LOCAL AND GENERAL

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXV, Issue 3278, 12 March 1931, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The annual meeting of the Te Kuiti Football Club will be held on March 20.

The next sitting of the Magistrate’s Court at Te Kuiti will be held on Tuesday, March 17. «r*Ss< In to-day’s issue the Railway Department advertise the earlier running of the Welling ton-Auckland Express from Te Kuiti, and stopping stations north thereof, on Sunday next, the alteration being due to the reversion to standard time under the Summer Time Act,

“To emphasise the seriousness of the present position,” states the New Zealand Dairyman, “it is only necessary to point out that London cheese prices at around 54s mean a return of about lOd per lb. butterfat, whereas butter at current prices returns liy 2 d to ll%d per lb. butterfat.”

That there appears to be every prospect of the season’s pay-out for butter and cheese ranging from Is 2d to Is 3d in the opinion of a Stratford resident in a jmsition to know. He considered that farmers had no cause to take a pessimistic view of affairs, as most were doing, and pointed out that a pay-out round about the figures mentioned would be very satisfactory under the circumstances.

One of the things in Napier that surprised Mr. H. T. Armstrong, M.P., Christchurch, was the sight of a tall concrete chimney standing intact in the centre of Napier. This chimney, he told a Sun reporter, was condemned as unsafe years ago—and now it was about the only thing left standing for about half-a-mile round. He understood, however, that it had been strengthened some time before the earthquake.

A cable message from London states that the Peninsular Company is converting the Mongolia and the Moldavia into one-class steamers.

The Wanganui Chronicle in an editorial article says the Hon. W. AVeitch, Minister of Railways, M.P., for Wanganui, should resign as a result of the Cabinet’s decision to remove the railways from political control, as suggested by the Royal Commission, because this is entirely opposed to the views held by Mr. Veitch.

While engaged in carting grain at Mr. Hadley’s farm, Seadown, a man named William Kennedy was severely stung by bees, and had to be taken to hospital (states the Christchurch Times). Mr. Columb, who lives nearby, was working on the property with Kennedy and others, and it was while carting in that the bees attacked two of the horses, stinging them so severe ly that both died. Both were valuable animals. It was found that Kennedy was in a bad way, and he was immediately taken away for medical attention.

“I believe the press should have everything. This hush-hush business is no good.” That was the pronouncement of Dr. H. T. J. Thacker at a recent meeting of the Port Christchurch League. Dr. Thacker had mentioned the new Estuary Conservation Board, and a member had suggested that the time was not yet ripe for any disclosures. “Secrecy is no good to us or to the public,” he said. “Everything should be above board.”

“You can’t put a cook in the box to give the value of a chandelier,” remarked Mr. Justice Adams at the Wanganui Supreme Court, when Mr. P. Baldwin asked a boardinghouse keeper to give an estimate of the value of a quantity of furniture. Mr. Baldwin pursued the question until His Honour remarked: “Well, don’t bother about the cook, what about the case?” Later the matter of the value of the furniture was re-opened, but the Judge made a similar observation. The result was that the only evidence from the witness box about the value of the furniture was that given by a furniture manufacturer.

The United States is the land of contrast, Dr. C. E. Beeby, lecturer in psychology at Canterbury College, told a Sun reporter. Any generalisation on that remarkable country was sure to be false in some particular, he said. There was so much that was contradictory. One instance he gave was that A 1 Capone, notorious gangster, who had to drive through the streets of New York in an armoured car, attended by*a watchful bodyguard, maintained several huge soup kitchens, at which he gave meals to the poor.

“The field distribution of eggs commenced on December 29, and by the end of the month a total of 48,585 had been despatched, 10,251 to Te Kuiti, 15,525 to Palmerston North, and 22,815 to New Plymouth,” states a paragraph in a report to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research by the Noxious Weed Control Committee. The eggs referred to are tohes, not of the .domestic fowl, but of the moth called Tyria Jacobea, the caterpillar of which devours ragwort and thus helps to rid the land of a decided menace. The report continues: “Owing to the large supplies of pupae received this season from England, to the high percentage of moth emergencies, and to that low percentage of parasitism, this season’s distribution will prove very satisfactory; indications show that close on 2,000,000 eggs should be distributed by the close of the season, as against 190,069 last season.”

The other afternoon an officer of an overseas vessel at Lyttelton received from England a cablegram conveying the glad tidings that a daughter had been born to him the previous day. As this was the firstborn of the family, he hastened to celebrate the occasion with his fellowofficers and employees of the shipping company as guests. While the festivities were in progress in an office on the wharf a Sun newspaper seller, with an eye to business, entered and called out, “Sun, sir!” “Daughter!” chorused the whole assembly, including the proud father. The Sun boy, though entirely unaware of the purport of the joke, joined heartily in the laughter, and thereafter did a brisk business.

New Zealand produce is conspicuous in English shops. This was the opinion expressed by Mr. L. V. Moses, who has returned to Auckland after a world tour. “Whoever is responsible for the publicity deserves the highest commendation,” he said. “The advertisements are appealing and widely used. Even in very small villages neatly coloured sheets recommending New Zealand lamb, butter, apples, honey and the like ai'e to be seen attached to the display windows of the butchery and other stores. I travelled about 800 miles in England and Scotland, and have no hesitation whatever in saying that the produce of no other country, or any other producing concern is better advertised and distributed,” he said. “Preparing for lunch on the roadside, we would constantly inquire at stores in town and city, as well as in villages, for New Zealand butter, and in no single instance were we unable to obtain it.”

Where did the excellent sample of quartz that a prospector took to a Christchurch jeweller the other day come from? From what the miner told the jewellers, he has made a rich strike on the West Coast, and there is a large quantity of similar quartz at his disposal. From what a Sun reporter was told, it seems as if one prospector at least has struck luck lately. He brought in the lump of quartz and asked the jeweller how much gold there was in it. The jeweller, who has had considerable experience of quartz and quartz mining, examined the mineral and informed the man that there was a good quantity of gold present. He asked how much of the quartz the man had. “Where I got it there is a mountain of the stuff,” was the reply. The man would not say where he had made his find, but stated that the claim was handy and accessible.

The 21b loaf of bread is selling in Sydney for 3d., as against 6|d. in New Zealand.

If interest and wages both fell would farming strengthen its reserve finance, or would returning prosperity again exhaust itself in soaring land mortgages? asks the Wellington Post.

A Dannevirke resident has received a letter from Bradford in which the writer, who is interested in the wool trade, says: “We are beginning to think in Bradford that the wool market is distinctly on the mend.

“Compared with the position m 1914, wholesale prices are up to-day 35 per cent., and hourly adult wages 76 per cent.” This is the finding of Mr. E. P. Neale, secretary of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, in an article upon the Dominion’s economic position. Authority has been given by the Main Highways Board for the. metalling and shingling of four miles 39 chains of the Main South Road between Hangatiki and Te Kuiti. The specifications of the contract, for which tenders have been called, .provide for the supplying and spreading of 7100 cubic yards of two-inch limestone spalls, and 3550 cubic yards of river shingle. George Harvey, who won £2500 in the Black Cat Art Union, is a youth of 16, the son of a farmer residing at Inchclutha, Otago, two miles past Stirling School. He was dux of the school two years ago, and is now helping on his father’s farm. He had tickets in previous art unions with no result, and tried one ticket in the Black Cat. He was informed of his luck on Saturday night by a neighbour possessing a wireless set. No decision has yet been made as to the disposal of his prize. Already agents are calling on him.

Butter and cheese quotations of 26 years ago may be of some interest to-day. The N.Z. Times of March 7, 1905, contained the following advice from the Agent-General: The cheese market is steady but thereUs only a small demand. The average price of finest New Zealand cheese is 50s per cwt. Butter: There is a good enquiry for colonial and arrivals are well cleared. New Zealand 103 s to 104 s, New South Wales and Victoria 102 s to 103 s, occasional lots of 104 s. Queensland 100 s to 101 s. The quotation from London on the 6th of this month gave New’ Zealand cheese at white 56s to 575, exceptional 58s (for the same week last year it was 83s 845.) Butter on the 6th was: New Zealand salted 120 s to 122 s up to 124 s (last year 138 s to 140 s); unsalted 124 s to 128 s up to 130 s (last year 148 s to 1565.)