NEWS IN BRIEF.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19374, 9 January 1925, Page 10

NEWS IN BRIEF.

A man who wag found in a churchyard in Auckland at night without lawful excuse* was sentenced to seven days in gaol. As an indication of the jjhenornenal growth in Mastcrton this‘season (says the Wairarapa Age), a local gardener claims a record in having peas and beans showing through the ground five days after they were planted. “Vi-Oatta” quickly soothes sunburn and windburn. 2s 6d pasted.—Waters’ Pharmacy, 20 Princes street.... The connecting up of now consumers under the Manawatu-Oroua Electric Power Board ig being hampered at present through the non-arrival of a number of transformers which wore ordered from England in July (states the Manawatu Daily Times). About 80 of them are due to arrive in Wellington this month by steamer. A glass of Corban’s makes you feel good. Order with cash. Port or claret 52s case, red or sherry 535, assorted 56s.—(Jorban's Agency. Dominion Chambers. Dunedin. The number of honeymoon couples at Wanganui for Christmas and New Tear holidays was phenomenal, showing (says the Wanganui Herald) that the parsons elsewhere have had their busy time also. Some of these couples when walking up (ho avenue tried to look old married folks, but they could not throw off the freshness of their newly-acquired state. It was impossible for them to look like oldrtimers, so happy wore their expressions. An electric eel from South America, over 4ft long and nearly 4in in diameter, is on exhibition in one of the tropical fresh water tanks in the new aquarium in the Wanganui Zoological Gardens (says the Wanganui Herald). The electric pel is allied (o the catfish, and is able to give a severe electric shock of from' 400 volts upwards. When it is handle*!, or even lightly touched, a succession of shocks can be given over a considerable period without exhausting the fish, probably for protection and io kill prey. _ - Buy Pcnfold’s rich port wine, 4s 6d; Invalid, ss; Meukow Brandy, 13s per bottle, at the Prince of Wales’s Hotel. Tel. 721. — Charles Hinchcliff, proprietor.... The most striking feature revealed by an analysis of the vital statistics for the Hamilton district for 1924 is the exceptionally low mortality rate enjoyed by the town. Tiro deaths recorded number 181, and show a decided decrease on last vear’s figures. They represent .016 per cent, of the town’s population, and from the undertaker’s point of view “business has been bad.” This low percentage of deaths approaches a world’s record.

The South Island is gradually overtaking the North Island in the matter of lamb production. Last year there were over 1,000,000 more lambs in the North than in- the South. This year there is an estimated decrease of half a million in the north and an increase of 250,000 in the south. Barton and Trengrove now bonking orders for their famous sugar-cured bams and bacon for New Year. Early inquiries solicited to minimise rush.—Manse street and all branches.... Feilding is likely to provide an applicant for the £IO,OOO offered by the Government for an effective and economical eradicator of the blackberry pest (says the Feilding Star). Mr H. Currie, of Camden street, is showing a test he has made of his spray upon some blackberry, whicn shrivelled after a night’s treatment. The pest must be dry, and the spray is absorbed from the branches down to the roots. It .will also eradicate ragwort, pennyroyal, and other noxious weeds. Mr Currie hopes to put it on the market in a few weeks. To our numerous customers on the Taieri and throughout Otago we extend the compliments of the season, and trust the coming year will be prosperous for them. Wo thank them for past favours, and assure them at all times of our best service.—A. F. Cheyne and Co.. Mosgiel.. Some people have a most perverted senss of humour. With a view, apparently, of celebrating the new year some larrikins, with a great deal more strength than common sense, paid a visit to the Methodist CKurch, in Timaru, and deliberately smashed the cap off each of five of the big concrete posts in the front fence of tho church grounds (states the Timaru Herald). Each cap weighs at least lewt, and a heavy tool must have ben used in the vandalism, which was practised in a way which would only occur to men or youths deficient in. mental equipment. The matter has been placed in the hands of the police. Barton and Trengrove specialise in orders by mail. _ Satisfaction guaranteed. Send money with order, goods forwarded by return. Equal to personal shopping.—Manse street, Dunedin . Mr J. W. Buchanan has had an extensive water supply laid on part of the Tupurupuru country, extending to five miles of pipe line (states the Wairarapa Age). Water was available in some of the high country, but other hills lacked supply, while the rich flat lands on the banks of the Taiueru River h"ad to bo supplied by pumping. The new supply is from a spring three miles from the homestead, and nearly 1000 ft above. The high hills between the two points presented a big obstacle, and it was necessary fo cross two valleys, one 330 ft deep and another 600 ft deep. After crossing one of these the water was taken to a hill 800 ft high. Useful Presents. Plain and Fancy Socks, 2s 6d to 7s lid. Novelty Pyjamas, 9s 6d to 47s fid. Shirts—cambric, tricoline, silk—--6s fid to 32s 6d. Ties, latest from London. Is lid to 7s fid.—Kilroy and Sutherland (Limited). 192 Princes street.. A few days ago (says the Manawatu Times) a boy named Albert Coley, aged H years, son of Mr W. E. Coley, of Makerua" while riding his pony through one of the paddocks on his father’s farm, stopped to close tho gate, when a Jersey bull that was grazing in the paddock charged the pony, knocking it down, and goring it while on the ground. In the meantime the boy secured a stick, and pluckily drove the bull off, but not before it had killed the pony. It was fortunate the bull did not get the boy, as there was no one close by at the time of the incident, and, this being so, the lad showed fine courage in trying to drive the bull off. p “Coffee and rolls” for breakfast. But he sure the coffee is “ Bourbon.” If not obtainable from your grocer, send to the proprietors, A. Durie and Co., 32 Octagon, Dunedin.... At about 11.25 o’clock the other night many people in and around Blenheim heard a mysterious sound, like a heavy thud or a muffled explosion (sayrs the Marlborough Express). Some seconds prior to this noise an unuually brilliant meteor, which lit up Blenheim and its suburbs, travelled grandly across the sky from tho direction of Tophouse towards the Vernon Hills, and disappeared from sight over Split Peak, directly south of the town. The few people who saw it say that it was a magnificent spectacle, and they relate that its dive over the hills was closely followed by a sound suggesting that the meteor had struck earth not far south—perhaps in the Awatera county. The impact, or whatever it was, was loud enough to arouse some people from their sleep. Come and see our show to-night—wo are open till 9 p.m. Friday nights.- -Scoullat and Chisholm (Limited)... Mr David Clark, of Totara, had an exciting experience with a Jersey bull recently (states tho North Otago Times). He was attending Ibe animal after returning from a picnic, when he Was suddenly and savagely attacked. The bull knocked him down and gored him severely. Fortunately, however, it was attached to a chain, and this fact prooably saved Mr Clark’s life, for he was thrown by the animal just outside the chain-line. When he was discovered by his family and dragged to safety, he was in an phausted condition. His body was covered in braises, and his left shoulder was fractured. His injuries are not of a serious character, however, and he is making satisfactory progress. Milton ladies! Jam-making is now “all the go” I Get your jars and everything required at Gray’s “Big Store.”— A remonstrance which is touching on its earnest simplicity recently appeared in the correspondence column of the Samoan Times. It ran as follows; —“Sir, —I think it unfair if any well-known citizen is brought into court for some little offence fun is made of him in Samoa Times. In these days there are so many queer laws that everyone has a chance of being brought up, snd there is no need lor putting in funny stuff about it. If a case has to be reported that is enough.—Yours, etc., Old Hand.” Machine-dreesed cocksfoot, le; good dean clover, lOd; splendid surface sowing seed, 4£d, 5Jd. —Boyd, seedsman,, Colonial Mutual 'Building, Dunedin.Some of the old-fashioned traders’ names are vanishing of being transformed. Thus, the one-time grocer becomes a "tea merchant,” the butcher a “purveyor of meat,” the milliner an expert in “robes et modes.” In like manner the most respectable and invincible of snobs, the typical old country family butler, would hardly condescend to serve anything so bourgeois as jam, though he would cheerfully cavry in “the preserves.” The householder who ele,As to dub his six-room tenement "The Limes,” “The Elms,” or “The Gables,” is also (though it is Inconceivable that he deceives a single soul) trying the effect of a grandiose label upon the popular imagination. For reliable Developing and Printing, leave your Films at Waters* Pharmacy, 20 Princes street.... A honey bee weighs the 300th of an ounce. Its “load” of nectar is, therefore, extremely small. An American scientist has ascertained that the average load weighs about one 1250th of an ounce—a quarter of the bee’s weight. This means that 20,000 Journeys (reckoning the outward and inward trip as one) are necessary for the gathering of lib of nectar, but as the flower juice loses at least one-half of its bulk before it becomes honey it follows that the production of 11b of money involves on this reckoning a minimum of 40,000 journeys. If it is assumed that the average trip out and home measures half a mile, the immense distance of 20,000 miles must be covered in gathering the raw material for a pound of honey. This is equal to 1250 miles per ounce. Obanism (1078): A great appetiser, Oban Tudor Cocktail, 2s, 6s fid. and 12s. Better than any other.... To suffer the complete disappearance of one’s personal luggage while on holidays is annoying, but to have laboriously carted the suitcases and trunks of a total stranger all the way to one’s destination is infinitely more riling (says the Southland Daily News). Such an experience befell a young lady visiting Stewart Island during the holidays. Her luggage was placed in an anteroom of a local hotel, and during her absence, , a hurried traveller on his way to Queenstown, mistaking the suitcases for his own, departed with them, leaving his rightful luggage behind. Not noticing the substitution, the young lady set off for Stewart Island with the luggage in tow, ■il (here proceeded to open a suitcase. To her consternation male apparel of all descriptions made its appearance, and after a sorrowful realisation of her position she communicated with the authorities, dressed in a wonderful array of borrowed garments, and spent two days patiently waiting for the arrival of her own belongings. In due course they turned up, guarded by a man in blue, who gleefully related the story of his interview with the unfortunate to whom the lady’s luggage had proved even more unsuitable. East is cast. And west is west, Hitchon’s goods Are always best....