OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 3148, 15 July 1914, Page 4

OMNIUM GATHERUM.

South Canterbury butchers are experiencing difficulty in getting fat cattle just now, and as high as £ls apiece has lately been paid for very prime bullocks. The fiftieth anniversary of the formation of the Hawke’s Bay Presbyterian Church will take piece on December 10 next year, and steps will be taken to adequately mark the occasion.

Another case of infantile paralysis (says the Orepuki Advocate) is reported, . the young son of Mr J. L. Printz having been attacked with this disease. The sufferer is now under treatment in the Wallace Hospital. In addition to injuring his nose and, bruising himself, Mr John Mackay, the Government printer, broke one of his ribs through falling off a ladder in his office last week, and will not be able to get about again for some days. The finer weather ..experienced recently has had a favourable effect on the Christchurch labour market (says the Press), and the secretary of the General Labourer’s’ Union reports that there are at present fewer men out of work than there was a week or so ago. Mr O. Trevurza, of Wakanui, Ashburton, lost a valuable filly on the sth. On going to the paddock he found the animal bleeding from a gunshot wound. It is stated that at least eight horses have been lost in this way in the Wakanui district during the last two years. The Bluff oyster fleet has experienced a, good spell of weather during the past week, and has had an opportuniy of making up for lost time. The Bluff merchants state that they are now well ahead of the orders which piled up at the end of the previous week’s rough weather.

Mr S. Cain, referring to ihe revaluation of properties in the Levels County, said that one farmer holding about 700 acres had. told him that his valuation had been increased by £3OOO. Members generally (says the . Timaru Herald) considered the new valuations “ pretty stiff.” During the last *six months the Napier Land Department has offered 37 holdings for selection—a total area of 22,652 acres, while 12 holdings, with a total area of 4346 acres, have been made freehold, and four small grazing runs, with an area of 14,636 acres, thrown open for selection. A special train from Invercargill (says the Christchurch Sun) on Saturday week took up 400 head of yearling cattle, consigned to Mr J. F. Buchanan, of Kinloch, Little River. Cattle' at this age cannot be purchased in Canterbury, and indeed are very scarce throughout the South Island. There is talk ot a rise in the price of meat in Wellington (says the Dominion). It is understood that some butchers favoured a general increase, and that others were entirely against it. One big firm has raised the price of a few lines, and other increases are reported, but the movement is not general. The police have been informed (says the Lyttelton Times) that a man was found dead in a hut on Mr J. Walker’s sheep run near Bankside. The deceased, whose identity is unknown at present, was well built, of medium height, and about 40 years of age. Apparently he had been dead for two or three days. While the rule of the road is to keep to the left, the rule of the footpath is to keep to the right. When the coming municipal conference sits at Wellington it will consider an Invercargill proposal that municipal councils should adopt the “ keep to the left ” rule for pedestrians, and thus bring all street traffic under one rule.

Tho Stratford correspondent of the Taranaki News states that at the local court last week there was heard a case of a happily unusual character, in which a daughter sued her mother for wages for domestic service. The Stipendiary Magistrate held that there was no evidence of engagement and dismissed the case. The singular sight of eight men, locked hand to hand with handcuffs, was witnessed in Gisborne (says the Times) on Saturday, 4th inst., as the Tuatea left for the Auck-land-bound boat. Tho men were all prisoners who wore sentenced for terms of imprisonment during the Supreme Court sessions. Four constables escorted the party to the boat.

The Western Star reports that on Wednesday morning tho dredge Wallace, while steaming down the river, collided with Mr Joseph Roderiquo’s ketch Endor. with the result that the Endor sunk in 10 minutes, being stove in. There was a stron" ebb tide running at the time, and the Endor managed to reach fairly shallow water before she went under.

A leading dealer informed a Southland Times reporter on the 4-th that exorbitant prices are at present being demanded for sheep by some farmers. He stated that during a visit to the South Hillend district the previous week as much as 3s per head more than sheep were worth was demanded ot him. Needless to say, no deal resulted in any of the instances referred to. The Council of the Waitaki Acclimatisation Society has (says the Oamaru Mail) decided to supplement the efforts now being made by the Otago Society to induce the Minister for Internal Affairs to declare a short open season for the shooting of paradise ducks. One of the reasons advanced for the adoption of such ’ a course is that unscrupulous persons shoot. +K A ducks

[ whether the season is an open or a close one. Another reason is that the ducks are now very numerous in the back country; while a third reason advanced by members of the council is that owing to their protection the ducks become so tame that they are an easy prey to unscrupulous persons.