INTERPROVINCIAL.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 83, 9 April 1910, Page 15

INTERPROVINCIAL.

■ ■■ ♦ Although tho forthcoming season is to be a close ono for native game, according to law (remarks tho Otago Daily Times), there has not been a time for some years past when wild pigeons wero so plentiful in tho Cathn's Bush. A representative of the Free Press, who has just returned from a trip through tho bush to Tautuku, reports that there have been cases of wanton destruction which havo aroused the indignation of the settlers. Tho other day a settler came across a large heap of daad pigeons which had been shot and loft to rot under * treo. One of the highest averages of oats per aero recorded in the Ashburton district this season is 90 bushels of Danish which Mr William WiUon, of May field, has just throshod out from a big paddock. Mr. Wilson has only threshed a part of his wheat, but so far it is yielding up to 40 bushels per acre. Tho variety is Pearl, and the simple is particularly plump and bright. In the samo paddock in which he has the wheat he has also a good crop of oats, but these are not yot threshed. •Tho number of callers at the Christchurch Labour Office in soarch of employ, ment has r.eon remarkably small during the past, few ,/eeks. Usually (here is rather a rush -fter harvesting is ovei, but this year furnishes an exception. Some of tho vegctablo productions in Christcburch havo been fairly cheap this season (records tho Press). Tho other day three eases of tomatoes rold for Is, tho cases alone costing about 9d, while marrows have been sold at Is per dozen. The season has produced tho latter vogetable in great abundance. Much dissatisfaction it expressed in South Canterbury at tho action of the Hon. D. Bud do in granting permission in certain districts to shoot native gnmo for one month during (ho coming lenson. It is considered that a close season would. ha\e done a great deal of good. So pronounced is the small bird pest in the Greenfield district (hat the *ecre> tary ot the Greenfield Farmers' Union says the tanners there would not object to an additional rsto if the County Coua« ci) would purchase heads and eggs. There is now a probability of tho much-desired Dunedin central firo hrieado station, tho plans for vhicK havo been prepared for somo timo oast, jv». suming practical shape beforo vory long (says tho Otago Daily Times). At a special meeting of the Dunedin F're Board, hold a few days ago, it was resolved to place on tho market a debenture issue of £10,000, this being the amount of tho loan authorised by the Firo Brigades Act Amendment Act, 1908 Tho debentures will be of £100 p»ch, tho rate of interest will be 4J p«r '•ont , and their curroney thirty yevrs. Provision will also be made 'or a sinking fund of 2 per cent, per annum. The debentures will be placed on offer to the publio within a few days. In the allocations for this year the Dunodin City Council has reduced the £50 grant it made last year to tho local Competitions Society to £25, aud has also eliminated' thn vote in *he case of tho Shipwreck Relief Society, which was last voar allotted £25. Councillor Tapley mado an effort in each of these cases to have last year's amounts restored, but was unsuccessful. In the course of the discussion upon the former o' tho grants muoh was said about tho great educative value of the annual competitions. Councillor Burnett, however, proved heterodox. He had been to one or two of these competitions, he said, and he didn't think they did any good at all 1 Dr. Ogston informed a Dunedin Star reporter that tho typhoid outbreak in Otago, though not of a malignant type, shows no signs of sbating. Numerous cases are reported, and h« understands that in consequence the accommodation at the Dunedin Hospital is somewhat strained. Diarrhoea in infants is also a common complaint just now, and this also may bo traceable to tho long autumn drought. Tho doctors at Homo expect suoh a troublo about August if tho weather has been warm. The construction of an artificial lake near the magnetic observatory in the ChrUtchurch Domain has proved a difficult and expensive undertaking, says ths Lyttelton Times The excavation of the bed was completed several months ago, and two bores were sunk to fill it. Tho overflow from a ram a short distance away was also utilised, but owing to the porous character of the soil, tho lako did not form. A variety of _ experiments have been tried with the object of bringing the work to a satisfactory result, but apparently the underlying soil has an unlimited power of absorption. A low dam has now been built between the bank* and a miniature "island/ but although this has confined the water to a smaller area, the effect has be«n slight. A portion of the bed is covered by a few inches of water, above- which a rank growth of weed* obtrudes, and the spot is for from bsaiitiful. Tho accumulated water has accomplished some result, for it has apparently attracted numbers of fantails, which display a charming curiosity about •very one who approaches tho spot.

"Did you eTcr know a girl to die for love!" "Yes." "Did iho just fado away and die becauso somo man dcnertcd her?" "No; she just took in washing and worked herself to death bocauso tho man she loved married her."