LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7251, 9 August 1907, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Domain weather station'registered 6 degrees of frost this morning. One of the white swans in the Domain was found dead yesterday afternoon. The Inspector-General of the colony's volunteer forces, Colonel Davies, will inspect the Ashburton Rifles and Guards, the Mounted Riflos, and the High School Cadets on Monday, the 19th. instant. . It is reported that near Elderslie, m North Otago, cattle are dying for lack or feed. The ground is very parched, and water is needed very much. It is stated that in the Balfour district, near Lumsden, Southland, more ram is falling than is required. Mrs Ross announces that she has opened a millinery and fancy draoerv business in Tailored .street. Steps are being taken to form Pleasant Point, bourn Canterbury, into a town district. The proposed districthas a population of s^o, and an area of one square mile.

Transactions in land in Southland (says the .News), which have produced substantial profits to the vendors, are of almost daily occurrence, but one which took place a lew weeks ago takes a foremost place. The vendor had been in possession a little more than twelve months, and sold for £10,500 beyond what he paid for ifc. The purchaser was a northern farmer, who intends carrying on. the pastoral industry. Another transaction worthy of record was the sale of a farm a short distance from Winton, also to a Canterbury buyer. The vendor bought the land four years ago, when ifc was in tussock, for £2 13s an acre, and sold the other day for £11 15s. He had expended labour and money on the property in the meantime, but it will be scon that the increase over and above what this is likely to have been was considerable.

The Dunedin Star is informed on good authority that some heads of departments find it difficult to maintain discipline, since the real "boss" is fre.quently not the head, but the member for the district. A very bad case is stated to have occurred in Dimedin recently. One of the employees absented himself for a rather protracted period. When he came back he greeted some members of the staff to whom | the chief was talking with easy famil- • iarity. " His first .words were,, "What Ho!" and the rest of his conversation was like.unto the first. His chief naturally gasped in astonishment, which | diew from the young man the remark, "Oh, that's all right, 'boss,' I am not coming back here, Mr has got the a job in another department." Members of Parliament who act so as to, promote this kind of conceitedness and impertinence should get another job / from their constituents—the job of I keeping outside the walls of Parliament. Already shearers are being booked for sheds in and around the district by local labour bureau (says -the Wairarapa Times). Although' it is the custom to book sheds early in advance by shearers, the increase in popularity of sheepfarming through the high prices ruling tor wool has caused an additional number of shearers to be required, and this year station-holders are taking time by the forelock to prevent being kept too late in getting their wool out. According to the Bucks Advertiser, a farmer has found out that by planting onions and potatoes in the same field in alternate rows, the onions become so strong that they bring tears to the eyes of the potatoes in such quantities that the roots are kept moist, and a large crop is raised in spite of drought. This may be worth knowing at a time like the present in New Zealand.

I The results of the potato trials car-1 I riod. out in colihection with the Reading Agricultural College, England, show fchjifc hi every instance a yield was obtained from the Irish seed from twice or three times as great as that which resulted when English potatoes were panted, and that the returns from j Scottish seed were distinctly better than the English records. This shows the advantage of a change of seed. j At the Olympia Horse Show, London, j Mr Glencross's All Fours, an Austra-lian-bred horse, won the first prize of! £100 and the championship for high jump. The height cleared was 6ft 9in. , What shall it profit a man to produce a few more pounds of butter to-day and a degenerate race of cattle to-morrow? This is a query asked the readers of an American stock paper. Two thousand tons of turnips are expected to be railed from Southland to the Oamaru district alone, to keep stock going till early spring feed is available.

As showing the enormous advance in ! rhc price of land in Wellington, during recent years, a charitable institution se-j rnred a section a few years hack for j £IROO, to-day's value is £10,000. Mr H. Burling:, who is a Wairarapa pioneer settler, is now in his 107 th voar. It is stated that when he was 100 years of age he was. assisting to .sow grass-seed on the hilly country of Aliredton with some of his_ stalwart grandsons, taking the lead with a saoV of grass-seed upon his shoulders. Ho noticed' the'boys lagging behind, and enquired if he was making the uaco (oo fast! His descendants are said to exceed 400 in number. In a nianni'acturing town in Scotland the price of gas is 2s 6d per 1000 ft for lighting, and Is 9d per 1000 ft for power purposes. The municipality owns the works, and despite the fact that coal has advanced 3s per ton in price, the Council has decided to allow the pi ice of gas to remain at the old figure. The'annual railway ball was held in the Oddfellows' Hall last night, when about 100 couples occupied the floor. The hall was tastefully decorated, and' the Amalgamated Railway Servants' banner was prominently exhibited. The dances were signalled by the semaphore, which gave quite a railway touch to the proceedings. - The joint secretaries, Messrs P. Bradley and H. Sterling, were assisted by a committee consisting of Messrs T. and E. Breeze, F. Goodman, T. Home, J. Mulford, J. Burns, H. Mercer, W. Reid, F. Ryde, J. Rich, W. Cadman, G. Warren, J. MeKenha, J. Julian and Andrews. Messrs P. Bradley and F. Goodman acted, as M.C.'s. The music was supplied by Terris's Band, and extras were piayed by Misses Brown, Johnston, Clark, Torris and Mr Bradley. During the evening Mr Crooks and MiAndrews contributed songs, and the latter gave an exhibition of stepdancing. A Mayfield farmer, in conversation with a representative of this paper, said that the present winter had, so far, been one of the best experienced for some years past in the Mayfield district. He said that Mayfield land did not require much rain in the winter months, but frequent showers were needed in the spring and summer months. Feed was not so scarce in his district as it was in those adjacent to the seci beach, and, generally speaking, stock was looking fairly well. A few lambs had made their appearance in some of the flocks, but lambing would not bo general for another month. The cereal crops were not sufficiently advanced to enable him to offer an opinion, as yet, about them. Mr Riddell, S.M., Wellington, delivered judgment in favour of the plaintiff on Thursday in the case Harcourt and Co. v. McKay, heard on Tuesday, when the defence was that money due by defendant to the plaintiff company had been paid, defendant having .sent a blank promissory note to a servant of plaintiff's, who had absconded. Some interesting and instructive reminiscences of travel were given at the weekly meet'fng of the Baring Square Mutual Improvement Society, held last night, Mr W. H. Collins being in the chair. Mr Harry Meyenberg, who is now in Auckland, contributed a paper, which was read by a member, and Mr Clem. Andrews related his experiences when in Egypt, with special reference to a visit to the Pyramids. Mr Moyenberg was in San Francisco during the earthquake week, and shared in the general distress of that disaster. Both received a well-deserved vote of thanks for their contributions, which were much appreciated.