LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7829, 23 June 1909, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A good deal has been heard of late about the prosperity of Queensland and the great increase m land values that has taken place. The picture has evidently two sides, as the following quotation from a letter received by a business man m Aehburton will show. The writer is an approved valuator, and is referring to city property m Townsville, which is regarded as one of the most go-ahead towns m Queensland. The writer says: There is no improvement m values of land. The municipal valuation was completely upset, and a now valuation was ordered by the Council. At the Appeal Court I was successful m getting a property i m Flinders street reduced from £1500 to £1000. This property, which has a two-storey building on it, is situated m the best part of the business centre and was once valued at £3200. An adjoining property, which used to be valued at £1600, is now assessed at £800, or £20 per foot, This, says the writer, will give you an idea of how property has depreciated m Townsville. The Invercargill Trades and. Labour Council passed a motion strongly protesting against the prorogation of Parliament during Sir Joseph Ward's absence; also commending the action of Mr A. W. Hoggin preferring to stick to his principles rather than to placo and power, and assuring him of a hearty welcome if he addressed a meeting m Invevcargill, ' '■ ■ I

Mr Fowlds, m speaking to a reporter on Tuesday, said that lie thought matters were looking very hopeful for the Chair of Domestic Science at the Otago University. The Department had been giving the matter attention, and the syllabus of work for the diplomas and degrees had been sketched out. The work was being based on the model of the various universities of America that had chairs of the same description It was a very desirable thing that the dominion should have such a chair and it would be especially valuable m training teachers and creating a greater interest m that special kind of work, which was important to. the whole of New Zealand. • After a comparatively long'spell of dry weather 1 change occurred^ on Tuesday evening, when .'am began^to fall from the south-west quartei Ihe wind was not unusually cold, and tor the time of year the rain *'*f« ul£ mild The gauge at the Domain weather station registered ten point* of rain as having fallen during the night. The Feilding Chamber of Commerce has declined to take steps to arruijg for holding an exhibition of colonial industries and manufactures m that town. The Masterton Co-operative Dairy Company has ceased operations for the S At a rough estimate it + has Turned out about 140,0001b* of butter during the season. • Settlers will be pleased (says the Mmmt Ida Chronicle) to 1«™ gg* a •rrey owl has been seen m thedi strict. One made its homo at Mr R. JohnXwJ Hill's Creek, for several nonths, with the result that sparrows made a quick disappearance from the spot. In reply to a Wellington Industrial Union of' Workers', enqun-y as to the cost of a bed for its members m the Wellington Hospital for one year, the Hospital Trustees have agreed to take £40 providing the aggregate stay of the sick persons does not exceed 52 weeks In the event of no bed being Xiied, the patients will be charged at the rate of 30s a week. A rumour is afloat m Hongkong that the White Star liner Celtic will visit Eastern ports m November with a shipment of business men, who,are to tour the world m the interests of certain BritJh industries. Also, that the A^e rican pleasure excursion has chartered ihe Atlantic liner-Arabic for a round-the-world tour. Hongkong will be the port of call for both vessels. A find of some archaeological importante was made the other day by Mr Albert Kearns. The Oamaru Mail says tl at whilst fossicking m a cave m the vicinity of Sandy Beach he unearthed what is undoubtedly the skull of some mammal of antiquarian times, a pecuS being two horn-shaped.projec-tions from its apex. As may be imagm-, ed it would be, after lying buried for ages undisturbed, the specimen is com-1 pletely fossilised. In answer to the-suggestion that it was rumoured that the School Journal was to be discontinued for the sake of retrenchment, the Minister of Education said that he had heard _nothing of such a move. It was not intended that the journal should be stopped. It was an essential part of the educational system, because of the large amount of varied reading matter it provided at a small cost. Unprejudiced people who are competent to judge will, we think, agree with Mr Fowlds m this matter. During a discussion at the meeting of the Canterbury Bee-keepers' Association on Tuesday evening, a suggestion was made, and supported by several of those present, that the importation of bees into New Zealana should be entirely prohibited. It was said that the queen bees now bred m the dominion were equal to the best that could be. imported, and that not only were many of those obtained from Australia of a poorer quality than the locally-bred bees, but they were also unfavourably affected by the change m environment, and less satisfactory results were obtained from them. A Rangitata correspondent writes as follows: The weather during the last few months has been very favourable for farm work. Almost all farmers have got their grain threshed and out of the paddocks.""'"The "icli:, taken all round, are very satisfactory, and compare very favourably with any of previous years. The threshing mills, with the exception of one or two, have all pulled m, Hearne's and Stephens's having put through somewhere about 110,000 bushels, and are still out. Farmers are taking the advantage of the fine weather m getting m their winter wheat, and, judging from the number of paddocks now under the plough, there will be a large area m wheat this year, ■ besides the turnip ground which will be sown m the spring. Sheep are doing well, most people haying got all their lambs away fat. During the year over fifty new books have been placed on the shelves of the public library, which now has^ about 700 well chosen books to pick' from. At a meetng of the South Canterbury Education Board on Tuesday, mention was made of the recent criticism of the Board for placing an order for one hundred desks with a Canadian firm. The Board decided to ask for estimates from firms m New Zealand for desks similar to the imported ones, or of any approved design, the coet not to exceed £1 per desk. It was stated that the imported desks cost only 17s 3d landed m Timaru, but the Board stated that it considered that it would be justified m sacrificing the extra 2s 9d if the money could be kept m the dominion. Speaking to a. reporter m regard to the question of Bible lessons m schools, the Hon. G. Fowlds, Minister of Education, said that he approved of the Nels'ui system, which had been menLionel by a deputation to the North Canterbury Education Board, but he did not think that there would be any legislation on the point. There was no infringement of the Education Act, provided that parents were clearly given to understand that it was. not compulsory for children to attend from 9 to 9.30 a.m. on the day on which the half-hour was set aside for Scripture lessons. It was outside the school hours quite as much as if half an hour were taken at the close of the school day on any other day of the week. It seemed to him that it might be a very satisfactory solution of a vexed question if the Boards would leave it to school committees m each case to determine the hours of opening and closing the schools, so long as the fixed number of hours decided upon by the Board was observed for ordinary instruction. A correspondent writing m the Lyttolton Times of Wednesday says: " May I point out that June 21 is no longer the shortest day. The sun used to reach the northern solstice on that date at the ond of last century, but the year 1900 was not a leap year, and :he omission of the usual extra day has made the present dates of equinoxes and solstices one day later Reckoning j n New Zealand time, the shortest day is now June 22 m a leap year and m the two successive years and June 23 m the third year after cap year. The longest day is December 22 m leap year and m the following year, and December 23 m the second and third year after leap year These dates are gradually becoming earlier, so m course of time the shortest and longest days will again be the 21st of the months, but this will not he until most of us are making our observations of the heavenly bodies unon the spot." . '.

Mr Bates telegraphed to-dey as follows : Southerly strong winds to a gale; rain is probable; the glass will fall soon; the weather will probably be much colder. An ominous black bank of clouds gathered m the south-west quarter this morning, causing many to remark : " ' Taylor' ia approaching." A heavy shower of rain and sleet fell, and "Taylor," after proving to be much less formidable m fact than fancy, passed on to oblivion. Midwinter curiosities m the form of snowdrops, anemones, narcissii, and polyanthii may be seen m a number of the flower gardens m the town and suburbs. The blooms generally are very robust, and are witnesses to the exceptional mildness of the season. Mr C. A. O. Hardy, M.P., has presented a silver cup to the Rakaia school, to be shot for by the boys m the local cadet corps. The boys are now m possession of a rifle range giving stages up to 700 yards, which was also made available through the generosity of Mr Hardy. The following will represent the Ashburton Ladies' Hockey Club m its match with the Doric Club, at Ashburton, to-morrow: Misses Hewson, Clark, May Hewson, N. Elliott, Ada Thomas, Rose Hewson, M. Armstrong, L. Warner, Amy Stock, May Smith and E. Andrewes; emergency, W. Minnis. If a telephone subscriber has to leave the instrument before finishing a conversation the receiver may be hung up. This will'not break the connection. | Putting back one receiver only puts out one light at the switchboard, and the disconnection will not be made until both lights are out —the signal that both receivers are hung up. . A contemporary's letter from London reports that over 40,000 quarters of New Zealand oats (Gartons, Sparrowbills and Blacks) had been sold m Brisbane at about 19s 6d—a healthy advance on the 12s 4d at which much of it was purchased m New Zealand. Three summonses were served on Tuesday on the owner of a motor-car for three separate breaches of the borough by-laws, while another car owner was given a piece of blue paper for having driven his car without lights, says the Timaru Herald. The usual fortnightly meeting of the Star of Ashburton Lodge, U.A.0.D., was held m the lodge-room on Monday evening, with Bro. J. Dobbin, A.D., m the chair. It was decided to hold a social at an early date, when members, with their wives and families and friends, will be asked to assist. The attendance was not a large one, and sick pay having been passed, the lodge adjourned. The usual weekly meeting of - the Ashburton Catholic Club was held last evening, when Mr T. M. Brophy presided over a large attendance of members. The programme for the evening consisted m a mock banquet. During the evening songs and recitations were given, and various toasts were honoured. Weather permitting, a start will be made by the Borough Council m crushing metal for the streets to-morrow. It is the intention of the' Council to! thoroughly metal all the streets that are m urgent need of repair, and by using a judicious supply of clay blinding on the broken metal, and subsequently rolling it when laid, the roads thus treated should soon bind and present a comparatively even surface. As an instance of this, the road opposite the County Council Chambers, which was similarly treated last year, serves as a practical object-lesson. A fairly large quantity of grain is still being carted into the Tinwald grain store and goods shed, chiefly from the swampy districts, where threshing was late m being completed. Notwithstanding opinions expressed to the contrary, there is a good deal of grain still m the hands of farmers, who cannot be induced to sell at the prices that are being offered. Owing to the fairly plentiful supply of feed up till the present,, the large quantities of oat sheaves reserved for chaff purposes have' not been extensively drawn upon, and a large proportion of this will be available for sale, as chaff or grain, during the spring. During last month the arrivals m New Zealand totalled 2424, and the departures 3556 —a loss of 1132 for New i Zealand. The incomers included 1320 . men, and m the ranks of the outward bound there were 2200 men. Thus, " male 22".}+°" "<™<=+u,irted 880 out of the loss .of 1132 by emigration. " For May last year the arrivals were 2659, and the departures 8031, involving a decrease of 372 m New Zealand's population, of which adult males contributed 198 (1570 arrivals against 1768 departures). The automatic weighing machine m the Arcade was officially tested by Constable O'Grady (Inspector of Weights and Measures) this morning. During the inspection it was ascertained that a number of half-pennies, pieces of lead, etc., were m the receptacle of the machine, and it is due to the insertion of these coins, and more par- . ticularly lead fashioned into the shape of a penny, that the machine is occasionally thrown out of working order. When it is considered that the pennies j collected by the machine are sent to the Dr. Barnardo institutions, it seems a pity that boys mischievously inclined should tamper with a money-collecting agency for such a worthy object. The South Canterbury Education Board on Tuesday received a letter from Dr. Hilgendorf, of Lincoln College, stating that if a few minor arrangements could be agreed to he would accept the position of agricultural instructor to the Board at a salary of £400 a year. He assumed that his duties would consist m. conducting small field experiments and their explanation, lectures to the various technical classes, district high schools and teachers, and also to farmers if sufficient interest were shown. He would also undertake the direction of the school gardens. It was decided to convene a conference of all contributing bodies on July 10, at which Dr. Hilgendorf should be asked to be present, and the whole of the scheme should be discussed. It would appear that Australian ladybirds introduced to the dominion by the Agricultural Department, some of which were liberated m the Ashburton county about two years ago, have multiplied m a most remarkable manner. Quite lately the efficiency of the ladybird as a blight exterminator has been strikingly demonstrated m an extensive bluegum plantation at Rakaia. The bluegums were a few years ago suffering very considerably , from the blight pest, their trunks being blackened, and the bark peeling off m long dead strips. Some time ago a few! colonies of the ladybirds were liberated m the plantation by Mr T. W. Kirk, and since that time there has been a marked improvement. The blackness has to a large extent disappeared, and the bluegums have taken on a new lease of healthy life. The same remark applies to bluegum plantations m and around Ashburton; they show signs of a permanent recovery from the check they received a few years ago by blight and severe frosts. , Whether the ladybirds are wholly responsible for exterminating the blight, however, is open to question, . A Watch that gives its owner entire satisfaction—L. S. McClurg's famous Nickel Lever, full jewelled, keyless, dust-proof case. The ideal watch ro "gn wear. Guaranteed for two years, 30s. ■> ■)