The Wairarapa Daily WEDNESDAY NOV. 27, 1889. TEE PHYLLOXERA.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3371, 27 November 1889, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily WEDNESDAY NOV. 27, 1889. TEE PHYLLOXERA.

Some years ago the vineyards over immense areas in France were literally devastated by the ravages of an insect called the phylloxera. In most instances the owners of the vineyards rooted up and burnt the diseased vines, and substituted other crops. It whs after a time discovered that many of the varieties of the American vines were proof against the pest, and many vineyards weie replanted with imported roots from the United States, and in the course of a few years the staple industry of vine cultivation again flourished. One drawback encountered was the fact that the American varieties, though strong and vigorous and resistant to the phylloxera, bore less palatable grapes than the beautiful French vines; but this difficulty was met by growing American stacks and grafting on to them the liner varieties peculiar to the soil and climate. These experiences on the Continent in the cultivation of grapes are of special interest now to colonists, because the phylloxera lias recently made its appearance in the neighborhood of the City of Auckland. A number of vines there have been proved to he very badly diseased, and there is reason to believe that the insects had been at work on their fell mission some considerable time before they were discovered. If this he tho case tho mature jly has been developed, and has probably travelled to other localities in tho Auckland province, obtaining such a foothold that nothing less than tho severest methods of repression will save the principal grape growing district of New Zealand from annihilation. Hundreds of settlers may be ruined by the phylloxera if preventive measures ade to the difficulty are not promptly Applied. Unfortunately, the Government cannot interfere with a strong hand to stamp out the plague. Of letc years there has been manifested t,t pientl desire on the part of fruit grower fo flhtiiin legislation which would enable fnsi.ct posts to be kept under, hut as yet tho flousii has not seen its way clear to pass an Act which would bring about this result. We havo plagues enough in our gardens mid orcharda, hut none perhaps 'so fatal to plant life phylloxera. Had the presence in New Zealand of this horrible insect been suspected, there would, uodoubt, have been somo Act passed which would have enabled tho Administration to deil with it in a decisive manner wherever it might appear This colony has a great futuro as a producer of fruit, if insect pests can be kept within hounds, and it will bo necessary in the interests of growers to obtain some legislative enactment which will enable invaders like the phylloxera to bo speedily exterminated.

Several hundred pounds it is ' estimated havo been spent in lav/ and lawyers by our local' bodies in the stand which they made against the demand of the District Board. As their cass was a hopeless ono from the first we failed to see the advantage gained by throwing so-much of the good money of the ratepayers a|j,?r the bad. It was we presume o-n' instance of "Pickwick and principle" only our Pickwicks when they found themselves threatened with personal incarceration' paid the demand, aud now they are paying that very unnecessary supplementary requisition "the law costs."

In his Inst issue our local contemporary published tbo fpllowinj*: w As usual on the ovc of au election contest'? oui' local contemporary resorts to unfair weapons. The statement that Mv Eenall encouraged Mr (!, Heron to como' forward ut for the mayoralty is a deliberate lalchood, j. We are quite prepared to prove from i' the columns of our local contemporary a the statement which we made. In hid issue of October 80 he publishes * tho following.— 0 t At the conclusion of the Mnstorton ] Borough Council business on Tuesday evening, the Mayor (Mr licnall) took occasion to ] remind the Cionncil that the time had arrived when they must look for a successor for the ' Mayoral chair, He had now held the post- ' tioii for two years in succession nnd ho was quite satiated with eivic honours. His im- ] pression was that the claiv should, if pais, i ible lie placed in the hands of some one who i had done good service in the Council, and it any of the senior members aspired to the position Ac would lend than Im ass'tslanci. I The evidence of our local contemporary '. proves that Mr Kemdl is now breaking ' the pledge \w then made and our contemporary is backing the dishonor. \ We have absolutely proved tho truth of our own statement but we scarcely expect our contemporary to apologise for his slanderous uituck upon us. However, he is no worse than Mr Renall and with Mr Oullen nddeilthere ■ will be a happy trio which will say anything, and oven when found out the triplet will scarcely be able to raise a blush. Wk believe the result of the municipal election to-day will bo , tbo return of Mr Heron—not by a large majority, but by a sufficient one. Mr (Men by himself would make a poor show tit the poll, but he has at his back Mr Eenall and ' our local contemporary, , With their , assistance, any candidate must neI cessarily record a large number of , votes, Wo can forgive Mr Oullen i for coming forward, hut we shall not readily forgive an old settler like Mr lienall, who has held the highest * public positions in the town, endeavouring to foist upon us a mayor whom he must know will discredit Masterton, Messrs Lowes and lotus announce a general sale lor Saturday nest. An important notice to pursons suffering from skin disease appears in another column. p The London police are now ordered to wear iudiarubber or noiseless bunts at night always, The native converts in Japan, earning nu an average iess than Is a day, contributed last year i'oOOO to mission work An advertiser wants to raise by way of moitgano upon freehold property the , sum of £2llO at a fair rate of interest. Tho usual practiee of the Philharmonic society is announced on Thursday evening. ut The Masterton public library and ut readiiu; room will bo closed tomorrow i, until 1 o'clock during the operation of cleaning the rooms. W. £■ Pearce, chief electrician of the English Post Olliee department, clainib that it is impossible to get a current of! electricity of sufficient intensity to kill a man with certainty, „ Experiments by a Parisian scientist a have proved thatdayhght entirely ceases | s in the watery ot tile Mediterranean ak a if depth of 1518 ft, is What an enormous industry the manu--0 facture of bottles is can only be indift'ery ently understood by quoting statistics, which show that the daily output is over 40,009 gross for all countries. Tho little kinsjdom of Denmark now „ exports annually butter to the value of £2,500,01)0, whilst twenty ye-irs ago it . only amounted to £400,000. This ; magnificent increase is wholly duo to '. the wise expenditure of Government on dairy ulutation, which now exceeds . £II,OOO yearly. Sir Edward Wutkiu has been told by oneof the architects who helped M. Eiffel , r to build bis tall tower that it is doubtful , e if a tower 2000 ft high can be constructed. , Everything depends on the exact ratio at which the force of wind increases above II a certain height, The transportation of e materials abuye a height of 1000 ft would e bo exceedingly risky. ir With regard to improved sanitation d which is a matter of the first importance e at tho present time, our Carterton ;t, correspondent supplies us with some ine formation as to the working of "Tom's Patent Earth Closet system," which has boen successfully worked there for tho e last sixteen months, Ho states that >» several of tho leading residents havo e given testimonials that fully state the it system bears out all that is claimed for |) it, and it tends to improve to a great ex. Q tent the atmospheric conditions of the township. And at the same time removes . all unpleasantness or difficulty of dis- " posal. As these closets are now boing !' actively introduced in Alasteiton wo g have no hesitation in recommending that i portion of our fellow residents who P value health and comfort to give this e system their support, i\ The Masterton Philharmonic Society g have chosen for their fourth performanco Van Bree's scenic cantata " St '. Oecilia's Day," together with a coueert '' paogramme of more than ordinary '' musical merit, Tho scene of the cantata C is laid at Frascati, a town in Italy, and s tho youth and the maidens o'f the d place havo assembled to celebrate tho I, day of the patron saint of music, St , Cecilia. Of the chorus numbers in the cantatfl, the most effective are the third 1 " Brooks shall Murmur," thecluirui for 'i male voices "Hiso and break the 1' Chains," and tho" Chorale |" while the i, final chorus -' Holy Music," is by far the ir most dillienjt part song ever attempted | by the society, The solos, like some of . the choruses, are of a rather difficult , character, but in the hmida of the two nolo porfuriiiors will bo dunu Full justice ' to, The part singing in the cantata, as - well as in tiio in tho h'rat part of I the progniiums, will be of superior t order, as all tho best musical talent of e Masterton is assisting in it. The first part of the programme is in itself attractive enough to ensure the attendance " of all the music-loriiig pcoplo of the place, ' and wo trust to soo tho effort of the t society to cater for the bsttor taste of 1 thcpeoplo rewarded by a full house. 5 The full programme is published in j .another column. I Eyery l|ird watches over and cares for , |icr own nest, though the !!ipi)bera are so great and the tumult so excessive ' that it is difficult to conceive how each 1 gull can distiiuuish her own spotted egi;s i placed in the midst of so many others, I exactly similar id size, shape, and colour, t and pen at jepglh, t])o young are. hatched, and are siynmmng abou|, on tl|o ! loch or ciw(]ed together on some grassy point, (lie old birds, as tlpiy como home from a distance with food, fly rapidly ! amid thousands of young ones exactly similar to their own, without evou i looking at them until they find their own ofl'sprlug. which, recosnisin" their I parents among all tho other birds, , receive the morsel without any of the [ hungrylittlocreaturesaround atempting ' to dispute the prize, oach waiting pat--1 iently for its own parent, in perfect con- ■ iidonce that its turn will come in duo season.—"Science'" (jood nows troin YVollmgton,and quite ! true, you can get a splendid harmonium ! fFfli!) Lo, pian° or m n all ma | nfsan vltl) d|vii)cd aotayp. c«i|plava all in'solid black; wahiiyi cases' fpm.UV. J ' This beats all the cheapest houses in j 1 town. Pianos tuned for 7s, or by the , year four visits LI, travelling expenses . added: All kinds of musical instruments tuned, cleaned, and repaired, new reeds ' pijg |i| nooordeans, jjoncertmns.'liar- ' li)Qnu|ms, and organs; alsq liberal ex : 1 changes inade'. Any instrument may be ] purchased on r|je tjine payment system , from 2s (Id per week. (Jail an'rj ei. chaise your old piano for a now one at t F. J - Pinny's Musical Instrument Depot, l Mannors-street, 'Wellington. (Sole ' sgont of the celebrated Worcester ( organs,)--Aj/vT t

Mr }. B. Harcourt hu been returned as representative of the Lambton Ward : on the Wellington City Council, beating his opponents by a large majority. ' Nooligiblo tenders having been revived for the metalling contracts Mas-terton-Waimata, fresh tonders are

iuvited by the North County Council in another column. Mr F, H. Wood's next Taratahi stock sale, is announced for Thursday Dec. sth. The preliminary catalogue, which is al ready an oxtonaive one, is published in hii usual column.

The annual session of the Wesleyan | District meeting opened in Wellington | yesterday. A long conversation took place as to tho condition of the popula- , tion in Ekoiahuna and tho noighbour- ' hood, for which an ngont nt the Church I is naked. The question will bo ro-opened and decided in the representative ! session on Thursday. At a statutory meeting to-day at the Council Chambers, Mr W. H. Beer ham was elected to represent the Wairarapa North and Pahiatua County Council's on the Wellington Charitable Aid Board, and Mr R. S. Hawkins was appointed to represent the Masterton and Carterton Borough Council's, Meßsrs W, 11, Beetlum, T, E. Chamberlain, and R. D, Dasgwere appointed to represent the same district on the Wairarapa Hospital Board, Tho Masterton Horticultural and Industrial Society is to be cousTatulatcd upon the splendid all round show they have to day both in point of numbers and quality of exhibits. A visitor to the recent Wellington show says in fruit and vegetables uur local specimens aro far in advance of llio city exhibits. There is a grand floral display in pot plants and cut:llowers and the boquet collection is largo and attractive. Ferns include several choice varieties and are a show in themselves. The classes for homework, drawing and paintings and fancy work are well represented, Should ihe weather prove anything like favorable the success of tho show may be guaranteed, At tho conclusion of general business at the Borough Council meeting last night, Cr Perry referred to the road proposed to be opened through Akurn to connect with the Upper Plain wad. He had promised to irivo the land through his bust paddock there for road purposes on certain conditions. He would like to see those conditions reduced to 'rriting and carried out. As thu now road would give access to Mr Reuall'a property the latter had promised to give up all his rights, titles and interests in a road coi.,mon to both of them, which ho (tho speaker) desired to close, Mr llciiall haviug nrndo this promiso he would have an agreement , to that effect drawn up. The Mayor said he bad nothing to give up. He had never used the old road, and had no title to it. Tho road was '• the property of tho original owners, but ' thev could not close it against Mr Perry ■ and himself Hu could not convey ' what ho did not possess and would not ) stultify biinsolf by sigiiiiiu any such ridiculous at'retiiiient. Cr Perry said . the Mayor promised to do so, and it was . upon that condition that he give the land for a new road. After some hot , dißcussiuii the Mayor said it was a , private mattar between him and Cr

Perry and they could disiuss it out ol

Counil, Thu matter then dropped, It is not generally known that faded black chip and straw bonnets may bo restored to their pristine colour by coating thom with "Peerless gloss/'tliekind used for boots. If a bonnet or hat is out of shape it should be pressed and the wiro straightened beloreappl.yingtho Peerless gloss, which will also stilfeu as well bb dye.