TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2622, 2 October 1909, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

When one sees the skiffs on the river, and when the days beMixed gin to get hot and Bathing. muggy, the swimming season is at hand, and few places offer more temptations to the bather than Gisborne, witli its long, sandy beaches, and its spacious rivers. The latter, however, have obvious drawbacks when the tide is low, and in any case it is the surf that offers the most attractions. Surf-bathing in this part of tho world is still a new-fashioned pastime, and even in Australia it is only during the past few years that it has oorno into general vogue. Of coure there have always been tho enthusiasts who would venture even in two’s or three’s, but until the last season or so braying the breakers was only indulged in by the few. Nowadays however, the Sydney beaches are crowded all through the summer with devotees of tho surf, and “on the other side,” the sea is appreciated as it should be. Every day one can see the experts out at the first lino of breakers waiting to mount the wild white horses that come charging in from the open i sea, and to come crashing inshore on the top of the curling combers is one of life’s good things well worth the remembrance. And' even for those who don’t shoot tho breakers, or when there are no breakers big enough to carry one ashore, plenty of sport can be bad in the water. The immense popularity of surf bathing in Australia only dates from the time when Sydney and Melbourne copied the example of the Continental and most English watering places that went in for mixed bathing. Of course there were protests at first, as there might be, if mixed as a general thing were started in Gisborne, but surf-bathing, free from the prudish restriction that would prevent men and women being in the water together, has come to stay—though Mrs Grundy were to die of hysterics. New Zealand has not generally followed Australia, though of course there are frequent private parties of mixed bathers. But when the majority bathe it is customary to divide the “everfree” ocean with an imaginary line, and for men to bathe in one part and women in another. Yet in other sports the sexes are not separated by any fetish of propriety, and, after all, mixed bathing, if properly conducted, is a healthy, invigorating and innocently amusing pastime.

At a cost of £2,000,000, the English Government proposes to compile a new Doomsday Book, which will tell inst what the soil and the houses of Great Britain are worth, and by means of this information it will be able to tell what sums are due from it to the Crown, just a s did the original Doomsday Book. This is rendered necessary by reason of Mr. Asquith’s Budget proposals, which provide for substantial taxes on land values. The compilation of this gigantic work i s expected to take from three to four years. The proposal awakens interest in the first Doomsday Book, which was made as long; ago as 1086. And yet anyone may see in the Record Office, Chancery Lane, London, that most interesting document. It ‘consists of two volumes, the material of each being in vellum. The value of all the estates in England is given—firstly as in the time of the Confessor, second jy when bestowed by the Confessor, and thirdly at the time of the survey. William "the Conqueror sent into each County the Commisioners whose inquiries are preserved in the Doomsday Book. A jury empanelled in each hundred declared on oath the extent and nature of each estate, the names, numbers and condition of its inhabitants, its value before and after the Conquest, and the sums duo from it to the Crown. Mr. G. W. Protliero, in his “History of Great Britain and Ireland,” adds that “the names of all the landowners and the amount of their property, the quantity of land under cultivation, the number of persons, the cattle, the wells, the ploughs—all this and much beside was entered in this wonderful book, which may be seen in London at this day. By means of this survey William knew just what England was, and how much it was worth.” If Mr. Asquith carries the day and gets his Budget through, together with his scheme for a new Doomsday Book, it will be interesting to compare the value of England in 1909 as against its worth in 1086.

An Expensive Book.