Social Problems And Their Peaceful Solution.

thousands . These fungi contain all the nutritive qualities of meat without the indigestible part , and it seems as mournful as monstrous that men , women , and children here in England , go unfed , whilst food , eagerly sought after by our

Continental neighbours , is rotting at their very feet . If the products of earth are thus neglected , so too are those of the water . Many a river , brook , and pond teems with fish , which although it may be somewhat coarsestill may be rendered by proper

, cooking , not only wholesome , but positively relishing ; the much-despised bream , for instance , salted and dried haddockwise , will come off hardly second-best in a contest with his more fashionable friend .

We next come to consider imported products , the most important of which are the various preparations known as " Australian Meat , " by the use of which a vast economy may be practised in every household , for , besides she more solid articles of foodcertain of the preparations are

, positive delicacies , and may be enjoyed at a cost of one half that of similar English productions , whilst there is neither trouble nor risk in their preparation . To those who are about to use these meats for the

first time , a word of warning is perhaps necessary , which is to look to the brand * before purchasing as , owing to the ready sale that these preparations have already attained to , many inferior kinds are sent to our market , to have obtained which is to have acquired at once an erroneous idea

of the quality of the true kinds . It may be mentioned , whilst speaking of quality , that a worthy Brother , a butcher in a very large way of business , unhesitatingly said that certain -tins of meat which he

examined and tasted , were from joints as prime aud as fine in quality as any of English growth that he had ever sold . Australian Meat , then , is not " cheap and nasty , " and , perhaps , one of the best possible proofs of its excellence is the fact that little , children will eat it with avidity ,

even choosing it in preference to the ordinary home-grown joint . In bearing our own testimony to its merits let it be distinctly understood that our liking for

it is the result of conviction , for we approached its use with a deeply-rooted prejudice against it ; but , having tried the meat , prejudice was vanquished and its excellence established beyond dispute and we now here state , without fear of

contradiction , that not only is Australian meat cheaper than our own , but also that for nutritious properties and excellence of flavour , it in all cases equals—in many excels—our English meat . It is not our purpose here to describe the various

appetising methods of preparing it for table ; suffice it to say that , warmed up with such vegetables as any cottager can call from his own garden , it forms a meal to be despised by none . Yet more than this , a slice of the meat cut cold as it conies

from the tin , with nothing but bread aud salt , forms a luncheon or supper that need not , to satisfy the usual requirements of auy ordinary frugal mortal , be surpassed . We have spoken of its cheapness , a word , therefore , as to its cost . We have from one four-pound tin had cooked in

various ways no less than twenty-six meals , at twopence per head ; we have had served up for luncheon a . curry with attendant vegetables , more than enough for six persons , at a total cost of one shilling . Andnowseeing all these advantages ,

, , whatever is the obstacle to their general adoption ? Our third reason for the semistarvation of our people—crass ignorance , and that blind prejudice which springs from it .

The cause seems simple , but it is a very difficult one to overcome , so deeply-rooted is prejudice , so impractitable aud wellnig h insuperable its attendant obstinacy . What then must we do to overcome it ? The best of all possible ways is to show , not tollthe way . To tell people that

, "that's the stuff for the poor" is to inevitably defeat the object we have at heart . Let us use it then ourselves , and set our people an example ; rely upon it we shall not regret the experiment . Let us not forget that man is a

gregarious animal and strongly resembles , in many characteristics , the quondam owners of the fibre in those tins ; awfully suspicious , even in a mass ; but just let one old belwether jump , and , hey , presto I all the flock instantly follow , if even it be to destruction ,