General News.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19213, 20 January 1928, Page 8

General News.

A lieavv goods train which left Lyttelton for Christchurch shortly alter 12.30 p.m. yesterday was unable u> climb the grade in the tunnel and after being in the tunnel for nearly an hour, backed out at the Lyttelton >end again. Meanwhile the passenger train which should have left Lyttelton at 12.55 was held up, and eventually got away at 1.30. To avoid further delay, the railway officials at Lnnstchurch dispatched a passenger train at 1.30 for Lyttelton, and the normal service was thereafter resumed. The remarkable sagacity of dogs & illustrated by a setter and a spaniel owned by a West Lyttelton resident. A' Lyttelton police official occasionally borrows the dogs for shooting expeditions. He is the owner of an ordinary model Ford car, and now, every tune he passes through West Lyttelton the dogs come down to the road and attempt to clamber on to the running board. Although they are kept out ?t sight, but in the hearing of the main road, and although scores of Fords pass the locality daily, the dogs never make a mistake, and the official cannot pasj in his car without having to contend with the dogs.

There is a new esculent doming called the blueberry. It is, in its best development, "as big as a cherry, splendid for pies, and as delicious with cream as strawberries." The "New Zealand Smallholder" reports that several members of the New Zealand Nursery Trades Association have been testing plants of the most improved American hybrids, ana these have promised well experimentally in North Auckland, Palraerston North, Lower Hutt, Christchurch, and Southland. The fruit grows on a thornless, gooseberry-like bush in clusters, and its wide climatic range from frosty Southland to tepid North Auckland gives it a special value. It is propagated by mound layering. Naval exercises in the Hauraki Gulf. which were scheduled to commence on Monday, were postponed on account'or the absence of the cruisers Dunedin and Diomede searching for the missing airmen. The sloops Laburnum and Veronica have left for the gulf, ami were to be followed by the Dunedin and Diomede yesterday. On January 27th the Diomede will return to Auckland, and the Dunedin will proceed y> Whangaroa, being due back at Auckland on February 6th. The Diomede will visit Russell from January 30th to February Bth. and after re-fuelling at Auckland on February 9th, will proceed south. The Dunedin will commence a.southern cruise on February 16th.

Strenuous efforts are being made by the Wellington police and the city traffic officers to round up gangs of young men who speed through the city and suburbs on noisy motor-cycles at night and during the holidays. "They are a real source of annoyance," said SeniorSergeant D. £cott in the Wellington Magistrate's Court when a youthful motor-cyclist admitted riding on the wrong side of the road. "In their idle moments they do Wellington like a mob of sheep. They are a danger to everyone. Constables have followed them at various times, but they switch off their lights and speed up. So numerous have they become on Thorndon quay and in Oriental Bay that special men have been put on to watch for them." About ten or twelve years ago, said the Minister for Lands (the Hon. Mr McLeod), in a policy speech at Waipu, a farmers' party entered into Parliamentary contests in Australia, as a complete and separate political unit, the result being that in a very short period Socialistic Labour held office m all the six States of the Commonwealth, although at no time did their policy or objective appeal to anything like a majority of the electors. There were not wanting on the political horizon of New Zealand, Mr McLeod remarked, signs that the same state of affairs could easily arise in this Dominion, unless the electors did some hard thinking for themselves by studying the official figures, which were available to everyone, so that useful questions might be put to political candidates, irrespective of party. The distinction made by the Kairanga County Council between sheep and cattle dogs and those used for other purposes drew a rather novel protest from a Bunnythorpe resident, who wrote to the Council protesting against being forced to pay 10s 6d dog tax on a fox terrier, while owners ot sheep and cattle dogs paid only 2s 6d a head for their animals. The following is an extract from the letter: "1 am a man on the land and am seeking to make my living therefrom, bot not being a dairy-farmer I have no need of a cattle dog; nevertheless I have a very great need for a dog to keep down such pests as rabbits, rate, birds, etc., etc., so am compelled to keep a fox terrier. . . . The farmer himself reaps all the profit through the keeping of a cattle dog, but the whole country reaps the profit through the keeping of my fox terrier. ... If

you look at the matter from my point of view you can easily see that, instead of being penalised, I should be subsidised for keepinjr a dog wholly for the destruction of farm pests." Despite the ratepayer's presentation of his case, the Council seemed inclined to treat his protest with levity, and it was decided not to reduce the tax on the *«rrkr.

Owing to one or two of the examiners delaying the return of papers, the matriculation examination results will not be available for a week, says a Press Association message from "Wellington. The unusual sight of a motor-car pulling a hay-rake around a field in a New Plymouth suburban farmlet was presented the other day. The farmer got through his work in about half the time it generally takes with the horse-drawn rake.

Good progress is being made with the sinking of the 16in bore which is being put down at Woolston to augment the high-pressure water supply scheme. The bore has been sunk about 100 ft, being in water-bearing shingle, which is expected to result in a good flow. It will be sunk a further 20ft.

The commission agreed upon between the employers and employees in the Tawa Flat tunnelling dispute sat yesterday to arrive at a basis for an industrial agreement which is to be registered. The men's representative addressed the commission and called evidence, and evidence for the employers was also heard, when the commision adjourned until this afternoon.--Wellington message. The sailing rules of the Cornwell Cup races stipulate a juvenile crew of two, and a combined weight of 17st, but unlike the case of jockeys, any surplus weight necessary has to be made up in wood. The diminutive Tauranga lads were a long way short of the necessary 17st, and it would have needed the best part of a cord of wood to make up the weight. Under the circumstances the rule was waived, and iron was carried as the extra ballast.

A notice conferring extended powers on the North Shore Borough Water Supply Board is published in the "Gazette" for the purpose of conserving the supply of water in Lake Takapuna, regulating the output and preserving the purity of the water. The Board is given various powers, including licensing the withdrawal of water from the lake. The Board may impose on licensees a scale of charges for such water, and may also prohibit bathing or washing in tlie lake. —Phess Service.

Highway matters have recently been investigated in the North Island by members of the Canterbury Progress League's Highways Committee and executive, and also the organiser, Mr P. R. Climie. Messrs J. A. Mesher, G. Maginness, and Professor A. H. Tocker all took the opportunity while on a visit to the North Island to acquaint themselves with the highways conditions obtaining there, and Professor Tocker, who is at present attending the Science Congress at Hobart, will also make some research into highway matters m .the Commonwealth.

"We hear too little about New Zealand in China." said Mr Pottinger, who has lived in Shanghai for the past three years, and who was a passenger to Auckland from Sydney by the Niagara. He said he had the greatest difficulty in securing any information about Now Zealand, and if he had not met some Englishmen who had visited New Zealand, he would have known practically nothing about the country. "Scores of English people who learn»J I was to visit your country asked me to write to them and tell them all about New Zealand," added Mr Pottinger. "Men with good incomes are eager for information about the dominion. Many have families growing up and desire to settle in one of the Dominions, so that they can give their children a chance. The prospects in England are not very good. China is out of the question, so that outposts of the Empire are regarded with great favour." Mr Pottinger said Australia had a representative in China, and Canada was well represented. He thought the New Zealand Government would be well repaid if it sent a representative to China We manufacture Stack Covers at our Saddlery Factory, Tuam street. Best Quality Wool Pack Cloth Covers, with ropes, all sizes kept in stock. 16. slB 40s, 18 x 21 555, 21 x 24 72s Gd. Mason, Struthers and Co., Ltd. —<3