The Waipukurau Press. Tuesday, January 30, 1906 Notes.

Waipukurau Press, Issue 11, 30 January 1906, Page 2

The Waipukurau Press. Tuesday, January 30, 1906 Notes.

— 0 — In lime to come, as the country becomes more populated, the beautiful lake adjacent to Waipukurau will, without a doubt, become a recognised pleasure resort for the people. It seems to be a matter for regret that there is no public approach to the lake on the town side, for the land abutting on the sheet of water is privately-owned, though we understand the owner is willing to allow a public right-of-way. A few years ago the land could have been purchased at a nominal figure, and it is surprising that the public men of the time did not safeguard the town’s future interest to this extent; though it must be confessed that until further subdivision took place an idea seemed to prevail that a public road existed to the water’s edge. Still, with a small wharf or jetty and the right-of-way to it, perhaps public requirements would be met/ The result of the British elections show that there is assured to the Liberal party an absolute majority over any possible combination of other forces ; while independent of any',support from the Labour or Nationalist parties, ’Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman possesses the remarkable majority of upward of 200 over the disgruntled party that, on his return, will be led by the late Prime Minister. As showing the influence of the New Zealand Rugby football team’s wonderfully successful tour of the United Kingdom on the Rugby game, the following is an Associated Press message from New York to a Cincinnati paper : —“ English Rugby, not as it is played in England or Canada, but the style of game adopted by the exponents of the sport in New Zealand, is suggested as a substitute for the game of American football in a letter addressed by Professor J. Edmund Woodman, of DaihousieUniversity, Halifax, N.S., to the conference of colleges now considering a revision of the game. The New Zealand game, Professor Woodman declares, while deviod of practically all the objectionable features which have brought the American game into disfavour, possesses much of what is good in nearly all forms of the sport. He

directs attention particularly to the absence of what he calls “ mob tackling,” with the consequent mob instinct which it arouses among the spectators. The game also would, he says, give liveliness, greater variety or possible plays, and strategic situations, and few delays by reason of injury to players.” Reverting to tut* Waipukurau lake for a moment, it has frequently been suggested that a jet ty and a proper system of boating would prove a boon as well as a profitable investment to the party or b dy promoting such. Or a motor launch service on the lines of those provided at the Government tourist resorts might be instituted. With the numerous trains running to and frviu this town, people from a distance could come here, spend a few hours on the lake, and return to their homes the same day if necessary. In summer months, too, a small accommodation house would without doubt prove very convenient and would be largely patronised. • Of course, anything in the direction indicated would take some time to “ work up,” but once started on a proper footing this natural ph asure and health resort would, as others have done, steadily increase in popularity. s-

Mr J. Butler Burke, M.A., lecturing before the Rontgen Society on December 7th last, said that he did not think that his experiments with radium on gelatine-media bore directly, at present, upon the problem of the origin of life. The knowledge so far arrived at was not likely to throw much light upon the question of spontaneous generation. Strictly speaking, the experiments with radium and barium salts produced, not natural life, but a kind of artificial life that was not really life at all. The cultures he had obtained were only visible with a very high-power microscope. At first sight they looked like mere air-bubbles, but in the course of time they expanded or “ grew.” His theory was, not that they were living things, but that they possibly corresponded with some simple form of life that existed in the remote past. He was firmly convinced that spontaneous generation did not take place in the remote past, but there was really no evidence, other than analogy, for spontaneous generation at the present day. The only thing a scientist could do was to attempt to fill in the “ gaps,” and it seemed as though these cultures represented early forms of life, which, by the law of the survival of the fittest, had been crushed out by the life we saw around us.

In the recent annual scholistic examinations Hawke’s Bay showed up well, as it usually does. So far as this immediate district is concerned, the results were —Junior Civil Service: Mary Gow, Edmund Enting ; Matriculation : Maggie Mitchell, Mary Gow, and Stafford Bogle. No place of a similar size cau boast such a creditable list, and these young scholars are to be heartily congratulated on the result of the examination.

In a recent speech, Mr Seddon referred to statements that an Oppo sition was necessary for the welfare of the country. This, he held, was a totally erranous idea. In the past the Opposition had blocked many beneficent measures, and might do so in the future. Would not the best plan be to abolish them altogether? That was the logical conclusion. Though they were at one time inclined to look upon him as a “ Socialist devil,” he thought in time to come he would be looked upon as the chief saint, who had done something for the good of New Zealanders. Referring to the accusation that the Liberal legislation had tended to drive foreign capital away, he said this was absolutely false, as there was more English capital offering for investment in the colony now than had ever been the case in the history of New Zealand.