LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Northern Advocate, 6 September 1913, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

i Weather Bureau forecast for 24 3 hours from 9 o'clock this morning:— } Westerly winds, strong to gale, and veering by W. to S. The weather ap- } pears likely to be cloudy and unsettli cd. Much rain is to be expected. Bar---I rometer falling but rising after about 24 to 36 hours. 1 During the past season, 9,369,4521bs •> of milk and 354,4061bs of cream were . received at the Opotiki butter factory. From this 590,4461bs (about (263*4 tons) of butter were manufactured. The band of the 15th North Aucki land Regiment, under bandmaster P. B. Williams will, by permission of the 0.C., render a programme in Cameron Street this evening, commencing at 7.30 sharp. ♦"-Wednesday, September 17, has been fixed for the first election of commissioners of the town district of Kawakawa. The commissioners elected will hold their first meeting on the afternoon of Thursday, October 2. '—The registrar of pensions (Mr F. Bird) has received notification fromv Wellington that the age limit for woXmen eligible to receive a pension is about to be reduced from 65 to 60 years, and the Department desires I him to notify that any person desiring to take advantage of the amended scheme should make application forthwith to enable them to have the pension granted as soon as the Act reaches the statute book. "The Government put on a special truck to bring strawberries down from Auckland last season/ remarked the Hon W. H. Herries, Minister of Railways, in replying to a deputation from the Fruitgrowers' Federation at Wellington, "but, unfortunately, the innovation did not prove a great sue- _• cess, as the season was a bad one. W .This season the Government will again make the same extra provision, providing it can obtain a guarantee that enough fruit will be available to make it worth while." The following passengers were landed by the Manaia this morning: Messrs Whisker, Smith, Watson, Watts, Brodie, Lloyd, Kay, Jenkinson, McKenzie, Stokes, Atkinson, Valentine, Pficker, Johnstone, Rockell, Binnie, McKay, Higgins, Simmons, Miller, O'Carroll, Spence, Davidson, Blacklock, Gibbs, Spurrell, WingChing, Rev. King Davis, Rev. Edgell; Mesdames Gilfillan, Price, Babe, McjKenzie; Misses Maunder, Worker,'Edlington, Gilfillan, Thompson, Kay, Murray; and 6 steerage. "A sum of £5000 has been placed, on the Estimates; for slot-machine connections, and wherever it is estimated that a revenue equal to twothirds the probable maintenance and interest charges may be expected an application to establish a slot-tele-phone connection.will receive favourable consideration. A supply of. slot-telephones has been ordered from beyond the Dominion to supplement* those locally manufactured in order that the establishment of slot-tele-phones may be made expeditiously." This statement was made in the House on Wednesday. Indications point to sheep being very dear in Taranaki before shearing time. Thjis was emphasised at the last Stratford sale. Among the entries there were three or.four pens of hoggets, which elicited keen competition, and one young farmer was so anxious to see what a certain pen brought that in his excitement he fell into the dip containing some eight feet of green mixture. Willing hands soon pulled him out, but his anxiety about, sheep values seemed to have gone down considerably, for that day at anyrate.

The failure of the potato market, says the "Timaru Herald," this season to return to croppers anything like an adequate compensation for the labour and risk attached to growing, is likely to be keenly felt by many who based their chances of liquidating their liabilities on theprospect of obtaining good prices. The conditions attached to export a'rer such that merchants can scarcely be persuaded to accept potatoes as a gift, and, even if they were saleable" it is doubtful if the price obtained would much more than pay for the picking over that is necessary at this stage of the season, and other contingencies incidental to marketing.