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Otago Witness, Issue 3574, 12 September 1922, Page 40

The Minister of Agriculture (the Hon. W. Nosworthy) has replied to the protest of the Otago Provincial Council of the Farmers’ Union against the destruction caused by deer on farm properties in many districts, stating that the removal of the protection on .deer is a question for the Internal Affairs Department and that the protest has accordingly been referred to the Hon. W. Downie Stewart. The Reserves Committee of the City Council reports that Mr Speden, of Gore, has intimated that he is prepared to present to the Botanic Gardens a portion of his collection of Celmisias and other native plants if arrangements can be made to take delivery of them in Gore. The donor has been advised, on behalf of the council, that his offer is aocepted with thanks, and that the Superintendent of Reserves will arrange to take delivery. At. the annual conference of the National Council of Women, held in Christchurch last month, an appeal was made by Miss Lysnar, F.R.G.S., for a New Zealand memorial to Pandita Ram aba i, whose death was recently recorded. The Dunedin Council has arranged that the New Zealand memorial shall take the form of a fund of £SOOO, to be expended in the printing of Pandita R-amabai’s translation of the New Testament, each of which will cost about one shilling, and. the free distribution of 100,000 copies among the 19,000,000 Marathi speaking people of India. A large amount of public money has been expended in recent, years in establishing irrigation schemes in Otago Central, and now that the water has been made available the Government is taking steps to see that farmers turn it to the best advantage. It is seeking to do this by the publication of an instructive bulletin, by the establishment of an experimental irrigation farm, and by giving practical demonstrations on the farm. Mr R. B. Tennent, chief agricultural instructor for the province, and Mr W. Marks, district engineer at Alexandra, have been busy during the past fortnight completing the bulletin on irrigation, and it is hoped to have it available for farmers in a very short time. It will contain information of the utmost importance to settlers in Central Otago, and during the coming season Mr Marks and Mr Tennent hope to conduct a number of demonstrations on the new experimental area at Galloway with a view to showing how water can be most economically and advantageously applied to different types of land. Two black swans who live in the rivei near the Manchester street bridge receive their daily bread from a Nature-loving bootmaker whose establishment fronts the river on Oxford terrace (says the Lyttelton Times). Regularly at appointed intervals during the day the swans leave their nest by the water’s edge and waddle up the bank and solemnly cross the road quite undismayed, and unperturbed by tho passing traffic. They station themselves in the side-channel opposite the boot shot), and if their food is not already there they wait patiently and with certain hope until it appears. On occasions they are joined by a cat. and a small dog, and the company then co-operate in a friendly dinner party. At all feeding times interested spectators stop to watch.

An important judicial decision affecting the status of mortgagors was given in the Supreme Court on Friday by Mr Justice Adams (says a Press Association message). The case war, one in which John Robert Thacker (O’Kain’s Bay) asked for the possession of property at Kaikoura from Lucien Joseph Brocherie, of Kaikoura, on the ground that plaintiff was the mortgagee of tho property and that defendant had made a default in the payment, of interest on moneys due under a mortgage. Plaintiff (Mr W. J. Sim) further contended that defendant, had made a default in the payment of interest under a first mortgage on the property, and the first mortgagee had agreed to sell the land to plaintiff under a power of sale contained in the mortgage. His Honor ordered possession to be given, the order to be drawn up under Section 105 of the Lands Transfer Act of 1915. During the past season, Mr R. B. Tennent (chief agricultural instructor for Otago and Southland) has delivered some five and twenty lectures on agricultural topics in country districts throughout the province. The attendances have been most satisfactory, and the farmers, particularly the younger men, have been showing an increasing eagerness to avail themselves of all tho information the department can give them. So much has this been so that the instructional work of the local branch of the Agricultural Department has been increasing by leaps and bounds, and the staff is finding it difficult to cope with it. Mr Tennent has another twenty-five lectures planned out for the immediate future, and in addition demonstrations are being given on the various experimental areas in different parts of the country. Several lectures have also been given in the Otago district lately by Mr Cook, the wool instructor for the dominion. A member of the Daily Times staff asked a well-known Dunedin medical man oil Saturday whether he considered that Dr Pitts, of Waiinate, was justified in making the assertion that the number of deaths under anaesthetics had greatly increased n New Zealand during- the past year or two. The Dunedin doctor said that he fully supported Dr Pitts’s statement. He said that it was always absolutely necessary to use the best chloroform—an ansesthetio which he favoured. Questioned whether he considered that there was any reason which might cause a patient to succumb, the Dunedin doctor said that faulty training had a direct effect ip the administration of an anaesthetic. borne doctors gave such a strong dose of an anaesthetic that the patient’s resistance was severely reduced. As a matter of fact, he became heavily drugged. On the other hand, there are medical men in Dunedin who over a long course of years have not had one single death resulting from the administration of an ansesthetio. In view of the allegations made by Dr Pitts, and from his own knowledge of what had happened in certain cases, the Dunedin doctors held that the Minister of Health should take steps to have an exhaustive inquiry made into the whole matter, and that laymen should be appointed to any committee which the Minister might think fit to set up. Mrs Mary Foster, who resided with her husband and family at No. 11 Herefo d street, Roslyn, collapsed when on her way to church on Sunday and died immediately. The latest issue of the New Zealand Gazette contains the notification of 13 bankruptcies, of which nine are in the North Island. The majority of the bankrupts are farmers. Premises in Taranaki and Haining streets, Wellington, were raided by the police on Friday night, and on Saturday morning two Chinese were convicted of conducting a pak-a-poo lottery, and fined £75 each (says a Press Association telegram). Two Chinese and eight Europeans who were found on the premises were lined £1 each. Three claims, totalling £3775 9s 4d, have been registered with the Public Trustee by persons in New Zealand, in accordance with a notice published in the Gazette in March, 1919, requiring all persons, firms, and companies of British nationality in New Zealand owning property in territory which on August 1, 1911, formed part of the Russian Empire, or having claims against the Russian territory, or against any person, firm, or company, or municipal or other authority, in that, particular territory, to transmit particulars of their claims to the Public Trustee at Wellington for registration by the Foreign Claims Office, London. No information has been received as to the prospects of a settlement of these debts. Three single young ladies entered for the “impromptu speech” at the Wellington competitions the other evening, and the subject "was not given to them until they were on the platform, when they were allowed a minute’s thought and five minutes for speech (says Hie Post). When they were faced with the problem “How to cure a grumbling husband,” they were fairly staggered, and one was so irresistibly seized with the humorous aspect of the situation that she could hardly speak for laughing. All she could say was that if she bad a husband who was a grumbler she woidd give him something to grumble about in earnest. The judge agreed that they all deserved a first prize for having had the courage to face the audience to speak on a subject they knew nothing about. Married ladies had not gained much information. “And,” added the judge, “most of the time was filled in. by pausa.tion, of which we have been told a good deal in the last few days.” of electrified railway in Europe. A successful trial was made recently by the State Railway Department on the electrified line, Genoa-Tuiin-Modane, a distance of 272 kilometres (sny 170 miles),- which distance a