Notes and Comments.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 164, 11 February 1902, Page 2

Notes and Comments.

la the ovmii of an Imperia 7adi verein being ar> t?..yde ranged within tbt BCYJor'i'3. Jv;• Jt irf?i Em|lire, by which preference would be given by the colonies to Bntidh gooda and by Britain to coloeial goodrf, foreign couu> trh-io, Get many in particular would make industrial reprisals Thai mi'jht prove very bad illdeet for Auyiraha. ytatioiieiaiis havi been at work compiling fignrei in connection with this matter and :.i very casual glance is con vineiug that Germany could maki it very av, kward {'or the Britisl I'jinpue f< r a, time if she boy eot'.ivd BrUhdi goods.. Aceordiiij to the lalerti published returns Britain sohi to Germany in a yeai &'d'6J}7ti,;iiU worth of goods, am bought ic ; d ; l", : ),058 worth i'ron tile «amo country. The correS' ponding tigures for AiWraiasii were ££!,GOI,oC;; and £2,211,154 In <jt!n;i' words, if Germanj retaliated by boycotting Britis! and iji'iti.ih colonial goods, till Mother C'.Kiiury would abou it year and have b find other markets, whilst A»; t:\ilasia would be siruikiiiy hitt the amount of £O[iO,Q'JO per yo;u Yv'kh the United states, Japai ami Seauiinavia the boot is 01 the other toot. Each year At« tralariia buys from these thr© countries more thai she sells to them, tio that buy cutting Au.itraiatua would do thes couutrks theaisrilvus more barn than it would du us. I'akd collectively Australasia export •si-i,oiJ.o3'i annually more thai she import?, so -that a well boycott vvoaid practically mil ua. There seems no doubt tha a German boycott v/oukl bin the British Umpire more thani would hurt Germany. Whil Britain depends on Germany fo xo/Jd'i/ii.'O cash for good*, i takes £'J0,;!0i),0i)0 goods for casl from the United States, ita bes friend. The figured are cerUiiul] vemarkable.

The design upon the obverso siJi of our high valo Tn:-: okagon coins is retained il SL.vnai. the Xing Ed wan coins which wen issued from the first of this year .Many people look, upon* tbi design of St. George slaying tbi dragon as a. childish and foolisl one, but it is a design represeut ing a story which is part « English history. As St'. Andrei is patron saint of Scottish p.-opli and St. Patrick of Ireland, »o tbi peojde of England have thef faint in St. George, The of story of the slaying of the dragoi may not be known to a| our readms, so we reprint it :-| St George is supposed' to haffl been the son of Lord Albert I Coventry. On reaching, manhooi he went to Syiene, a city of Libra wk&re a dragon whose poisouo'iß breath '' had many a city s!ain| was terrorising the countiS through iiia partiality for beauti ful maid..n3 as an addition to hi daily bill of fare. When 1 George arrived tha King! daughter, a young lady of til name of Sabra. had just "be® uhoson by lot as the latent sue! ike to appease the dragon's wrati and he determined to reseue hi and slay the monster. Sabra luff been tied to a stake by the galUi citizens, and the dragon \*| just about to commence his mJ$, wht:u St George appeared uuol the scene, and killed him in til nick of time, by throating a Janif down his mouth. Like otitff heroes in similar legends, ho fei in love with the beauteous daffi| sei, and asked the King for b& hand iu marriage. But here til story b« gins to differential! Instead of accepting the younl laver,aau otEtring hinx h&ltm

"kingdom—the usual sequel in fable and song—the Libyan King scooted the idea, and actually consigned his daughter's rescuer to a dungeon. However, the hero escaped from prison, and carried off the Princess Sabra to England, where no doubt they both lived to a green old age in peace and prosperity, as all such ijr.ippy couples do in story books. Such is the legend told in an old English ballad. St George, it may be added, was made the patron Saint of England during the reign of Edward 111.