The County Press. PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY Arrowtown, June 22, 1916. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Lake County Press, Issue 2637, 22 June 1916, Page 4

The County Press. PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY

Arrowtown, June 22, 1916. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Thf. trust that, x qivcn t/ieeyuarrf, and to thy*tlf be just.

The Arrow School will close for tba winter holidays on Tuesday next, re-opening ou Monday, 17th July. " , A word to the wise is sufficient. Adam Smith's mercery is far above all others, at lowest town prices. Mr J. J. O'Kane, Surgeon Dentist, wil visit Arrow on Thursday, 26th inst, and Queenttown on the following day. Mr Robert Butel has purchased a farm near Balfour and with Mrs Butel and family will shortly be leaving tne district. Mr James Horn, late of Bannockbuvn, is a candidate for the position of representative for Central Ward on the Otago Education Board. The fund established by the Cromwell Argus for the relief of the dependents of tho sailors who lost their jives in the North Sea battle has reached .£l6O. The. Arrow Patriotic Social Committee has decided that the soldiers who are leaving for Trentham next week will be suitably entertained when they return to the district on final leave. The opening debate under the auspices of the Queenstown Debating and Social Club took place last week. The subject was ••That the efficiency of New Zealand would he increased by adopting the Daylights Saving Bill," and the result was a victory for the affirmative side by 10 voteß to 9. A good dfeal of rain has fallen during the p.stfew days, and the roads are now in a very bad tttto. Mr D. R. Barron reports that for the 24 hours ended 9 a.m. yesterday 106 points of rain fell Fortunately for sheep-owners the high country is still clear of snow. At a meeting of householders of the Gibbaton school district, held ou Friday evening last, the following were elected a committee for the ensuing year:—Messrs T. Kinross (chairman and secretary), P. Perriatu (treasurer), E. H. Graham, I. C. Yidal, and Mrn Jas. ftteid. During threshing operations on Mrs Martin's farm at Crown Terrace a dog belonging to Mr E. Mitcherlick was accidentally embedded in the straw stack. '1 hirteen days later Mr Martin on going to the stack for a load of straw, heard the moans of the dog, and the animal was quickly released. The dog was in a weak and emaciated condition, but it recovered in a few days. Wiifing fo his friends in the dominion, a New Zealander of high military*rank, now I in Fiance, says:—" I have been out all day picking up the lay of the land and seeing I that the men are comfortable. They are all quite happy, billeted about the farms. The j Taiatlaki men, appropriately enough, are mostly in lofts above the cows, and get quite keen at milking tin e. A lot of the men are helping about the fauns." Tin re has been a notable increase during t'.io last year or-so in the number of fruit trees imported by Otago growers from the Commonwealth nurseries. The first consignment for this season, cf approximately 30,000 trees of mixed varieties, consisting largely of apple trees, was brought by the steamer Paloona, says the Otago Daily Times. A line of o'JO or GOO of the trees was condemned as being effected with root knot, and two lots of 1000 trees each, affected with red mite, were ordered to undergo dipping in red oil emulsion before being delivered to consignees. Auti-conscriptionists who are opposed to the organisation of the whole of the nation's resources should read the following extract from n letter written by Col. A. E. Stewart, of ih Kid i liiig.ide. touching on the country (Northern France) where most ef the Anzac boys are now comfortably settled down. " The war has not devastated this part of France," he says, " (ho work goes on as usual, but in the hands ef the women, girls, boys, and old men, more honor to them. There are no sound bodied men left; all are in the trenches. I can quite understand tho French soldier's love of his country. It certainly is one of the fairest countries under the sun. The southern part is a garden of herbs, fruits, and flowers. Tho blossom everywhere was a picture. Tho following extract taken by the Lake Wakatip Mail from i!s files of 1866 will provide amusing reading for local landowners:— On Sunday last wo had the gratification of sighting two or three of the rabbits let loose the previous Tuesday. As they withstood the very wintry weather last «eek, and were, moreover, in fine condition, there is little dcubt they will thrive in their new mode of life. The country being mostly dry, and covered with long j grass, fern, etc., is also admirably adapted i tor such animals. They were found very j near tho spot wheio first set at liberty— I abjut two miles horn Queens I own and a I mile or so above the track to the Twelvemile Lake. At present they seem to have no burrows, and it is more to be desired that no one will bo so forgetful or reckless as to endanger their lives by approaching the neighborhood with dogs. Fanners save your money by buying your timber delivered at Prankton in lots to suit purchasers. For particulars apply T. F. Bowden, Timber Agent, Queenstown,— i Advt.

Margarine, manufactured in Wellington, is being placed upon the Christchurch market at Is per lb, and canvassers report having found a ready sale for it. On the wrappers the margarine it recommended for culinary purposes, and for this use it may prove a ttrong competitor of the more expensive factory butter. It has the appearance of butter, but is harder, and what little flavor it has is not unpleasant, which is an advantage for cooking purposes. A Methven farmer informed an Athburton Guardian reporter that he was successfully carrying on a poisoning campaign against the small birdf, which are very numerous in the district at present. He found that the most effec.ive method was to distribute the poisoned grain in the vicinity of an old slack bottom, where the birds are known to congregate. He had already poisoned several hundreds, and his boys had preserved the heads for sale. The Sydney Morning Herald,in an articl fi on the * Cost uf Spirits," relates that re" cently a New Zealand buyer put an open order on the Sydney murket for all the whisky that could be secured. The assignment was placed in the hands of a number of btokeis, who, after visiting all the wholesale houses, could only secure the equivalent of twenty hogsheads, at 19s 6d per gallon, for a whisky that twelve months ago was being sold wholesale at 6s 6d. The Herald prophesies an immediate drought in the spirit market. A Napier recruit recently found himsel face to lace with a difficult problem, which he soon solved to his own entire satisfaction. When he reached Trentham he was asked to nominate his next-of-kin. He did not have one ! " Have you not (got some relative ?" asked the recording officer. " No," he replied. " Not a friend ? You must have a next-of-kin, you know." The recruit did not even have a friend to see him out of his trouble, but on being pressed to name somebidy to be anxious about him, the aspiring soldier added : " Oh, put down* Vigor Brown; he'll be good enough for me," and down went" Vigor Brown." Mr VigorBrown is M.P. for Napier. A man named John Devin was found dead in his camp on the railway works on Thursday morning (says the Cromwell Argus). An inquest was held at Cromwell on Friday, before Mr E. Murrell, J.P., and a jury of six, and from the evidence given it appears deceased had been unwell and was suffering from a weak heart. Some of hi", fellow workmen were with him at an early hour, but on returning later to ascertain his condition fjund him dead in a sitting position on his bed, with part of the contents of his hut destroyed by fire. The body was not greatly affected by fire, and the medical evidence was that any burns were post mortem, as during a visit the previous day, deceased was suffering from a badly affected heart. A verdict was returned to the effect that deceased died from heart failure. It is well-known that soldiers from New Zealand and Australia are made particularly welcome during their visits to England. All classes of the community'seem glad tJ see them there, and auxnna to do everything possible to make their stay pleasant. A member of the Australian Forces writing from London to iiis brother in Wellington, mentions that on one occasion he was with a oomparion when a very gushing individual, on being informed that they were Australians, exclaimed : " How good of you to come all this way to fight for us and our little country !" The Australian soldier looked hard at the English civilian who evidently had no conception of the British Empire as hj nnething greater than Britain Then he exploded in wrath : " Damn you and your little country We came here to fight for the Empire." The civilian* departed abashed. If you want to erect youi own outbuilding drop a note to T. F. Bowden, Timber Agent, Queenstown, who will out timber ready for erectkn and deliver same at Frankton at lowest rates.—Advt.