LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mataura Ensign, Issue 1599, 3 February 1906, Page 3

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

There is now working on Mr T. G. ' AVilson's property. Ngaio, Taranaki (says the 'Chronicle'), a new American hay-louder. This machine elevates the hay out of the swathe on to a %fcaggon. The hay is not, thereiore. toughed bv hand till it reaches the stack. The machine loads a wasrgon full in a fair crop in four minutes, and is capable of clearing an acre an hour. Another advantage is that in •.--.case of rain, the hay does not damage so readily in the swathe as when put in heaps for pitching. The .loader is getting very popular in Taranaki for ensilage making, for which it is also very suitable. The agricultural foreman,. Mr Isaac Johnston, who has had large experience in making hay in large quantities, considers the patent loader reduces the cost in a big. field by nearly half. The problem of extracting the gold w-hich is held in solution in sea water has attracted ,-tlve. attention of manv scores of investors, whose efforts have been uniformly unsuccessful. Mr Alfred Argles, who has been conducting ex periments for some time at the Sevenniile Beach, near Byron Bay. Sydnev, claims that he has solved the pro bletn, and lie has erected works which are to win from the ocean its inexhaustible stores of gold. Mr Argles says that he will treat 2<!,oot> ton! of sea water atlay. and that a fair aver;l~e yield will be half a grain of gold pel" ton of water, and this will give -U>z of gold a day, while his working expenses will not exceed £.) a day. Mr Armies lias shown faith in his scheme I>\ spending £3OOO of his own money on ii, and if he succeeds he will revolutionise the gold-producincr industry of the world. The future of the goldmine in the sea will be watched with much interest. '"Mr Seddon, the Prime Minister ~f New Zealand" says the 'Saturday Review) "was long ago nicknamed King Richard 1. He certainly seenis very nearly to have reached the position of an elective prince. In the general elections, which have, just been held, he has not only done bettev than his opponents predicted : lie has irone w ell ahead of his own estimate. The result is has a three to one majority—roughly, sixty to twentv. Sir William Russell and other leaders of the Opposition have actually lost their seats, Rnd New [Zealand seems to be in a position of having no alternative .to the* Seddon Ministry. The l'rime Minister's success is the more strikine because his party has been in office fifteen years without a break." The speeches made on the sth inst.. when an organisation called the "League of Russian Men" urged the • to maintain the autocracv, have been published. The Czar remarked : "I shall bear alone the burden of power placed upon me, and feel convinced that the people will help ni e. <?ive an account of my power to God." The League entreated Ihe Czar'not to grant equality before the law to Jews. The Czar promised to think over the matter. Two nuns in possession of bombs were arrested at Tsarskoe Selo.