oe confined to sleeping, eating and idling. This rather depressing picture is said to be characteristic of the people of the country, who do no more work than is necessary to make a living. It is this indolence and the militbry supervision whioh reigns everywhere that have kept settlement back, and have prevented the hundreds of miles of rich ] country from being put to profitable use. But Mr Zeller looks to the present agitation in Russia to bring about such a revolution of her methods as will open up the way for the investment of foreign capital on a large scale. It looks at the moment as if the day when Siberia will become the business compeer of America were a long way off, but Mr Zeller is only one of many travellers who have returned with enthusiastic opinions as to the agricultural prospects of the country. The last census shows the number of farmers holding lund under any tenure to be only 28,373, for runbolders 3220, and of dairy farmers 4702. As the other landowners, including horticulturists, etc., do not contribute more than a fraction to the export trade, it will be seen that the bulk of the £21,000,000 representing New Zealand's annual output of agricultural products is raised on the holdings of only a little more tnan 36,000 men. Mr Thos. Duncan, Secretary of the Masterton Racing Club, who communicated with "the Traffic Manager, at Wellington, with regard to the advisability of running a special train from .Masterton to the Wellington races, on Saturday morning, as well as Monday, has received a telegram' from the Traffic Manager, stating that owing to the soarcity of rolling stock he is unable to aooede to their request. Residents of Masterton, who intend attending the Wellington Races on Saturday, will, therefore, require to travel by the 7 o'clock train. An Auckland Star chronicles a very daring theft. A man wept into the telegraph office to despatch a telegram, having with him a parcel of some value. He placed the parcel on the desk beside him, wrote nut his telegram, stepped over and handed it straight to the olerk, and was back again inside of two seconds, he maintains, yet the parcel had vanished, apparently in thin air. His astonishment was too great at first for utterance, as there were not above a dozen people in the place, none of whom could be safely regarded as likely suspects.