LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 50, Issue 196, 2 June 1930, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

An apple tree that is now bearing its second crop of fruit this season is growing in the orchard of Mr W. C. Ford, of Lowcliffe. The tree produced its first crop in December, and then blossomed a second time. The fruit is of fair size and makes good eating.

In the Taranaki egg-laying competition the average number of eggs laid by 71 birds was 228. The profit on eggs marketed over the cost of feed iv as £2B 17s 4d, the earnings of each bird was £1 Gs Gd, and the cost of feed for each was 18s 9d, leaving a profit of 7s 9d per bird.

A problem recently faced a Wanganui motor-car owner, who used linseed oil as a preservative for the hood of his small vehicle. This preservative proved top tempting a morsel for the horse of a local carrier, and “Neddy’ promptly made a mid-day meal off the hood! The owner of the car is now faced with the problem of deciding who is liable for the repairs to the hood.

A “ Gazette” notice declares that chamois and Himalayan thar are not now included in the second schedule of the Animals Protection and Game Act —that is, they cease to be Imported game. On inquiry from the Department of Internal Affairs, it was learned that this notification means that protection is removed in respect to these animals, and anyone can shoot them at any time of the year, without a license, subject, of course, to the consent of the owner of the property on which the animals may be.

A largo crowd congregated at the entrance to an auction mart in Auckland the other day just before a sale was to start (says the “Star”). An elderly man amongst them had decided to try out a piano, and it was soon evident that he was a master of the instrument. His long, thin hands danced over the keys as he. entranced listeners with classic numbers. He seemed lost in his art. Suddenly he looked' round, evpressed a few words of apologv, and plodded his way off. “My word, that old chap is a fine nlayer,” said one woman, who seemed disappointed that the melody had ceased. “Yes,” said a man nearby, “that man is an artist. Lie used to nlay for Madame Melba.” The spectators appeared thoroughly to appreciate the news. Every voluntary audience likps to feel that its good taste is justified.

The gilt “Lion” badges worn by the British Rugby team are being “bunted” to the point of extermination (says the “Taranaki Herald”). A delicate inquiry as to the possibility of acquiring one from one member of the team brought the reply: “Mine have all gone, and I have not one to wear myself.”

Mr F. D. Prentice, captain of the British Rugby team, was very enthusiastic in bis praise of Pukekura Park, New Plymouth. He said that, comparing it with grounds he had played on in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and France, the sports ground presented the most attractive picture he had ever seen. He admired the sports ground also for its “beautiful setting of forest, lakes and gardens.”

In the course of his summing-up -to the jury in a case in the New Plymouth Supreme Court, Mr Justice Blair said that if he gave the jury a wrong direction in law there was a Court that could put him right; but he added, that if the jury came to a wrong conclusion on the facts there was no Court that could put them right.

“ You could increase' the population of Wanganui city to 90,444 without appreciably increasing the debt,” said Mi* J. W. Mawson, director of town planning, at a regional planning meeting in Wanganui. He was instancing large expenditure by local bodies, which, lie said, were out of proportion to the population of the area in many districts. Wanganui’s population, Mr Mawson said, was 27,400.

The first snowfall of the year was experienced the other day at Parikanapa, the highest roint in the hills near Gisborne. The ground.in the morning was sprinkled with the results of a. fall during the night, and all the high country inland from Parikanapa. was reported to be covered lightly with snow. This first fall was about a month later than the initial snowfall last year, and the season generally has been much milder in the hill country than during the autumn and early winter of 1929. One service car, coming through the Wairoa, by the Wharerata route, ran through a light fall of snowflakes, which, however, lasted only a few moments.

A cryptic but important statement was made by the Mayor of Christchurch (the Rev. J. Iv. Archer) at a reunion of the Yeternns’ Association on Saturday night last, to the effect that the city is shortly to receive a gift which be greater in financial value than any yet made (says a Press Association message). The statement was not amplified in any way, and when approached the Mayor said he would make a further announcement later. The best gift in the city’s history is £25,000 for the Art Gallery, made by Mr It. E. McDougall, proprietor of Aulsebrook njd Co.

Cats have been seen in the South island sitting on half-submerged willow trunks and scooping whitebait out of the river. A novel attribute of the stoat has apparently developed in New Zealand, according to a statement made by Mr W. H. Field, M.P., at the meeting of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society (says the “Post”). Mr Field said that a stoat was seen sitting on the bank of a stream gazing into the water at Waikanae. After a while it dived in and emerged with an 18in eel, which got away. Again, the stoat crouched and watched, and the second attempt, though it was a well-matched tug-of-war, succeeded, the stoat disappearing into cover trailing the squirming eel.

The opinion that New Zealand boys have little chance at present of qualifying for the merchant service, and that a training ship should be provided, so that those who wanted to go to sea would he able to receive adequate instruction, was expressed at a meeting at Timaru of the general committee of the Navy League. A member had heard it said from Lyttelton that scarcely cue boy a year took up a seafaring life as an occupation. In other countries there were training ships, and in England some shipping companies had their own methods of fitting boys for future service on their boats, by means of cadetships on cargo steamers. New Zealand, however, lacked any such training ground.

Captain Buckley, of the Queen Alexandra Band, has received a very fine selection from Coleridge-Taylor’s “Hiawatha” from England (states the “Wanganui Herald”). Mr W. Halliwell, who judged the 1928 contest in Wellington, at which the Queen Alexandra Band won the championship, arranged the selection and presented it to Captain Buckley. The parts are all in Mi* Halliwell’s handwriting. In a letter to Captain Buckley, Mr Halliwell mentioned that he had written only two sets of parts —one for England’s greatest band, the St. Kilda of which Mr Hubert Bath, the composer, was conductor, and is now touring England, and one for the Queen Alexandra Band.

The recent statistics show that the irrigated lands in New Zealand total 59,845 acres, an increase of 2605' acres on the preceding year. Of the area, 2985 acres are in green fodder and root crops, 53,104 in pasture, and 10G1 in lucerne, or 57,000 of the total. The balance is devoted to orchards and cereal crops. It is not a very impressive area considering the money that has been sunk in irrigation in Central Otago. It has been stated that the cost of the various schemes runs into something over a million pounds, which would make the cost per acre about £l7. Some of the schemes entail a water rate of approximately 17s, •which is considered too high for economical use in ordinary farming.

Mention of mistakes about Maoris recalls the tour of New Zealand by the present King and Queen. One" of the touring party was an English journalist whose hobby was botany. When visiting Whakarewarewn he was interested in a small fern, and, in search of information, inquiringly addressed a well-tattoed Maori with, “Ehoa, what you call that, eh?” “Oh, that’s fern,” was the reply, in excellent English. He then gave the botanical name, which consisted of two Latin words. There is also the classical story of the Wanganui barmaid, who, on catching a glimpse of a Maori making his way into the private bar, immediately said: “Haeremai, out you get. I'ourpennv bar for you!” The Maori happened to he a Cabinet. Minister. He went in search of other Quarters and himself told the yarn with great glee. When ordering a grain and seed drill, bo sure you get the best, drilling being the vital operation in planting any crop. The. Agricultural Department, after trying Ml other makes, both local and imnorted, found our “Star” Drill the only make competent to fulfil all their requirements, and to give the necessary accuracy in drilling test plots. During the last ten years the Department has purchased six seven-coulter Drills from us dor that rvurnose! They know the best. —iP. and D. Duncan Ltd.. Tuam Street. Christchurch, and Ashburton. —(Advt.)

One bankruptcy was filed in Ashburton last month. There were no petitions in bankruptcy in May of last year.

An. Auckland telegram states that the two men who carried off aboard the Corinthie from Wellington some months ago and were dropped at Pitcairn, are on the Tainui, which is due at Auckland on June 3.

A Wanganui firm has struck an original form in advertising that should prove quite a break from the advertising hoardings that one sees lining the roadways nowadays. A railway van has been painted extolling the virtue of a certain mineral that is mined in Taranaki, and when the van is attached to any train the “ad.” should catch the eye as it passes through the country.

“What was the proportion of hinds to stags in the deer culled this year?” asked Mr L. B. Hutton at the annual meeting of the Southland Acclimatisation Society. “I understand,” replied the president (Mr James Robertson), “that the hinds comprised. 90 per cent of the total.” Mr Hutton said he had asked the question with a view to seeing if the culling had anything to do with the shortage of heads which some had reported.

The changing taste of the Auckland public in the choice of its amusements was referred to by Mr W. Cecil Leys at a meeting of the Leys Institute, in Auckland. Up till a short time ago, lie said, the Institute had arranged lectures and entertainments, for which some of the best brains in New Zealand had been available. Nowadays, however, the difficulty was to get audiences, owing, probably, to the more popular' appeal of the picture theatres.

The Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Society’s 38th annual winter show was opened on Saturday, and will be continued till next Saturday (says a Press Association message). Included in a very comprehensive exhibition is the outstanding display of factory butter and cheese, the quality of which is warmly commended by Government graders. The show was officially opened by the Mayor (Mr R. S. Black), in the absence of the Hon. G. W. Forbes, who was expected, but found he could not make the trip to Dunedin.