Correspondence.
1 ARTESIAN WATER. ,' ! : (IoVuEEDiTORJ. '•' .'; Sm,—Willyou'allowmoto.maka .;•■;. a suggestion to the recently appointed 4'. 1 : Committee to enquire into the Fire'..;-: Insuranco rates, that they : take : into ; •'■■ ■■ their consideration the tostiiig of the' ; :i > town for Artesian!w'ater, The Govern- .'. ; ; T, ment diamond drill is iu'the distript, ''/"]'■';' and the Borough Council would not' ' exceed their powers in hiring it for the purpose. I noticed when the question of trying, for Artesian water • was mooted jin)yoiir.ic'blunins lorne' ;t 'i : Short time since, one of our leading merchants (Mr Caselbergj offered to subscribe the sum-of £sit6wards pro- . Tiding fund for testing the town for Artesian water, and,, no;.doubt, the could gdfc sunicienry'nibriey ;■ prpujiscd to cover the expense outside • of. the, Qouncilif the latter body , r .:. bloodifrthe;Cbtinalbrag& | §' :;'.'• promibn)iy;Md6^ediiy'foryrefdi j|;-, t •.•; ' : ; i I"•';: ■■«? "■ -■ • w-a l.fW> ■'■
i 3V' : -'Amaigamatedßi^BU^'Sooietaes' .:'; : -Sports/ ' i>; ;'■;'..;'.. ."■•.' Tho following nominations have ,Mn received for the above sports to on Boxing Day:-, ■..■■:. ' Boxing Day Handicap .... ■ M Half Mile „ ... 11 ■Hurdle :.'„ -.... H ,'; .'Friendly Societies'„ ■•• ".' Ond Mile „ •■• U Walking ' i, ... 6
Total 60 Handicaps will bo declared on Monday.
;. Paul Lacroix at KoraeTho recent death of Paul Lacroix A recalls to our memory the following ™ curious and authentic anecdoto,. Tho ■■' ■" arduous toil and close application to • study, whilo complying the "History ' of Soissons," lipid undermiued tho health of thnteminont author, Soon after tho work appeared, ho had an attack of bronchitis, accompanied \jffc the spitting of blood, which lMssitatcd a journey to Italy for tho purposo of recruiting his health. He arrived there in a very weak state in the month of December, and stayed until August tho following year. He was so thin and pale that people pointed at him in the street, and said "Etiooo" (consumptive.) One day at Borne the proprietor of the Hotel do l'Europe, in the Piazza •diSpagna, where, ho lodged, heard him cough very violently, wont up into his bedroom and said: 'Siguor, your security ?'' What do you mean?' •said tho astonished author. 'Docs tho ambassador give bail for you ?' ' I fail to comprehend ...... ...'•■ 'lf a you should happjtflo die, who will ?' 'I don't oxpect to dio just yot However, as regards tho cost of the funeral, I,am not ambitious, and would have it coiit!PM on an economical scale.'' But who is to pay mo?' tho landlord continued, -Why, I sottlo with yon every week,' ' That's not the point, I mean the bed, the chairs, tho table tho carpet—iu fact all tho furniture in tho room; for, you'know, rivorything has to be burnt after the death of a consumptive patient,' 'My dear sir.' said Lacroix, ' then I'm not rich enough to die in Borne. lam off to Naples,' Accordingly next day lie left for South Italy, whero the climate completely restored him to health.
What One Man Can Do. A French physician named RaouJ who long dispensed drugs on a man-of-war, finding life very dull on board ship, stepped outside his professional awhile ago to distinguish himself and the results have been so note- "■ worthy that tha Paris Society of Commercial Geography has just honoured him with onn of ita medals.
to him .that tho useful at Tahiti, that largo and lovely Island of the Society Group in Polynesia, could be greatly increased MflLbv judicious importations from V of other countries. So ho consideiablo part of the world under contribution and in course of time many hundwds of foreign plants werol doing their best to take root in the soil of Tahiti, Among .his collection were rubbor trees from Madasgar, ebony,, teak, and red cedar from Australia, tobacco from Java and the Rio Grande, cotton from Georgia, hemp from Manilla, cinnamon and nutmegs from the Malay Archipelago, grapes from Maderia, and Teneriffe coffoe from Formosa, and a very largo variety of glasses and iruit trees, He established « nursery near the chief i town of Tahiti, and he has already proved that tho larger part of his plants will succeed in this favoured island. Grape culture, which he intjiuced, is already beginning to eni'™the country, ami it is said that through tho efforts of this man alone tho aspects of tho vegetable kingdom in Tahiti aro undergoing a remarkable change for tho better.
Princely Hospitality. Princo Tallyrand was famous for tho exquisite dinners he gave from time to time. One morning ho received as a presoiit a couple of splendid sturgeons for a banquet he was to give that day. What was to be done? Ono fish was moro than sufficient, and the Princo could not bring his mind to part with tho other on account of the donor. What a pity that two such prize fish should have been sent at the same time! Hid major-domo put an end to his perplexity by declaring that he had found a way to do justice to both the fiAr When the Prince sat at tho tflne'witk his guests, there was a plight pauso after tho soup, and then
thoro appeared borne in on a gigantic silver platter-fish Number AOne, which was greeted, by cries of vTsincere admiration on the part of tho astonished guests, But suddenly the bearer stumbled and fell with his burden full length on the floor, Tho catastrophe created general consternation. Alas!'there lay smashed into a thousand pieces the marvellous fish which made everybody's mouth wator. The Prince himself turned pale: only the major-domo retained his composure, and assured tho company wih a smile that tho little mishap could be easily repaired.' He beckoned to the servants.and behold I a moment later the guests had tho joyous surprise of seeing another and still larger sturgeon brought into tho room, and wore uiicortoin which the most tojldmiro the bounty of Damo Nature in supplying a second fish of Buob.' colossal proportions, dr tho tkoughtfulness of their host in pro*P£ng in so liberal a fashion against every otnergency. Sturgeon Number Two, had thus acted its pail, Tho Prince and his major-domo wero highly satisfied with the effect this little scene had produced on the minds of the '
« A BIG PANTRY. A hundred or two years ago considerable fear was ontertaincd by .certain philosophers and astronomers lest the earth should run into a comet and be destroyed, or, at least, ho rendored unsuitable for the further, residence of urd. Ihererireastron- 1 omers to-day who fear that the sun will give out some day, and the earth will freeze up solid, like a-ureal terrestrial iceberg, and whirl, a frozen clod, through the universe "ofendless night. There aro other weeping Jeremiahs among our modern prophets' who are very m.uoh afraid that the world's supply'of fuel wilt give* out. The forests of the world, they say, are being very rapidly cut off, and .our coal supply cannot last for ever. Aero, are.otJler. philosophers ...who, Tke Maltluis, 'are very much worried for fear the world is not large enough tohoM'lliopeonlowho arc sure to he bom in the course of time. Nature's supply; they • say, will not equal the tremendous demand, and in some
future cm'peopjo must starvo because tho world will bo tod small 1 to vhibo sufficient food (or them, But philosophorshavo always treated good mother | earth .with tremendous unfairness. The good mother always has'some undiscovered pockets in which .she stores her goodness to meet' her cliil ; droh's wants. When her larder apparently gives out thoro is'some higher shelf discovered in hor capacious pantry, where Blic stoiesaway provisions for her children. No one now is afraid of tho earth corning in collision with a comet. In fact it is quite possiblo that tho earth' lias passed right through a number nf comets without knowing it. Cornels that, wo cannot feel aro not to he particularly dreaded, As to the sun burning itself out and leaving the world an iceberg, tho best astronomer:! say this cannot happen for ten million years, We need notwotry for our ronioto great grandchildren of that far away era, for a great many new shelves will bo discovered in Mother Nature's pantry before that time; for in ten million years our leuruCd and highly developed descendants will havo found some way of getting along without the sun, Perhaps by this time they will have found some means of emigrating to some other solar systom ; and so when their own sun goes out they can borrow the sun of soino neighbouring universe. At any rate we will look out for our own needs and not worry about their affairs. As for poor Malthus, who was afraid the, world was not big enough, he seems to have beon needlessly alarmed/. He had never made many trips of discovery into Mother Nature's pantry, It is said that tho population of the whole United States could he crowded iuto Texas, and then tho state would not bo so thickly settled as Belgium, In fact it is said that even in Belgium whero the peoolo aro packed like sardines in ut box, tho country is capable ot supporting a much greater number, It is said that certain gardeners in the suburbs of Paris can raise as much from an acre of ground as a New Zealand fanner can got fronr forty acres, By tho use. of chemical fertilisers, by artificial irrigation, by concentrating the active rays of tho sun by tho use of glass, tho earth can be made almost a hundredfold more prolific than it has been given credit for, Monhavo never propdrly estimated the true valuoof a pound of soil. The common dirt under our feet, considering its possibilities which have probably not yet been half discovered, is precious ns gold dust. .Naturo's pantry is deep and high and her children have not found tho top shelf by nny means, As to the world's supply of fuel becoming exhausted, we will
not worry. There is a tromendously big fire in the centre of tho earth that burns as incessantly as the firo of the old vestal virgins. In fact the world is an immense egg of fire, with a very thin shell upon the outside upon which we stand, After our fuel supply has given out wo will bore throuKiyfl slielUtj^hoil: ourtea-yH^^H of know in course of time they will know how to do it cheaper. Besides there are other ways of producing heat except by combustion. Itftin be produced by chemical changes, by friction, and doubtloss by some undiscovered recipe which nature lias hidden uwny in her cookery-book, somewhere in that capacious pantry of which we have spoken. Nature Never goes to hor cupboard, like good " Mother Hubbard," end Gods it bare. Let ns still trust in childlike simplicity to'tho immense rescources of that unexplored pantry. We shall not bo allowed to cry in vain for bread,— Baro Bits.
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Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 3081, 15 December 1888, Page 2
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1,776Correspondence. Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 3081, 15 December 1888, Page 2
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