LOCAL AND GENERAL

Feilding Star, Volume 8, Issue 2507, 21 March 1930, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The London Gazette announces that the King has granted a Lord Mayoralty to Brisbane.

At an auction sale of books in Auckland this week there was only a small demand for volumes dealing with the Great War.

Gangs of men are employed on the road on both sides of the Rimutaka hill cutting back corners and widening generally.

There has been an alarming increase of smallpox in Bombay Presidency, attributed to superstitious fear of vaccination.

Drilling for oil commenced at Whangamomona’ yesterday. Experts consider the prospects good of striking oil at a moderate depth, states a New Plymouth message.

More cabbagr is consumed daily in Shanghai than in any other community of like size in the world. Hundreds of tons are marketed each morning, the vegetable taking the place of meat in many homes.

A bust of the late Miss Gertrude Bell, traveller and author, has been unveiled in the Iraq Museum, in Bagdad, which she herself founded. The statue was subscribed for by her admirers all the world over.^

Mr C. V. Houghton at Gladstone road, Parnell, kept a tally of the fruit produced on one of his pear trees and it reached the astonishing total of 6558 pears. One branch, which broke off on account of the weight of fruit, had on it 380 pears.

Recently 14 tenders from British, Belgian, French and German firms wer esubmitted for constructing the first section of the Liege-Antwerp canal, ranging from .£1,700,000 to £3,400,000. The successful tenderer is not yet known.

A strie of abattoirs slaughtermen at Sydney, lasting 10 days, has been settled. As a consequence there was spirited competition for stock at the Ilomebush sale last- week, 20.75° sheep and 2540 cattle being the day’s clearing.

A reduction in the salaries of Ministers and members of Parliament is to be considered at a meeting of Government supporters in the New South Wales Parliament. It is held that if reductions in the Civil Service are to be enforced legislators should set a good example.

Proposals for two general loans and two special loans, the total amounts aggregating £131,250, for additions to the sewerage and waterworks in the town and suburbs of Gisborne, were, taken this week. All the proposals were rejected by substantial majorities.

Only about ioq cases out of 520 objections to the new valuation list of Auckland city will come before the Assessment Court at its sitting this week. Compromises have been readied in numerou instances and it is anticipated that other cases will be satisfactorily adjusted within the next few days.

Judges who will make the awards at the Manawatu Competitions commencing i’n Palmerston on May 0 are : -Mr .J. . Grosslev Clitherpe,, of Dunedin, vocal and instrumental music ; Mr Walter RusselLwood, of Auckland, elocution; Miss Iris Montgomery, of Christchurch, fancy dancing; Miss Daisy McLelland, of Ohakune, Highland dancing.

A prize was awarded by the London Bookman for the best list of the 12 greatest living British novelists in order of therr greatness. The winning list was in the following order: John Galsworthy, H. G. Wells, Arnold Bennett, G. K. Chesterton, Hugh Walpole, Warwick Deeping, Sheila Kaye-Smith, H. M. Tomlinson, W. J. Locke, Compton Mackenzie, John Buchan, Rose Macaulay.

Judging from the steamer passenger lists more New Zealanders than usual are going to the Old Country by wav of Suez this year. It is a very interesting route, nine days being the longest time at sea between ports. About 150 of the passengers booked by the Ulimaroa, which sails from Auckland to-day are joining the Orient liner Oronsay at Sydney en route for England. The people sailing on the Ulimaroa are from various parts of the Dominion.

“The cliukor is said by many experts to be the best bird for spprt,” said Mr F. E. McKenzie at the meeting of the Auckland Acclimatisation Society Council, referring to the decision to introduce the bird into the Auckland district. “It i's larger than the Indian pheasant, yet it lives on a starvation diet. In India it has held its own against the pests that harass bird life there, and a recent experiment has shown that its extreme hardiness makes it easy to transport here. It is an ideal bird for the poorer country.” Mr McKenzie was authorised to order up. to 200 brace.