THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1906.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8241, 20 September 1906, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1906.

A particularly interesting disoussibn at the meeting of the British Association at York was that on rest. Dr. Dyke Aoland declared that to stint a child of sleep is to stint his growth, and that it is j'jsfc as oruel to oat down his sleep as to deprive him of some of hia necessary food. Dr. Aoland said that all people need longer sleep In winter than in summer. Most of a boy's growth is done in bed; he rises measurably longer. When he enters a public sonool he still has one foot to add to bis stature, with more than 40 per cent, to make up of his adult weight, and with a dynamometer grusp *0 per cenc. short of adult power;

he ahould leavesohool with only one-twenty-eighth of the adult stature i to complete, with this full weight 1 acquired to within about one-hun- [ dredtb, and his muacular system and bony framework almost in their adult form. Dr. Aoland did not agree with the nractioe ol early rising. It is difficult for adults to sleep too much, and impossible for children. In the opinion of medical officers of publio schools, growing obildren require from nine to ten hours sleep, and a headmaster of one of the large schools, who has changed the breakfast hour from seven to eight, says that the whole echool is brighter and does better work. Nothing would lead him to return to the "fetish of early rising." Mr 0. B. Pry was quoted as saying that when he was at school, although he had nine hour's sleep, he always needed more than he got, and so muoh did he crave for it, that for the first week or so of the holidays he would go to bed about ten and sleep till one or even five o'clock next day. Sleep was divided by Professor Gotch into two binds—normal and neurotic. The one is the sleep of the labouring man —the other is the sleep of the brain worker. Neurotic sleep is very deep for the first half hour, and then becomes shallow, and it is ic the shallow sleep that dreams occur. The healthiest sleep is dreamless, but few people have the power possessed by Lord Kitchener, to go to sleep at any moment without dreaming. Dr. Aoland combatted the idea of seeking relaxa tion from severe brain work jo hard physical exercise. There is no evidence to support the belief that such exorcise has a compensating effect; bodily and mental aotivity each requires its period of rest, and if bodily activity is added to mental exertion, an increased amount of rest is neoessary.

A correspondent in Johannesburg supplies The London Times with some interesting figures concerning the present position of the diamond indnstiy. He points out that vol« canio "pipes'Mn which diamonds are found are not peculiar to South Africa. They have been found in New Zealand and the United States, but it is only in South Africa that the diamond deposits have attained any economic value. In South [Africa, the fields have I widened considerably of late years. | For a long time it was supposed that I diamond mines were only to be I found in the neighbourhood of ] Kimberley and in the district far- ■ ther to the east in the 'River Colony, where thw Jagerafontein and Kallyfontein "pipes" are situated, but mines have been found in many other parts of the country such as near Pretoria, in the Transvaal, and near Kronstadt and Boahof in the Orange River Colony. The diamoad merchants in London, who control the price of diamonds, have to faue a possible difficulty of keeping up the price with a large increase in production, but leadbg authorities are agreed that at least twice the annual present supply]} could be absorbed without affecting the price, and that there will always be a demand for the better class of stones. And in spite of the greatly increased output the price has steadily risen. "" According to the latest report cf the New Jagerafontein mine the pverage price realised per carat in 1887 was 288 4d; last year it was 57a 9d, and since the issue of the report a further rise of 5 per cent, per carat has taken pluoe. The combined output of the De Beers Mines and the New Jagerafontein in 1&90 was 1,550,000 carats, while in 1899 the output was 3,130,000 carats. Last year tno output was 2,166,000 oarats. The average priao for De Beers diamonds is five shillings lower than for the New Jagorat'ontein. Every mine produces a certain amount of rubbish, worth about 9s a carat, aud it was &tuted at the last Premier meeting that the sale of these stones represented 25 per oent. of the receipts. The Premier, near Pretoria, is the largest and most valuable individual diamond mine in South Africa. IS is estimated that when Its full plant is at work the profits will be £2,000,000 a year, the life of the mine on this basis being well ovor fifty years. Figuros like these make one wonder where all the diamonds go tu. They are not (ihiugs that can be destroyed. Owners {take care they are not lost, and they do not require to bo rone wed. Yet we Hud vast and increasing sums spent year after year upon them.