NEWS NOTES.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11123, 24 July 1907, Page 2 (Supplement)

NEWS NOTES.

— ____ ___ The profitable nature of slieepfarming nmongst small flock owners is well shown by a Leithfield farmer's return for the past season, says the Lyttelton Times. From a flock of 203 ewes he had 268 lambs, including 65 twins. He sold the whole of the lambs at an average of 16s lOd each; and for tlie -wool off the owes was piiid £86, the total return being about 50s per ewe. The man. who keeps horses is having a bad time just .now, owing to the lugh price of fodder (says the Dunedin Star), in feeding horses the choice is restricted. A suburban coal dealer states that the average cost at this time of the year for oats is from is 8d to la lOd. per bushel, and for chaff he usually pays £3 10s a ton. This .-printer ne ,is buying at 3s 3d a bushel, and cannot get gootl- chaff for less than £6 a ton. „•■'• W e - known now (says the Stratford correspondent of the 'i*aranaki Herald) what the past good seasons dairy produce has meant to this district, lucre are eight co-operative dairy companies iu the Strutlord district^' and then- output over and above last season, :Which was^the previous best record, was 6000 owts of butter worth £13,600 and 6400. ctfts of cheese worth £17,900. So there came into the district £32,500 as the result of the increased yield. '..■■ ''..:■- The telephone business between Sydney and Melbourne has now become a regular and settled ' ' rdutirie. /On Saturday week Melbourne fang up Sydney 17 times, and the subscribers at- this end reciprocated by calling th© Victorian capital nine times^ thus givihjr a total of 26 calls dor the day—a very 6atisfactoiy result. People who liave used tlie linei sirice it was opened to the public express their appreciation of the promptness with, which- calls are responded to, anc of the clearness with which conversations over this long line can be heard. A shower : df fragments oif stone, dislodged by a; blast at the \. Port Chalmers •quarry, occasioned constefiiation amongst those employed. around tlie graving dock and the Union Steam Ship , Company's workshops. Several pieces of. flying; rock struck. taie Company's workshops, some oi them being about ti»e size of heavy road metal. : Fortunately, no one was hurt, although tliere were several narrow escapes, i'iiick corrugated iroii tva's pierced in several, different paite of tlie company's workshops. One fragment 'burst through the roof of one of. Sie offices, and was only prevented by the stout lining from striking one d£ tlie inmates. ■ ■ At the annual meeting of the Taieri Veterinary Union, it was reported that the amount collected for visits for ..the first year was-J864 2s, for the second year £128 6s lid, for the third year £179 15s, and outstanding for visits on February 28, 1907, £160 ss, making a total of £5i2 13s 6d, or an average of £177 lis 2d a year. The term of the veterinary asurgeon's agreementjwhich was for three years) expired on February 28, 1907. The third year's guarantee of £1 per member, had not been collected, and it was" resolved that the secretary jsend out notices forat, so tliat the overdraft, the" vet.'s salary, and other liabilities be paid off as soon as possible. Thd reference to "Ouida" in th© cables recalls (says tlie Hawera Star) an incident which occurred .in Wellington , about thirty . years: ago. Two Hansard reporters were discussing the authenticity of newspaper paragraphs, -when o_ae/ of them wagered £25 -that he -would write a paragraph'which waa quite -without truth, but would be copied intO';2o per cent, of the New Zealand papers unquestioned. The wager was accepted, : and the following was inserted in a Southern paper : "Mdlle. de la Ramee, who is 'Ouida,' the wellknown novelist, is now on her way to New Zealand to marry an -equally wellknown Canterbury squatter." Seventy per. cent, of the papers copied it without question, and the newspaper man earned £1 a word over it. ••'. A record in wireless) telegraphy' as far as Australia is concerned has been established by; H.M.S. Powerful, at present moored ni Farni tJove. The operator on the Powerful on Wednesday week succeeded in eistablishing communication with H.M.S. Challenger, acting; as flagiship *at Adelaide. Messages were passed 1 l>etw. en; the Admiral and the officers of the flagship, tlie distance being about 700 miles in a direct line. A few weeks ago H.M.S, Challenger was in touch with tlie flagship, then at Sydney, on her run from Jervis Bay to Melbourne, -but the latest achievement from Sydney to Adelaide is remarkable, and demonstrates the value of the "wireless" fot long-distance communication. ■ . ■■• ; A gruesome discovery was made a couple ofdaysagointheOhoto Block, Wanganui, by the Messrs Purser Bros, and "Winks, conjuring up in the mind all sorts of startling and distressing possibilities to account for the sequel. While going over tlieir recently-acquired section in the interior in company with Mr. Winks, the Messrs Purse' found in and around the cavity of an old rata tree the skeletons of an adult and a little child, which theybrought, into towfi? The locality of the "find" Was about two. miles from an old track that was probably iised years ago by the natives travelling to and ifrom Karioi. The remains appear to be those of natives, who, doubtless wandered off the track! and, took shelter in the hollow trunk of the tree, /where they succumbed to exposure, or starvation. An escape of ether in the dispensary at the Children's Hospital Melbourne, led to an explosion, which shook the building, blew out the windows, and caused considerable damage.. There were three persons in the building at the time, and tlie wonder is tliat they were not either killed or seriously injured ; but, as a matter of fact, two of them 1 escaped with slight injuries, while the) third was unhurt. An assistant was warming some syrup over a gas stove, when the-- dispenser neard a crack, and, glancing in the direction from which the sound came, he saw that«a bottle containing ether had broken, and that tlie fluid was running out on the floor. Realising tlie danger from th© escaping 'fumes, he called out .0 the assistant to turn off the gas Ifrom the stove, but before that could/ be done the explosion occurred. Mr. W. -Qillinglian, assistant dispenser," ran to the window* looking out into the yard for the purpose, of escaping, and as he did so the force of the explosion lifted him clean through it. Alighting on his feet, and hands, he found! that he had escaped wi.h cuts on the kmickies and singed eyebrows and hair. The Hawke's Bay Fruitgrowers' Association is addressinor a letter to the New Zealand Fruitgrowers' Association and members of Parliament protesting against the reduction of duties on imported fruits. The letter says:— "W& would point. out to you that, according to latest statistics, there are alreadv some 26,000 acres o. land devoted) to fruit-growing, besides some 500 acres of vineyard. Tliis, at the lowest computation, means employment for 80006ettlers. Owing to the fertility of our soil and the suitability of our climate, this industry is increasing at a very rapid rate, for we can gay without contradiction that by closer settlement no industry will return better results than fruit culture under the conditions that obtain in our colony: But our growing industries, to develon as they should, must have a certain amount- df protection until they are properly established to correspond with the protective duties on fresh fruits allowed by older colonies that compete against us, making this colony a dumping-grouud for their surplus production, which means- a deathblow to what, under certain conditions, promises to be a valuable industry (for our country." The Dunedin Star characterises the Go- , vernment's land proposals .as a surrender, and goe s on to say: — "We believe the' Government have made a big mistak© and they will only have themselves to blame , if the loyalty of many of their supporters is strained almost to breaking point. They have no moral right to let their friends down in tliis sudden and complete ifasliion. We are frankly disconcerted, and almost feel that our congratulations are due to Mr. Massay and the Farmers' Uniom. Mr. McNab's attempt to justify tlie novel course wliich he and his colleagues have adopted will be awaited with keen interest, but in the meantime we are at a loss to make out a reasonable or ' even plausible case in defence of the 1 radical* change of policy announced by his I leader last night. During the last few montlis, with admirable vigour and effect. ' iveness he has shown cause why the holdj ers "of leases in perpetuity should not be • offered the option of the freehold, and has t repeatedly poured the vials of his scorn • upon tlie proposals to make fresh pur--3 chases of land with money obtained (from land sales. Yet now the holders of the s 999 years' lease are to be offered the , option pf acquiring the freehold after all, 1 while the proceeds of sales will be paid t into the land for settlements account and 1 be applied in acquiring new estates for settlement. It is a sorry and stultifying 1 capitulation quite unnecessary (as we bet lieve) and. essentially undesirable, and we t are afraid tliat it will produce a demorale ising and disintegrating effect -upon the - fortunes of the Government and the Libera party."

A somewhat remarkable coincidence occurred on the last homeward voyage of tho Athenic. On the vessel's arrival at Monte Video she was joined by a young Scotchwoman, who had been spending a six weeks' holiday at Buenos Ayres. When the vessel arrived at Teneriffe she received a cablegram, informing her that she had won the Argentine State lottery of £25,000. At the same time another of tlie passengers, who had travelled in the steerage from New Zealand, learnt that he had inherited a fortune of £300,000. The Chairman otE the Nelson Harbor Board, in a comprehensive report in the Board the other day, stated that, the cut through the Boulder Bank, . providing a new entrance to Nelson harbor, had cost to date £59,772. Of this sum £25,912 ' had been spent on 'plant, £12,357 on a rilole, £16,146 on dredging, £3045 pn civil arid other engineers, and £2312 on sundries. Part of the dred?irig; was delivered through discharge pipes for reclamation purposes at a cost of 12,d per ton, the dredging with dumping of the, spoil cost 64d, per, ton. The aim is to make a "channel 15ft deep at low tides, or 27.£t to29ft at high tide (-Pririg), and the Chairman ,said there is rio doubt that this can be done. Th* new cut had been in use for some time, and when deepened throughout to 15ft larger vesselswiH.be able to visit the port,' Tlie harbormaster reports tliat tidal 1 currents are deepening the Water outside the limits, of the dredging.:' The, Board has power 'to levy a harbor rate, but the Chairman,.anticipates that a rafai can be. dispe-nsea "'with,: at the same. time keeping the liorbor dues and charges.. low:.' ■"'•'./ "Monday was a red-letter day for-*the Streathani patrons of: the royal -and ancient game of bowls," begins a threecolumn report in the Streatham News and Wandsworth: Chronicle of June- Ist j describing the visit of the New. Zealand bowlers. The visitors opened their totir during the afternoon by beating the local; club, and in the evening were entertained at a banquet-, which ■ drew an admirable "speech . from the; lips of the > chairman. "Gentlemen of New Zealand," he remarked,' "whatever may be said and done in high Ministerial circles, we, the members of the Streatham Constitutional ,:' Club; have not 'banged' the door' nor barred it, nor bolted it, but, on the other hand, we have thrown it wide open, and we . have stood at the threshold and said to you, 'Colonial bowlers, come in and take, the best .we. have.': You have given us a 'preference' by playing, your first match with us, nnd (unlike sortie people who profess different political principles to the 'meinbers of this club), we in return have given you* a whole-hearted reciprocity,' and this without putting-: any tax, ; upon you in regard to the bread, and meat, and drink (politically known as foodstuffs) wliich you have consumed, and will, I' hope* go on consuming until the night is out." .; ' ' — i '