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Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 1980, 16 January 1907, Page 1

WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE. SCOPE OF AGREEMENT. Tho conforoueo of rojiresontatives iff Now Zealand woollen companies, which has boon sitting in Christchurch for some days, has practically resulted in the formation of a. ■Jfew Zealand Woollen Manufacturers’ Association. As tho object of -.'the conference may bo said to be 'achieved'now, tho delegates to it are : liot as reticent as they wore, and -.pile of them kindly supplied a roiportor with information- Ho said that the agreement to form the association only required the signature of one proprietary to bring it inLo force, and it was not anticipated that there would bo much difficulty in that respect. “What is the scope of tho association’s work?” ;!' “The association'will bo controlled by president, two vice-presidents, and a committee, and its object will bole foster the interests of the woollen industry of the colony, and to place it on an improved footing.” V‘Havo any definite lines of action been decided upon ?” “Yes; one of tho association’s first actions will bo to deal with the question of the use of cotton in goods made in New Zoaland mills. In that respect an attempt will be made to improve tho quality of the article sent out from tho mills. It is proposed that all goods containing cotton should bo branded.” “Will stops be taken in regard' to the importation of shoddy goods from England?” “That is another matter which will receive immediate attention from the association. The Government will'ne asked to enforce a regulation providing a means of showing what English goods are ‘shoddy,’ and what aro of better quality. It would be unfair, of course, to brand the New Zealand article and not the English one. We think that the public has a right (o know exactly what class of goods it is I buying.” J It is thought that in other directions the association will operate with advantage to the industry in fcliis I colony.

HOP BEER. ICING COUNTRY RAID. RAETIHI, Saturday. Thero is excitement in Makotote over Constable Montgomery’s wholesale raid on hop beer shops and seizure of the stock. All the hop beer sellers, numbering seven or eight, are affected, and some confusion prevails as to the extent of the grounds for the seizure. Some say a tost ease is being taken to prove that the sale of hop boor in a portion of the distr’et is illegal; othorsthattbo Makatote article is suspected as being overproof. In one case it is said strong spiiit adulteration was present, but this is not supposed to bo general. On the Whangamarina Plains fifteen barrels were seized in one haul—eleven of them in the bush and the balance, plus a malt and brewing apparatus, in a tent. In this caso the charge is believed to bo one of illegal browing, the brewing, even of hop beer, being unlawful in the King Country ; but in the other cases trade is restricted to the imported article, which is presumably the same as that consumed in Auckland. The custom is to import hop beer in S-gallon casks and retail it at Gd per half pint. Trade was done quite openly, and good money is said to have been made by some thirty dealers, One raid at Raurimu is also reported The police are reticent, but Inspector Cullen, who cauio Waikato way on Monday morning, possibly directed operations.

Signor Carducci, tho well-known Italian poet, lias received a telegram from Stockholm announcing that the Academy has decided to confer upon him tho Nobel Prize for Poetry. A AVoodvillo boy had a somewhat unpleasant experience of camping out last week. He suddenly developed most dreadful earache, being nearly driven mad, and on returning to his home his mother had to take prompt measures to relieve him. Hot oil was poured in the ear, and then it was probed to see if there was any obstruction. The surprise of both tho mother and tlio boy can be imagined when a live worm was taken out of the car. Tho boy thought lie had got water in his ear while bathing. Discussing tho servant girls’ union, the "Wellington Free Lance states:— “Wo believe that three-fourtlis of tho girls who consent to be domestic helps will not become unionists, merely because girls do not mean to be domestic -servants for any length of time. It would bo an arrant absurdity for a woman to be brought before the Court and fined because she engaged a good non-unionist servant girl when there was an incompetent or unsuitable unionist about. Such a condition would, of course, further lessen the number of servants available. It isn’t truo that the general run of servant girls arc illtreated, and it isn’t true that a majority of them have said so. Domestic service to many girls is a desirable thing, and too much prominence is given to tho objections of a discontented minority, some of whom would be discontented under any circumstances. Good mistresses, hitherto considerate enough to tlieir servants, will bo likely, under legal restrictions, to keep within tho letter of an" agita-tress-made contract, but the relations of maid and mistress must be strained.”

The natives (states the Hawke’s Bay Herald) are capable ol : a high training. They do liot want to be dealt with as people who need “flour and sugar” to gain their love and sympathy. They fully realiso tho blessings of European civilisation, and they are proud to be admitted to the privileges that such civilisation confers, but they do not wish tto bo thought of lower grade or less capable of reaching a high standard of living than their colonial fellows. It is “the free -potato system,” “the flour and sugar system,” and the score of other abominations that have helped to lower the native ideals and impede native progress. Leave the native to play his part under a free scheme of educational training, and give him the opportunities of acquiring practical knowledge in elementary agriculture, such as old Samuel Mnrsdon claimed for him in 1815, and there will be hope for him. He will live and become ail integral part of the colonial race, and ho will die out .just as surely if intelligence is not brought to hear upon his training. He wants knowledge, and he wants independence in thought hud action. If the Government give him the former, the latter will develop of itself, and the natives, who love government, will lie found to have established themselves as a part of a New Zealand community, with similar ideas and aims, but pursuing them in a way peculiarly their own. A perusal of the census returns of the Maori population provides an interesting chapter of native life, and is full of suggestions as to the future of the race.

It is the ambition oi' the Premier, we are tokl by a contemporary, to go down to posterity as a great .trade promoter, whoso policy will broaden the basis of our industrial and commcroial life, open up fresh avenues for trade, and so make for material and lasting prosperity. The rugged statesmen whose mantle he wears chose differently, and called himself a humanist, finding more solid satisfaction in the thought that ho had eased the declining days of a few thousand old ago pensioners than in anv effect his policy may have had in expanding the volume of our exports. But a comparison is unnecessary, for Mr Scddon’s “humanities” were chiefly meant lor the gallery, and Sir Joseph’s heroics on t-lie more prosaic subject of exports are fired at the same target. It comes rather ns a surprise, however, to learn that the man'who was readiest lo scuttle the Reciprocity Treaty fixed up by Mr Seddon should ho talking about another already, and we think he will find it rather difficult to convince .Mr Donkin of his sincerity. Treaty making between protective States is about as satisfactory, a task as promoting fellowship between the orange and green factious in an Irish election. Sir Seddon arranged one which might have done a great deal to promote trade had it' been ratified, hut Parliament rejected it with scorn, and it is rather foolish to talk about another at this sthgo-—Christchurch 1 Truth,. '