NOTES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XIII, Issue 2580, 2 February 1892, Page 2

NOTES.

Alas for the decay of good manners and the almost altogether extinguishment of chivalry ! There was'a time when m actual warfare army saluted army, when the English Guard were polite enough to offer iivdh five to the gentlemen of the Guard of France, and when even m political warfare, m which the weapons are the tongue and the pen instead of tho sword and the musket, statesmen spoke of statesmen m courtly as well as statesmanlike terms, and men of high honor did themselves honor by honoring their opponents. But nous avons changez tout eela —at least m New Zealand, I'or the notion of most politicians and political writers now-a-days seems to be that it is the correct thing, at all times and m every possible manner, to abuse the opposite side, and to attribute to every member of every party than their own everything that is wrongheaded and mistaken, nay, worse, everything that is mean, low, paltry, and discreditable. To.such a depth has this sort of thing descended that \ I only the other day more than one of/ oui' contemporaries was not ashamerl to put m print the paltry insinuatio/i that the Avord " able," prefixed a§, an adjective indicating tia? quality' of the first public speech m London of our new , Agent-General, had not formed part of the message as handed to the cable agency, but had been added at this end for the purpose of giving Mr Perceval a little eclat, and so helping to show that his selection for that office was a good one. It was thereupon promptly shown by Mr Atack, t-.he manager of the Press Agency, that the adjective came with the rest of the message, and had appeared m its due place m at least one Australian as well as m the New Zealand papers, and so the miserable suggestion of tampering received its quietus. But we don't envy the frame of mind of the scribbler who penned the insinuative query of which Mr Atack so promptly disposed.

Among other things that globe-trotters jot down when criticising the colonies and the people of the colonies is the manner m which young Australians and young New Zealanders pronounce their mother tongue. In every new country there gradually grow up distinctive tricks of speech, local idiosyncracies of expression, of pronunciation, and of application of words which crystallise into distinctive localisms, and come m time to form recognised and easily recognisable brogues or provincialisms, giving to " English as she is spoke" a quality distinctive of the particular locality or country. This is, and has been for many years, a marked fact m America, a Yankee being as easily distinguished trom a Britisher as is a Yorkshire man from a "' Zummerzat," and it is as certainly the fact that m Australasia similarly distinctive differences and peculiarities of speech and pronunciation are springing up, and becoming gradually lixed as national characteristics. This is more noticeable m Australia, as yet, than m New Zealand, but it is recognisable here also. To give an instance m point, take the universal greeting of children. Go into what town you will, every youngster who exchanges a morning or evening greeting with you does it, on his or her part, by the one word " Hello !" It is ugly enough, and ludicrously inappropriate when it is remembwed that the expression is a corruption (very much corrupted) of the eiaculation " Ha loup !" the warning cry of French villagers m sight of a wolf—a " view halloo "m fact. But it is nevertheless universal, and has altogether displaced the English "How-d'ye-do," " Good morning," or " Good evening." Not only is the latter infinitely preferable, but its substitute, this wretched J" Hello ! " is simply intolerable. But for all that, " Hello !" has, we fear, come to stay, as the New Zealand greeting, unless parents and teachers will unite m a determined effort to put it down and extinguish it.

What is to become of the country if the insect pests go on multiplying at the rate they do we really don't know. What with aphides, and copper beetles, and apple scale, and woolly blight, and tree leeches, and woodlice,rose-growers, apple-growers, and fruit and flowerraisers generally, are even now pretty I well at their wits' end, and yet the insect pests seem to continue to grow m numbers and m destructiveness. Only to-day, did we read a sad tale from Napier of the widespread mischief wrought up that way by the codlin moth, which it is said has this year pretty nearly wiped out the apple crop m that district. This is a very serious matter, especially m view of the fact that it is now demomtratedjjthat a large and lucrative export trade with England m this fruit is an assured possibility, and it is high time that Parliament resolutely addressed itself to the task of passing a measure which shall deal stringently with the matter, and ensure, so far as it may be assured by legislation, the thorough eradication of this scourge of the orchardist. Then again, we fear that the latest insect invasion, that of the bot fly, is going to give serious trouble among horse-owner?, and it is clearly the duty of the Government to take some steps with a view of coping with this latest pest. It is quite within the bounds of possibility that it may be met and fought by the introduction of some natural enemy—just as Californian orchardists fought with and destroyed the scale insect by importing large numbers of a species of ladybird, which preys upon it and thus destroys the destroyer. To enable this and similar matters to be intelligently dealt with, the Agricultural Department needs expert assistance, and it should obtain that assistance by securing the services of a capable entomologist. The salary of, such an officer, if a thoroughly qualified and energetic man, would be repaid to the country hundreds of times over by the benefits which would result from intelligent and scientific treatment of the various insect scourges which afflict both agriculturists and horticulturists throughout the colony.