COMMERCIAL.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 6 March 1894, Page 2

COMMERCIAL.

The Egrnnt Frners Union limited,-

AtOkaiaw onTJiuredßy the 22nd ult, there was, : ouly a moderate, muster of atock and aa no one chase cattle, not many lines were soldi We quote 2$ to 3 year.steers, £i ss. to £4 6s'; 12 to 18 months, £ll4s to * 3 Is ; fat cows,.£Blos to £4 gs,.; . Oilr monthly Horse 'Fair was held n Bazaar, MJriioh Street, on. Saturday tlie,24th ult, 'As'is usual ;,"?8'""'.a good entry of boreea of ;a

7~ —* —-—r-r-Us LIS 5s to Ll4 10a) L 8 to Ll7 j hicks-upio *We ? had" a Manai&'on ' fiction declared thatinlH^^^^^^l strain and life, biifrit may well the strnin end seriousness of life ia the country districts of New Zealand is so great as. to cause our people 'to ■ 6Qek relief in novel rejijpg, ' s ; Probably a truer e"Jsutioii is that 1 With, a novel we escape..,lost .quiokly from our surroundings, l whether these * .pe tho censeleas.-struggle for existence; in an old opuntry, or the ennui, born ot want of occupation and-society in > ; ■ a,,country district far renioyed from any, large city:,i-a noTel'-'at J 6noe ■ transplants us to any sooietyi we may desire to visit. j >

ipo.fflp and oircutnafcance of i glorious war,..,the king->, • batons, ( If nights and squires of •the ! njediiieval I ' ,mes i Ol tll.o. more homely 'soVnee 4 of domestio life in the Old Country,with whioli we vfish to become uofluiiinted ? Sir Walter ' Scott, Will introduce' us'tolll these,. no'one forbidding our it. • »he company/ of dukes, duchesses, earls and countesses with whom oiir patrioian: so.u!s':. l deßire|t6 hold'converee?. Beaconsfleld, who should be abe to speak as one having authority, will two earlstojthe - paije and a ducness.in everyiobapter. Perhaps wa 'desire bloodcurdling ' adventures, moving aooidents by flood' and ; _lhe-gpi^-pages of : Rider: Haggard will drip'at every' line-with-holocausts of African butohery,

There ate moreover peculiarities ft bout. ; wprka pf ,fictiqn, which must Always secure .tbenj-a vast influence mjii'ds.; They with'oulf effort and' fetaemhered wjgiout trouble, \Ve . attention cfiohain our dttentioiii.of. themselves; other books oftoti letive no impression all/tliese, for cjood or evil, always-produoe some impression. Novell been,likened;^to ; soup or jelly—they may 1 bg' dranrtc of at adraught or swallowed whole, certain of being.easily ahd rapidly absorbed into the system. i'y ■■ ■. .

_ The authorities taken a ; step in the right direotion by appoia'ting an advisory committee Jo assist;them in the 'selection of 1 new publications for the JViflsterton Public '-Library, From a return recently published by the librarian of the Wauganui library we fiud that of books taken l outj fiction is first, and the ; rest—travel, biography ( > general literature) ;; and BoiebcQ—are nowhere. It would 'be here. 'Doubtless the library eiists for the amusement tho people, and if. the novels are demanded they should be supplied. But there' must be .a considerable miuority '.who would prefer a change, and a selection of a few etanciard works, .Certainly if our library .is to be :of-any real service,; either/to the intelligent artizan, inquiring workman, and the atudioiiß general reader, a ; continual course of novel heading cannot be very iuvigorating,":-

One of the moBt; remarlrable;books recently- published—if we. can judge from the critioism. : vcopious ':«» t vac t a wHi'oii h ava'appeared in'all jthe leading ' EngM papers—ia'alvblutno entitled "Reminiscences. of tlie'Sroat Indian Mutiny."' '''Theiie .Reftinisoerioes," says au iritrodubtioni : ap T parently not written by tho author, "are recorded byone who washiuiaelf actor' in, the iflcebes -whiob fie describes, and who viewßMemfrom a novel and most"unusual-' position' for a military historiati- 7 the ranks. They havti been carefully peruspd by an officer who wati present ail many of the operations mentioned j and considerable pains have been' taken to verify, wherever poasible; those incidents of whioh ho was not personally cognizant'." • •' ■' • 'in

The narrative 1 6f Sergeatft William ForiieS'MitcheH is stated,, to be vivid and full of strange and roaiantio ,inoidentß, and some of the stories ' 110 telle, especially, those which record the presence and activity of European renegades in the ranks of the mutineers arecaloulated to throw a new, and ghastly light on the liistory of the mutiny.

The Masterton branch ofthe Australasian Home Reading "Union is prospering. Last Thursday Thero ,was 11 good attendance anil a numbei of new-' members were enrolled. If there are many, more applications-for enrolment it, may be necessary to form a second" oircle," for beyond a certain a unmanageable the members, w next; meeting will be held on March 15 th.,, . _ Humours have ; reaoliod ice that a Literary Debating Society itf to. be formed iti Masterton. Some of my readers miyW able to iriform ; toe whether there is any truth in the report,