LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXVII, Issue 9051, 23 July 1917, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

At the property sale in Ashburton, a two-roomed hut at the mouth of the Ashburton River was purchased by Mr F. Z. D. Ferriman, who has made a gift of the building to the Returned Soldiers' Association. .

The Hampstead ladies who organised the effort on Saturday in aid of the Ashburton branch-of the Lady Liverpool Society succeeded in collecting approximately £50. The winners of the guessing competitions were: — Cake, Mrs J. Hunt; table centre, M. Flower; white peas, P. Stewart; cushion, K. Small. No one succeeded in guessing the article in the cake, Which was a small Union Jack brooch.

On Siinday last an inmate of tho Tuarangi Old Men's Homo named Robertson wandered away from the institution, and since then has not put in an appearance. The police were advised, and a search was made for him, but without success. A resident of Seafield informed the Home ■.that the. missing man was seen near !'Charing Cross. A conveyance was immediately sent down to bring him back,'but the party ■ ■ was unable to. locate him. .The police are now makinga diligent search for him. X. • Restrictions 0n..-ftt^e >.../export from Great; Britain of rape and turnip/seed, have been imposed by the Home Government, and the position "■ thus created in New Zealand has been considered by the Board of Agriculture. It was decided that, in order to obviate as far as possible any difficulty in procuring supplies for , the Dominion's requirements, representations should be made to the Minister of Agriculture to communicate with tho High • Commissioner in London, requesting him to endeavour to obtain :the necessary' exportation permits.

The whole of the Military Service i Boards in the Dominion will sit in conference in Wellington on August 2. The practice in the past lias been; for only, the! chairmen of the boards to iiiee^ 'but the other members have also been requested to attend the forthcoming conference. It is understood that one of the objects of the conference is that a definite understanding may be arrived at in connection with cases upon which a variety of decisions has been given. The conference will have matters in < connection with the calling up of the Second Division Reserve brought before it.

A strange experience has just befallen Mr James Milne, threshingmill owner, of Rakaia. On waking up one morning, a month ago, he found a red mark and felt a soreness at the back of the large' :> muscle of the upper ariri. ."As'■'it became more /painful, he thought dbmething had bitten, him arid the wound had become poisoned. He obtained medical' .advice and freely poulticed the arm. Recently he,.felt! a pricking sensation, at the:'front .of tiie ..arm, /.arid,-a doctor opened the flesli, and extracted a needle 2f inches in length. It ■ had evidently : travelled right through :the arm.

The ability of a youth of 15 to handle a plough! cropped up during the hearing of an appeal by a revervist at a sitting of the Otago No. 2 Military Service Board at Gore on Thursday (says the " Otago Daily Tinies "). An appellant was being questioned as to the ability of his younger brother, aged J5 years; to work a ploughing, team, the witness being. of the opinion, that the ■ lad was much too young for tho job: This prompted Captain Barrett (the military representative) to remark that perhaps it, was not. generally known that one of the members of the board had handled a plough before he was 15 years of; age, and had actually gained first .pri'jse at a' ploughing match at that. age. Mr James Fleming (the: member referred to) did not volunteer any information on the subject, but the statement is a fact nevertheless. Mr Fleming was a " tweeller ■" of no mean order, and has more than one first prize to his credit. Tho match referred to took place at Longbush (Southland) in the ■ sixties, and the implement . used was a swing plough, not a wheeled machine, such as is in use to-day, and those who have manipulated the former class implement know that it requires both skill and strength to handle it successfully.

Although broad acres, park lands, cricket grounds, pleasure reserves, and nearly all other kinds of grounds are now being ploughed and cultivated in England for the. purpose of. growing food for tho people, there • does not appear to be. any desire to do away with the bulb lands and .to grow potatoes instead of daffodils. Daffodil farming affords a good illustration of what is meant. •• These flowers arc 'much in demand in London in the spring season. Without the aattadowndilly and the poet's ,narcissus, whose smiles are welcomed by all, spring would not be spring. Until less than a score years ago the Dutch had almost a monopoly of the English bulb trade, but now bulb Cultivation is quito a considerable industry. During .tho-spring months tons of blooms aro despatched from the Channel Islands daily to London and other ports, to be followed in the summer by tho. further despatch of tons of bulbs. In South London, and in Cambridgeshire, a large area is devoted to bulbs, several of the growers having from 20 to 50 acres under cultivation. Tho value of the large and choice collections of some of the principal growers of daffodils would run into thousands of pounds. Such sorts as Empress, Emperor, Sir Watkin, and Poeticus are sold wholesale at about £20 -pe-r. ton; but there are many others worth several pounds for single bulbs. An aero of daffodils yields about 200,000 blooms per year, * and tiie bulbs about double their value in throe .years. Daffodils are often : grown as an alternative crop with potatoes. Tho soil is manured for-the and after they, ore lifted the daffodils are put in They remain there two years, when they ore dug up, sorted, and sold, or stored for replanting. Daffodils dislike fresh manure.

Ford Service Depot.—-The Ashburton Ford Service Depot is serving its purpose well. The special equipment installed by the proprietor, Mr G. H. Garwon, Ims enabled him to effect a <•<nvsid.era.blo saving in time in Overhauling; Ford Cars. Ford Owners who entrust their repair work to G. H. Carson enjoy the benefit of specialist, workmanship, and modern .methods. Mr Carson submits estimates free for Overhauling and Renovating, and for Spebial Equipment, such as SelfSfcai'ters, Detachable Wheel Conversions, Upholst-ery, Covers, etc.

.In • the past the Ashburton Racing Club's spring meeting has been held on successive days. For the forthcoming meeting a departure has been made from this rule, and the races will be hold on Thursday and Saturday. ... '......

At a meeting held in Christchurch last evening, under the auspices of the Canterbury Trades and Labour Council, it was decided —"That this meeting of the citizens of Christchurch urges upon the Government td immediately raise the old-age pensions to meet the increased cost of living to our old people." .

The high prices prevailing "for beef gattlo evidently do not prevent dealers .slipping in and making good . profits out of the farmers. Recently a dealer toured through Canterbury, the Ashburton district included, and piirchased a large number of forward stores. Having collected the cattle together, and graded them into ,mol>s, he succeeded' in turning them over at a profit of nearly £2 per head.

For some weeks past residents in the vicinity of the Domain have had their • slumbers disturbed by the nocturnal outcry of a lone goose in! the Domain. In the dead of night its strident, plaintive calls have disturbed light sleepers.; A lonely 'gander , from .the .< region of the ; North-east ..Belt ovidently heard the. S.O.S. .signalsj and, discarding' his own distracted ■familyy;he._riiade, a hasty departure for "the Domain ponds. / yesterday the owner of the recreant gander called on the Curator with a view to the return of his property, but the gander positively refused to forsake his newfound lore.

One of the little "jobs" entrusted to naval officers in ths Persian Gulf during the early, days of the Mesopotamian campaign, was thai,of settling disputes between the tribal.chiefs. These disputes, declared. Captain HaJlThompson, in a "talk on the war" in Wellington on Thursday night, . often developed into little battles, which kept the people from boredom. On one occasion during an inter-tribal-war the combatants had plenty of powder, but were rather short of shot, so they arranged that they should lire regularly one side at the other at 8 o'clock each morning. They used' round sliotj -iuid it was amusing when a shot was fired to see the natives rushing over , the sand after it, and when it got cool pick it up and fire it back again.

'At a sitting of the Otago No. 2 Military Service J3oard at Gore on Thursday, Mr T. H. Foster (chairman of directors of the Oware Dairy Factory Company),, in supporting the appeal of the manager of the factory, said that as chairman of the South Island Dairy Association, /he had brought the matter of .exempting fac : tory hands under the notice of mem-; beks of the Cabinet; arid had been given a, definite promise that exemptions wo\ild be gi'anted in the case of small fac-.tories. This prompted^, the chairman of the: board (Mr \ r. G.-Day, S.M.) to state that no .man or':. body of men outside the board had ■ any authority to make such'a promise. Tlie board alone could grant exemptions.

Memories of the Russian reverses .of. 1915 are recalled by the fact that the trial of General Sukhomlinoff (ex-War Minister) and his wife, on a charge of high treason, has been fixed . for August 10. General Sukhomlinoff held for a time the position of president of the Consultative Board for the Manufacture of Munitions. It was to the failure of this board to keep" the Russian arjtny, supplied ,with munitions that the successive withdrawals 'during 1915 were asoribed. A commission-' which -inquired into the matter curly, in 1916 found .that the lack o.l" munitions. 1-was'..-due to some extent to illegal acts on, the part.- of General Sukhomlinoff, and recoinmondod that he be put upon his t-rial. Charges' of fraud are being brought against General Count de Fredericks, formerly Minister of the Imperial Household, and General Voilikoff, formerly commander of the household troops, who, it is alleged, were in the habit of employing friends in the services controlled by them, in order to enable them to avoid military, service.

The question of the scarcity of labour for farm work was a prominent argument urged by appellants at Thursday's sitting of the Otago No. 2 Military Service Board at Gore. In one caso in particular an effort was made to .show that the appellant bad not been able to secure men to work his horse teams. This was the case of W. Cecil Moncur, who performed contract work on Mr Acton-Adams's estate. The manager of the estate supported the appeal, but the chairman (Air V. G. Day, S.M.) said that the position of master and servant did not apply in this case. Captain Barrett pointed out that the appellant had previously volunteered. Mr Breeu (a member of the board) said he thought Mr Acton-Adams, as a patriot, should do something. Farmers could got labour if they paid for it. Mr Adams was prepared to take over Mr Honour's plant if he could ; get mon to work it. The chairman said ho was satisfied there were plenty of married men capable of working the plant if sufficient inducement were offered them He informed the appellant that the board was prepared to adjourn the case until the first sitting in September,-, but assured him there would lie no'further adjournment.

Akaroa—-The ideal winter- climate, whero roses bloom the year round. Reduced Tariffs still rule. * Cars, 25s return from Broadway's, Christ-church, Daily, 2 p.m. '2