LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8536, 17 March 1908, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Green Flax-dressing Company. Ltd., received news to-day that flax had fallen to £16 per ton for fair average quality.

So complete is the failure of the harvest in parts of the malleo district ot Victoria, that meetings are being held in support of a movement to induce the Government to advance money for the purchase of fodder, in order to enable ploughing to be proceeded with, and also for the purchase of seed wheat. 1 " I am only a junior councillor —a beginner—but when 1 first entered the Council Chamber one of the oldest councillors said .to me, 'Just nod your head arid say Yes and No; laugh when they i laugh, and you'll get on all right.' I am J continuing to saiv Yes and No, but whether i am getting on all right I don't know.'' —Councillor Yarr at a banquet at Mastertou. While travelling on the East (.'oast (says the Dominion) the Hon. G. Fowlds found that in the Gisbornc electorate a good ma i),v people expected that nolicense would be carried at the 'next election. There was one thing certain, said the 'Minister, they could not reduce rlie character of sorao of the accommodation houses by carrying no-license. Some of the hotels in those parts were the poorest ho had ever put up at in New Zealand. The best accommodation he. could get was at unlicensed houses. At a buckjumping performance in Darmevii'ke on Friday evening a local resident named Thos. Ilaynes, who had ridden without success the previous evening, made another attempt to ride one of tile company's buckjumpcrs —a quiet mare and one that it was not difficult to master. Ilaynes was getting on very well with his mount, but; somehow or other he got his left foot entangled in j the stirrup-iron, and in his efforts to : oxtricate it it turned round in the stirrup, and the result was that his leftlog was broken. The flounder has always been popular in New Zealand, but its lovers have been saddened by a fear that their friend was likely to become scarce. The flounder, however, is not- as rare as some authorities have alleged. A single haul at Day's Bay proved that the favourite li«h is far from extinct. The net brought in flounders and their brethren, soles, in a shoal which weighed 20001b, man,y weighing 31b and over. Residents go out by night wilh a lantern and spear, and get some excitement as well as a tasty dish for breakfast. Some mild excitement was caused at this Ashburtou railway station on Wednesday afternoon when the second express south left the station before about: thirty members of the Blue Moon Theatrical Company had regained their seats after partaking of refreshments at the station dining-rooms. As the train w.is leaving the station thoy made a frantic rush to get on board, but many were prevented from gaining their object by the efforts of the police and the station staff. The train, however, was signalled to a standstill several chains distant from the. station, and the whole of the company were allowed to procced on their journey. ( The Moeraki hacl to stop no less than three times after leaving Sydney wharf en route to Wellington, to put ashoro stowaways. Soon after the vessel cast off her moorings three of j them were discovered, and a little fur- : ther on the vessel had to stop once ' more to send back two others who had i just come to light; and yet again i when the vessel had got a fair start | she had to be pulled tip, for other two' ticlietless passengers had been detect- j ed. When these had been despatched ' to shore the Moeraki resumed her in-' terrupted voyage. j

The following open letter appeared in a recent issue of the Greymouth Argus:—To Mr Fitzgerald, Socialist, I would like to give a word of warning not to.repeat the insulting remarks that were hurled at the late Mr Sodden, his eon and daughter. Preach .Socialism to your heart's content, but remember we West Coasters respect the name of the greatest friend the worker ever had, a name too sabred to drop from the lips of Mr Fitzgerald. Seddon is dead! It is wel 1 for Mr Fitzgerald that he was not within striking distance on Saturday night. Workers, resent such base ingratitude, and revere the memory of one who was once your friend." A New Zealander who lias .just returned to the Dominion after visiting America said that the result of his i observations when there went to show ! that the American workmen turned ! out two or three times as much as ! the average colonial, and this had been ! confirmed recently by the printed re-' port of a. gentleman who had excep- ! tional opportunities of judging. He I thought that if the relative values of! goods manufactured in New Zealand and America were taken into consul-1 eration it would be shown that the! American turned out four or five times i as much in quantity as the Austrnla-! sian. _ Specialisation in labour and ■ machinery, to an jextent impossible • in New Zealand, might be partly re-'

sponsible for this result, but it did not account for the- whole story. Ho thought that there- was as much in. the method and wsi.y of doing work ;is in the means' provided for doing it, and every man should do his best, every time he was engaged on a job, to do it better and quicker than h« had ever done it previously. At rho present time the number of those who desire to enter the police loivo and are qualified for service is just üboutv equal to the demand. Inquiries go to show that it is not particularly oawy to enter the force. Practically ihu whole of the past life of an applicant has to be revealed when he seeks admission ; at any rate, ho has to give full particulars of his career since hi-; left school, and in addition he has to p,-;.=s a .strict physical lent boforc a. doctor. In /both respects a good many are called, but, lire not chosen It is surprising to hoar, however, that varicose* veins are a- frequent occurrence in applicants, and that no satisfactory reason for their happening in such numbers has yet been given. At any rate, the fact n> - ' m.'iins that after weeding out those uhoare unsuitable for reasons of health, education, character, and so on, there are just enough left to fill requirements.