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Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 65, 13 February 1935, Page 6

Mushrooms have made their appearance in some parts of the Greytown district. Prayers for rain were said at all the services in St, Luke’s Church, Christchurch, on Sunday, and at one service the vicar, ltev. F. N. Taylor, preached a sermon on praying tor rain.

In view of the rapid decline in Australia’s favourable trade balance the Cabinet will shortly review the position Decreased revenue from oversea trade will have a direct influence on the framing of the Budget, and further concessions are unlikely. A young wild pig following its master about the streets' of Eltlinm like a dog was a sight witnessed the other day. Recently a resident of the town made a capture of the young pig in the bush and brought it home. Tlie animal soon became tame and formed such an attachment for its master that it followed him about everywhere, and even went with him to his place ’of woi:k. The animal is of the genuine “Captain Cook” variety 7. Through the foresight of a London banker who owned the property 60 pr 70 years ago an area of 2000 acres in a remote part of South Canterbury, at Raincliff, now contains examples m maturity of practically every known forest tree. The property is an extremely valuable object-lesson in the forestry possibilities of Canterbury, says the Press, and lias already yielded deciduous timber which has been marketed and highly praised by authorities i.ll Great Britain.

Fruitgrowers in the Alexandra district (says the Otago Daily Times) have reason to be well satisfied with the. success which attended the chilling of fruit this season. The rabbit freezing works at Alexandra proved admirably adapted to the purposes of chilling, and thousands of cases of peaches’ apricots, nectarines, and greengages have been handled successfully. °Tlie result is that great losses W ere saved and the season for stone fruits has boon extended. According to Alderman Arthur Waugh (Mayor of Alburv), Australia, who returned recently from the Dutch East Indies, the Dutch people regard Albury as the capital of Australia. Alburv, he said, was looked upon as the most important place in Australia. Many working people and school children knew whore to look for Albury on the map, but they had no idea where Canberra was located. Mr Waugh said that a large percentage of the population of Holland knew little about Australia until the newspapers described how the people of Albury saved the Dutch air race ’plane from disaster.

During January, three building permits were issued in the Manawatu county, the structures aggregating £1572 in cost and £3 10s In fees.

Workmen were to day busy erecting a temporary platform in front of the band rotunda in the Square for the farewell function when Their Excellencies Lord and the Lady Bledisloe visit this centre on Friday. Seven thousand birds were caught in traps set at two oaten sheaf stacks in a period of five weeks, according to a statement made at a meeting of the Ashburton branch of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union. An unusual natural phenomenon ■was witnessed in Wellington last evening from Waiwetu when a band of white light in the form of a perfect arc stretched from the Point Howard wharf to a point on the hills near the spot at which the Wainui Road crosses the saddle. A Taikorea farmer who had hidden £l4O in notes in an old incubator in his car shed received a rude shock the other day when, on visting the place of concealment, he discovered the money had vanished. The police were communicated with and detectives are at present engaged on the. matter. The population of New Zealand, its dependencies and mandated territory at December 31, 1934, as estimated by the Government Statistician, was 1,627,059. That of Now Zealand alone was 1,557,070, including Maoris, an increase of 11,145 over the total for 1933, which was 12,210 greater than that for 1932. To celebrate the founding of St. Patrick's College, Wellington, on March 16, 1884, when the foundation stone was laid by the late Archbishop Redwood, and the opening of the college by the Archbishop on June 1, 1885, a golden jubilee programme has been drawn up to be carried out in April next. Fine weather has enticed millions of small jellyfish to the cooling surf at Dunedin in the past few weeks. As the tide recedes each day a slippery transparent mass is being left on coastal beaches, especially at St. Clair, where the salty sea tang is tinged with a fishy odour associated with the decay of marine life. For over three hours sixty residents of the district and relief workers from two unemployment camps near by fought a grass and scrub fire which broke out at Raumati South, Paraparaumu, yesterday afternoon. The fire, which' spread over ten acres, endangered six houses and did partial damage to another. With rain still apparently a long way off, Merton continues to swelter in the hottest summer for over twentyyears. Last week the record temperature of 91 degrees in the shade was thought to have been the highest the thermometer would go to; but last Saturday recordings revealed the unprecedented height of 94 degrees in the shade.

The Otago coast has been visited by some unsual callers during the past day or two, their origin no doubt being the waters of the Antarctic. At Pounawea on Monday morning a penguin standing about two feet high made a leisurely call upon the residents. Another visitor was a whale which was seen cruising about half-way' between Win to Island and St. Clair at night. Its length was estimated at 30 feet.

In the course of a unique fishing and hunting trip in the East and among the Pacific islands two young Princeton graduates. Messrs H. Rutherford and R. H. Poole, arrived at Auckland yesterday. They brought their own launch, in which Sir Rutherford will engage in deep-sea fishing in New Zealand waters. The two sportsmen left Vancouver last year and crossed to Japan and China. Meanwhile their launch was taken to Manila, where they picked it up. Following receipt of a communication from the Associated Chambers of Commerce stating that they had decided to make further representations for lower inward shipping freights to New Zealand, the council of the Palmerston North Chamber of Commerce, yesterday afternoon, resolved, on the motion of Mr M. N. Wallace, to give its full support. Comment was made by Mr Wallace that the New Zealand dairy industry had secured reductions on outward freights, but the old scale of charges still continued for importations of goods.