LOCAL & GENERAL

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXV, Issue 126, 14 May 1935, Page 6

LOCAL & GENERAL

Japan Buys Rams. At the present time two Japanese buyers are visiting Otago with a view to purchasing stud rams on behalf of the Japanese Government, They have expressed a preference for the Corriedale breed, and in the next few days will visit two large stations in North Otago where this class of sheep is principally brod.

100th Birthday. The feat of reaching the age of 100 years carries with it not a little fame. So found Mrs M. A. Hills, of Onehunga, who on Sunday was, for the day, the central figure of the borough. There was a constant stream of visitors to her house, and she received congratulations from many people, including the Gover-nor-General. His Excellency telephoned from Wellington, saying he was sending to Mrs Hills a personal letter. Danger of Sodium Chlorate.

The danger of sodium chlorate, unless proper precautions are taken, lias been demonstrated at Kaeaea, where Carl Albert Johansen received serious injuries. He now lies in the hospital in a serious condition. Mr. Johansen had been spreading sodium chlorate on his farm and without changing his clothes started to burn some fern and scrub in an adjoining paddock. Suddenly his clothes burst into flames and he received severe burns. His condition is not critical, but he is suffering severely from shock.

Instructor Resigns. The resignation of Mr. M. A. Black, agricultural instructor at Gisborne, was announced at a meeting of Poverty Bay farmers. Mr. Black said it was his intention to accompany a friend on a yachting cruise to the Islands. “The work of advising and helping farmers in various problems I have thoroughly enjoyed,” he said, “but I must confess that sometimes 1 have found restrictions of official life very irksome, so I have decided to cut loose and go off into the blue to enjoy absolute freedom for a while.

The Manxman’s Judgment. “I am a great admirer of female beauty in whatever land I have found it, but it was minus in New Zealand,” says a correspondent of the Isle of Man Examiner. “The girls I met had thick, coarse, yellow, leathery skins, wrinkled and lined prematurely through screwing up the eyes to minimise the effect of sun glare. But they are magnificent swimmers. Boys and girls of all ages are so much in the water together that this is undoubtedly responsible for the fact that New Zealand girls have all the mannerisms of men.”

New Zealand Legion.

A statement was published yesterday in a northern newspaper to the effect that Dr. Campbell Begg intended to *etire from the presidency of the New Zealand Legion, which was to be reorganised as a youth movement. When this statement was referred to Dr. Campbell Begg lust evening, he said that he preferred not to discuss the question at the present juncture. The annual meeting, which was to be held to-morrow, would deal with the election of officers for the ensuing your.

Waterfrcnt Mystery Solved. Sinister-looking blood marks on the launch steps between Queen’s and Central Wharves engaged the attention of the Auckland ponce for several hours on Saturday belore their origin was discovered. The stains were seen by a waterside worker and reported to a constable, and ultimately detectives were assigned to the inquiry. A sample ot the bloqd was submitted to the Auckland Hospital for identification, and the police inquiry was abandoned when a report was received that the blood was that of a fish. It wus learned later that a sting-ray had been caught from the launch steps, and killed there. Fruit Publicity.

“A few weeks ago a guest at a hotel in a New Zealand town helped himself to an apple from the sideboaid at ..er lunch. To his amazement a waitress informed him that the fruit was for dinner that evening and that the management did not supply fruit for lunch,” states the “Orchardist.” “Here is yet another instance in support of our repeated contention that there is need for an intensive campaign to make the public fruit-minded. The fact that a hotel can adopt such a policy is indicative that there is no urgent demand for fruit. If the public really wanted apples after its lunch, hotels would soon fall into line and supply them.” Starr-80-wkett Society. 1

A well attended general meeting of shareholders of the Hastings Starr-Bow-kett Building Society was held in the Chamber of Commerce rooms last evening, when appropriations amounting to £l5OO were held. The chairman, Mr E. T. Gifford, presided, and the appropriations resulted as follows:—No. 4 Issue, ballot £5OO, successful group No. 120; No. 5 issue, sale £5OO, sold at £2l per £100; No. 6 issue, sale £5OO, sold at £l7 per £lOO. Five more shares were taken up in the new (No. 6) issue, and it was announced that further shares were still available. Disease On Grass.

lhe effects of the disease that has lately attacked the paspalum grass is now evident in the Northern Waikato district as far as Ngarua and Waitoa. It is causing considerable concern among dairy farmers, many of whom know the value of this grass as feed. As yet the disease has been noted only on seeding paspalum. It is shown by a sticky substance extending along the seed stalks. Fortunately it has not spread in a general sense, but where it is evident it is considered to be serious, and owners state that they find that a resultant sickness from feeding on the diseased grass is not evident among horses or sheep, being confined to cattle, including dairy cows and calves, lhe signs noticeable among these cattle is a staggering motion when walking and a drooping of the hindquarter*.