LOCAL AND GENERAL.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XIX, Issue 2051, 4 December 1924, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The production of butter in Auckland province to date this season has established a notable record. The output totals 624,755 boxes, compared with 517,569 last year, an increase of 107,186 boxes. The output of cheese shows a small decrease. The average of the outpjat from the Waitanguru Dairy Factory is being well maintained, while the grading of butter is moire than satisfactory. The Waitanguru district is looking at its best, and with the prevailing prices for produce and wool, settlers in this district are well saltisfied with their outlook in'every way. "One of the first houses I lived in up country had a beaten earth floor and slab walls, and all the cookingwas done outside," stated a Napier old identity to a Hawke's Bay Herald reporter. It was a plain, even a hard life, but it was healthy and no one minded because everyone was hard up. A man who died one of the wealthiest men in New Zealand, was once seen walking in to Wellington from the Hutt with a boot on one foot and a slipper on the other: A friend said: "Hello, have you hurt your foot?" "Oh, no," was the reply, "I have worn out my other boot, and I don't want to be seen in Wellington with it on."

A New Zealand lady writing to relatives in Invercargill from a city in Scotland, gives some idea of the appalling state of affairs existing in some parts of that country. She had received an appointment to the Committee of the British Women's Temperance . Society, and on traversing several portions of the city she was amazed at the condition of things that existed. Large families were living in hovels, which strongly reminded the New Zealand visitor of a rabbit warren. The strange thing about the matter was that the people were quite happy, being unaccustomed to anything better.

The farmer's privilege of being a .grumbler is almost proverbial. The Rev. F. E. Harry, of Wellington, scored nicely in alluding to this characteristic of the New Zealand farmer, in an address given at Cambridge on Friday last. Speaking of optimism, the speaker said: "Why, I once heard of a farmer who was an optimist!" Seeing the astonished expression on the faces of his hearers, he said: "Don't you believe that? It is a fact!" He added: "But he didn't live in Cambridge"—(laughter)—and went on to say that this farmer lost his crops through flood, but calmly said: "Well, I had a good crop last year; I musn'l; grumble." Then his house was destroyed by fire, but he only said; "Well, the missis was always grumbling about the house not being quite to her liking; now she car, have one to suit her." Later he met with a serious accident, and both his feel had to be amputated. Even then the optimist declared: , "Never mind, my feet were always getting cold in the winter, and they won't worry me': now!"

"Surely," said the Rev. W. Gray Dixon, writing to the Press last week, "it should be possible to speak about dancing, or about any other matter of social interest, reasonably and dispassionately." Amongst the items to be given at Miss Ivy Graham's concert will be a recitation by Miss Peggy Luxford. Mrs R. Ormsby and Mr N. C. Benge will also contribute items. Miss Ivy* Graham has received word of the following successes of her pupils:—Miss W. Harvey has passed the A.L.C.M. degree, D. Barr and P. Olliver the theory section of the "D" examination, and Gwen Black gained first place in the senior division in a a theory competition for children liv- - ing in the Dominion. i "Africa is the place for good, cheap [tobacco and cigarettes," said Mr J. Horn, M.P, who has just returned from a tour through South Africa, in the course of an interview with an Otago Daily Times reporter. It was . sold at lOd to Is 6d per quarter pound as against 4s in New Zealand. As for cigarettes, they cost 4i/ 2 d to 7d per packet of 20, whereas the■ prices ranged from Is 6d to 2s in the Dominion. At a meeting of a Palmerston North sports body during the week (says the Manawatu Daily Times), the chairman approved a suggestion that the assistance of a rather wellknown Palmerstonian be sought in a certain matter, adding:—"He's not a bad chap, although a couple of years ago I had occasion to tell him what I thought of him, and at the time it wasn't much." (Laughter). The main highway between Otorohanga and Hamilton was metalled through last week, the remaining link, ,a distance of half a mile, lying about 10 miles north of Otorohanga, being then completed. The run through to Hamilton, a distance -of 41 miles, is now easily accomplished in two hours, though the road surface, more especially near Te Awamutu, badly netfds attention. Except there, and for a portion of the- distance in Waipa county, travel is comfortable. It is understood that Waipa county is waiting for the Main Highways Board to supplement expenditure on the road before doing further repair work.