Notes and Comments.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 156, 23 January 1902, Page 2

Notes and Comments.

The Argentine Republic is jusfc now attracting a the great deal of attenargentinb tion frotn capitalists republic, an] from others desirous of em> grating there to take up land. Anyone with a'capital of from £SOOO to £IO,OOO can earn big interest on their money. Land near the railways cao be bought for £1 per acre in blocks of 6000 acres, and land can be rented at aboafc Is 3d per acre. The climate of the Republic "is healthy, and its prospects are as bright as those of any part of the world. The land is excellent, much the same as in New Zealand, and labour is cheap and plentiful. The lai - guage of the country is Spanish, .which is a very easy tongue for an Englishman to acquire. English is, however, very common, there being a colony of 25,000 English people in Buenos Ayrep, and English colonists are scattered throughout the length and breadth of the land. All the railways in the country are practically owned by British capitalists and managed by English companies. This is also true of tramways, telephone and electric lighting companies. The principal banks and loan and trust companies and very many industrial concerns are worked with British capital and managed by Englishmen and Scotchmen. In Buenos Ayres alone there are 160 miles of tramways all owned by British companies. It is estimated that £250,000,000 of English capital is invested in Argentina. The labourers are for the most part Italians, but Basques, Frenchmen, Germans and Russians are . also found. The chiet difficulty which Englishmen have met with has been due to their want of cou.rteiy to the local authorities * ■ -'.— /■'■■»»'-'

The youngr men go ouf there display absolute belief in everything British and a con. tempt for the ideas and manners of other people. Anyone who keeps a civil tongne in his head can do well in Argentina.

A delightful little story is going the rounds of—ahem TnE —North Canterbury. parson's A meenister, of what failure, deenomeenation we willna' say, was driving round a visiting brother, •whose object was to collect funds for some colonial object. In course of their peregrinations a certain house was visited, but the goodman was at the shearing shed and unco busy, ye ken. The pair drove blithely to the shed and sent in word 'by a roustabout that they desired to see Mr Johnson. MrJohnhon hud peeped through ;<i porthole and was well aware of the object of the kindly visit, so he sent out word that Mr Johnson was too busy to leave his work, would they call again. "No,' they replied, Mr So-and-so was not oftou in the district and would Mr Johnson please came cut. Mr Johnson could not unless he had a man put on to do his work while he was engaged. Thinking tbey bad him on the hop, the ministers said they would pay a man for half an hour. The Embassador's next word was that "'Air Johnson would not come till a man had been put on a while so that he could loam the work he was expected to du. For therr fr-iher information he also intimated that labour was unpro-; curable within twenty miles, and that unless he approved of; the man s*nt the bargain was oil. Two wrv disgm;,d parsons d.s-cnsoeathemattt;,un<iea.:-.<sked the other to ■-•, iu 'V.mI beard Johnson in bis. p-". Vinnately the visitor thought he could do tli* trick, and he sent in word that Mr So and So was coming in. To the unconcealed delight oVtlie Bhfwers. Johnson sent out word hurriedly that he was in deshabille, and that his hands were dirty, and that even if the parson came in he would have to make) it well worth Johnson's •vfii'iU to stop his work and talk. Anyhow the door was locked, and he wouldn't lilce the parson ■to crawl through the porthole on his hands and kuees. This was the last straw, and witho'it •another word, good, bad, or indifferent, the ecclesiastical horse was turned homeward. They had been at home three hours when the humour of the situa-■s.i-.Mi at rock them, and they hughed cousumedly, about which time Johnson's shearers, with aching sides, had laughed tiumistrives to sleep.