TOWN AND COUNTRY

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 86, 10 January 1928, Page 7

TOWN AND COUNTRY

NEWS FROM NEAR AND FAR

i luce plums on one stalk formed & curiosity in the orchard of Mr. T. 1 arr, , Glen Eden, Auckland (says an exchange). The fruit was perfectly formed and the stalk of normal size. the exhibit bore a striking resemblance to the conventional “club” 'of playing cards.

This year has been a strange failure in the cherry plum crop (says the Napier “Telegraph”). The harvest has been very small and nobody seems able to account for the shortage. Some say the winds were responsible, but the other fruits have not been so affected.

"Made in Germany" is a common legend upon toys and other articles retailed to New Zealanders (remarks an exchange). A variation was noticed this year. For instance, a wooden rattle was marked, “Made in Czecho-Slovakia. It was retailed at one shilling, but the foreigner who made it would probably be lucky if he received one-twelfth of that amount.

A Raupo settler finds that by using a truck op iron rails with which to carry his cream from his. shed to Ins cream stand he can do without horses on the farm (says the "North Auckland Times”), and as a horse eats as much as two cows, the initial cost ot the rails will soon bo paid for.

The largest consignment of butter from Gisborne on one ship left that port recently on the steamer Port treemantle, which took 7935 boxes (states an exchange). Some of this consignment was loaded before Christmas, but the operations had to be suspended on account of the weather conditions, and the vessel left the roadstead temporarily. The total value of the butter at the present market rates is over .£30,000.

Birkenhead district enters upon the Now Year with prospects of municipal activity on a considerable scale (states the Auckland "Star”). Recently steps were taken, towards the preparation of a sewerage scheme, which will call for careful attention, and, among the .other improvements proposed by the Birkenhead’ Borough Council, was included the construction of a large swimming pool near the Birkenhead wharf, the building of suitable accommodation for boat lockers on the waterfront, and the acquisition of an area for a sports ground at Birkdale.

A rather peculiar accident befel a local resident recently (says the “Patea Press”). Whilst in his fowl run a rooster attacked him and inflicted a nasty wound on his elbow with one of its spurs. As a result the sufferer is now an inmate of the hospital, where he was compelled to undergo treatment under an anaesthetic for the injury. He is now progressing favourably towards recovery.

■ A runholder at Otaraia sustained losses of station-eating utensils from the cook-shop, shearers persistently "pinching” pannikin and forks with a view to their use when harvesting; so ho got the blacksmith at Clinton to. make him a supply of iron forks, thinking that these would be safe (says the “Herald"). To his surprise, every fork vanished. They were taken as curios. Among the visitors to the recent races at Omoto was a pioneer who, during the past fifty years, has missed but one meeting, although 93 years of age (says the "Grey River Argus"). This resident is Mr. T. Rundle, who came to Greymouth in 18C6, and may fairly claim to be now the oldest resident, witK the exception of one of. two who were born in the town. Mr, Rundle was for many years a storekeeper and miner at Notown in its palmy days, and 'the only race meeting missed by him was one taking place when floods prevented people in that locality from reaching Greymouth.

"If what I have eaten in the hotels in this country is a sample of the bacou they propose to export, well, they will never sell it. I haven't tasted i goo 1 bit of bacon since I have been in low Zealand; it is absolutely v-le. The e were the remarks of Or. 1.. HnriLng, of Manchester, who is visaing New Zealand to investigate die possibilit’es of utilising the food products of w.iey, speaking in Hawera the other dav (says an exchange). He taid the reason for this inferior bacon was tho improper feeding of the pigs. it wa« quite impossible to feed a bacon pig on whev and grass, as was done in this country. you can got cheap grain or millers' offals you will never get good bacon," he said.

The value of the information service of the Auckland broadcasting station, ix A, was demonstrated recently when an message was broadcast recalling a member of a party cruising at the Great Barrier in Xhe launch Deben, owned by Mr. - S. Sheppard, of Devonport (says the "New Zealand Herald"). The message was picked up shortly after 9 p.m. by a number of sets on the island, and was relayed by telephone to the harbours and numerous bays. When the message from this source reached the launch at irjphena, it had already been received on a set on board the boat. The launch, which was on the "hard" for- cleaning, se. out for Auckland at AJAa.m. ■ .Tlie-trip, which should have , taken five hours, took eight hours on account of the heavy weather experienced, off Coromandel. ’

Tte work of bringing back , to .productivity- ■ some 'of tho scrub lands on the lower , slopes of: Pirongia is. ..proceeding steadily, and., before . the., season is °'er several hundred acres will have been cleared and broken up for grassing and cropping (reports the Waipa Post). The lowered'price for fertilisers and for the land itself has enabled occupiers to adopt a very progressive attitude, it is stated one settler • intends to bring in between 200 and 300 acres of his holding. This all means greater productivity for the Dominion, and particularly for Pirongia district, which needs more of the progressive type of settler to handle the unimproved and partly-improved lands on the lower elopes.

The electrio generating plant at Havelock stopped one night recently, and tne town was plunged into darkness (reports the "Express”). Fortunate y the mains from the provincial hydro-electric, scheme nt Waihopai were in close proximity to Havelock, and, by arrangements with Hie Power Board, the township was temporarily connected up with Waihopai. through a special transformer, by the following night. Most of the premises in Havelock have to be rewired before they can be permanently connected with tne Waihopai scheme, but the work will prob, ably now be expedited. The cause of the breakdown of the Havelock plant wael the burning out of the generator, caused by a short circuit. The Power Board s operations in the township were in no way responsible.

In the pair of cassowaries that arrived at the Auckland Zoo recently after a long sea voyage by the Waihcmo, the female is the dominating bird (says the “Star”). In comparison to her the male is of most retiring habits and has a decided meekness about his general demeanour. The cassowaries are the first to be brought to New Zealand and are well-developed birds. They are somewhat smaller than the allied emus, and jdiffer markedly from them in having a bony helmet on the heau and wattles on the naked neck. The glossy, hair-like plumage is dark brown, and the cock —which, as usual among running birds, incubates and takes caie of the younger —is smaller than the hen.

A novel way of spending uis summer vacation has been taken by Mr. G. L. Pearce, an 18-year-old student of Canterbury College, who cycled from Christchurch to Bluff via Ashburton, I'aiilie, Pukaki, Lindis Pass, Cromwell, Queenstown Lumsden, and Invercargill (st-ys the Ashburton "Guardian”). Tai\ cyclist carried 451 b. of baggage, including a fly tent, and he bought food on the journey as ho required it. The lour.st, who has had a thoroughly enjoyable time, was greatly enamoured of S'bulhland’s scenery, and also witi its genial climate, and the province will have a keen booster when he returns to Chrittchurch via Gore and Balclutha.

At a recent County Council meeting a councillor remarked ’Hat it would be a very hard thing to find cattle-tick m Opotilii (states the "East Const Guardian"). That the tick still abounds was shown when a local p-.irts unn shot a hare a few days ago. On examiinng the hare, no less than nme ticks were found on the body of the little an nial. It would appear that to completely eradicate the tick it would • necessary to destroy all the hares in the district—a formidable task. In the whole, very little ■•oncern is being shown by farmers, as me pest does rot appear to cause much harm to .stock, and on many farms the tick is ret found at all. The ticks do not iqipear to be getting more numerous under the local climatic conditions ami appear to ■be unlikely ever to cause any mxiety to farmers.

"Non-starter" writes to an Auckland newspaper to point that whatever may bo the ethics of gambling on the totalisator, a little examination of the published returns should convince the most successful speculator that all the profits from this form of investment are secured by the racing clubs and the Government. The investments at Ellerslie at a recent meeting totalled nearly £112,000. Since many people bet on several races, that amount; represents the multiplication of the money actually taken on the course. The correspondent calculates that the actual amount used by the public as a whole during the day was about £32,500, of which over £16,000 was taken by the club and only a little over £15,000 retained by the investors. “Those who condemn gainbling," he says, rr do so on the ground that it involves the transfer of money from the loser to the winner without just return, but the gamblers themselves may wonder whether there is any advantage in the game when the bankers ate more than half the stakes. ’

Through the bars of a strong iron cage, with a hairy paw making its appearance now and then, AucKlandeis who were in Karangahape Road had their first look at the new “man-eating tiger, on its way from the steamer M aihemo lo the Zoo (says the "Star ). M Ith its rufous brown colour and under-parts of white, it is a fine specimen, standing almost 3ft. high at the shoulders, with a length of over sft. and a snake-like tail of 3ft. Caught in the jungle not more than three weeks before he was shipped at Singapore, the tiger still wears a scar on his lower jaw that he got from a slasher during bis capture. He is a well-striped specimen, has a voice' that was the cause of sleepless nights to many of the ship’s company on the trip out. and an appetite that is appeased only by a liberal helping of uncooked meat. Though he is said to be fond of living near water, he showed a decided dislike of the sluicing of his quarters, even when passing through the tropics. His snarling at such times was particularly ferocious.

In dry periods such as the present people should be careful in lighting fires in the open, particularly near forests. This was shown on tho Kaitakes the other day, when a farmer, who should have known better, lighted some fern nnd furze near the Taranaki I 1 orestry Ltd.'s plantation, adjoining the forest reserves (says the "News"). Fortunately the fire was observed by some of the Forestry Company’s employees, who proceeded to beat out the fire, but this nroved no easy matter, for the tetn find the fire had a good hold, and it was many hours before they gamed mastery. But for their efforts, it is likely that hundreds of acres of the valuable native forest would have been destroyed, not to speak of the young trees recently planted bv the I<orestry Company on adjoining lands. At its meeting mention was made of the incident, and u motion passed expressing appreciation of tho splendid _ services rendered by the Forestry men m checking the fire. s<> saving the wish in the National Park,

■ The isummer holiday season of 192.--S will long be remembered by the farmers of the Waikato as a period of niconvenience and exasperation owing to general inability experienced to secure power to run their milking machines separators (says an exchange). Oneinstance may bo quoted. A farmer and his family rose particularly early one morning in order to finish milking in time to go to a sports meeting in a neighbouring town. There were over 100 cows to be milked. The power was on when they started, and the work pioceedcd quickly, the milkers anticipating an early finish. A few cows had been milked,' when the power was cut off. The benzine engine had. been sold shortly after the power plant was installed, and there was nothing for it but to milk the remainder of the herd by hand. The separation of the milk was held up, and every utensil available was utilised to hold the surplus milk until the hand-driven separator could deal with it. The cream carter went by and the farmer’s supply of cream was not ready. Hours late, the farmer harnessed his horses and carted his cream to the factory, where he found many of his neighbours in the same predicament. The opinions voiced regarding the Arapuni dam and the Public Works Department were expressive. It was late in the afternoon before the farmer and his family reached the sports gathering, and they had hardly got there when, with thoughts of another late hour in the milking shod, they decided to return, so one hardearned holiday was spoilt. This farmer expected a similar experience next day, but was agreeably surprised to find the power plant working satisfactorily. Ho later learned that the feeder lines serving another district had been cut off that day, and that the farmers in that locality’ were experiencing the trouble he had had the day before.

An Aucklander, who has returned from a holiday jn the King Country, was impressed with tho bountiful supply of water that farmers have there (says the “Star”). Much of the King Country is of hilly, volcanic origin. Beautiful springs well up at the head of the numerous valleys, and clear streams of a kind that would make a city councillor’s heart rejoice, flow on their way to join a parent river:. The ram is in general use, and with its perpetual “click, click," in measured, slow time, pumps water to tanks on a higher grade. Some of tho King Country farmers have reticulated all their paddocks, and thus cloudless skies and perpetual sunshine cause them little concern.

In order to keep picnickers off his property, a farmer hit upon a bright scheme, and in a -conspicuous spot on tlie bolder of his territory . there appears bold notice, intimating to the public that it would be well to beware of the bull (says the Napier ‘lele-•-rapli"). That the farmer, in question does not own a bull and that there is no ferocious creature of that denomination within shouting distance of the place in question makes little difference to the would-be wanderers over that particular property, tor as soon as that notice is observed they do not wait to make investigations.