LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue LXVIII, 22 June 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Hawera Technical School has received a grant from the Education Department for the purpose of laying linoleum in the main class rooms ofiice and entrance.

Sportsmen report obtaining very fair shooting in the Hawera Acclimatisation Society's district. Pheasants are plentiful on the whole, but quail are not so numerous as they were expected at the end of last season. However, holders of licenses appear to be satisfied with the bags secured up to the present.

The Hawera Acclimatisation Society is paying sixpence per pair for hawk;'s feet, for which it has, during the past two seasons, paid out £40. Yesterday forty pairs were received from the Pihama district, and twenty-two from the Normanby district. It is expected that hawks will be largely reduced in the Hawera centre this' season.

Throughout the North Canterbury district the weather has been such as to cause a suspension of farm work (says the Press)? It has been too wet to take out potatoes where the crop has not been harvested, and the soil has been in too soft a condition for ploughing.

Mr Macpherson, of the Agricultural Department, thought so highly of the prize roots exhibited by the Ashburton Winter Show (says the Press) that he approached the secretary, Mr J. B. Christian, with the object of procuring them for a special exhibit at the Palmerston North show, which ooens on Tuesday.

It is stated that the red deer which were liberated some time ago in the Poverty Bay district promise to develop into one of the finest herds in the dominion. The country is admirably suited in every way for the rais-" ing of this species of deer, and in a few years some excellent sport should be assured.

Farmers are loud in their complaints regarding the erudition of the turnip paddocks (says the Mataura Ensign). Owing to the recent heavy rain the fields are so soft that stock cannot be turned on them. If this were done cattle would trample many of the turnips out of sight, and ' sheep in many instances would simply* get bogged. Turnip feeding in some cases is at a complete standstill in Southland.

A particularly mean act was perpetrated during the recent social of the Canterbury Dairy Company's employees (says the Lyttelton "Times). Several of those present had left their bicycles in a cycle stand at the rear of the building, and on going to get them to ride home they found that some mischievous person had slashed every tyre with a knife, some of the gashes being over six inches in length.

On being shown a comment by a Ministerial journal with reference to an allegation that Mr T. Mackenzie was as big a Tory as there was in the House, Air Fowlds said to a Gisborne Times reporter: "I don't want to say anything in particular in regard to the comment, or anything else, out one thing I know is that, before very long, the Radical members of the present Ministry and the Liberal party will be working shoulder to shoulder with the Labor party."

On a recent Tuesday three gentlemen at Napier found that they required to be in Gisborne by Wednesday morning. The mail steamer had been delayed and would not be available, but the managers of the steamer lluru agreed to take the party to Gisborne if the engineer could be found in time. Much searching led to no" result, but the three friends appealed to the picture theatres, and the managers flung on their screens requests for the engineer to disclose himself- He did so, and the Riiru arrived at Gisborne in ample time for a wedding, which had been the primary cause ot all the trouble.

Attempts have several times been made to "measure memory." One of the experiments consists in reading a series of figures to the subject, at a regular speed of about two per second, and observing how many he can repeat without error in the order in which they were given. The faculty of voluntary attention is, of course, called into play in this experiment. Children from six to eight years old retain, on the average, five figures; children 10 years old, six figures, and adults seven figures. A lightning calculator can retain more than 40 figures.

The Rev. W. A. Burley will be the preacher at Wesley Church to-morrow. In the evening he will begin a series of addresses to young men, and the subject for to-morrow night is: "Is Christ indispensible ?" Young men who do not attend any church are heartily invited.

In Mr A. Blair's replace announcement attention is drawn to a large stock of lamps in every style. Readers •are invited to call and inspect the f;oods advertised.

The quarterly summoned meeting of Loyal Union Lodge, 1.0.0. F., M.U., will oa held on Monday evening.

Young and Jacks, Auckland, advertise two properties for sale.

R. G. Blennerhassett, land agent, Te Iwamutu, has a farm of 330 acres for wale. ,

The N.Z.L. and M.A. Co. advertise particulars of a clearing sale for Mr E. Row, Stratford.

Newton King will hc'J a sale of Jersey rattlo at Nukumaru on Thursday. Jtt-,7 U.

There are in Australia 665.382 persons unaole to read or write. The number of people over the age of 20 who cannot read nor write is 56,126, only .012 per cent, of the residents of the Commonwealth.

A wrestling match at Stratford on Friday night between Louis S. Robertson and Joseph Prechner, two of the most accomplished catch-as-catch-can wrestlers m the dominion, resulted in favor-of the former, who obtained a fall after 78 minutes' strenuous and clever wrestling, such as is seldom seen in New Zealand. This was Robertson's last appearance on the mat, as his increasing business as a building contractor at Ohura does not leave him sufficient time to train properly. , Prechner is leaving in the near future for Australia, where he should have no difficulty in obtaining matches, as he is a most accomplished featherweight wrestler. Sir Robert Anderson, of Belfast, told a reporter in Sydney that the Belfast workmen's houses cost about £100 each, and are lei at 3s per week. They are built in pairs, but they are on the best modem lines, with a bathroom in each house. Compared with the old slum houses they are palaces.

A well-known Tasmaman fruit expert, discussing the possibilities which the opening of the Panama Canal would create for glowers towards establishing tresh markets in New Orleans and New York contends that in addition to enormous quantities of apples which could be disposed of at remunerative rates, tally a million cases of Bon Cretian pears could be distributed in those cities at £1 per case if shipped early m March. As New Zealand is three or tour days nearer these markets than Jasmania, the statement is equally applicable here. At the beginning of March these pears were selling locally at under 2s 6d per ca.se.

Professor Weeldey has written a book, named "The Romance of Words." Some of the information he gives will doubtless surprise many of his readers. He shows, for instance, that "assegai" occurs in Chaucer; that "Tammany" is the name of an Indian chief; that '•Jingo" appears in conjuror's jargon of the seventeenth century, that it is the only pure Basque word in English, and that it means "god" (as such it is also met with in Japanese mythology); that "tabby" comes from the nameo'f a suburb of Bagdad; that "jilt" is the same as Juliet; and that "haricot" has been supposed to come from the Latin "faha," a. bean, through the forms Habarms." "fabaricus," "fabaricotus," "fannotus," "haricotus"? Truly, as Voltaire said, etymology is a science in which the vowels do not count at all. and the consonants very little.

The Sons of William will meet on Monday, June 24, at 7.30 p.m. Smith and Easton will sell trees, shrubs, etc., on account of Mr J. Revell, at the mart next Saturday, at 2 p.m. The Dominion Skating Jlink opens tonight, and will be open every evening; also on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons.

The Egmont-Wanganui hounds will meet at Glen Royal, Inaha, on Wednesday, June 26.

At Kakaramea on July 1 the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Co. will sell sheep and cattle on account of Mr C. H. Nolan.

Newton King advertises a sale of a dairy herd for Mr H. Chadwick, and also a similar sale for Mr A. Walter.

Veterinary science classes are to be taken by Mr Rait, M.R.C.V.S., of Palmerston North, at Hawera, Pa tea, EJtham, and Manaia centres. It is hoped to take a week J3 continuous instruction at each centre. *