OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 3100, 13 August 1913, Page 4

OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Rain fell in Napier on only three clays during July, the total recorded being one inch. The executive- of the Baptist Union of New Zealand has accepted the oftVr of the Wanganui churches to hold the annual conference this year in that town. According to the records in the Magistrate’s Court 119 youths were convicted in Southland for failing to render personal -orvice in the Defence .Force. Eleven were convicted twice and two were convicted

three times. The carcase of a monster pig was to be seen on the Mat-aura railway station one day last week (says the Ensign). It was a Yorkshire sow, bred by Mr A. Qucrtier, of Guernsey Park Mataura, and turning the scale m'342lb, dressed weight. There is a possibility that the remains of Christopher Columbus, which are now in a louden casket in the West Indian Republic of Santo Domingo, will be taken to America in connection with the exposition with which the opening of the Panama Canal is to bo celebrated.

There have been 50 cremations at the municipal crematorium at Karori since it was opened in November of ISO 9. the number showing a gradual increase each year. Thirteen bodies were cremated dining 1912, and there have been 13 cremations since the beginning of 1913. In future, a policeman (in uniform) will attend all parades of territorials in Dannevirko. This decision has (says the local paper) been arrived at in consequence of recent trouble at a territorial parade at Tower Hntt. and official instructions have been issued to the police in all towns to act accordingly. The- first of the season’s lambs in Southland were seen on the 2nd on ■> property between Greonliitls and Bluff. They appeared to Ik* a healthy* and vigorous hit. Extensive bush falling is going on this side of To Wile Wae (says the Orepaid Advocate), and very soon what was donee bush will be open country. In the United States of America a svstem is in vogue which is known as “ the night-letter system,” under which, after 5 p.m., the public may send a telegram of 50 words at tiie same cost as 12 may I>® sent out during the day. liui question addressed to the Postmaster-general, Mr T. Buxton, M.P., who has vust returned from a trip to Europe and America, suggests that the system might bo adopted in New Zealand. Hares are very plentiful about r l urakma ir appears (says the correspondent of tb» Wanganui Chronicle), and thev seem lo have a penchant for picottces. According to al! accounts gardens have been eompletelv stripped of this beautiful border plant, and the only wav >'* which the flowers can he grown at all is under wire netting. The

protection of hares would not receive a second's consideration at Turakina just now. As a rule (the Western Star remarks), ■ farmers are generally elated at the prospect | of a dairy factory being erected in their I midst. One farmer who resides at Hckeia ! does not view the advent of dairying in that particular district in the same light. The land, he says, will go up in value, and consequently ho will bo compelled to pay more rates. I A Winton farmer who has recently im- ; ported some stud ewes to the province has I informed the Southland Nows that owing | to some disease or trouble which a profos- ' sioiial man has not yet been’able to diagnose fully 10 per cent, of the flock has died. ; The ewes came from the north, and their : present owner is of opinion that it is the • unusually damp winter which has set up the ; inflammation which has caused the deaths.

At a meeting on the 3rd of the Now Zealand Shearers’ and Woolshcd Employees’ Union (says the Christchurch Press) the position of the farm labourers in the threshing industry was discussed at some length, and it was agreed to co-operate with the farm labourers and kindred unions, in urging upon members the desirability of abstaining from engaging for harvesting work in Canterbury until the manifesto was issued. The effects of the Balkan war are felt even in New Zealand. Some months ago (says the New Zealand Times), a merchant ordered through a Smyrna house a consignment of canary seed, which is grown in groat quantities in Macedonia. The seed was purchased all right, but was destroyed by . the armies before it could be got out of the country. Fortunately, the fighting had not been in the fruit zone, and supplies of rasins and sultanas wore not seriously affected

According to the Clutlia Free Press, Mr C. Cuff, the finder of the lump of ambergris on the Papatowai Beach, says he now intends to send the lump to England, in the expectation of getting a better price than could bo obtained in the dominion. lie has received word from Dunedin that in order to make an effective test the lump (161.1 b in weight) would require to be broken, and ho is averse to allowing this to bo done, preferring to send the piece in its entirety Home. Mr 11. .1- Booken, the Continental fibre expert, who is just now carrying out a series of investigations in New Zealand, considers that by next Christmas he will have proved his ability, with special machinery of his own designing, to turn out hemp in 10 hours from the time that the green loaf enters the stripper, the operations of paddocking and scutching being done away with. He also has hopes of providing a means of utilising vegetation and gum, byproducts of the leaf, and preventing the escape of refuse into rivers. Experimental work and its value was being discussed at the Philosophical Society s meeting in Wellington, when Professor Easter held related a curious case of a student who knew his books almost by heart but was lacking in practical knowledge! At the Civil Service examinations the candidate, who came top of the list, gained nearly 90 per cent, lie afterwards went to work in trie professor e laboratory, and it was then discovered that he had done no experimental work and scarcely know the meaning of the elementary statements in the course. . , . , The number of land agents in Auckland exceeds the total number of those in the other three cities of New Zealand. The first register of licenses issued under the Land Agents Act of last year, which has been miblished as a supplement to the Gazette, shows that 920 licenses have been issued in the dominion. The court at Auckland granted 187 licenses to agents carrying on business in the city and its immediate neighbourhood, and of the other three cities Christchurch comes next to Auckland with 77 licensee, Wellington has 60, and Dunedin 42. More than one-third of the number of land agents are carrying on business in the urban areas. ~ A 'rood story of retributive justice is '°‘<l bv an Invercargill doctor tit hie own expense (says the Southland News. Recently he was returning from a professional visit to North Invercargill, and was waylaid by some individual with a poor sense ot discrimination. Two fists followed one another in quick succession, and the doctor jumped on his bicycle and rode off. At 2 o’clock next morning, when snugly tucked between the sheets, a call came to him from Nortu Invercargill to attend someone who had been hurt in a row, and he had in all decency to pack his bag and hasten forth in the chilly morning air to make good the damage lie had done The officials in the Oneliunga Post Office had a somewhat startling experience the other day (says the Auckland Star). They were working" in the mail room, and one of the men put some coal on the fire. A loud report sounded throughout the bui'din" like the report of a rifle, and a l, u lict whizzed through the air and stuck in the opposite wall. None of the men was hit by the bullet, but more than one man had a narrow escape. By some means a cartridge had got into the coal supplied to the post office. It is a mystery how it got there. The missile Was afterwards handed over to Mr Coombe. chief postmaster, who still has it in his possession.