IN NEW ZEALAND.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 116, 18 May 1910, Page 10

IN NEW ZEALAND.

ITEMS OF INTEREST. Mr. H. Okey, M.P.,'has received the following letter from Sir Joseph Ward (reports the Taranaki Daily News) : — "I have to inform you that Mr. T. W. Mace, postmaster and mail-carrier at | Koru, has tendered his resignation from the 15th inst. No person can be found to tako over tho office, and unless a successor offers, the office will have to be closed. The salary paid is £20 per annum, including cost of conveying the mail. Perhaps you can nominate a suitable person as postmaster, to enable the postal facilities to be continued for tho benefit of the settlers. The Gisborne-Morere road is still impassable for vehicular traffic, and it is improbable that the slips will be cleared until the winter is over. - A good deal of work has been done in Cook County, but on the Wairoa side narrow tracks only have been cut through tho slips to permit of riders getting through. A tew big mobh of cattle for the Gisborne freeing works have lately cut up the roads badly, and put the finishing touches on the damage done by the floods. In conversation with a Gisborne Times reporter a Makaun settler stated that while after previous floods the silt de1 posits had eventually been of benefit to the pasture, such was not the case atter the recent flood, owing to tho large amount of papa which had been deposited in the paddocks. Given fine weather tho rails should reach the site of tho temporary station at Otoko viaduct in a week (stated a recent issue of the Poverty Bay Herald). j Work, particularly with ballasting operations, has lately been delayed by the continuous rain. The ballast pit had only just bsen placed in order after the recent floods when the river rose again this week and suspended operations. As rogards the commencement by the Public Works Department of \a goods and passenger service to the railhead from Waikohu, this is a matter that will be directed from Wellington, but it is understood that before the traffic can be undertaken another and a more powerful engine will be required. j Next Monday the duplicate plant at the Waipori hydro-electric works will be in full running (says a Dunedin paper). The installation of the new plant means the supply to the city of an additional < 2000 horse-power, of which 1000 horsepower will bo availablo for sale, thub providing an actual supply, with tho existing 2000 horse-power installed, of 3000 horse-power. The remaining 1000 horsepower of the now installation will be kept in reserve as a &paro unit, in order to provide against unforeseen occurrences!. Of this additional 1000 horse-power which ,< will be available as from Monday next, 750 horse-power has already been disposed of for purposes of power and light. A reassuring decrearo in the number of scarlet fever cabes in Auckland is reported, the number in the Dibtrict Hospital being now 26 There are 13 diphtheria cases now in the hospital. Speaking of scarlet fever a -few days ago the district health officer (Dr. Makgill) stated that most' of the cases ware proving to ' be of a very mild nature, so much so, in fact, that peoplo wero misled into treating them too lightly, with tho result that tho after ert'ects were hard to shake bff. Too much care, he said, could not be taken, even though patients seem- , ed to be mildly affected. Country doctors have reported a large number of cases. Poor croi« ha\e becu gene.ally experienced this season, but the return of a Moutere ianner from two acrot. oi wiical is- probably a record (says th« Nelson Mail). He sowed and manured Inu area well, expending £8, but finding that the ' crop would not pay for threshing, lolc l his son ho could have, the yield if he gavehim a sack oi wheat out of it. The offer was accepted, but the son made nothing out of it, «md thu fathur did nob get his sack of wheats A farmer In one of the Plains districts informed a Guardian reporter that there are indications of a comparatively largo area being put -under cereal crop this seaeon; and, given fine weather, a largo acreage will bo sown this month. Tho grass grub, he said, had done a large amount of damage ; indeed, in many paddocks the grass had been eaten out. It is, said our informant, a question whether it is wise to sow crops in land that is po badly infested with grubs. He then 'went on to fay that, as an old resident in the county, he had never remembered grubs having worked so much havee at &uch an early period of the season. Steady progress is being made with tho carrying out of the irrigation scheme for Central Otago. Twc engineers and their staffs are working out the details of different schemes, which are in a fair way towards completion. A =tart has already been made with tho carrying out of one of the schemes for irrigating the Stewart Settlement, which will cost about £5000, and the Government is now considering when a start shall be made with some of the others which have been reported on. Commenting on the fact that the price realised by Murchison butter sent to London was 125s per cwt, the highest price received for any butter during tho season, the Westport News remarks: — "Yet Mr. Massey until the other day thought that tho West Coast was purely a mineral country, and that it had seen its best days. It might not be a bad idea for West Coast chambers of commerce to promote a fund for the education of Opposition politicians in West Coast matters." An unfortunate incident occurred at ihe Goro Coursing Club's second day's moating on Thursday. It appears (sa>s tho Standard) that when Mr. Pope's dog Golden Reef, which had been showing bomewhat good form, was brought out of his kennel to run off his Fomi-nnal heat with Fusee, he was noticed to be unwell. However, he Avas slipped and ran some distance behind Fusee, when he lay down and expired. It was soon ascertained that the dog had been poisoned. The dog during the day occupied the same kennel or box as Mr. Mapletoft's Quartercaste, but nothing occurred to the latter. Another dog showed symptoms of poisoning during tho day, but after treatment recovered. Dr. Matthews examined the contents of tho stomach, 1 which gave strychnine renction.