LOCAL AND GENERAL

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3401, 2 August 1932, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

When the news of the Auckland riot reached London the people "just couldn't, believe it," according to Dr. W. J. Worboys, of Imperial Chemical Industries, who reached Wellington in the Monowai from San Francisco. "New Zealand has such a high name in England that we were simply incredulous," Dr. Worboys said.

A Wanganui business man received a letter from an American farmer by last week's mail. "Crops are good," he states, "especially wheat, but I won't be able to sell much of it. In fact, it is really a waste of time putting - in crops these days, but one doesn't like to see one's land lyingidle even if there is no market. Cattle are almost down to nothing, and the sheepmen can't sell their wool. What little they have sold brought only 6 cents per pound. We sell cream at only 10 cents a pound—the cheapest it has ever been sold at. Although this is mid-summer, unemployment is worse than ever. We elect a new President this fall, but I don't think that will make any difference. The farmers are hoping that prohibition will be repealed, and then they will be able to sell some of their crops." "There is no immediate intention on the part of the Government to remove the embargo on the importation of stock from Great Britain," stated the Minister of Agriculture (Mr. C E. Macmillan) in a letter to the Poverty Bay A. and P. Association. The writer added: "I may say, however, that there has been no outbreak of of foot-and-mouth disease in Scotland for many months, while the position has substantially improved. So far as the United States is concerned, the importation of cattle is already prohibited save with the consent of the Minister of Agriculture, and your association may rest assured that no permit will be issued unless the position from a disease standpoint is thoroughly satisfactory."

Judging from the preparation put into it and the talk of the children, the children's demonstration in the Parish Hall to-night should prove of great interest to all.

A dance in aid of "Bully" Wallace was held at Oparure last Saturday and quite a fair number of people attended. After paying all expenses the sum of about £1 10s was set aside for "Bully" Wallace, who met with a very nasty accident when playing in the renresentative match—Maniapoto versus Otorohanga.

A social afternoon and general meeting is being held in the Parish Hall on Thursday by the Women's Civic League, beginning at 3 p.m. Elecutionary and musical items are included in the programme, and afternoon tea will be provided. A demonstration of rug-making, to which a great deal of preparation has been devoted, should prove most interesting and instructive. All women, whether members of the League or not, are invited.

On Sunday night a very fortunate escape from injury was sustained by the occupants of a car which went over the bank about the four-mile peg on the Awakino Road, on a hairpin bend. The weather conditions made visibility very bad, and the car went too near the edge and overturned: Luckily a fence held it up, and the car remained with the wheels h\ the air. The car was extensively damaged, more especially about the hood and upper parts.

"You were a bit lucky," said Detective Walsh to a witness in the Magistrate's Court at Wanganui during the hearing of 34 charges against four young men in connection with the recent chain of burglaries carried out in and around Wanganui. Witness said that the morning after his store had been broken into he had found £9 in notes lying about the floor, which the intruders had missed.

A resident of Stratford received a telephone call inviting her to afternoon tea at a well known hostess's home. Although she had never previously visited the lady in question, the invited one decided to go, and, in due course, presented herself at the door. Blank surprise on the part of both followed. To the visitor's explanation her "hostess" denied ever having telephoned or issued any invitation, and it was finally decided that some unknown person with a peculiar sense of humour must have been responsible for the hoax, which was a despicable and contemptuous action, to say the least.

In the first view of the matter it might appear strange to read the remarks of an Australian urging New Zealanders to "keep a stiff upper lip" in the face of bad times, considering the depths of depression to which the Commonwealth sank, but from the tone of a letter received by a Dunedin resident from a friend in Melbourne it would seem that the situation is by no means curious. "I am sorry to hear," he writes, "that business is bad, but you will get over it. We went through it, but there is now quite a different spirit abroad; We are experiencing a mild mining boom, and real estate is rising; also we are managing to get men back into work. The country from the primary producer's point of view never looked so well, and now, after Lausanne, we should see prices rise. Keep a stiff upper lip and you will soon be through it."

The Australian cockatoo has been known to live to a ripe old age in captivity. As a matter of fact, there is one in Wanganui over 50 years of age which originally was brought from Nelson (states the Herald). Rather a strange meeting took place between the bird and a Nelson resident last week. The Nelson resident is on holiday, and is staying with some relative. The latter happened to mention to him that a friend had this cockatoo, and he remarked: "By jove! I wonder if that's Ginger." As a boy he used to play with Ginger. He was taken up to the house where Ginger is located in Wanganui, and the first remark to the cockatoo was, "Hello, Ginger." The latter fluttered around as if greatly excited, and replied, "Hello, Ginger." It was very obvious that the cockatoo remembered him again after all those years. As a matter of fact, the present owners, who had the bird in their possession for many years, had never previously heard him utter the word "Ginger."

How few farmers could pick high production or low production cows without testing results before them was illustrated" by Mr. C. M. Hume, Dominion supervisor of herd testing, speaking in Wanganui (reports the Chronicle). He showed a lantern slide of the analysis of results of a competition held at Matamata in February, 1931. Ninety-nine farmers took part in the competition, which was to place five mature Jersey cows in their correct order of production, no testing figures being divulged. Five men only placed three cows in their correct order. Fourteen placed two cows in their correct order. Seven picked the lowest producing cow and 18 the highest. "You laugh," said Mr. Hume. "Now you see what a lot of pure guessing has been clone in New Zealand by those who are not testing their dairy herds."

"I hope we will remember the fine moral effect of being down in the valley," said Mr. J. S. Barton, the Borough Commissioner at Napier, in an address to Napier Rotarians, "and when we are up on top of the mountain again that we will remember the lessons we have learnt." It was only when the people of New Zealand were down in the pit of depression that thev got into that frame of mind when they were eager to practice civic virtues. The country would have been able to carry on much better at the present time if, in 1928 or 1929, meetings had been held to consider currency matters and the building up of reserves in London to carry the country over a state_ of depression. But if such meetings had taken place, they would have been sparsely attended. But at the present time such meetings would be crowded, for it was only when the people were in the depths of depression that they became really concerned and took notice of suggestions whereby their country might become prosperous again.

A loan issued by the Dunedin City Council at 5 \ per cent, fell due recently and the total amount to be renewed was £300,000. With the exception of £50,000 the loan has now been taken up, mainly by previous holders.

A. novel method of paying- his rates was suggested to the Hastings Borough Council by a ratepayer who wrote offering to sell the Council some firewood as an offset. _ The Council decided to reply that it did not require to purchase any firewood at present, and referred the matter of the rates to the Finance Committee, which decided that it must be paid in the ordinary way.

If times are hard, then the bankruptcies recorded at New Plymouth are hardly a sign of the times. Although there were five bankruptcies in July, 1931, there were none last month. It is said that this may be due to the fact that many de facto bankruptcies are being "carried" by their creditors, as it would be of little avail to force them to file their petitions. But the fact remains.

The sale of 15 farms in 10 weeks has been effected by one firm of land agents in Hamilton, while other firms have also had a good deal of success in meeting the requirements of purchasers. Inquiries for land are very numerous, but sales have been restricted by the high prices asked in many cases. These farmers are reluctant to sell at prices based on current values for butterfat and are either waiting for a rise in values or are content to carry on and make what profit they can on their present holdings.

Cattle prices are up in Otago, also sheep prices, consequent probably by the necessity to feed on turnips instead of grass, as the pastures are now not so good as they were; yet there is no general rise in the retail prices marked up in the Dunedin shops. One of the leading butchers says that the buying r— the -eople at large is as brisk as ever, and one may see in passing other shops that their experience is likely to be the same.

Onion growers throughout New Zealand are complaining- bitterly of the importation of foreign onions to the Dominion. Large quantities have been brought into the country from Japan, and it is stated that these onions must cost about £2O a ton, and yet the local growers cannot get £lO or £ll a ton for their onions. A local grower said last week that if the Government would stop importation, Canterbury could grow enough onions to supply not only New Zealand, but Australia also.

The unusual circumstance of a householder being robbed and not knowing it until he had been informed by the police was disclosed in the Hamilton Police Court. A householder gave evidence that he was asked by the ••-*•-- whether he had lost a gold watch and a gold cigarette case and other articles valued at £2O. He went to the place where he had kept the household valuables, and then found that his property was missing. The man who had admitted having committed a series of robberies had given the police information with respect to the householder's loss.

"What does this 'flat and watery' report mean that the manager sometimes gives on my cream?" asked a supplier amid laughter at the annual mee f:.... 0 f t ne Omata Dairy Company. "Some of us have been getting it for three years and we haven't found out yet what it means." The chairman replied that the manager was away on holiday and he himself hardly felt competent to explain. At length a supplier who keeps two cows at Spotswood solemnly rose and said that though he had had many kinds of reports on his cream he had never yet had "flat and watery." The reason must be that he o-razed his cows on the hills.

There arrived in Timaru this week from Australia, says the Herald, a shipment of 12,600 sacks of wheat, which is for use in Timaru mills. An examination of a small sample of the wheat disclosed it to be about the equivalent of Hunter's in both quality and price. It was also clear, however, that the wheat had not been as cleanthreshed as New Zealand wheat, as it contained a goodly sprinkling of oats, some straw, an odd thistle or two, and one or two wild oats. It should, however, be suitable for milling with the softer wheat which is now prevalent in South Canterbury. A noticeable point concerning the shipment was that the sacks were secondhand, and were practically worthless, a majority of them being only fit to be sent to the paper mills. It was evident that in some cases the sacks had previously been used for potatoes.

The rearing of pigs and the keeping of bees, two important side lines of farming in Taranaki, are to be added to the farming instruction now given to children in the Taranaki primary schools. Messrs. Duncan Mackay and W. M. Dill Macky, agricultural instructors, Taranaki Education Board, hope to have pig-rearing competitions in operation in-from 15 to 20 schools at an early date. Next week will see the beekeeping classes in operation at Warea, Puniho and Okato schools. Mr. H. D. Maxwell, an apiarist of Tataraimaka, is taking an interest in bee-keeping activities. He has drawn up a year's scheme of work and volunteered to devote one and a-half hours' per week for a year to instructional work.

Why, as was stated, there had been no reduction in the price of binder twine since the 40 per cent, reduction in wages in the flaxmilling industry, will be a question asked of twine manufacturers by the Christchurch Tomato and Stonefruit Growers' Association. Binder twine, of which a certain amount was used bv tomato growers, was still Bd. per lb., stated a member at the meeting of the association. The chairman, Mr. 11. T. Falla, suggested that the best plan would be to bring the matter under the notice of farmers, as all the twine used by tomato-growers would not equal the amount used by one farmer with a 50-acre crop. The association decided to ask the manufacturers why no reduction in price had been made.

An indication of the activity in used car sales is furnished by a Hamilton dealer, who reports the sale of fourteen vehicles in one day last week, while 35 used cars and trucks were sold during July.

"Maori women knitting? I should think they are. . I have never had such good orders for knitting wool as I receive almost daily from the river pas," said a Wanganui shopkeeper to a reporter recently. To the supple Maori fingers trained through generations in manipulating intricate patterns in the weaving of the beautiful flax mats, and similar handicrafts of far-off days, the apparent mystery of the knitting needles and the crochet hooks are simplicity itself.

The many hundreds of Christchurch residents who during the last week have shaved with cold water, boiled kettles for baths, and paid (or at least incurred) large bills for plumbing, will have read with indignation (says the Press) the announcement that the Minister of Health attended the annual conference of the IceCream Manufacturers' Association. There is a time for everything, and this is certainly not the time to be worrying about the ice-cream problem, important as it may be.