LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 15 August 1927, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mr F. G. Coleman, local inspector of factories, has been advised that relief work at Bn'hotu was available for unemployed. There were eight names on his fist, and any men who were out of work and who had not registered their names were advised to communicate with the inspector. “The edible rat was the currency of Easter Island,” said Professor Macmillan Brown in a lecture to the Workers’ Rdu cat ion a 1 Association at Christchurch on Saturday. “The rat was a vegetarian and was roasted whole with al ” its vegetarian parts and was supposed to be very like a sausage. If an Easter Islander wanted to buy anything, he went to the rat burrows at night and collected as much money as he needed.”

A Government official who was recently journeying through Wanganui 'p hinterland had the misfortune to lose a hag containing over £l5O in notes. He was crossing a stream in a/‘chair” —one of those conveyances which hang in mid-air from a wire cable and which settlers in the hack country use for transporting, goods across unbridged streams—when the bag slipped from his back into the turbulent waters of the stream below him. Every effort was made to recover the valuable charge, but the river was in flood and attempts proved futile. It is understood (says the “Wanganui Chronicle”) that the money has not yet been recovered.

“We are getting careful in giving credit to a small shopkeeper who starts with a big cash register and his wife as the only assistant,” said a merchant recently at a meeting of creditors in Auckland. Subsequent inquiries made showed the cash registers arc often bought on the time-payment system, which means that, if the shopkeeper fails, the machine simply goes hack to the vendor, plus the amount paid on it, while the merchant loses what is due for goods supplied. It is the same with mechanical bacon-slicers. One merchant said that as far as the bacon-slicers were concerned, they were almost a necessity nowadays, but in many small shops the cash register was not wanted. ..“The trouble is,” he added, “that-if an establishment nearby lias a cash register, the fact that discount tickets arc issued makes the customers think that they are getting something for nothing, so the other shopkeeper has to instal a machine. As they cost over £IOO, it is a big handicap for the smaller trader, who usually has not too much capital when he starts. ’ ’

Recently, Mr K. Pratt, of Gore, a visitor to the Hermitage, Mount Cook, with Alf Brustad, Norwegian guide and ski expert, left the Ma-lte Brun hut at 5 a.m., and climbed Hoclistotter Dome, crossed over the head of the Murchison Glacier (via Tasman Saddle) and to the north of Mount Cooper, down which they skied to the Tasman Glacier, reaching the Hermitage at 8 p.m. Practically the whole of the trip was done on ski (says the Timaru Herald). Under summer conditions this trip would have taken about two days, with a lot of preparation for extra food and possibly a night spent in the Murchison Valley. A feat of this sort has not before been attempted in winter, except, the winter ascent of Mount Cook by Mr R. L. Wigley, with Guides Milne and Murrel, and finally sets all doubts aside as to the possibilities of winter climbs. Mr Pratt’s effort may be the forerunner of many trips from the Hermitage during what has been considered the “off season.” Trips that in the summer would take a lot of preparation and time, will now be done much more easily and comfortably in the winter. The distance was about 45 miles, and 15 hours were occupied in completing the journey.

“Phosphatic manures are tlu* most important, that we use in New Zealand, ns practically all land in New Zealand is deficient in phosphates,” said Air. J. W. Hadfiekl, of the Department of Agriculture, in addressing die Canterbury Fruit-growers’ Association. Speaking of rock phosphate, which was the basis of practically all fertilisers used, in the Dominion, Mr. Hadfiold said that Nauru rock phosphate was insoluble in water and on'y slightly soluble in the acids of the ’ soil, while other phosphates imported from Egypt and the Sevohellc Islands were also insoluble in water, hut were more readily soluble in the acids cf the soil. By the addition of sulphuric acid, these phosphates were made soluble in water. ‘‘/When ycu come to examine the price you pay for high-grade superphosphates and low-grade phosphates, you will find that you pay more for the lew grade than the high grade,” added ♦he speaker. He said that where immediate results were desired, a readily soluble manure was the best. In Canterbury, superphosphate was found tc be out on its own for all farm work, while no profit had been obtained from the use of potash. All experiments had refuted the idea that superphosphate made the ground sour. The best results were obtained from the use of lime in autumn and superphosphates in the spring. Dealing with agricultural lime, Air. Hadfield spoke of the use of carbonate of lime. In Canterbury, he said, each man had to decide for himself whether he would use lime or not by test.