LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 50, 21 August 1911, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A Philosophical Society, about to be started in Wanganui, is meeting with hearty support. Efforts are being made to establish a co-operative bacon-curing factory on the West Coast of the South Island.

A laboratory is being established at Auckland by the Farmers' Union for the analysis of soils and manures. The Marlborough goldfields are experiencing good times. One mine at Deep Creek recently gave a profit of £6O for the week. There is plenty of ore in sight. Whilst digging round the roots of a large pine tree at Farndon Park, near Napier, recently, the contractor for the. removal of the trees made a find of one sovereign, a half-sovereign and several minor silver coins. It is believed that a two-up school, which had to leave very quickly, lost the money some time ago.

There are in Denmark a number of societies for the mutual insurance of the live stock of the farm. The entrance fee charged is about 2%d for very £5 insured, while the maximum amounts which are insurable are, in the case of cattle, £324, for horses £55, and for sheep and swine £Bl. Something like a record for a big sale of stock was established the other day in South Taranaki, when Mr. J. Stevenson's dairy herd of 10ti head overaged £8 19s each. A still larger average was that obtained for the dairy herd of Mr. H. Purdie, of Waitara road, the cows averaging Gil 5s and the heifers £lO los.

Some light was thrown on the dairy industry by Mr. Okey in Parliament on Thursday, said the Dominion. He stated that the gross return from each cow averaged about £lO a. year. Of this amount, about £7 would be absorbed in expenses of production, leaving a sum of £3 per cow to the farmer as profit, and to reimburse him for the risks incidental to his pursnit.

During a discusison at a local body meeting over the inspection of quarries, the chairman said that reading from the Act he did not think gravel pits were intended to be included. "I am certain they were not," emphatically rejoined a member. 'Have you read the Act then," remarked the chairman. "No," replied the member unabashed, and he wondered why several of the members smiled aloud. The Avondale Mental Hospital, Auckland, appears to be in a shockingly overcrowded state. In addition to the many dormitories and single rooms, "shake-downs" (ordinary mattresses without bedsteads) are placed in every possible available portion of the building, and along the floor in corridor after corridor, and may be found in all sorts of corners. On the men's side there are 310 patients who had to be accommodated each night. On the women's side 303 poor mentally afflicted creatures have to be provided with beds. Thus 813 patients have to bo accommodated each night, a large number of whom have to rest upon improvised beds, many of them in draughty passages.—Exchange. Speaking to a reporter of the Ashbur- | ton Mail, a Christchurch resident, who is iu a position to advance an authorita- j tive opinion on such matters, said he cannot remember having seen so much evidence of poverty in tho city and its environs as there had been this winter. It was astounding, he said, and he knew scores of families who were shockingly clothed, had insufficient nourishing food to eat, and were compelled to sit in their homes during the cold evenings without firing. He advanced the opinion that if a portion of the subscriptions that are being raised for other purposes were expended in relieving the distressed, tho money would do more real good.

A local dairyman who uses a home separator and sells butter privately in the town states that his returns from four cows last season totalled £SB for butter alone (says the Eltham Argus). This works out at £l4 10s per cow, I which is much better than some of tke figures quoted as high returns from bigger dairy herds. The dairyman referred to states that there is nothing special about the cows, which he describes as ordinary Durhams. He also states that he is willing to lay his books open for inspection so that the correctness of the returns quoted may be verified. He I speaks strongly in favor of the home separator system as giving better returns than the creamery, while it entails less work and there is an additional advantage in the calves being fed with warm milk. The news that To Aroha has been included in the "dry" district of Ohinemuri created a mild consternation here (reports the local correspondent of the Auckland Herald). It is felt that the fact that the town is a tourist resort and sanatorium should be taken into consideration. So far as the people of the district are concerned, they will (unless Tuuranga carries no-license) have all the facilities for obtaining liquor at Waihou, which is only three miles from Te Aroha, and is already a growing business centre. At the last meeting of the Piako County Council it was proposed to shift the county headquarters to Waihou, and the matter still remains in abeyance. Indications point to a pretty hard contest in November, and Ohinemuri under the new conditions is certain to be the scene of a bitter struggle. MELBOURNE SUIT SPECIALS FOR THIS WEEK. Those who know our reputation will come with confidence that every item is truthfully described, both as to value and as to price. Let those who question accuracy of quotations or think statements exaggerated apply the test. One visit to any of our stores will quickly dispel doiibt. Here are special offerings that are veritable moneysavers. Men's Roslyn and Kaiapoi tweed suits, 28/6; men's pretty Petone tweed suits, in neat shades of greens and browns, 35/-; special saddle-tweed suits for cattlemen, farmers, and all those who have dealings with stock, price 39/0 the suit; men's nobby worsted and tweed boxed suits, well cut and finished, 39/6; men's special tailor-made suits, of fine dark grey worsteds, 49/6; men's neat worsted suits, in greens and browns, with pretty faint pencil stripe effects, 59/0 and 65/-; men's pure indigo Venetians, coatings, diagonals and check vicunas, faultlessly tailored, and guaranteed not to lose their true blue colors, special price 65/- the suit. Absolutely , perfect suits in design, cut and finish Advt. ... . I

The Beautifying Association acknowledges the receipt of donations of 10s from Mr. W. D. Webster and 5s from Messrs.' Clarke Bros.

In Kaponga, exception was taken by a good many persons to the hotel being used as the place for the medical examination of Territorials. The Minister of Defence was communicated with, and ha(s replied regretting 1 the incident, and stating that steps have been taken to prevent the recurrence of such practices. There was a, large gathering of the public, at Kawaroa Park yesterday afternoon, when the Taranaki' Garrison Band played a capital programme in aid of the Deacon Fund. One ol the numbers, was the "Garland of Flowers," a tribute to the memory of the late Mr. Tisch, the .president of .the band. A collection realised fa. On Vriday lltcre were shipped from the port of Patea-'to the order of Messrs. Lovell and Christmas, London, 14C'boxes of honey, totalling some 3(?j6201b., or close upon eight tons. With the exception of 20 boxes, which were the' product of an Inglewood apiary of 13 hives, the consignment is made up from various aparies in the Hawera district.

At the monthly meeting of the Fitzroy Town Board on Friday night the. following resolution was passed: "That this Ward desires to place on record its appreciation of the valuable services rendered by the 3ate Mr. Tisch, not only to New Plymouth, of which place he was Mayor, hut to the whole of the district, in the various positions he. has from time to time held; and also to express its greatest sympathy with Mis. Tisck in her irreparable loss, and that a copy oi this be sent to Mrs. Tisch."

Some of those taking part in the round Mount Egmont cycle race describe the condition of some of the Taranaki roads as simply terrible. "They are awful," writes one visitor from Levin, and as .to hills, "Leivin has not got any. These up here are real snortem" The cyclists evidently were unaware that the roads • they rode over were among the best in the province. For really bad roads—as the term is understood locally —they should have 'been taken over some of the Ibackblocks roads, but the probabilities are that the race in that event would not have been over yet! The subdivision of land is still proceeding within a radius of some mile* of Hawera. Here is an instance. One farm was originally 313 acres, but it has been recently cut up and is now carrying four separate families. This also shows the rapid tendency towards closer settlement in that portion of the Dominion. The | prices resulting in the subdivision aiverI aged £Ol 15s per acre. One piece of 50 I acres, with nothing on it but a live |fence, and no subdivisions, (hanged hands at £OO per acre. The absence of all improvements furnishes a correct view ot the value which buyers and settlers placed upon the actual soil, which is said to be one of the finest pieces of grass land in Taranaki. It is reckoned that the fifty acr.es will carry forty cows, and of the fifty acres probably five will be broken up each year for cultivation. An elderly man named George Stevens was arrested by Constable Wade in ElI tham on Friday charged with harving on August 15, at Stratford, obtained from Young, ITobb* and Co., 30 head of cattle of the value of £55 5s ad. by means of false pretences. It is stated that accused went to Stratford and represented that lie had a farm on Warwick road, and purchased the cattle on the understanding that he was to pay a cheque for them in a d.xy or two. He was given possession and then took the cattle to Hawera. where he sold them '.n the N.Z. Loan and Mercantile Comjwny'B yards at 7s or 8s .per head less than the price he purchased at and kept the money, part of which was found in his possession and .part in the possession of his wife—in her stocking—and it would seem that he owns no farm on Warwick road. He wis brought before Mr. A. McGarry, J.P., on Saturday morning and remanded till August 25,"bail being allowed in himself in .tofl and two sureties of £,50 or one of £IOO. His wife was also brought up on a charge of drunkenness. She. pleaded guilty "and iwas convicted and discharged.—Argus.