THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 1906.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8216, 21 August 1906, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 1906.

The recent announcement of the despatch of the Canadian cruiser Arctic to plant the British flag on certain lands in the Arotio regions, is explained by the Ottawa correspondent of "the Tribune. He points out that the British title in international law to some of this land is not quite secuie, private discovery not in itself entitling a nation to ownership. The discovery in these wilds has been principally British, but the number of American names given to places shows the part American explorers have played in mapping out this inhospitable region, while 100,000 square miles were o'jee taken possession of in the name of the King of Norway. The idea of the Canadian Government in despatching the/expedition is to enforce Canadian authority on the shores of Hudson Bay, and as lar north as is deemed necessary. If is part of the policy of ultimately

exploiting the whole of Canada. "It is not enough," declared Sir Wilfrid Laurier recently, "for us to confine our view to the Canada that is now settled. We must look ahead; we must push northwards as far aa colonisation oun go. I have great confidence that before many years are passed we shall see towns and villages on the shores of Hudson Bay, as we see on the shores of Norway, where the people will be prosperously engaged in the lumbering business, the pulp industry, the industry, the mining, industry and others." The majority of Canadian public men are convinced that within the next decade the bulk of the cattle and the grain crop of Western Canada, will be finding its way to Europe by the Hudson Bay route. Of the resources of the regions to the north, sufficient is known to warrant the belief that they may one day be producers of considerable wealth. The Arctic salmon fisheries are of undoubted value. In a reoent report to the Government it is stated that with bat four casts of a small net a orew captured 5,0001b of salmon. Minerals—especially copper—have been found there, also coal. Another reason for the the establishment of posts in the Far North is the duty which Canada owes co her Esquimaux subjects. The natives are often on the verge of starvation. Absence of proper authority has permitted the wanton slaughter by traders of the animals on whioh the Esquimaux have for generations subsisted and the payments made to them for goods are ridiculously small. For a captured whale (worth, perhaps, £2,000 for bene alone) the payment is sometimes a second-hand whaleboat, worth £24 when new. A rifle, worth £2, is accepted as payment for fifteen prime musk-ox skins. This sort of thine is to be put down as far ap possible.

The Scientific American publishes an article from its Paris correspondent stating that Professor Milne, the well-known English seismologist, is at the head of an importnt projeot which is to systematise the reoords of earthquakes. His scheme is to establish by means of such reoords a base of scientific calculations and comparison of seismic and voloani6 phenomena, by which, it is hoped, in the first place,"to find the velocities with which the motion of earthwaves is propagated around and through tLe globe. The great value of such systematic reoords of commotions in the earth's crust has been strikingly emphasised by the late Spn Francisco disaster. It is perhaps not too'muah to hope that if reoords of this kind made by selfrecording instruments were continuous and comparable the knowledge gained from them would ultimately facilitate earthquake predictions. Happily, Professor Milne's project is likely to meet with success, as the type of seismograph devised for the work is already installed in 45 different observaturies co-operating in the enterprise, add a study of the data thus obtained promises to throw new light upon the obscure phenomena which lead to seismic and volcaniu action. ' •

Mr Rider Haggard gave sotne startling evidencOjbafore the Seleet Com mittee of the House of Commons on the Housing of the Working Classes Act (amendment) Bill. He said that housing was generally defective in rural districts. The worst place he knew in this respect was a village in Somerset, in which there was not a house fit for a human being. The walls were falling down and the windows were loose. 'lbe medical officer told him that the houses weio not condemned because it whs a long and troublesome process, and beoauso, if they were pulled down, people would be homeless. Near Waltham he found 20 men working on a farm, but could see no cottages. They lived in a brick shed, about 14ft square, lilio a waggon-house. It'had no windows. Sacks were laid on the (loor, round the' wall, and there the muii slept. "A hundred yards away," continued Mr Rider Haggard, "I saw an elm tree on a hill. There I found the ashes of a fire and a rod to hold a pot. This was the dwelling place, the kitohen and the parlour of the 20 uieu. Winter and summer they did their cooking and spent their Sundays under th« tree.".