LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1717, 25 January 1905, Page 57

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

To snowball in midsummer is a unique experience. The crew of the new Tyser line steamer Star of Scotland, which arrived at Melbourne recently from London, were afforded an opportunity of indulging in snowballing during a portion of the trip across the Southern Ocean. For about a week the decks were almost continually covered with snow, at one time to a depth of 3in. The weather was bitterly cold, but although the steamer proceeded as far south as latitude 51 degrees no ice was seen.

The total births in the four chief centres during the month of December amounted to 514, against 497 in November, an increase of 17. The deaths in December were 178, a decrease of 5 on the number in November. Of the total deaths, males contributed 95, females 83. Forty of the deaths were of children under five years of age* being 22.47 per cent, of the whole number; 30 of these were under one year of age. There were 44 deaths of persons of 65 years of ago and upwards. The deaths in Wellington and suburbs numbered 51. Of nine violent deaths reported, seven were accidental. Six persons were killed at Auckland, while one death occurred at Wellington through contact with an electric current.

Lecturing on army horses in different countries before, a meeting on December 7th at the Royal United Service Institution, over which Major-General Plum©!', Quartermaster-General, presided, Major J. Moore, of the Army Veterinary Department, explained that Russian horses had a large infusion of English and Arab hlc-od. Russia could ea-.ily supply eight horses for every man in its army; most other countries could supply only two. The British Empire contained only eight million houses, against Ruima’s twenty-three millions and the United States’ seventeen millions. The number was small compared with other Empires or countries. There was a shortage m the colonies, and he advocated the encouragement of the horse-breeding industry, so that in time of need ive should .be independent of other nations, and more custom could he given u> the cofon.es than to outside countries. Our Government could

do gre.u good by supervision of the broeti.iig cf horse-..-, and supervision was mucii more necessary in the colonies

tha-u at home

Mr T. W. Kirk, Government Biologist, has received a letter from a settler in Auckland who hears testimony to the success of the spraying operations advised by the Department of her culture. Blight broke out amongst his onions, but by following the directions of Mr Kirk he lias saved three-quarters of an acre, and these are, he writes-, “bxinn splendid.” An earlier lot of about half an acre also came away very well, the spraying checking any further advance of the blight. The efficacy of spraying in the case or potato blight is shown by the following extract from the letter:— “Wo have one of the finest patches of potatoes in Auckland province, thanks to spraying. The potato disease arrived in Pukekohe about a week before Christinas, and the only potatoes that are free from disease are those that have been sprayed. . . I sprayed our potatoes twice, the first time using the 4-4-40 mixture, and the second time the 6-G-40. I think the 6-6-40 mixture the ideal one for potatoes. It gives them a good coat in", and although no treacle has been used, it has adhered through two or three downpours of rain. To a plot of younger ones I intend giving a third spraying. The disease stripped the leaves off the last of some we were digging, and adjoining the others, so this is proof enough of the efficacy of spraying.”

The butter-grading system adopted by tiro Government of this colony continues to receive praise in London. The London correspondent of the Melbourne “Argus/ 3 in a letter dated December 9th, writes :—“The question of the desirability of Government grading of Victorian butters is now being discussed among the Tooley street agents, and Mr Peppard, the Government inspector, is engaged in finding out what they think of the idea. I have discussed the matter with several of the leading firms, and they are mostly in favour of it, with certain stipulations. The method adopted by the New Zealand Government gives general satisfaction, and a good deal of butter from that colony is sold simply on the strength of the grade. But the grading is excellently done, and the difference in value of the butters in the first grade of New Zealand does not exceed 2s, or, at the very outside, 3s. Now, this close grading has not been noticeable in the butters which have been graded by the Victorian Government this season, and, as I mentioned last week, one or two brands have arrived with the ‘first grade’ stamp on them which, in the opinion of qualified persons, ought not to have borne it. The value of some of these butters was at least 6s below the top price ruling, and to call thorn ‘first grade 3 was absurd. w

The balance of loan. (£11,250) required by the Devonport Borough Council for water and drainage works has been taken up by the Citizens’ Life Assurance Company at 4-f per cent. It is understood that the dispute in reference to the use cf water from the Kumara water-race has been satisfactorily adjusted. A misinterpretation of the instructions given by the Minister for Mines was the cause of the trouble. His instructions were that the water should be paid for in the same way as payments are made for the carriage cf goods on railways, or in Customs duties, the payments to be from washinglap to washing-up. This has been interpreted to- mean that the miners must pay in advance before the water was turned on, but such a proposal would be unworkable; hence the trouble which has arisen. Arrears due for water are to be paid, and if not so paid, they are to be' recovered.

A cablegram has been received by the Premier from the Agent-General, stating that he had visited the Colonial Products Exhibition at Liverpool, and had found the New Zealand court was attracting considerable attention, and that the results were' very satisfactory indeed. These exhibits of New Zealand colonial products were collected and despatched to the Department of Industries and Commerce. They comprise exhibits of frozen mutton and lamb, butter, cheese, hemp, a large variety cf grain and colonial grown seeds, some special lines of barley, peas, and beans from the Marlborough district. kauri gum, and an assort new. of

New Zealand timber polished and , .av-vi with a view to its adapl ability for r v nitune-making purposes; wool, givi washed, and some special fleeces; adc

a large assortment of colonial rugs aw: blankets. The Industries and Commerce Department intends to collect another exhibit of colonial products for the Indian and Colonial Exhibition, which is to take place at the Crystal Palace in London in May next, and continue until October. The Government has already secured considerable space in a most prominent, position.

The Vancouver correspondent of the Sydney “Dady Telegraph” writes: —Mr G. Bowron, of Christchurch, New Zealand, who- returned home on the last Australian liner, said, in an interview,

that he was persuaded if direct communication between New Zealand and Vancouver was restored by subsidised steamers, a profitable trade c-oukl be established between the two countries. He remarked: “The matter which interests us most deeply is the question of direct communication with Vancouver. If the Canadian Government could hb induced to enter upon this matter, we believe it would result in great good to both natrons, and the cost would not be excessive.” When in Toronto Mr Bcwron took a large order for New Zealand wool, and, commenting thereon, he said):—“l can see that we might sell a large amount of wool in Canada, if we had direct communication and we could take a large amount of Canadian produce in exchange. Our trade witli Canada ought to be much larger than it is, and I have no doubt it will grow rapidly in the future. The tendency of the British people to draw closer together was never stronger than at the present moment. We have much to sell, and we buy largely, and we think we could do more business with Canada than we do at the present time.”