LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVI, Issue XLVI, 8 January 1914, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

f An architects' conference has assembled in Auckland, but so far has not entered on its business programme. Mr Robert Mair has conveyed to the people of Whangarei a piece of land seven acres in extent as a New Year's gift. The land faces the river and is ] one of the beaaty spots of the district. Did it constitute a delicate hint? The Opotiki county clerk recently posted "Christmas cards" to ratepayers. The design of the cards had been drawn to represent goodwill and charity -*,nd ttey bore the words: "It is better to give than to receive.'* Mr E. P. Bunny, Mayor of Lower Hutt, has been selected by the Reform Party to contest the Hutt seat at the next elections. Mr Bunny has consented to stand, making the third to announce his candidature, Mr T. M. "Wilford (the present member) and Mr Samuel (Reform) being the other two.

There was a noticeable falling off in ;he passenger traffic on the southward v jxpress train this morning. £ The fine weather has enabled shearng to be carried on, and during the I yast week wool has been coming into I he Hawera station freely. Cheese ilso is being forwarded in large quan- ( bities. A meeting of poultry fanciers is to 1 be held in the Borough Chambers this i evening. A notice of the meeeting < was inadvertently inserted in the < "Meetings and Appointments" for Wednesday. The ringing out of the old year was iccompanied by at least one unrehearsed incident at Taihape. When midnight boomed forth, a prominent citizen determined to add to the general joyful noises. He caught up his shot gun and fired it from the back door, through the chimney of his neighbor's washhouse. His neighbor has found it out, and consequently the two start the new year with somewhat strained relations. The policemen of New South Wales for the last eighteen months have been.granted every second Sunday off duty. The system has operated so satisfactorily that a new regulation embodying this principle was gazetted on December 31st. A novelty in the horticultural line has been produced by Mr F. Harrison, of Brooklyn in the form of a bright red esehscholtzia (Californian poppy). These flowers are generally orange, yellow, white, or pink, but Mr Harrison, by careful seed selection, has been able to produce a bright red without any of the usual traces of white. A report which has had a limited circulation to the effect that the State Coal. Mines were not to be re-opened, was referred to the Hon. W. Fraser, Minister of Mines, who said there was no truth whatever in the rumor. "The State Coal Mines," he said, "will be reopened when work can be carried on in a satisfactory manner, and I hope to see this made possible very shortly." Every season large numbers of persons journey to Ope Kidnappers, only 20 miles from Napier, to see the gannets, and complaints have been received from time to time of the way in which these harmless birds have been cruelly treated and in some cases killed. In order to have them better protected, Mr F. L. Gordon has presented the Crown with 25 acres of the furthermost portion of the point, and this will be gazetted shortly as a reserve (says the Napier Telegraph). Prices were high in Auckland fifty years ago when the province was excited by the alarms of war and the preparations against hostile natives, says the New Zealand Herald. In an address to the prisoners in Mount Eden - Gaol, Mr F. G. Ewington said that when he arrived in Auckland in 1863 as an orderly to General Cameron, eggs j were 3s per dozen, butter was 35.. per ! lb., and milk lOd per quart. Horse feed was dear, and ordinary good draught horses for the military "realised £90 each. Three-roomed houses let at 15s per week. In an average t season, owing to the dry feed at this time of the year, cows show a big falling off in milk, and the corresponding shrinkage in the milk cheque is of serious concern to the dairy farmer. Various mixtures are sown.for summer feed, and about five weeks ago Italian rye grass and oats were sown at the Experimental Farm at Wereroa. It has made phenomenal growth, and for the last few days the milking cows have been turned'in on it for a few hours each day without making much apparent difference to it.— Horowhenua; Chronicle. In Atlantic liners the average state room area per passenger has increased in 20 years from 17J square feet to 80 square feet, and the average area of public rooms from 16 square feet to 40 square feet, and the trial speed from 22 to 26 knots. In Channel steamers equally gi-eat advance has been made. The speed has advanced from 20.64 knots to 25.07 knots. , The present-day results for Channel steamers were got 1 with geared turbines and water-tube | boilers in the Newhaven and Dieppe steamer Paris. j An English paper gives interesting particulars of how raspberries and strawberries were grown last veer in Kent and Cambridgeshire during the ■winter. The account proceeds: 'The summerlike weather which we have had 'during the past few weeks has led to amazing results in fruit "growing. Second crops of raspberries, strawberries, and plums have grown and ripened in -the open. The vast strawberry fields of Messrs Olivers and Sons, the wellknown jam manufacturers of Histon, Cambridge, are literally white with blossom, thousands of strawberries have formed, and many have come to maturity and are ripening; The raspberry canes are loaded with fruit, much o"f which is ripe and equal in size to the fruit obtained at the best season of tlie year. Thousands of ripe plums are to be seen ih the orchards, and quantities of these have been gathered and sent to market." Bath has had many notable visitors, but none has attracted more a Mention than Mr Frederick Kempster, reooutlv on a visit to his brother-in-law and sister there. Mr Kempster is <vly 20 years of age, and? was born :n L«,i eon, stands 7ft 9'Jin. in his socks, turns the scale at 23st. and measures 50ii. across the chest. He can reach to a height of 12ft. 3in., and has no difficulty in "lightI ing a pipe or cigarette at a street lamp. His hands measure Ilia, from the i .wrist to the tips of his .fingers, and he j claim* to have a longer span with one hand than any man in the world. He can cover 16 keys of a piano with ease, and span Bft. 2in. with his arms. His father is 6ft. in height, but his brother is only sft. 4in. He, of course, has to be provided.with a special size bed, and has to- bend his head to pass through the average doorway. That a considerable amount of trickery goes on at some flower shows is not unknown. A correspondent of the Scotsman recently drew the attention of that journal to a fraud practised by vendors of "faked" garden roots, while another gentleman described a similar scheme adopted by a would-be exhibitor at a show in a village not 50 miles from Edinburgh. In past years it had been usual for a certain villager always to carry off the first prize for red currants and when he intimated his intention to exhibit them again this year, .the show committee thought it right to go and make an inspection of the fruit. Now it so happened that the prospective exhibitor had only one hush in his garden, and it was barren.- Here was a dilemma. What was he to do "in view of the inspection committee's visit? He took counsel with a neighbor, and after some discussion they hit upon what they thought was an excellent plan. The neighbor (who was not going to exhibit) had a number of bushes in his garden, with beautiful clusters of red currants, and he suggested that branch cuttings from these might be attached by wire to the barren bush. This without loss of time was accomplished, and the exhibitor awaited the visit of the committee. They came, saw, and even handled the currants, suspecting nothing, and—the fruit duly appeared at the show and took first prize.

At the conclusion of a thorough investigation into the social work of the Salvation Army, the Hamburg To\V* Council unanimously voted a yearly grant of 10,000 marks (£500) 'for a period of five years. The organiser of the Social Democratic Party states that as a result of .. very successful organising trip in the interests of that party, it is likely that Mr David McDougal], a Gore dairy farmer, and at present Mayor of Gore, will be nominated for the Mataura seat against Mr Anderson, M.P.; also that Mr George S. Thomson, honorary district organiser of the party, will be nominated for Clutha, against Mr Malcolm, M.P. Tiie General Manager of Railways (Mr E. H. Hiley) has lately been looking into the condition of houses provided for stationmasters. Representations were recently made to the department in the matter by railway officers. Mr Hiley now states (says the New Zealand Times) that he fully recognises that some of the houses are not as convenient as they might be, but those recently built have been erected on up-to-date lines. Many of the houses, he adds, would not stand alteration, and for financial reasons he finds it impossible to erect new dwellings. As the houses become uninhabitable, it is Mr Hiley's intention to see that new ones are erected with up-to-date accommodation. The new dairy built some time ago at the State Farm is a fine, large airy building with a concrete floor. The floor has a good fall and can easily be washed down. Everything is kept scrupulously clean. There are two cool rooms, the walls and ceilings of. which are filled with pumice and are one foot thick, thus ensuring coolness in the warmest weather. A fine, large cheese room and two curing rooms have also .been provided, and it is intended ! (states the Otaki Mail), if the services I of the expert can be permanently secured, to take up making fancy cheese such as Welsh and cream cheese. A large lot was made some time ago and forwarded to Auckland Exhibition. A few were sent to Wellington, where they were so keenly appreciated that an offer has been made to take -all that may be manufactured. There is also a local demand for the product. Mr T. Takahashi, who represents the Government woollen mills at Tokio, Japan, has been attending the wool sales in Napier # with a view to reporting on the quality of New■ Zealand wool and the methods of conducting sales here! Mr Takahashi informed a New Zealand Times. reporter that all the material for the uniforms of the Japanese army was manufactured in Tokio at the Government mills, which employed 1500 men. Prior to coming to the Dominion, he attended the wool sales in Sydney. This is the second year the Japanese have bought New | Zealand woo?, though it is Mr Takahashi's first visit. He states that he will come again next year, and successive years. He was very pleased with the Napier wool, and it is estimated that he bought about 2000 bales. After attending the Wellington sale he will go on to Christchurch, and it is quite possible that he will send about 5000 bales of New Zealand wool to Japan. The annual meetiii^ of the Te Kiri Sports Association will be held on Saturday.