OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 3112, 5 November 1913, Page 4

OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Four hundred workmen are actively employed in the Auckland Exhibition.

A Wellington contracting firm, Messrs Howie and Matthews, has secured the contract for building a 10-storey building in Auckland for the Brett Publishing Company. This will be the tallest building so far erected in the northern capital. The Timaru Herald states that arrangements are now being made with the object of boring for oil in the Ealing and Hinds districts, a few miles north of the Rangitata River. It is said that it -is in precisely similar country that oil is obtained in America. 'Jho utility of the motor car in cases of emergency is frequently being proved (tlie Gisborne Herald states), several instances having occurred quite recently of fast journeys being undertaken to the backblocks for the purpose of enabling medical assistance to be given to residents of the country. Seized with a fit of crying at the marriage of her elder sister, Anna Owiak, « Chicago girl, died of physical exhaustion a few hours later. The child began to weep as her sister walked down the a slc and was taken home. She continued to cry, and despite the efforts of a physician wept herself to death.

A party of 12 men and two women arrived in Wanganui last week from Germany, en route to the Taranaki district, where, it is understood, they intend engaging in tiie dairying industry. They appear to bo a fine tvpe of colonist (says the Wanganui Horakf), and are looking forward hopefully to prosperity in the land of their adoption. Mr Reardon, the secretary of the Dublin Relief Fund, states that the appeal is being responded to very generously in Wellington. The Waterside Workers have voted £IBO, the District Council United Labour party £5, the Tramway Union £5, the Bakers’ Union £5, the Plasterers’ Union £1 Is. Some substantial donations are expected next week.

Art an indication of the increasing difficulty which tramway undertakings have to make both ends meet, it is stated that whereas the Sydney tramways showed a surplus of £57,796 for the year ended June 31, 1912, the balance sheet, for the 1913 period showed a loss of £32,456. An allround increase in fares is consequently being seriously considered. ~A CTCrcoat was saturated with rain, coolly hupg it up outside Hallcnstein Bros, shop, at Palmerston North, and donned a new overcoat, selected from the firm’s best weatherproofs. When captured by the police he explained that ho bought it from a man in the street. The Magistrate sentenced him to 30 days’ imprisonment. Mr A. M/Donald, of Ngakonui, had an exciting experience on Thursday. In com-

pany with an employee, he was crossing a river in South -Wairarapa in a. buggy drawn by two homes. There was a considerable quantity of water in the river, and the buggy capsized. The employee was able to struggle on to dry land almost at once, but Mr M'Donald was carried down thg- river for some distance with the buggy before being able to reach the bank. The horses were drowned.

After five years’ experience the State Coal Department finds that it does not pay to use steam wagons on the Wellington and Dunedin hills (says the Wellington Post). The vehicles do excellent work on the flat, but are too expensive for coal transport up stiff inclines, and it has therefore been decided to sell the three now in use in Wellington and revert to the use of horses and carts. The department has not yet come to a decision regarding the disposal of its only motor wagon in Dunedin. The Minister of Mines has been invited by Mr P. C. Webb to state whether, in view of the fact that there are no adequate safety appliances for rescue work underground in any of the mining districts of Now Zealand, the Government will undertake to immediately secure the necessary appliances, so that in the event of any disaster occurring the loss of human life will be reduced to a minimum ; and whether it will see that up-to-date ambulance outfits, in sufficient quantity and in convenient places, are provided at all mines.

A novice at sheep farming in South Canterbury had a curious experience the other day (says the Timaru Herald). Finding a motherless lamb, ho decided to find a mother for it, and soon fixed upon what ho considered a suitable one. Catching the ewe ho fixed her, with the motherless lamb, in a small enclosure, made of hurdles, in the paddock. Then he tried all known acts of getting her to take the lamb, but without success. Tlie reason, he discovered a morning or two later, when, on going to the enclosure, he found the ewe with two lambs of her own.

Yet another attempt is to bo made to recover the General Grant's gold at the Auckland Islands. The Blull Press states that Mr E. 0. May, who has purchased a vessel at Honolulu and is fitting her out at San Francisco to make a further attempt to get at the gold under the overhanging cliffs of the Auckland Islands, has written stating that he expects to reach Bluff early Ln December. He considers the vessel a fine craft. She is of 600 tons net register, a three-masted vessel with 150 h.o auxiliary engine capable of 10 knots per hour, and specially fitted for salvaging. The average cow of the 10 best herds of one of the Agricultural Department’s illustration cow-testing associations produced last year 2711 b of butter-fat, while the average cow of the association produced only 2011 b The difference in value, at 3s a pound for butler-fat, equals £5 10s per head. The census for the year 1911 credits New Zealand with 633,733 cows. Could each of these be introduced in productive capacity by the difference recorded above (says the Agricultural Journal) the value of the increased vield would exceed the value, of our annual export of either butter or cheese. Writing to a friend in New Plymouth, a New Zealander now in Vancouver states that things in that city are very slack just now. “In fact,” the letter continues, “lots of places are closing up, and money is going to be very tight this winter. Vancouver has gone ahead very fast during the last 10 years, and millions have been made by people who invested in real estate, but now has come the turning point, and money is very hard to get. However, in a year or two, things will be better than ever, so they say, so there's plenty of time for more fortunes to be made here, as in the days gone by.” This season the scheme of plant-selection, experimental, demonstration, and educative work in general at the Ruakum farm of instruction has been planned on a more comprehensive scale than usual. Tnc Journal of the department reports that the accommodation for cadets is not only taxed to its utmost capacity, but over 100 names are on the books of applicants seeking an opportunity to secure a practical training in modern agricultural methods with a modicum of theory imparted by experts. In connection with the theoretical side o the training provided for the cadets, lectures arc given at weekly and fortnightly intervals on agriculture, dairying, veterinary science, and botany. Whale fishing has become a great industry in the Falkland Islands. The Hon. Mr L. Allardyce, C.M.G., Governor of the Falkland Islands, who is visiting Sydney, said last year was remarkable for the establishment of the whale fisheries around the islands, and the whale products of that year were valued at over a million pounds. It is now the Eldorado of the whaling industry, and there is nothing in the world like it, as it is carried on in South Shetland Tho Holidays is carried on by vcesele of about 100 tons, with a gun in the bow. When the gun is exploded it shoots out a harpoon with unerring aim, and the whale, being caught, is towed to the hmtory. _ The whaling season in these southern latitudes is very limited, being confined to the months of December, January, and February, although it sometimes extends to March.