NEWS ITEMS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9643, 19 January 1903, Page 4

NEWS ITEMS.

■ ♦ Active steps are being taken for the establishment of a telephone exchange m Waihi, which will connect with Paeroa and Thames. A Mosterton" poultry-keeper, during the last year, obtained some 3500 eggs from 20 fowls. According to the market price of eggs, ha cleared 8s on each fowl. Mr Walter Bartlett, of Paraekaretu Flat, Silverhope (says the Hunterville Express), has just clipped 21701 b of wool from 123 sheep, an average of 171 b lOoz. This is about the record for the oolony. A motor-ear service between Thomdon Esplanade and the intersection of Manners and Cuba streets', Wellington, is to be instituted on Anniversary Day, and continued thenceforward. The car is designed to seat 10 passengers. As the service of the Nowra Presbyterian Church was being brought to a conclusion the other Sunday night, a great sensation was caused by a large tiger snake beiug discovered on the floor, under the seats. The' reptile was captured and killed. Since the establishment of a well-equip-ped fire brigade m Auckland the Salvage Corps has been of little use, and has therefore been disbanded. Captain Field, who was m charge of the corps, will still be employed m the service of the Underwriters' Association as inspector, During Colonel Swayne's operations m Somalihind the officers suffered hardships which recalled the sieges of Mafeking and Ladysmith, says Reuter's correspondent at Beibera. Supplies ran so short that ■a spoonful of tea was valued "at tlixee cigarettes, five cigarettes procured the loan of a razor or scissors for hair-cut-ting ; for half a tin of peaches a basin of oatmeal could bo had, and a pinch of salt was a fair exchange for a lump of sugar. Luxuries were naturally at a premium m the force. Officers and men alike subsisted on -a- diet of camel's nWh varied with edible grasses. Commenting on New Zealand's Permanent Force, the Wellington Times says ; — "The Force has in' the past been wretchedly moribund. Of fine physique and receiving a fair rate of pay, the members of the Permanent Artillery have been used to a scandalous extent m menial civilian duties, such as acting as messengers for Government House or the Parliamentary Buildings, providing escorts at military funerals and keeping alive the absurd tradition of a guard and sentry at the entrance to the Governor's residence. It is to be feared that as modem artillery and the permanent backbone of our deiences they .are greatly lacking." Writing from Irene Camp, near Pretoria, on December 2, Miss Arrow, of New Plymouth, one of the lady teachers who went from New Zealand, says :— "We are to be graded according to our certificates and experience, and salaries depend upon the grade. Of course -we are all anxious to see, the list, but it will not be out for a few days. Teachers are £o be asked to complete a three years' term of service, and at the end of that time a free return passage will be granted, while a resolution is on foot to grant those satisfactory teachers who. wish to -return six months' le.*ve, but that js not settled yet, and may be thrown put at tlj.6 next meefnngi There is a great difficulty about settling the farm schools. It seems impossible to get. the necessary appliances and furniture from Capetown, and teachers have been waiting here for weeks, and cannot get away." \ ' ■.-,.■•,: . ■■ •

Madame Melba is said to have discovered a. ton or m Mclbournt — a Mr Kirby— of whom she thinks so highly tha.t slu has given him a letter of introduction t< , M. Jean de Reszke. By a concert recently given m Melbourne with a view to raising funds to enable Mr Kirby to proceed . to Europe for study, the beneliciare. is said to have netted upwards of £300. , According to Mr J. O. Armour, of tin. 1 great Chicago meat-packing firm, the best . estimate of the world's total herds and Hocks shows that there are- 310,000.000 cattle, 500,000.000 sheep, and 100,000,000 pigs, and a possible 70,000,000 gouts, or a total of 1,080,000. 0C0 edible live stock m the whole world to feed its estimated population of 1.300.000.000 people, of which 850,000,000 are .••■emi-eivilisedgra.in-eafing Asiatics and 450,000,000 North Americans and Europeans. A Condoboiin (N.S.W.) despatch says as showing the force of the prevalent westerly winds on. loose soils, the following is related by the sufferer : —"Two hundred acres were thoroughly cleared for . cultivation, last year, ploughed six inches deep, and wheat sown. The crop, which i promised well, was cut down by the hot I winds and nothing was got off it. Since • then the surface soil to the depth stirred i by the plough (6in) has been blown away !as clean as though it had been swept, leaving the running roots, which had been missed, exposed on the hard sub-soil." Rumors are current m the "big buildings" (writes a Wellington correspondent) that the retrenchment knife will also be applied to the various departments of the Public Service, but I cannot ascertain any reliable confirmation. It is, however, notorious that, one very important branch of the service is over-manned. It is no uncommon thing to see these officials perambulating the streets for hours at a stretch, and chatting with friends m some hotel parlor. This has been going on under the eyes of one who is generally credited with being a martinet m his official relations with his subordinates, and general surprise has been expressed that no steps have been taken to suppress what everyone outside knows is nothing short of a scandal.