TOWN EDITION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 15131, 2 February 1920, Page 6

TOWN EDITION.

Very much interest is evident m the growing of lucerne m the West Coast farming area. Mails for Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin, per Putiki, close at 2 p.m to-morrow. It is proposed to start a woollen mill at Gore, and the Borough Council has promised to give every encouragement to the project. In commemoration of Burns' birthday on Sunday a beautiful wreath was placed at the foot of the statue m the gardens at Timaru by some unnamed admirer. Wi.th the West Coast Umber industry at •oresenfc it is not a question of orders * but'-an 'acute ; sh^jtage of'-ahipprng'' 1 ' "We have plenty of orders, but no ships," sta'ed a representative pf the industry last week. "Only one timber boat this week," he pointedly added. — Greymouth "I Star. Fiji's native pppulation comprises over 90,000 Fijians, about 60,000 Indians, and only 6000 Euvopeans. The Indians were imported under the indentured system to work on the sugar plantations, and many thousands of them elected to remain behind at the end qf their terms, J ■Steps have been taken to rid the steamer Te Anau of her ever-increasing cargo of rats. On arrival of the ves»s»sl at Dunedin all the holds Avere securely sealed and the shjp thoroughly fumigated throughout. When the men entered the holds next morning it was found that a considerable number of rats had been destroyed. An unusual find has been made by Mr. Graha/n and party at Clarke's Flat, Forsyth, midway between Lawrence and Waitahuna (say's the Dunedin Star). They discovered a large seam of good lignite quite near the. surface \ iii. fact only about 2ft of- stripping will be required. The peculiar feature of the coal is that it is impregnated "with resin, some pieces of what appears to be almost pure resin weighing &s much as 31b. .Mr. Graham is m Dunedin for the purpose of getting 'expert opinion as to the value of the find. Fred Mills, chairman of the Ebbw Vale> Steel, Iron and Coal Company, one of the biggest concerns m South Wales, said at a soldiers' reunion that the statement of his to the effect that local colliers wer c able to eai'n £1000 a. year had been questioned. -It. -was. perfectly, true, however, that there were more men capable of earning a thousand if they ohose tlian there were officials of 1 the company -getting-' that figure. Some could earn £1200. The average earnings at one of their collieries worked out, at £800 a year; vet that colliery turned out the cheapest coal m South Wales. At the inquest into the death of Raymond Faris, aged 18, of Huntly, who, while visiting relatives at Arjt;owtown, Otago, Avas found dead m the scrub, with a revolver beside him, the evidence showed that the youth went out shooting with two friends, one arcI turned soldier, who had a revolver captured from a German. This revolver . was lent to Raymond Faris but the mechanism was not explained to him. After leaving his companions he fired - two bullets out" of the revolver and was cleaning it before putting it away, when I it accidentally went off, entering his head and killing him instantly" The I body was; recovered shortly afterwards. [ The Auckland Town Planning League I intend to leave no stone unturned m I ' making the Tongariro National Park as ! attractive to people of this island as it I should be. Their latest move is to urge the Public Works Department to alloI cate £1000 of the £2000 grant placed on the Estimates last session for tho park for the purpose of metalling the unfinished portion of the road — about half its length. This action was decided on at a meeting of the body recently. Another very essential requirement is a boardinghouse, and this the League decided to ask the Government to erect. It is suggested that it should be on the same lines as the building on Mb. Egnnont, capable of accommodating 1(W people. If such accommodation were provided it is considered week-end trips could be made to the park by people living at each end of the island. There is a movement on foot m Nelson to form a company for the purpose • of establishing an aerial service between Wellington, and Nelson. Gap tain R. Russell, D.F.C., Croix de Guerre, of Invercargill, ia m Nelson, and the proposal to form the company mentioned is the result of his visit. Tlie Colonist states that the, terminus on- the Nelson. Bide would be at Tahunanui, a seaside resort about two miles from the town, and at the Wellington end a landing could be made at one or other of-dif-ferent available places. The distance of something over a hundred miles between the two cities would ordinarily be covered m well under two hours, and Captain Russell has no * fears of the regularity of the proposed service being interrupted by adverse weather conditions. The projected company would also arrange to take passengers on short flights from Tahunanui. as is done from aviation centres m other countries. Enquiry among 1 land agencies m Gisborne serve to show that quite a large number of properties aye changing hands just now. Only cm Thursday last no less than three properties oni the flata were disposed <?*f and property m the Matnwai distriot. There ,were quite a number of South Island farmers ambitious -to secure holdings m this district, and. a* a result some high prices aro being secured for land. A weM kuowiti •former m this -district m conversing on the topic with- a Herald reporter stated that the limitation of the d'strct bad iriveii it a "rosy hue" to a lot of South Islanders who were attracted here and. I were anxioup to secure holdings. "Just mow," _he ad^ed, "prices for fat stock are higher than, ever before for this [ period of the year, although the prioes i i for jstore .stock do not reach the same standard. Many farmers, he concluded, had done very well and were desirous, of quitting their places x^hile the satisfac. Tory prices were ruling and thus secure as much as possible for it. j

The first of the new Avro airplanes to ho put together at the Canterbury Aviation Company's airdrome was flown last wef-k for "the- first time. Captain Euan Dickson, D.5.0., D.F.C., made the ascent. The new machine, which is one of the four selected m England hy Captain Dickson, had a very attractive appearance, and its markings, blue and red, are those of the Allied -night bombers, from which all white wings were rertioved, owing to their visibility m searchMght benms. The engine, a rotary, nine-cylinder, Le Rhone, of 110 h.p./ is^ cowled m- very snugly, giving a nice finish to the front of the machine, while the fuselage, is long and graceful. The wings are very ■ stay tiv bmied with powerful cables, and the "machine appeal's to bear out its reputation- as the safest ut'litv airplane that has yet been produced.. Two passengers nn be carried. Next month Captain Dickson wiM fly to Invercargill. A second Avro machine will be assemble I mid tested shortly, but Oaotn-n PWou will ni-ob-ably fly the machine which Was set up last week. •

Mr. Cyrus J. Williams, engineer to the Lyttelton 'Harbor Board, recently inspected ' tht Nelson harbor and wharves. Mr. Williams expressed himself an. well pleat-ed with the condition of the harbor, -which was much better than he expected. 'There was nothing like the shoaling outside the cut that he had antieinated. He also inspected the mole, aud considered its condition very satisfactory indeed, owing to the work done by the board. Mr. Williams also inspected the scow Southern Isles, which the board purchased for £50 some time ago. and considered that she was quite suitable for conversion into a Priestman dredge. The question of the suitability of. the Lyttelton Board's dredger Canterbury for dvedginar at Nelson .was discussed, and Mr. Williams has not yet given his opinion, but he is inclined to believe thai it will be •suitable. Mr. Williams, is also to report m regard to shed' accommodation and the erection of cool .-stores. Later he will present a comprehensive report to the board, covering all the matters mentioned. ••■•->•-■

During the recent Croydon by-election it waa discovered that a boy of 4£ years, named Patrick Driscoll, "was on the register. Ho was taken to the polling station by his father, where the little fellow, who could not, of course, read or \vrite, was allowed to record his vote. A Dannevirke representative of dairy factories has received an inquiry from South Africa, as to the possibility of obtaining 50,000 cases of condensed milk, delivery to be made at the rate of 4000 a month, and the price offered is double that realised for this commodity a few years ago. This is only one of the many. similar inquiries, and would indicate * that there is an era of continued prosperity and expansion before the Dominion dairying industry. Many of the officers and "other ranks" who ., recently returned to England''from North '"Russia managed to bring home beautiful souvenirs of their visit m the shaps of furs, and m some cases even pearls. These could be bought from the inhabitants at very advantageous prices owing to tlio state of the exchange and the bad state of trade generally*/ One remarkable purchase was that of a silver fox, bought for less than a fiver. It was sold to a London dealer for 200 guineas. At the present moment the Americans m Paris are the only people who can pay enormous sums fpr clothes that the big dressmakers are asking, or the wages of servants or tho. rents of houses and apartments, states the Paris correspondent- of the Sunday Observer. Gradually the Parisians " are moving towards the country and the little piece of laind they nearly a'l possess somewhere or other. There they look forward to living on the produce of the ground, to the r&ising of ducks and rabbits, pocketing the substantial amounts paid for the hire of the-ir own town houses or rooms, waiting,' for more normal times -when, they can return to their former mode of life. A memorandum from the Secretary of the Education Department states that under the provisions of section 10 of the Education Amendment Act 1919, amending section 97 (2) of the Education Act 1914, secondary schools may not m future admit to the secondary department pupils who have not obtained the minimum qualification of a certificate of competency m the subjects of Standard six. Pupils of lower qualifications admitted to the secondary department prior to the passing of the Amednment Act need not, of course,' now be excluded from that department, but m future all other pupils who have not obtained at least, a certificate of competency m Standard six are to be kept m the lower department. Improvements m. the system of marketing -fruit were urged by Mr. D. H. Bundle, organiser m Nelson for the New Zealand Fruitgrowers' Federation, at a recent gathering. The community packing system he described as an ideal one for Nelsou, and the success of Tasmania showed the advantage of standard iruit. The middlemen Mr. Rundle regards as absolutely necessary to the distribution of fruit, and' m America that link m the chain from producer to consumer had been able to get m touch with bJuyers and place orders for six mo nths . ahead. Auctioneers m Wellington, he added, were not at all satisfied with the kind of. packing that went into the auction rooms, as there* was no standardisation. If the standard of fruit could be maintained as a reliable article, more of it could be sold.