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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Herald, 1914-07-24, Page 5.: I'i.UIB S the l Though South Africa, is steadily beooxning covered with a network of railways, there ;are still great stretches of: country that are not yet .linked up, le these parts the ox -waggon is the only means ' of transport, writes A. InotonRidger in London Answers, West of •Mafeking, right; to the r eaboard, . there is one unbroken stretch of veldt; and to reach the Atlantic coast there is only one way to travel, namely, trek it by ox -waggon. Fate once sent me on a trading trek up to Lake Ngami. Well, Lake Ngami is about .a thousand miles from nowhere. To be a little more accurate, however, the lake lies in the north-western part of the Bechuanaland Protec- torate, 'and to reach the little trading centre up there, one has to Bross the northern part of the dreaded Kalahari — a waterless desert. Athwart the Wastes. My waggon and"eighteen oxen to pull it, and the load on it was only 5,000 lb. But it took me over two months to cover the five or' so hundred miles that lay between the small native capital of Serowe and Tsau, the capital of Ngamiland. Half of the distance was over sandy, waferlcee desert, and the rest through fe.ver and lion infest - ted veldt. "We'll outspan here, Natal," I cried to my native driver. It was just an hour before dawn, and the African sky was lit with -a myriad of etas. The oxen were quickly unyoked,. but were not al- lowed to graze, as we would be on the move again in an hour. We were half -way in the desert. We. had been on trek twelve days. The oxen were used to "thirsts," but the ceaseless strain of the sandy desert was making itself felt, The beasts were already looking worn and shaken. I sat down by the small fire we had kindled, and smoked. Every- thing was very quiet. The sleep- ing veldt was hushed. Around us were miles of flat, sparsely -vege- tated countiy, every mile the same. Not a drop of water had we seen for two days since we had left the •last well; and there lay thirty miles of waterless veldt before the next well would be reached. • The saffron hue of breaking day is now tinting the eastern sky. It is time to inspan again. Soon the ox- en are all in their yokes, and the signal to start is given. The sun has now risen. Itis growing hotter. The oxen are be- coming distressed. The merciless whip descends—and again. It's no time for pity. Water must be reached! On and on the wretched animals pull their load. The sun is now high in the heavens. We outspan. In Scanty Shade. The weary oxen lie under the scanty shade of the stunted bushes. We lie under the waggon, anehdoze in the heat of the day. Everything is parched and dry. Everywhere around us is the sandy desert. It is nearly sundown. Inspan. again. Once again on trek overt e 'same unending spoor. It's now dark, and night brings some relief. The stars come out in all their bril- liancy, and the moon throws ghostly shadows over the sleeping veldt. Whoop ! Whoop,;, sounds in the clear night air. A short outspan. A little fire glows, and we drihk•a hasty eup .of coffee. The oxen lie exhausted. No .necessity to tie them to their yokes; they are now too tired to move 1 , Another dawn is breaking. It grows lighter., We inspan again. A startled stembuck,darts through the bush at the sond of the .approaching waggon, The -oxen plod wearily over theheavy sand. The axles of the waggon sink; the wagers sticks fast, The merciless whip descends. An ox falls at the yoke, but is flogged into obedience again. No time for pity! Water must be reached, Whoop! Whoop ! On and on, Ona mile an hour—that is all we can travel. The sand is so heavy! We are outspanned. at a well, Large, shady trees encircle our camp, The suit is sinking behind the trees and night is approaching. The oxen have drunk their fill, and are now wrapped in slumber -poor:, patients beasts of bux••den, that have done their workso fai'th'fully and well! We are now outof the desert and by the river. Large, leafy trees overshadow the waggon where we are outspa,nned. Monkeys in little bands clamber over the branches nand ubter shrill cries, Behind es flows the -• 'deep' 1 s ] d Rotle�tle ..its banks 1 , thickwith reeds, amidst which He sneaking. crocodiles: no road is still heavy,: but we have water in plenty; so the oxen pull well in the yokes, To-niorrow. we shall outspen by a trader's store and I am glad at the thought, for, is is now a good many days since I have spoken to awhite man. The Hospitable trader isnow left behind, and 'half, the journey is done. But we'are now in lion veldt ! And fever is •with' us. I take quin- ine that night, as I• feel .the first adept oath .::of •that dr•eaad' enemy—, malaria; Big fires also are lit be - `side ,the line of sleeping oxen. Faintly, in the distance, comes the roar of the m,arauder, out on his nightly prowl: The oxen stir uneasily. An extra log is thrown on the fires and the flames throw queer shadows on our leafy hewer. At The Journey's End. My sleepy eyes -open at dawn. I notice the fire is almost out. There is a chill in: the air, and a ghostly stillness about everything. I stir the .dying embers with my foot and throw on a few sticks. The kettle is soon boiling, and a refreshing cup of coffee is drunk. As I go to give orders to inspan, I suddenly stop! For I see the spoor of two lions not ten feet away from the front oxen. But one gets used to that 1 Two more treks and we shall be in Tsau. We are all cheerful at the prospect—I, for I shall be able to fraternise with some of my kith and kin again; and the natives, because their wages are due. The oxen, too,, seem to know there is well- earned rest ahead, and pull almost eagerly in the yokes. NFeW ZEALAND LAWS. 'Cello of Results of TilOman Suffrage Since 1t393. Jessie Mackay of Christchurch, New Zealand, tells of the following laws of benefit to the women of her •country, passed -singe their en- franchisement in 1893. "Infant life protection act. "Act to regulate adoption of chil- dren. "Industrial schools act amend'n ment. • "Juvenile smoking suppressi i act. "Servants' registry offiees act. "Shop assistants' act (safeguard- ing the interests and health of shop - girls; have to sit down when not serving, sanitary arrangements, meal hours, ete.) "Divorce and matrimonial causes act (equal standard of morality; di- vorce for wilful desertion for five years, for habitual drunkenness, failure to support ax, wife, cruelty or for seeming incurable lunacy).. "Criminal code amendment act_ "Act enabling women to receive compensation for slander without proving special damage. "Summary legal separation act, tq safeguard poog women against brutal or drunken husbands. "Factory act (recognizes in some cases equal pay for equal work; not generally, however). "Municipal franchise act, extend- ed,to women ratepayers or ratepay- ers' wives (women eligible for town boards, hospital and charitable aid boards and to mayoralty). "Old age pension act, which ac- knowledges economic partnership of husband and wife). , "Women admitted to practice law. "Technical schools,. 'giving ,girls equal opportunity. . "Scientific temperance instruc- tion in public schools. "Te•stators' act (testator com- pelled to provide for Wife and fam- ily).' Life of a Statesman. A prominent politician gave an address upon the life of a, states- mean before a school. When he had finished he said :—"Now, can any' of you tell nee what a statesman is?" A little- hand went up and asmall girl replied :--"A statesman 'is .a man who makes speeches." "Hard- ly that," said the politician. "For instance, I make speeches, and 'yet I•aini net a eta,tesman." The little hand again went up, and the an- swer game triumphantly,:—"I know ; a statesman iis� a man who makes eeod.speeches At the close of his talk before the Sunday School the Bishop in- vited` questions. A tiny boy, with white eager face, at once held up his hand. "Please, sir," he said, 'why 'was Adam, never a baby ?" The Bishop coughed, in doubt as to what answer to give but a little girl, the eldest of several brothers and eisters, came - promptly to his aid. - "Please sir, she answered artl . "therew.�as to nese smartly,. nobody xr ss him." ,1,4,NE S f. A;41ftNWA�%le Man Who' Megapliwnut' the Riches of the Peace River t: onliiia. Always in o. new land, where the vague fear of the unexplored untested halts andthe settler and bids him ``think twice," there ,arises one mar) of .bolder conference to ebeeep out a trail ..and establish the all-important precedent. Every great ar• ricultxral section, of "Amer- ica`has surrendered to axe and' plow in its qday, not by the sudden ma- rauding of a thotleand pioneer, but by the coming of one man, ueua•Tly a master -character, who broke the epell, dissipated the ghosts, and held up .a flag for a human stampede, Jim Cornwall of the Peace" -River Country, up toward thxe, top of the inhabited Canada, is ink that• man Before the day of Cornwall's'com ing, the Peace . River ached for a champion. In side the bogiebarrio ers of remoteness lay an, infxti tude of fertile miles where :a .wholena- tion might wax fact. But no one rose to say so -only a skimpy blue book now and then to tell its bless- ings. No railway took much interest farm syndicates sniffed at the ninth ernness of its location. Only a; ne- madio farmer hero and there, Kwho had nibbled at its riches, dareePgive it a signed testimonial. Fifteen years ago. frofn the fore- castle of. an Atlantic liner stepped a. ,sailor -man, one James Z. Corn- wall, and bought a ticket for Ed- monton. The Yukon gold rush had driven its yellow fever into men's brains and a: pathetic procession passing northwesterly across the continent into the land of ice- and expectation. Spyingthe breakers ahead, the sailor man prudeatly east anchor half -way to disappoint- ment. Taking fresh bearings by the tales of newly -arrived trappers and Hudson ]3ay Company servants he. struck north into the lone wilder- ness that the Hudson Bay Company for 250 years . of fur breeding zeal has fought to keep free of humanity. He saw the Athabasca River with its prodigal waste of water falls. He broke the surface of the earth upon its banks and knew the prom- ise, of mineral booty. He tested its waters and found them stocked with food enough for a'marching army. Further north and west he forced bite, way portaged to Lesser Slave Sake, thence to that mighty Pace River, broad as Mississippi and just a"s long. There the stood one early morning, like Stanley before Nian-' za., marvelling, unbelieving, than - ed to his heart's eore,..for; here at his feet lay., new and a. great cosin- try . Next afternoon he was apply- ing ior' work at the first settlement, for he had decided to sign his letters "Peace River Country" all the days of his life. .. Became River Pilot. Yukon gold hunters passing up the Athabasca came to the Grand "Jim" Cornwall. Rapids and then squatted helpless, before e natural barrier of chtirli ing waterfalls. Huge fees fell •no expert Indian canoexnen to take them and their cargoes through, Jim. Cornwall saw his opportunity. He persuaded .an old Cree to take him down the boiling chutes twice or thrice. Paddle' in hand, he noted every twist and leap of the current, every vicious boulder and. ticklish .turn, and thereafter ' com- menced to salt down some. of the gold seeker's fees. It gave him hie first thrill •of plutocracy. A contract to drag the mails hundreds of miles ,north of Edmonton fell va- cant and he took it. That brought him into ,a really vital business con-: tract with the Peace Country and ie diligently traded, trapped, mas- tered the jabber of the C'rees, and strung a. line of permanent posts. up and down .the mail Mute; these he sold later to Pavillon Freres:, But more important than 'any of this is that ,he squandered his en- thusiasm on a, cause broader and Ices Personal. Whxle otl2ers t�zlkecl cif Peace River as a good country for themselves. Cornwall me,ga- phoned it as a gi' nd eountry for others. His persistent prcaChi ngs of the Peace River goepel develop- ed the whole colony into itinerant evange1fsts. and coalportcurs. the stage drivers and Indian guides, took hold of ,the nein, glory song end swelled it to such. volume that folks en the southern prairies paid neighborly visits, disappeared a few weeks, then reappeared svitli family and: caravan. If there was one :good duty done more than another tha.. Cornwall performed for Canada: it was to ethother out the idea that seven hundred miles north of the United States border is jest- stone's throw from where Doctor Cook discovered Peary. Really it i nothing of the. Bort and•for proof one need: only mention ythat ;in car- tain sections of the Peace Country ranchers keep their horses out of doors all winter. plc litie'ning force tile. mule dal t,he: Hoer ,Jx111.. " V'�1'Je+ "•?'(� " ne would las � era stc� . xaa.:: Y but, not wet opera, Aiid the daseage. would have been ;almost, entirely !Above the waterline. 1: y . . , r,. �:r, C,�ii,:a� a•lhc�, �1t,•t,l zic,d that t. would not• have been dileelt fora competent Seiko to, drop the lender over the side.•of the liner ab the point of.contra. In. de:Anse it is frequently neeeseary to place a fen- der at a particular sof and with- out, any rraore werwng than was afforded by the• approach of the Storstad, At thee. time of the colli - t 'sion neither .ship was moving faster than a. few knots' an hour, As to a remedy for similar acci- dents in the future Mr. Conrad en thusiastically approves .a suggestion which . he says was anasie by a re- tired tired captain in the royal navy. The device is one that is in use on every tugboat in the river: and. hay about New York. And the •suggestion is that the great liners just as the humble tugboats be ':equipped with a "pudding over the bows. Every one who has watched • the fussy, puffing little tugboats ptrsh and strain to turn the big liners in- to their dfieks has noticed that the bow of the tugboat doe's :not coxae in contact with the side • of the big ship, Over the bow of each tug is a heavy coil of rope wound round an inside care of cork or hemp. This coil, which is sometimes' two feet thick, is elastic, oan be depended on to spread out, absorb shock and minimize any cuttings action when steel bow meets steel side. And the British naval 'captain's idea is that big Iiners' and little liners, mam- moth cargo boats and rusty tramps, be required to carry these "pud- dings" or "mieage•s" °over their A Liao of Steamboats. With a foresight shared ehiefi"y by his own_, -,unfaltering confidence, Cornwall undertook to put : ssteam- boats on the navigable. rivers -to save an overland trek tor that army of settlers he knew had to come: He sailed them on Lesser Slave Lake and the Peace, River, real steamboats, -with electric lightin the staterooms and linen sheets and Parisian menu cards -years before any railway would venture to.eouple them up with the great arteries of immigration ; laat year, however, the Canadian Northern Railway opened a line to Athabasca Land- ing and gave Peace River kingdom the one muscular impulse- it moat needed. The northland is filled with stories of Jim Cornwall. In Edmon- ten, whether at the club or some half-breed bang -out you may hear how he swam down the river half the night one autumn pulling be- hind hien an upturned canoe on which lay a helpless comrade. And after that you may hear how he carried medicine and sick room dainties hundreds of miles into the camps of the Crees to help along some stricken 'lunger.' His diary of action, ,crammed as it is into perhaps two score years ,and five, touches nearly • every •country on the globe and most divisions of society. When quite a lad he ped- dled newspapers along the dock - fronts of Buffalo, breathed in the wine of stevedore politics and, allied Himself when se rceay twenty to the fortunes of "Elegy" Conners. He' sailed the lakes until the res- trietions of the deck jaded him, then took to adventuring en land,. roamed all over the States like some Don Quixote, investigating cities and men for the satisfaction of James Cornwall. When Gen- eral Coxey jumped up his mighty legion of ragamiuffine, Jim enlisted shuffled side by<side with the gener- al to Washington and did the story for half_. a dozen newspapers. It was after the Coxey episode that be tool: to the sea and worked be- fore the mast, quitting that for the Yukon gold rush and quitting that again to become the apostle of the Peace Country:—Robson Black in Star Weekly. 1 CRE S] SAFETY AT SEA. Cork Fender" Might Have Saved Empress of Ireland. A series. of accidents: to acean linters, folloning close' on the heels of. the Empress of Ireland disaster in. the St. Lawrence, gives added importance at present to investiga-, tions and experiments having pur- pose: the minimizing of the perils of the. sea. Perhaps the simplest suggestion as to how the lass of the Empress of Ireland might have been tweeted comes from Joseph Conrad, the English novelist. Mr. Conrad fel- hewed the ol:h wed`the sea for twenty years and has been involved in a, collo,sion himself, He is positive that if at the moment the Storstad's bow was about to pierce the side of the Em- press a quartermaster or sailor had had the presence of mind to drop over the side of the liner one of the big, cork fenders ab the point of contact oi'•the two ships the utmost damage done would have been the crushing of a, few of the plates of the Empress above the waterline. These eerie fenders are always kept on the deck of ships, though as a, rule are only used when the vessel is docking. As her bow or side approaches the edge of the pier the fenders axe lowered by ropes, and by their elastic oom position they absorb the forceof t 1 y b he can- tact between moving ship wed lin: movable pier. i:r. Conrad points outthat the Empress and theStor- stad were not moving` at any great speed when they struck and than; could the ,cutting. quality . of the bow of the collier have been trans - Muted by the cork feeder into sim- bows.•: -- STRAW MADE INTO FIBRE. Expert ,Claims •$t0,000,000.Worth Is Wasted Yearly. Straw worth $350.000,000 if manu- factured in fibre, is "being wasted yearly in the prairie provinces, ac- cording to Mr. C. P. Ogilvie, F.L. S., of London. Mr. Ogilvie claims to have dis- covered a process which will trans- form ordinary straw like that nos' destroyed on, the'harvest fields at threshing time into .. a naerchant- able product. 'He is regarded asse. scientific authority on textiles and agriculture, having devoted the best years of his life°to a cies$ and comprehensive study of these sub- jects. . The .chances ,for the development of a new industry are particularly favorable in the Canadian ;North- west, he says.While the straw which is now burnt could be'utiliz- ed for textile purposes. the growing o1^special crops of fax is advocated by the expert. He saris that 2,500,- 000 tons of straw worth $20 a ton when turned into fibre is yearly burnt on the prairies. Flax crops could be raised, he said, with spe- cial • conditions which could be made to yield as much. as $600 to $650 a ton.. Mr. Ogilvie pointed out that the development of the new . industry would provide employment all the year round for thousands of textile workers. He proposes that small factories be established in all the towns in the Northwest and that 1. the farmers devote special attention p to the raising of high grade flax. The textile expert has . arranged toread papers before the British Association of Scientists ,at their gatherings in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. • From Aus- tralia he will go on to. South Ameri- ca. He has supervised the develop - remit of 4,000,000 acres of land in. the Argentine and has been active- ly engaged in other agricultural work. . It is likely that Mr. Ogilvie will deliver a series of lectures in. Can- ada, next an-ada'next year on his pioposals to develop the textile ' possibilities. which exist in this etiliary. He has been asked to speak ;before several' of the agricultural departments of the universities in different pro-. vinees.` Frequently . StornaTesse(l. "You should' lattnch out cin the ocean of matrimony, my hay." "I might if 3r were .sure of its being a .Pacific Ocean." Great Relief for .rya. "What did papa say .•When you asked hien for:m hand l" y "He didn't say anything. fie fen on my neck and wept:'' Ali she Clot Wa e Sylllpitlhy. 7. e Y- 11 Y^^t: xV Y k � i C'ha z e at you Cita some ;� thing for a poor, woman whose hus- band oo nes out of jail to -day? 1lgy-eliero's gearter, Wire hom my condolextee. 8 OF res THE ! i: ONTAlllO Af t fish• CO.1,LT)1131 tw; tieuis ,From'Provinces iy'her Ontario ;'Wye aiij (:ire`- "Melting r god." I. raudon tiytaxt. rr to err Ca n.. pay by-law providing for uuday oars. Winxt1peg .is getting more til 000,000 ,saucier of ,water edal113 Sts artesian welIs..• There were a total of 1,283 court cases .disposed of ia.:Wi. during the month of June. At Harding, Man„ the fortifier v'ator, with 4,000 bushels of grafi burned to the ground. A little more thariotwo weeks was elaiteed, more than $10,000 Calgary oil stocks changed haul Edmonton opened public • grounds for 'children, and will a staff of instructors on hand. Dice games and slot machines been barred in Ddmoioton, all stands and tobacconists being no At Regina a dog bit a Chiix and examination of the Bead o asuniffmalering afterfrom wardsrabies. sli;owed that.i At Edmonton a foreigner was $10 for having a revolver in his gsessiiven t on, thoughoIitm to he cleasworn: e a Mau It • In the Dominion Land Office at nipeg, there il-ere 255 homestea tries in the mo.ith of June, an Inc of 28 ever the same month Last William Hampton, a. wealthy f er,in the I1ortlach district, Moosejaw, was run down by a C. I express at a crossing and killed. At Langham. Sask., fire destr the. Peter Wiebe 'flour mill and National elevator, with a loss of 000. Two thousand Mashels of wb were destroyed. In Calgary, 700 babies were en In the baby show, and 260 prizes w awarded. fixe percentage points girl°babies easily outclasses the bo At Mannvil'le, Alberta„ Are wiped a business block with a loss of $40,0 John B. Burch was the heaviest los his $25,000 general merchandise st being destroyed. W. R. Gamlen, a Regina garden was shot in the leg by a stray 32-c bre bullet and did not know it till found iris shoe full of blood about hours later. Building permits for June, in Win peg, involved an outlay of $1,560,0 winch is $315,600 less than for t same mouth. in 1912, and .$1,650,1 Iess than for June, 1912. Edmonton capitalists want to bu an "electric road front that city to 1\ nxao,e a. distance 45f 30 niiles,.and pros ise to have the road in. operation' October if they get the necessary p mission. Calgary's municipal street car sy tem is not paying, and the reason the failing off in patronage. In Ma 1914, 70,000 less passengers were ca vied than in the same month in 191, William Morris, a Winnipeg bab. fell 60 feat on to a hard surface, an was unhurt. The next day, Jame Everett, a. Winnipeg man, fell 30 fee on to a soft surface, and was believ to be fatally hurt. At Nipawin, Sask., somebody au Sydney Keeping's wire fence noun his farm. into 6 -foot lengths. Ther was over half a rune of the fence, an the Mounted Police will try to fin out who was so industrious. George Wrighteri, a Winnipeg engi- neer, working for the city light de- partment, was killed when an engine he was driving crashed through a, bridge it was crossing over the Winni. peg River. There are 1,369 certificated !Omar. ance agents in Saskatchewan. During 1913 the people of that province paid a hipremiums1 far instar nee the sum of $6,239,329.07, and losses paid by the companies totalled $2,937,430.77. Miss M. E. Snownall, official court stenographer at Winnipeg' for over nine years, died at Regina, after a lou; illness. She was said to be one of t' ablest court.stenograplxers in Oanad and, when forced to give up her occ, pation through ill-bealth last Decer. ber, was presented With a. purse o: $1,500 by lawyers and court officials. 131; RIND T41 FATTIER. My boys, he kind to father, For he's been kind to you ; Ite sought to lead you safely Your life's brief pathway through, Ire's cared for you and loved you; .He's tried to save you pain, And vdly- cxtxnsel, I hopegien notkinwill incvain, He wants to gree yoe happy, He wants you to be true; His lope and pride are centred, Believe it, bey, in you. How =tell of joy and comfort Is in your power to give This faithful, loving, father, If rightfully ,you live. 13e manly, true, and honest, In everything that's done, And ,nhow him that his oeSuz eel Is tr•ea, surred' by his Sons 13e kind when old age sprinkles Its .snowtl•akdos in hie hair, And make his dai t days happy With )ovine words., and care. E, Rexford. 'at a te Rtaatinotlt picnic in Saskatoon, ovdt, 6,00ti+rlloopte were pre;'ient.