UNKNOWN.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1619, 18 November 1882, Page 4

UNKNOWN.

minds bim_Df a fijotrtnil his money— thej Land SK^fflOfFA^ Victoria.— Selection in Viofcowrt-is rapidly dcerc.is in" . In IS7S; /thicre, i\f fcrc UO.IS selection? -area, l^lu^-20 here*!; »t. 1870, (S'iSS selections— l, lo3/2U acres ; in 1880, is2l3 'selections— 7s»,o3» ocrt* s|aij<l |") 1881, 4 10') selections -388,1)22 ncrel, | Anr.v i»F L.UND UN< Vummrv.— The total n tea of In nd in Victoria comprises .1(5, 24.v7fi0.nc.es <fiom'\v,hlchHlediict the malice con itiy -of 11,53.1, .500 acres* leaving (a to&U accessible aits*; o£ ijjkjH), 100 acres, ont.ofovhi«l» tliorc rem tilled in January of the pn sent yoav only 8,793, 480 Vicr'i>.4 suitable for .selection.! t ) i Elhctric lighting hns'liot yet pr6ve{j a success. Hit w nfeipVcsenfc inthd tentative stiige, nml long before the ayatcm arriveat per'toctioii ninny, companies >will have been foimed, ami will have iaileil. The .companies! in JtS-iiglan<l t -whiuh thutl been fonneil, h.ivc lately 'suttVsrtul a relapse, and eleelriii light ing xltAiea ha vq gone considerably out of favMir. .Accorilina to the Ihv b'on? Monthly Maim»l, o{.29th July, \ve learn th.it , within five weeks the Anglo-American Urush .Cumpu'ny'e £4 paid shares h ive declined from £30 to £I.li;and the £10 shared [from ! £(>0 to £'M~; the Electric, Lighfc and -Power (£1 paid) had fallen fiotn il'4 to 10s., and some otheis had, i fallen it 6 a 'large discount. One or two, it was suggested, were likely to become the prey of the official liquidator. iThfc MaUml observes — "There can be little donbt that the rage was greatly jjvpi clone. The electric light may x be aft^'that is claimed for it, but until w£ ! lia\ ? e at fcome clear knowledge.* off what',, fc* the best system to adopt, it is ccrtiiin' that any considerable cs tension of the cleetrjc lighting syste'nt cannot be looked for.' It would be entirely out of the question to permit half-a-dozen rival' companies to compete in the same district, and it cannot bo said that, as yet, \Vo have arrived at any clear .knowledge 'as to the "safest, cheapest, or least troublesome of the numeious systems placed ' befoi c the • public. ' Two at least! of the co-npatiies which have been brought out thisunonth claim to be able to supply a light far better adapted to the wants of the public than anything previously intiodijced. But then every prospectus has claimed very much the same superiority."' Electric lighting is in many lespects similar to mining or railway development, or other channels of speculation] which will enable clever men to make money at the expense of tlie unwise. We know perfectly well' that there is power in electricity to -provide the world with light,-; but the secret to make it something, liipre j than an expensive luxury is as yet scarcely knoun.