Blissful Islands.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXIII, Issue 7371, 19 November 1898, Page 4

Blissful Islands.

According to a colonial report for the. year 1897, the inhabitants of the Falkland Islands'* are to be envied. There is no. public debt,'there are no export dnties.< The only import charges levied are upon liquor and tobacco, and for months together the common gaol, which can only accommodate 11 prisoners at most, is untenanted. 1 Indeed) the "slump "in crime was so marked in these blissful islands when the report was being compiled that the local gaoler was filling up his time in the Government printing office. Not only are the people virtuous but thrifty. The treasurer remarks on this point that the transactions of the savings bank compare " most favorably" with those of other colonies. The people are patriotic, and have established a volunteer corps, of whom we regret that only about 50 per cent, are returned as efficient. Their equipment, however, appears inadequate, for. Instead of Lee-Met'fords, such as we serve out to volunteers in England, the Falkland Bifle Corps boasts only the Martini-Henry, The reproach that whole families have been raised in a condition of illiteracy will soon be removed, for two schoolmasters have been appointed to wander about the islands bringing elementary education within reach of all. The population being pastoral, and consequently much scattered, it was necessary to secure instructors of exceptional walking powers. In the case of one of the new masters, the qualification that he was a good " sprinster " was therefore of some value in his candidature for an appointment. In the Falkland Islands, says the colonial report, there are no troublesome forests to clear away, no deep and dangerous rivers to be crossed, no dingoes to harass and destroy the stock, no prolonged droughts, and above all, no rabbits to annoy the farmer and involve his yearly output in a disagreeable uncertainty. In view of all these advantages it is somewhat depressing to learn that the colony, despite its solvent and prosperous condition, affords no inducement to capitalists desirous of opening up new indnrtries nor I to intending immigrants.