CABLEGRAMS AND TELEGRAMS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 18 May 1907, Page 4

CABLEGRAMS AND TELEGRAMS.

[UuiTEr Press Association. — Copyeight.] presentation""™ SiR J- 0. WARD: LO&DON, Friday. Mr W. P. Reeves, the High Commis-' sioner, on behalf of a number of Sir J. G. Ward's private friends, presented him with a handsome dressing case, in recognition of the kindness received during Sir Joseph Ward's visit to England. a MICHAEL Angelo crucifix. . NfiW YORK, Fri. An. ivory crucifix, .executed by Michael Angeld; Srifl -Jvliijcli is .valued at £10,000, belqngiiig to Df H. W. Carter, of New York, has been stolen. FRANCE AND MOROCCO. FRENCH CLAIMS CONCEDED. PARIS, Friday. Morocco has yielded to the demends of France in connection with recent developments. MONETARY AND COMMERCIAL. THE EXCITEMENT IN WHEAT. LONDON, Friday. The wheat market is very strong, in sympathy with the American, and owing to the continued bad crop reports being received fl'bni the principal European countries. , The present jiigh price is cfieqßllii Bti§iil-?si being Clone. 1 Cargoes of Australian wheat afloat are ! held fnr 33s to 345, for shipment 34s ! 6d to 355. Flour is v^ry .firm. Australian • at Glasgow is held, for 265... ! . . _ NEV,: YORK, Friday. . Another Scnsiiilonai. advance in wheat 1 hr's .taken place Jt Chicago, partly due 5 to .the reports of crop, losses in Russia. July wheat jumped from 924;. to 92i. ■ and September wheat reached 100. t The volume of biiSiiiefeS done was iml fil-Mise, a few leading firms alone taks ing seven million bushels. The mari ket closed unsettled prices off the top. s The wheat market jumped 4 cents. , at New York, where trading was aca tive. The market there closed nnr settled, a part of the advance having beeu lost. THE LONDON WOOL SALES. . .London, i*7i*iay. . At the wool sales the Mowing were . th? average prices realised for the fleece portions of the clips named — Richmond 9Jd ; Kawarau lO^d ; Poporangi ll§d. Thu quantity. of wool sold to Home buyers wa5. 91,000 bales; to Continental 9 buyers 51,000 bale? j to go. lo tlie Unitt cd" Slates. 40Q0 bales; held over, 15,000 1 bales. Merinps met with a strong 1 deijiand throughout, and all medium - and best classes cleared at 5 per cent, above the March rates. Shorts and - faulties barely maintained the s rates. Crossbreds fully recovered their c opening decline and all classes are now - fully equal to the March rates. Gocd , merino lamos' advanced from par to 8 5 per cent. ; faulty declined 5 per cent. ; and crossbreds declined id. 1 t SERIOUS BUGGY ACCIDENT. AUCKLAND, Friday. J Yesterday as Mrs Henwood and b.s.nephew (Mr Schwartz) were waiting in a buggy outside a store at Otahuhu, the horse took fright at a passing motcr car, and bolted. When turning a corner - _ the buggy capsized and the occupant s j were violently thrown out. Mrs ITrn •wood was So badly hurt that she' l:;;-.! f*to bo taken to a neighbouring luiso. - Mr Schwartz escaped with a .'hiking. 1 The buggy was smashed, but tho horse was uninjured. THE MEDITERRANEAN FRUIT FLY. • WELLINGTON, Friday. The Government Biologist .-tales t'^e I t strictest watch is being kept whero J the Mediterranean fruit fly appeared . j (Napier and Blenheim). At both places . j the fruit found to be infected was . destroyed, and the ground Was treated . j w ith kerosene in order to destroy the E -maggots that might have fallen to the E i ground. He is very hopeful that the , I pest has been eradicated, and that it i will not be seen next season. The , Mediterranean fruit fly is considered j more dangerous to the fruit-growing mii , duttry in this colony than the Queensland fly. I - FIRE NEAR PALMERSTON , . PALMERSTON N., Friday. A six-roomed house owned and occupied by Mr W. S. Philips at Awahuri , was totally destroyed by fire at 915 this evening. The insurances have not been ascertained.

jody is worth more than a strictly ex- t( ict comb. - tl DOOKIE t COLLEGE COMPETITION. P The third and final laying competi- D lion at the Dokk Agricultural College p ivas finished at tild Snd of last month. n with an average of 159 eggs a hen from c fho 53 pens (318 hens) which competed. H. Bunnerman's White Leghorns won 1 1 first place, with a toti*)l of. 1314 eggs. Jc The amount received for the 4233d0z. , eggs was £209 ss, which after deduct- s ing the cost of food, left a balance of ( £133 14s fld, Mr H._ Pye, the princi- j pal of the College, ill his report, re- | marks that "it has .demonstrated that by cal'S fitta attention to the. breeding . ahd feeding the production of eggs for the market can be made a profitable husiness, and that a comfortable living can bo. mado from poultry farming, providing tllat *l business spirit pervades in conqunction Willi fl thoro.ugh practical knowledge of the work to be done. As a business in itself poultry forming is only successful when cariied out by persons of special ability and aptitude for the work ; as an adjunct to tho farm the extent of its profitableness is determined by similar conditions, also market facilities and the cheapness of the food, though pollard and bran may now be got reasonably in most parts of the State-, whilst wheat, or maize is, as a rule, grown oil eVeiyv Jaftti.-" .4LEGED ESPIONAGE AT THE BLENHEIM EXHIBITION. A curious incident has occurred in t-onncction with the close of the New Zealand Competition at Blenheim (says the Marlbotoiigil "Herald". l A prominent .and responsible bfiiclal connected with -the, Ijiiicoln College Competition, closed a tew day' ago, arrived in Blenheim on Saturday, ttliU, without disclosing his identity, visited the MM! competition at St. Clair, and, gaining access to the pen of birds that wou the firsl prize, marked them with Indian ink. He explained to the manager that he was agent for the southern buyer of the pen. It was not tiil after Hid 'hells had been duly marked that Mi* Mumby tiliddi-Sfooci the real meaning of the stranger's AC tion, which. is su-oiigHy resented by the officers of the Association US taslijiy an improper reflection on the bona fides of that body,, ahd, as quite .unworthy, of the position the visitor holds as a leading representative of a enntemporftry an(l friendly competition. The stranger a\so paid a visit.io the. yards. of the local at;ent of Mr.,Brqo£es (South Austral'a) from wnonl tlle birfls In question , wej-e imported — again without saying wili) lie was — and asked to be shown round, this visit evidently being part and parcel of a system of espionage. Feeling on the matter runs hich among the members of ; the Association, , ai)d some pretty plain speaklhg — tU3 last ol which .ha***, not yet been heard — has been indulged in. THE LINCOLN COLLEGE COMPETITION. Int»rviewed by a "Press" reporter. Mr.W. Lo\vrip,,Dirertof of the. Lin-;lh Collets C-onipi-lilioii, ja*i-£ tiie fojiawihg information :— "The chief rpasnn for the birds dome so much worse . than duiinj*: the previous year.," said. Mr .Lowi-le, "is to he fonnd in tli*> fact llinl there Vv*r» rl « much lamer proportion of tiie li'.'l**t breeds in the pens. These light bre?ds we found unsuitable, for the heavy clay land .which we have .here, erpecially during forf ju-i winters such as we have had in the last tWO VS.-irn. The winter laying was very low indeed. At the same time, I think that under no circumstance can one competition he compared with another, unless the the birds are of the same breeds and in the same proportions, and the competitions are held in tlie same distiirt. whei'e you have in .on-? competition a pen yielding only 336 eggs and atH;t!i('i--1234,. as iv th» last competition here, the element of luck in the entries, bulks very lai'gtfly fi-nfii the point of vi"*.- of the management. In tiie first <•< repetition the yield per pen varied fi.-m 1283 to 557. 'But I do not believe thit at Lincoln we could ever approach the results attained in Australia, beenrse our land is too .wet and heavy in the winter. . I rpilsider that it .is' a gr.--.ve mistake to pit one competition .ugamsl I another and set up a spirit of exiQs- : sive emulation, especially when all the i competitions depend more pr less i:p-.ij the honour of the mjn who is. plat, cd in charge of them. . A competition will fulfil its function, in my opinion, with * out pulling up records. Its object b:*ing to discover the hest laying breeds and strains, it is clear that, whethei i it is managed expensively or. cheaply, ' whether the average yield of eggs is very high .or relatively low, the best birds are stili at the top. Mr Lowrie showed the reporter the balance-sheet of tho 1.-.te cumpetiti-.il. It was as follows :— Dr. :0.-its £25 2; * lOd, wheat £42 7s 3d. :-■-■••« £14 6s lid : maize £5 17s. brnn £f> 7s 7<\. sharps £{. 13s 2d, liver and bone £."4 ls 9d ;tota! * f---d £1?.7 I's 7d. Or' 14 ls lOd, grit * P-7 Rs 4d, ('i -infcit.-n!.-, Cl Is 4d, saliini ! .fl,s<*-: f-til £507 C-< Id. Cr: Egg cal:>7 V,16 ibzcn at ls l.'d. £23 2s 9d ; dr. j Vl-in-p. £44 ?s 4d"; tot.-.l £307 6s ld. Mr Lowrie pointed out that even this r-.vnlt showed that there was a living tc be made by poultry-keeping. Deducting the loss of £44 5s 4d from the salary paid to the attendant, nearly £111 umained, and this represented what private poultry farmer mig.. have earned with the 600 birds, v z. about 3s 8d a bird. But under ordinary conditions, instead of those of a contest, a much larger number of fowls could be managed with the same amount of labour. The dietary of the birds in the competition was fixed by the Utility Club, and they were attened to by a man employed for the purpose. In the first and second competitions the College and the Utility Poultry Club have shared the profit or loss equally, but in regard to the third, which begins next Sunday, the club will take the whole financial responsibility.' THE MALE HALF OF THE PEN. The male bird or birds required for the coniing breeding reason have already been selected, or are under observation. Or, perhaps you are just considering that you will invest in one of So-and-so's straiD As a broad generalisation, it is ever true that the breeding male is half of the flock, because he is the sire of every chick. Some there are who consider him more than half the pen. We all know that the brain is a dual organ, ami that one-half of it controls the opposite half of the body. If the right lobe of the brain be undeveloped, or become injured, the left side of the body suffers. This fact somewhat insufficiently illustrates a law of heredity. The particular traits of a father are often reproduced in a daughter, to be transferred again to the male line in her son. This crossed transmission of parental qualities is not an unfailing rule, but it is quite common. Many breeders hold that the sons of a peiv-is-

*~ _ i ent layer art more likely to transmit he\persistent laying quijities to their rallots than aro her daughters. This is big question, hut the importance of leing as sure that the male embodies the points of excellence desired in the females of the pen cannot be too strongly •imphasised. A certain American experiment station, which has made a feature of individual testing in connection with its poultry work, has for some years been selling sons of 200-egg hens to farmers and other poultry keepers for the pur- . pose of improving the laying qualities of their stocks. They receive many reports that indicate that the plan is effective, and this may be taken as evidence of I -

. - tho influence of the male in improving the laying of the progeny. The selection of a male bird for the breeding pen is a serious matter whatever be the aims of the breeder. Uii important thatl the qualities of hi*: parents be known so fijr ns it is possible ur practicable to know them. If. wo desire male that will improve the laying qualities of our stock, or, at least, not mini- ' mise the influence of the females in that direction, is it not pertinent to inquire if the dam of that male was a good layer? That male had but on? I mother, consequently the broad knowledee that the breeding (lock as a whole

averaged well i.i no omurancc that tbe nialo in nutation wa» not batched from an egg laid by ono of the poorciit layers among them. Likewino the breeder * for standard requirements ,if he is to look for any certainty in the results of bis matings, must know the breeding of the male he introduces, and the more a breeder knows of tho pedigree of hia stock the greater will be hia success in attaining the objects he has in view. The mother of the breeding male is I likely to transmit her own individual qualities, good or bad, through her son to many of his pullets. So, what about kert