THE NEW GOVERNOR.

Golden Bay Argus, Volume XII, Issue 46, 14 April 1910, Page 4

THE NEW GOVERNOR.

LORD PLUNKET’S SUCCESSOR,

Sir John Dickson-Poyuder succeeds Lord Plunket as Governor of New Zealand.

Sir John Poyuder Dickson-Poyn-der was bom in 1866, and is the sixth baronet, having succeeded his uncle in the title, which was created in 1802, in 1884. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and entered ihe Army as a lieutenant in the 3rd Regiment Royal Scots. On succeeding, in 1881, to his maternal uncle’s properly, lie assumed the name of Poyuder. On leaving the Army he became a major of the Wolts Yeomanry, and served during the last South African war, being awarded the Distinguished Service Order, and gaining the Queen’s Medal with three clasps. Sir John Dickson-Poynder has had considerable experience in parliamentary life, having represented the Chippenham Division of Wiltshire as a Conservative since 1892 till the disso’ution. of the last Parliament, when he did not seek re-election. He is a member of the London County Council. He married iu 1896 the daughter of Mr R. li. D. Dundas. Sir John and Lady Dickson-Poynder have one daughter.

The North Woah Hawp mine (Ballarat) cleaned up a fortnight ago for a return of 355/^ 02 obtained from the Indicator reef in the 840 ft level. This return was the result of two weeks’ work, and included two nuggets, one weighing and the other 20002.

The first of April is usually associated with some joke, and one was perpetrated on the suppliers at a creamery in the Kith am district says the " Argus.” During the preceding night some wag had placed up a test-sheet Tiat was many months old, when the test and quantity were both low. Next morning (April i.st) the carts sta rted coining to the creamery and the test-sheet soon attracted attention. In a moment there was talk, loud and vigorous. Each and every supplier was emphatic in his denunciation of the sheet; his test and quantity were better than those shown —why they were equal to those seven mouths ago. When things looked like taking a lively turn, someone remembered the day of the month, whilst a second party discovered the test-sheet was an ancient one. Indignation gave way to mirth, but the supplier who played the joke was iu danger of rough treatment had he turned up before the discovery.

For Children’s Hacking Cough at night, Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure, rs 6d and 2s 6d.

An alarming increase in noxious weeds in Taranaki County was mentioned at the monthly meeting of the County Council. A motion was carried that the attention of the Minister of Agriculture be called to the very serious increase of noxious weeds, especially blackberry', throughout the county, and that unless some other steps are taken than at present to prevent the spread of same, a great deal of land in a very short time will be useless. One councillor held that the inspectors were too few in number to render their work of any avail, and another contended that the inspectors did not do their duty through not taking action early enough in having the weeds cut. During 1909 about £1,000,000 worth of minerals were raised at Mount Morgan (Queensland), and of that sum nearly ,£BOO,OOO was distributed iu* wages, taxes, aud dues of various kinds. A circular letter has been issued by the New Zealand Counties’ Association to local authorities affiliated to it, suggesting that they should form a corporation with a view to insuring their workers in accordance with the provisions of the Workers’ Compensation Act, instead of insuring with private corporations as at present, and by this means effecting a very considerable saving. The Great Boulder mine (Kalgoorlie) still leads the other mines in deep development work, and the ore values at the 2500 ft level still maintain the value of those above. The main shaft is now down 2662 R, aud is still being deepened. Queensland mining companies paid £'442,428 in dividends last year, an increase of £50,413 over those paid during I^oß.

The rabbit season in Southland has this year been an exceptional one, according to a gentleman who is interested in the export of frozen samples of New Zealand’s most prolific pest. One day at a Southern freezing works 1300 crates, each crate containing from 24 to 28 rabbits, were delivered, aud even this record was eclipsed when another day was a total of 1400 crates received. Returns like these argue (says a Southern contemporary) a very heavy mortality among the bunnies, and also substantial cheques to the trappers, who receive from 6d to jd per paii. The dry weather during the spring and summer was all in favour 01 the rabbits being exceptionally numerous, as wet weather is one o. the most potent agents in the de structiou oi the young, by causing the flooding of the nests.

The parents of a little girl who was killed by a mutton bone carelessly thrown out of a railway' dining car near Vienna have been awarded £356 damages again t the iailvvay company. 'The attendant who threw the bone has been sent to prison.

Rubber has been booming for some time now, and the extraordinary prices realised have given a great impulse to the flotation of companies and, incidentally, to the planting of fresh trees in many parts of the world. The Malay States have come into prominence as a rubber-producing country, aud much British capital is invested there. According to a rubber planter at present visiting Wellington, things are exceedingly prosperous in the Straits Settlement just now. Rubber is up to ns6dapound, and the total cost ofdelivefing.it in London does not exceed is 6d a pound. Hence, there is room for a considerable drop in price, which is bound to come when all the plantations now being established all over the tropics come into bearing—that is. about five years from the date of planting. At ruling tates a planter may draw as much as £15,000 a year from a hundred acres of trees.

The authorities at Sunnyside Mental Hospital some two years ago discarded the Ayrshires for the -, shorthorns, believing that the latter would be more profitable, as iu addition to supplying the large quantity of milk required for the patients, it was thought there would be a good demand tor young bulls. A heard of about 40 cows and 10 heifers has been got to-, gether. A few Ayrshire cows re-' tained have been mated with the shorthorn bull. The Press publishes the results of a complete year’s milking of the shorthorns, 1 which all came in late and missed the spring flush. The following are returns of milk from a number of the cows the figures in parentheses denoting the number' 'of months the cows were milked i—(10) 97221 b, (11) 85411 b, (oj£) ?4lllb, (10) 78161 b, (Hi) 73321 b, (10) 71801 b, (9) 08931 b, (9D ,67991 b, (9|) 65311 b, (IU) 58101 b, (8) 57181 b, .(8) 57.001>' (heifer), (9J) 55.791 b, .(7£) 50951b, '(7), 50521 b, (8) 48781 b, '(10; 43461 b, (7£)40911 b, heifer, [B] 38031 b. The whole of the cows’ milk was not tested ' for butter-fat, but one cow averaged 6 per cent, and another 5 per cent. -