CHEAPER BACON.
AN ELECTION CRY.
CLEARING THE  AIR.
TOWN AND COUNTRY.
DUST REMOVED BY WIND.
COUNTRY RECORDS.
WIND  HALL, GOSFORTH.
A NOTED GALE.


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Nevertheless, we may be thankful for things as they are. With  roads and
rivers flooded, and land sodden, we may be glad of all the winds that  blow
(in
moderation), to dry the soil for the farmers, and to purify the  atmosphere
for
the health and comfort of everybody. And, after all, is not this  the season
of the year whereby the Earth is purified and Nature is at  reast!


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We have, as someone said, the stars to play with and the world at  our feet.
The motor dust at this season is at a minimum, and we suppose that  along
the
coast here from right to left and up to the mountains, we have the  purest
air
in all the United Kingdom and Ireland thrown in! The chief problem is  how
to
use it rightly, and to avoid the terrors of overcrowding. So, by the way,
we
wonder how many ‘teeny-weeny” invisible particles there are, actually, in
this sweet country air, as compared with that of the slums of overcrowded
towns.


We wonder!


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Some years ago a scientific expert let the cat out of the bag when  he told
us that his estimate of the number of solid particles in the air away  from
all
public roads and buildings, but near the sea between St. Bees and  Seascale,
was roughly 250 to the square inch. At first this would seem to be a  large
number for such an obviously pure atmosphere. But let us think of what the
number may be along the dust laden highways in summer. Then we shall not
wonder
that we sneeze in towns to get rid of them (the dust-devils), and have our
eyes
 half closed to prevent too early blindness - even if we are run over by the
first motor that passes!


**********


And we mention all this (even after the wet summer and the floods)  not
merely to show how easily, even here, our eyes and ears may be deadened, or
how
the germs of infection may be increased by dry weather, but rather to
emphasise
the comparative purity of the seaside air as compared not merely with  the
dusty highways, but with the air of towns wherein (thank goodness) some of
us
are not yet compelled to live or to die.

 And with all our rates and taxes and quibbles about  representation, it is
a
scream, isn’t it? When we are able to find that the  number of particles of
suspended impurities in the air of many towns in ordinary  dry weather, even
now, is not less than 30,000 to the square inch of the air  breathed. Then,
as
each one of us breathes about 18 cubic feet of air per hour,  we draw into
the
lungs and respiratory organs in 24 hours about 22,400,000,000  of such solid
particles. Then, we are not well off, comparatively, in our  country
environments by the mountains or the deep sea? But what would happen
without the rain
and wind to help the town folk in their crowded  areas?


**********


And that reminds us how the flooded rivers also,  have been propitious
anglers during the fishing season of 1928. The season on  the Ehen and the
Calder
and Irt, closed this week until the middle of March; and  in these rivers,
especially, the catch of smelts or sprods from the sea has been  better than
for
many years past. There are two reasons for this - firstly, the  repeated
floods
at most convenient times for the rod men (but bad for the  farmers), and,
secondly, the continued exertions of the Egremont and district  Rod-fishers
Club
in  regard to the prevention of pollution. Much of the  sewerage of former
years has been removed from the river Ehen, and the water is  more wholesome
than
it was. But salmon have been very, very scare (scarcely an  “odd yean”),
though it is believed that in the swollen becks some have gone up  higher to
spawn. If so, these, if not interfered with many replenish the streams  with
a
fresh and larger run in years to come. Let us hope  so.


**********


Then, finally, someone asks us this week, “If fish  are scarce why shouldn’t
we have cheaper bacon?” Well there is something in  that. But it really is a
poser! Our friend also adds, “We want more home-cured!”  And we quite agree.
The fact is that quite a number of pigs are bred in this  neighbourhood (as
of
yore), but owing to want of bacon curers, or a bacon  factory of the
old-fashioned stamp, farmers are handicapped and kept under the  thumb of
the
butchers. There now! One for the farmers at  last!


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But the public also suffer. Where is now to be had the  good rich Cumberland
ham or bacon, such as was cured by SELKIRK, ROBINSON or  SMITH at Beckermet,
or by ATKINSON and MATTERSON, at Sellafield, in the last  century, certainly
less than 50 years ago? The best and most luscious hams at  eight pence per
pound. And, by the way, these curers, locally, all made “their  fortunes and
a
name.” Honest curing; honest prices; and honesty all round.  What an
election
cry that would be - for the future!









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