OCCASIONAL NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3065, 8 March 1892, Page 3

OCCASIONAL NOTES.

Within fifty yea Zealand will be fifty feet below the sea! This cheering assurance is given us on the authority of an English geologist, who, through modesty or for some otlrr reason, withholds his name. Not knowing his name we cannut thorefnro gauge the credibility of the prediction by the scientific status anrl reputation of. tho prngnosticator. 1' <'»m tho fact that not an island in the 1 acihc Ocean has been heaved ut> or sunk from sight during tho . List thirty-torn- years, geologists reason that it must be jolly well time something in this linn turned up. or turned down, as tlw ca<o tnny be. ihis particular English geologist who predicts for New Zealanders a watery grave has gone one better than his confreres, taken a long shot at it, fixed the particular islands to ba nlfected, given the exact depth at which we are to bo submerged, and got within fifty years of the actual time o. the occurrence. Having given the rest of the information so precisely, it is a great pity that ho did not tell us with more definiteness the probable date —say within a year or two—of our engulfment, for no doubt he knows all about it-almost as much, perhaps, as a crocodile does about working a sewing machine.

It would, of course, bo absurd and the height of foolishness and ignoranco to deny the possibility of such a catastrophe occurring. Seismic and volcanic energy is, however, a quantity not understood, and which cannot be calculated ; it topples down or it blows up withojt warning, and no prognostication worth a tinkers blaspheme can bo muds fts to when and where ft will overcome the resistance of the forces controlling it and assert itself. This it invariably does in a way the .reverse of pleasant to those in tho vicinity of the outbreak. The spectacle indeed may be a grand and a fearful one, but few in tne neighbourhood thereof are ever likely to experience aiiy deßire to remain and enjoy it.

So recently as 1883 we had an appalling example of the awful and stupendous force of volcanic action. In May of that year the volcano of Karang, in the island of Krakatoa, in the Straits of Sunda, after remaining inactive for a period of 200 years broke into eruption, and from then until August 2Gth this island was the scene of occasional eruptions, which were both felt and heard in various directions. On the latter date this volcanic activity culminated in a terrific eruption, the pent-up forces of the earth's centre breaking forth and carrying death and desolation in their train. The detonations were heard for hundreds of mileß around the scene of the disturbance, and the sky was darkened with smoke and volcanic debris over a similarly extended area. The neighbouring islands were smothered with dust and ashes, towns were completely destroyed, lighthouses shaken down, and then the whole island sank bodily beneath the waves, causing such a displacement of the water that a gigantic wave from 40 to 100 feet in height was created, overwhelming the countries adjacent, and making a clean sweep_ of everything for hundreds of miles, ihe loss of life has been variously estimated at from 35,000 to 100,000, and the value of the property destroyed cannot be calculated. The fact that Karang burst out after fog quiescent for so .long a period as 200 years is not altogether comforting J we have numerous inactive volcanoes in this province, and Auckland City is built in the midst of many of them, and for how long they have been dormant is not known.

But to come back to the geologist's prophecy. Could ho but fix the date of oui submersion, and at the same time give proof of the certainty of the event taking place, what an efflux of capital, contemporaneously with an exodus of capitalists, there would bo ! The flight of capital said to have been caused through dread of the contemplated taxation scheme of the Ballance Ministry would not be a circumstance to it. ''Boats for the People. would then become the popular cry of those who were not capitalists, and the question of land nationalisation would sink into insignificance in comparison with the stronger agitation for the nationalisation of boats and canoes, and all other forms of the mercantile marine. It strikes me that the boat nationalisers would display a greater eagerness in taking up a boat than the land nationalisers evince' for taking up land. This they can purchase as low as five shillings per acre if they wish; but, nn thank you, they would rather let it alone— I am afraid they know too much.

General Booth should be informed of the prophecy eirly. He has expressed a decided affection for New Zealand as a juitable country wherein to establish his 14 over-sea " colony. In view of the fact, however, that Now Zealand may soon or at.-least within fifty years from now—be eight fathoms and two feet beneath the sea, its suitability as a country wherein to found an "over-sea" colony is not conspicuous. Were it desired to establish a submarine colony for physically submerging the socially submerged tenth the case would be different. British redcoats and bluejackets are no longer to wearily wag their warlike jaws masticating the fibrous mutton cut from the time-worn and decrepit carcases of "matriarchal" owes. This information is furnished, by a Canterbury (England) correspondent, writing to a Home paper, who states that Army and Navy contractors are now prohibited from supplying old ewe sheep for consumption by our defenders. Medieval mutton baine a delicacy not regarded with much favour by the British public, sheep of the class referred to are, in consequence of the prohibition, selling at a very low figure. Tommy Atkins or ti h Jack Tars have not, of course, had any greater weakness for broken-mouthed ewe mutton than their civilian brethren, but with them, " poor beggars " (as Rudyard Kipling calls them), it has heretofore beer a case of Hobson's choice—they could eithei eat it or leave it alone. It is satisfactory to learn that they will have less cause foi complaint on the meat question in future. The War Office being no longer a pur chaser, the question arose as to what shoulc be done with the culls and drafts from thi British flocks. The ingenuity and businesi acumen of London dealers have supplied ai answer to the question, which does no betaken a very high standard of coinmercia morality among these gentlemen. Honou and integrity are not, however, the line upon which all men conduct their businesses and those engaged in the meat trade are no

remarkable for any striking preponderance of these virtues. The London dealers, then, are making extensive purchases of old ewes in the Kentish markets, admittedly with a view of decapitating and freezing the carcases, thus giving them the appearance of imported meat, for which it is intended to palm them off. And here the question assumes an interest tor us. Were it possible for these frozen ewes to be disposed of as New Zealand mjtton, the tactics of these too-smart Londoners would inevitably have a damaging effect upon its reputation. It is a bitter satire on the quality of the meat shipped Home that such a dodge should be thought workable. Greater discrimination is now, however, being made by the freezing companies in selecting only the primest mutton for export, and the London dealers will perhaps find they have reckoned without their host, and that if they wish to pass English mutton off as the New Zealand nrticle they will have to freeze the very flowers of their flocks—antiquated ewes won't do. It 1 ' Dairyman ' gave a good bran maah to each of the cows after calf, and repeated it once or twice, he would never be troubled with milk fever." This is the valuable information given by Dr. Broome to an enauiring dairyman as to a remedy for milk fever. The worthy doctor must, however, have misread "Dairyman's" letter; foi by the wording of his reply one would infer that it was the dairyman himself, and not his cows, that was suffering from milk fever Gold fever, it is well known, is an epidemic that often seizes whole com munities, and even countries ; posaiblj milk fever in the male human subject is ar antilogous complaint. Whilst milk is sell ing at 2id a gallon, however, milk fever u not likely to become a very prevalent 01 contagious disease amongst the farmers anr dairymen of Waikato. Fusee.