NEWS ITEMS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10859, 31 December 1906, Page 4

NEWS ITEMS.

Auckland's butter exports for the present season show an increase of 700 tons over the corresponding period of last year, tlie increase m value being over £56,000.

The Hon. J. A. Millar, Minister for Labor, will take part m tlie Exhibition bowling tournament to be held at Christchurch next month. He will play for a Wellington Bowling Club team.

M. Zenobius Peshkoff, son of the famous Russian novelist, Maxim Gorky, haß set out with his wife on a visit to New Zealand, via America. They are expected to arrive m the colony m the course of a few weeks.

The first stage m the North Island reliability motor car contest was finished on reaching Cambridge on Thursday night. 'Though the roads were not m good order, the cars competing • got over the distance satisfactorily. The Stuart had a mishap, and turned up on Friday morning.

The payments made by the New Zealand Daiiy Association, Auckland, on the 21st inst. for milk supplied during November totalled £18,884 19a 9d. This constitutes a record. Tiie sale.^upon the local market for tlie same month were also larger this year than during any November m the history of the business.

The Hon. William Kidston, Premier of Queensland, arrived .at Wellington from Melbourne by the Riverina on Monday morning. Mr Kidston (says the New Zealand Times) is a man of action. No sooner was he clear of the steamer than he made arrangements for a drive round the city, with the growth of which he was greatly impressed. He lunched at tho Grand hotel, and left again for the south the same evening, his intention being to visit the Christchurch Exhibition and the cold lakes, "and leave the Bluff for Melbourne on January 7th,

Wellington, has a Tival, says the Post. In the ancient land of Seistan, on the borders of Persia and Afghanistan, an extraordinary wind blows m the summer. It is called the Bad-i-sad-o-bistroz, or wind of 120 days. Colonel Sir Henry McMahori, a British explorer, says of this wind 1 : "It sets m at the end of May or the middle of June, and blows with appalling violence, -and with little or no cessation till th,e end of September. It always blows from one direction, a little west of north, and reaches a velocity of over seventy miles an hour. 1 '

The year now closing (says the Waikuto Argus) has, for Waikato farmers, been a prosperous one right through, and there is every indication that the coming year will be equally bright. It would bedifficult just now to mention a branch of 'farming- which is not paying well. The glut of cattle, which hung like a cloud oyer the ' district, has quite disappeared, all classes now being briskly competed for. And, if the demand for frozen beef is maintained, which appears to be almost a certainty, there should never be a scarcity of buyers for all cattle now avail, able, or for all* thai can m future be bred and reared.

"If something is not done by the Government and the producers themselves to the evils of the blender, we ■will find that m the course of two or three years, with the exception of a few brands, New Zealand butter will be unknown on tlie British markets, and our individual system of branding will not count -for much, so far as helping the producer •with the quality of lus Butter is concerned.. In the event of this happening there will not be much need! for a large staff of dairy instructors; so loiijjj as the factory can make a passable 'first grade' that will be good enough for the blender. In fact, we see now that our producers m some parts are endeavoring to incorporate as much moisture as pos" Bible m order to meet the blender. Tliis if carried to extremes must mean an inferior keeping quality."— Mr J. A. Kinsella.

An interesting article, splendidly illustrated, on the resources of Ne\y Zealand, is the feature of Dalgety's December Review. Sneaking of Pulmerston Noith, the writer of the article says that this fine inland town "cannot fail to be one of the most important distributing centres m New Zealand. It must continue to be tile principal inland town m New Zealand. If the Government takes over the, Manawatu Company's line practically tho whole of the Hawke'e Bay traffic will g.o to Wellington through Pahnereton. The North Island Main Trunk line will, when completed, bring increased traffic through Palmerston from Auckland and province, which should materially add to the prosperity of the town. Indeed, one or two Auckland firms, recognising the importance of Palmerston as a centre, have already, started agencies ihHhis town, m anticipation of the improvement m trade that will result from a through connection by rail."

c The distance covered by the motors 1 during the recent six days' competition > m Victoria was only 46J miles sliort of

■vsassr <r<r <<&z <se&< <j«T «.«s' «•&&«-. 'i&xx. c '^zzs&i / jnwatzr yf/sfiizfayiZ'A aks&rS mzr air- / cars, ibus &)t>Wjjyr f)m}> spnajper Sixmos are necessary for tfie Australian mads, j Tfavttty coils aivft ivivxne .springs vfeve a\so\ tor the roads. Skill apd care were 119 doubt factors for success; but the element of luck uho entered into the contests, several of the best and most catetuV dvivers bein.jj put out through no fault of their own. Great interest was taken m

five •contest all along the routes. Tlie winner of the blue riband is a young rider who was conspicuous for lus great care and skill throughout.

' In July last there was republished from the Auckland Herald of the 22nd June a translation of a letter m the Malay language addressed "Chapman, Esq, magistrate, New Zealand," which had been delivered to His Honor Mr Justice Chapman. The translation showed that the letter could scarcely have been intended for His Honor. It was a letter from a girl tb her brother, loaded with the usual Eastern honorifics, asking him to buy her a pair of shoes. Suggestions were invited as to the - whereabouts of the person for whom the letter was intended, and a communication has now been received from Klawang, Jelebu,. Federated Malay States, written to tuc Otago Witness by Mr J. A. Cardno, who eaye : "The Malay letter addressed to Chapman, magistrate, is very probably intended for Mr Chapman, who wont to Christmas Island early m 1905. I know he had a Ram'bu Malay servant. Mr Chapman is chief judge and registrar of courts, as well as 'births, deaths, and marriages, • postinas-tor-general, Minister, for Agriculture, and has 10 or 12 other positions. Mi- Cllap,man is still on ohristma6 Island, which is m the Indian Ocean, m 10.30 S. lat. andj 105.40 E. long." Speaking to Mr T. L. Joll, of Okai-awa.-who turns out 1000 tons of butter annually from his factory^, and eJnseciuently holds the proud position of making the largest output of butter m Taranaki, a New Plymouth Daily News reporter ascertained that those of Mr Joll's suppliers who have gone m for milking machines are delighted with them. **I hope to see," said Mr Joll, "machines on nearly every farm m my district next year." The cows, he says, take -readily to the machines; m fact, they appeared to like the machines better than the handmilking, and, so far as the tests are concerned, there is no diminution at all m the machine arttc]e,"and equally good results are being eecured wherever the mar chines are employed. With the introduction of the machines commences a r.~fiw era m dairying. Farmers will be able to rid themselves of child labor (which will be a great blessing), and conduct operations themselves where they are now working on the shares principle. The machines, m fact, willput the industry on a sond economic basis for the first time, and allow of good profits being made out of dairying even when the prices now ruling recede to a much emaller point. Following on the registration of the syndicate which has secured the Commonwealth mail contract {writes the N.Z. Times' London correspondent) comes the placing of orders for eight fast steamships, to be employed m the proposed service. These steamers will have twinscrews, and will' be capable of doing from 17£ to 18 knots an hour, if necessary. They will bo sGolt m length and 62ft m 'beam, and will have a depth of 32ft' 9in. The unique feature- of tlie ships will be the association of great car-go-carrying capacity, with high speed. Thus they will be able to carry 7500 tons of cargo, and of this something like 4000 tons will consist of refrigerating space for the carriage; of perishable colonial produce. -- The building of the ships will be undertaken by four sliipbuildmg firms, members of the syndicate. Two vessels each will be constructed by the following: — Messrs Beardmore and Co, Clydebank ; Messrs Vickers, Sous, and Maxim, Barrow-in-Furness ; Messrs Armstrong, Whitworth and "Co., Newcastle-on-Tyne ; Sir James Laing and Sons, Sunderland. j Only one of these districts— the Clyde — ■ i is affected by the shipbuilding strike, j The new steamers will have provision for J 370 first and second class passengers, and 500 third class. All the first class accommodation will be above deck, which is an advantage, since ports need rarely We closed, even m the worst of -weather. The cabins, too, will be of large size. The arrangements of the steamers are not expected to give any particular passengers' quarters, but comfort and roominess are the chief things aimed at. The ships are to be put m hand with as little delay as possible, as thejr are to begin running m the early days m 19C8.*'