OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 3201, 21 July 1915, Page 4

OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Owing to the shortage of explosives, Reefton mines are reducing hands. Factory butter is now being retailed in Masterton at Is 9d per lb. The same price is charged in Wellington. r J he National Reserve in Dannevirke has arrived at 1 the strength of 250, enabling it to form a platoon and entitling it to elect a captain and lour lieutenants The liner Corinthic, which arrived at Wellington on the 10th inst. from London, brought two first saloon, 25 second saloon, and 199 third-class passengers (states the New Zealand Times). The mails comprised 1141 packages. Large consignments of fencing material and Iruit trees arrived last week for the Cromwell Development party (says the Cromwell Argus). A fairly largo staff made a start on Monday morning fencing and planting. The scarcity of dwellings in Mastcrton is clearly demonstrated by the number of families who arc unable to procure houses, and are living in rooms (says the Wairarapa Times). In one seven-roomed house in the borough no less than four families are living.

“ No sacrifice has been made yet by the producers of New Zealand in connection with the war,” said Mr Hine, member for Stratford, in the House on Tuesday night (states the New Zealand Times). ‘‘lt is for the Taxation Bill to show what sacrifices the producers will be required to make.”

A bankrupt in Christchurch the other day told a moving story. She was a hoardinghouse keeper, and nad borrowed in all £6O. On that amount she had paid in interest alone £127. Having to pay so much interest she bad to sacrifice other creditors, and attributed her bankruptcy to the strain due to the interest she had to pay. The Government has set aside 1000 acres of land at Templeton for a largo main prison. Part of the land is -in the old bod of the Waimakariri and part of it has been used as farms. Last week 12 prisoners were transferred from Lyttelton to the new quarters, and it is intended to set them to carry out farming operations. The erection of the buildings has not been started yet. What people can do when put to it is furnished by an instance of which we have just heard (says the Wyndham Herald). A young married pair were deprivod_ of thenpaid assistants, and the duty of milking 65 cows was thus thrown on two pairs of hands. The man and his wife were possessed of good grit, and they tackled the job courageously., For a fortnight they managed the hand-milking of this large herd. In connection with the drowning of the boy Carr, a story of a gallant action of Walter Ormsby, aged 17, was told at the inquest. It appears that two children were left in a rapidly-drifting punt from which the deceased had jumped, and would have been swirled over a dam a few chains down stream into a deep whirlpool below had not Ormsby promptly rushed to the bank and dived in with his clothes on. He swam to the punt and got it to the bank. Potash, an ingredient that is largely used in the manufacture of certain classes of goods in New Zealand, has advanced in price by leaps and bounds since the commencement of the war. As an instance of this advance, a Wellington merchant mentioned to a Times representative on Wednesday that one class of potash that was formerly landed in the dominion at £4O per ton is now quoted at £IBO per ton, f.0.b., Liverpool. In a discussion as to whether the action of the Wellington Central Chamber of Commerce had begun the National Reserve movement, Mr Leigh Hunt stated (says the Gisborne Times) that at the last meeting of the chamber a defence corps had been started several months before the war. Ho continued, quite seriously: 1 Of course, tno organising of the Dunedin reserve corps t,.,d nothing to do with the outbreak of the war!” ° A general laugh went round the table at the qlca of Dunedin causing the war with Germany Mr Alfred Judge, of Pentland Hills, met with a serious accident while motoring home on the 10th inst. (says the Waimate Times). He. with a cousin, Mr J. Judge, wore on the Forks •Waihaorunga road in a dangerous part known as the Devil’s Elbow, when the car skidded, and shot through the protection side of the rail, through a wire fence 20ft below and down a steep bank until it nulled up 200 ft from the road. Both men were thrown out, Mr Judge luckily escaping with a severe shaking and Mr J Judge, unconscious, bleeding about the face and head. Ho was brought into the hospital and is now reported nearly well. Mr Powell, who was motoring through, noticed the accident and took Mr Judge to his homo. The car was badly damaged. , , , , . As showing what can be taken out ot land by intense cultivation, the experience during the past year of Mr Samuel Sparks, of Cashmere, is worth giving (enys the Nelson Mail). His land is, without question, of a high class, having cost £6O an acre i but in this respect it Is not markedly distinguished from the whole area in the same neighbourhood. Mr Sparks is an old settlor and, consequently, knows the capacity of the land, and works it to The best advantage. This year, from a single acre, ho secured

100 tons of mangels, and these ho sold for 27s per ton —certainly an excellent return, since, as Mr Sparks states, the cost .of production, including interest on the capital invested in the land, would not amount to more than £lO. From an area of 52 acres Mr Sparks told 100 tons of hay at £4 10s. and from two acres of potatoes ho sold 50 tons of eating tubers at £4 5s 5d per ton.