THE FRENCH AND MADACASCAR.

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1662, 1 March 1883, Page 3

THE FRENCH AND MADACASCAR.

The Economist; says : — The French will not extirpate the Malagaohe ; they will not retinue 1 thorn to -slavery ; they will not destroy any trade. On the other hand, they will introduce Euiopean security ; they will open up the interior, and they will indefinitely increase the means of communication. It is impossible to show that the world is injured by their action, while specially British interests remain totally unaffected. .We have no settlements in Madagascar, and no treaty rights other than we have ■witly every Power, and the Fiench in possession of Madagascar will not have any power of interrupting our route ,to India which they do not possess now. They can sail , out into, the Channel from Cherbourg and seize ships bound for India much more easily than they can from any port in Madagascar. There is, in fact, no reason for interference, while there are two most solid l-qasons against it. One is, that it is essential to interests, much greater than those, of Madagascar, that the fissure which is spreading beEngland and France — a lias, u re jWhich is the one weak place in the policy ■w Mr Gladstone's Government, should not be widened until the two peoples, after thirty years of amity, once more grow suspicious of each other ; and the other is that ■ the IVTalagache ■ can take care of themselves without any help from us. TheHovas will fight rather than admit French rights df soyereignty ; and although they are not numerous, and cannot resist French ships, they are warlike, and both can and will render 'settlement, unless attempted upon an improbably large scale, expensive, and useless. They cannot prevent descent upon their coasts, but they can, preyent a; march into the interior, and until the, French , haye conquered the interior; Wi'eir settlements will be unimportant} anjd ,tl}e Hovns will be as independent as 'ever they were. They will'Miot, ifc. , is tfue,obe quite so able to subjugate the Sakalaves, who hi\yp agaitwt- them a waWof generations j but then the Hoya t right of, co ( HfliH>*t> is npt -&a benefit' , to the world for which England can' >. afford fto quarrel with France. Plainly, though KagHuhmett—mfty- > keenly " regret ~"ttiG ippnquestKoX. by France* it'-ii »ntw6li'duty; Or .their business fo'preVfcnb iHtrtHS #rty fwiible w&y--n<unely i ;' 'b.y

{shall not be attempted. -, Let the French ,Ret a bit of the tropical world if they can. They are only giving new hostages to ! Great Britain. ''

.' . — rrr, ' \ wThe moat general cause of sickness among hogs is indigestion. For this, 1 care in feeding will be best preventive. Guard against a sufeit of now corn and overfeeding generally. Be regular with I their meals, aiul ( occasionally mix a handful of wood ashes, charcoal, and sulphur , with $heir food. Galled and sore shoulders in horses ar,e often caused by the mane working under the , collar while pulling. This can be avoided by plating the mane and tying it up in such a manner, that it cannot , touch the collar. It not only injures the shoulder, but the mane also, which is one of the beauties of the horse,. "Tiik M^illcrb 1 Journal (New York) states than 27 to 32 bushels to the acre is reported as the average of their wheat crop ' by , many farmers of the Northwestern States, while in one instance oats are reported to yield 55 bushels. A farmer near Aberdeen, Dakota, thrashed 650 bushels from Vlh acres, an average of 37, bushels to the acre of No. 1 wheat, weighing 611b to the bushel. A most extraordinary and painful ; phenomenon ' has lately occured in Warsaw, A lady died under somewhat , peculiar circumstances, which gave rise tto a report that her death had been caused by her husband's ill-treatment. Honce, several weeks after the interment, her body was exhumed for post-mortem examinatibn, when it was found that in the grave a perfectly' healthy child had ' been born. This gives a startlingly new moaning to the word " posthumous."