Untitled

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 9, 2 August 1930, Page 3

Last year interest on the Public Debt was £459,751 greater than in 1929. Part of this increase was clue to conversion operations. This year the interest will be £222,C0S greater than last year. Omitting from consideration the debt repayment and funded debt charges (which are balanced in part by reduction of interest), it will be seen that our debt expenditure has increased by £682,357 in two years.

When dredging off the bar the other day at Westport, the Eileen Ward brought up the breastbone of what is believed to be a naoa (states an exchange). Judging by appearance it has been buried for centuries. It is ten inches long and seven inches wide. The bone suffered very little damage coming through the suction pipes of the dredge. Moa bones have been found in the limestone caves at Inangahua Junction and at Cape Foulwind.

The question of unregistered dairies in Wanganui has been taken up vigorously by the Inspector of Stock, who took action against a proprietor at Springvale recently. The Magistrate indicted a fine of £5 on the farmer who sold the milk and on the man who bought the milk from him. The latter pleaded ignorance of the law that the dairy must be registered, but the magistrate remarked that it was the duty of every milk vendor to make himself familiar with regulations.

The whole skin of a grizzly bear recently shot in Alaska has been received in Dunedin by Major R. M. MTarlane, who last autumn returned to this city from the Antarctic. It is believed to bo one of the largest skins of the sort ever taken, and the skull is worth it. The bear must have been a terrible beast —“not the sort that I should like to meet with my last cartridge,” says the major. He asked for a grizzly skin, thinking it would do , for his home, but it is so big, about 12ft. I across, that he does not know what to do with it, and in the meantime he has deposited it for inspection by any who are interested in such matters.

The temperature of the water at Te Aro baths a little before midday on Monday was down to just below 46 degrees, the lowest reading in the experience of the custodian (Mr. J. Calnan), extending over more than twenty years. The custodian expects it to be lower still within the next few days if the present cold snap continues. In the past the lowest temperature of the water at Te Aro has been 47 degrees. The thermometer is generally about that reading towards the end of August or early in September. Notwithstanding the intense cold during the past few days, there are still seme who take their daily plunge at Te Aro.

“The financial tone in the North Island seems to be quite optimistic, and several authorities are of opinion that the crisis of the great slump is passing,” said Mr. Herbert Hall, of Timaru, who returned frem Auckland last week. He said that the Co-operative Dairy Company of the Waikato, which had as large a turnover as the New Zealand Railways, had stated that, although prices were smaller for produce, the actual amount they would pay to farmers in dividends would equal that of last year. The season had been good, and several people who had spoken to Mr. Hall on the business outlook in the north were more optimistic than In the South Island.

Rather unexpected appreciation of the feelings of a man under the influence of liquor was made by a well-known counsel appearing for a prisoner in the Supreme Court at Wellington on Monday. He had asked a lady witness to explain to the court the accused's condition when she saw him nearing his home. “The accused was not staggering about,” replied the witness, “but his condition seemed to be that of a man whose head feels several sizes bigger than it actually is. You know what I mean?” “Yes, I know the feeling,” said counsel quite seriously, no doubt thinking about the next question he proposed putting. Everybody in the court enjoyed counsel’s frank admission.