OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 3205, 18 August 1915, Page 4

OMNIUM GATHERUM.

The number of gas cookers in use in Masterton is 692. Trawlers operating from Napier report that the catches of fish during' July were very poor. During the past 12 months six workers' dwellings in Napier and eight in Hastings, the first in Ihe district, were erected under the direction of the Labour Department. During the year ending March 31, 412 j applications for employment were received | at the Wanganui office of the Labour De- | partment, and 139 were assisted to employment. Mr P. fox, of Christchurch, who arrived in Canterbury in 1351, has published, for private circulation, a booklet describing his experiences in the early clays of the province. The Napier Inspector of Factories reports that during the labour year just ended 275 factories, giving employment to 1393 males and 264 females, were registered in the district. The Kaikoura correspondent of the Christchurch Press states that Messrs Nilsen Bros, and " Jim " Norton landed a four-ton humpback whale on the 10th —the first capture of the season. A number of residents on the outskirts of Gore who are dependent solely on rain water for their household supplies, are at present anxiously waiting for rain (says the" Ensign) as their tanks are empty. The Shaw, Savill and Albion liner Corinthic, which left Wellington on Tuesday, 10th inst., for London, took 2996 crates of cheese from New Zealand. There were 1500 crates from New Plymouth and 1496 crates from Patea. Mr Malcolm Hardy, of Te Kuiti, has been awarded the New York Photoplay Clearing House's prize for the best story submilted during the month. The drama is " The Mystic Legacy." and has attracted attention from the Motion Magazine proprietors. The number of ship officers who have left their vessels to proceed to the front has caused a considerable shortage of mates. It is understood (says the New Zealand Times) that one of the largest New Zealand companies is now any men who have the necessary certificates, regardless of restrictions previously imposed. During July. 7697 bales of hemp were graded at the various ports of the dominion as compared with 4080 for the corresponding month of last year, an increase of 3617 bales. For the 12 months ended July 31, the number of bales graded was 89,858. as compared with 129,469 for the previous 12 months a decrease of 39,611. j Recently the owner of a vacant section j in the heart of Clyde street, BalcTutha. re- j fused an offer of £2OO for an area compris- : ing about a quarter of an acre. This in the face of the rating on unimproved value in vogue in the borough of Balclutha takes some beating (says the Clutha Leader), and . it would be hard to find land in any other town the size of Balclutha command such j a high price. j In his annual report to the Labour Department, Mr E. W. F. Gohns, officer in \ charge of the Wanganui branch, stated that, ' notwithstanding the shortage of shipping facilities, the output of the local freezing works had increased, up to March 31 of this year, by 1504 head of cattle, 19,933 sheep, and 5564 lambs. Although the works were considerably enlarged, all space was taxed to the utmost. The nature of an epidemic which has j broken out at the Mental Hospital at Pori- | rua has not yet been announced (says the ! New Zealand Times). It is believed to be j measles. During the last few months, it is reported, several soldiers from Trentham camp have been committed to the insti- i tution, and it is possible that they have | introduced the disease there. All leave of the attendants has been stopped. Commissioner Cullen, who has taken an ; ' interest for some years in planting heather ' seed on the slopes of Mounts Tongariro and Ruapehu, reported at the Acclimatisation Societies' Conference at Wellington that in the winter the rabbits nibble the heather right down to the ground. It appeared that when the enow lay on the ground the '■ heather was the only food they could get, and it seemed to agree with them. The Waimate correspondent to the Christ- i church Press states that a man named Pollard was frostbitten during the first week in July, and lay in a shed on a sec- I Hon off Queen street for three days, with I a few sacks over him, before he was dis- j covered and taken to the hospital. There ! an attempt was made to save his legs, but . gangrene set in and the limbs had to be amputated. There are now good hopes \ of the man's life being saved. A laugh was raised in the Carterton I Court when the magistrate held that two ' summonses which had been served by air I up-country policeman on a Sunday were j not properly served and would have lo I be served again on some other day. Conn- j sel remarked that on a recent visit to the j King Country he had seen a bailiff wait- I ing outside a church door to catch his man. "If that is the case," said the magistrate. "it does not pay a man to bo religious in the King Country." On Saturday, 7th inst... the Hon. G. W. Russell was waited upon by Mr L>. Hop- ! kins, representative of the Golden Point Mining Company, at Macraes, witli re-

spect to the prohibition against the export of schcelite, and Mr Russell undertook to telegraph to the Prime Minister on the subject. In due course Mr Russell received a reply from the Prime Minister to the effect that the proclamation already issued would bo amended in the direction of permitting the export of schcelite to Great Britain, with the consent of the Minister of Customs. Seven registry offices were registered in Y anganui and district during the year ending March 31 last. Reporting to the Labour Department, the officer in charge of the Wanganui office suggested an amendment to the Servants’ Registry Act, in that it be an offence for licensed registry office keepers to advertise vacancies unless their books showed that the vacancies were still open. Mr Gohns said he had known of cases where a worker had spent his last shilling to travel to a job which had been advertised in the newspapers, and then found that the vacancy was filled. Notwithstanding this, the situations were again advertised the next day.