GENERAL NEWS

Timaru Herald, Volume XCIV, Issue 14458, 2 June 1911, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS

EXIT BARMAIDS. The stroke oi ten <m Wednesday uiliht MU.rk.Hl the I..:aimui;s "t *.•>>' w cr" in the liquor trade ot the. Dominion aril I lie abolition of a custom wli.cli l.a» (•■o'sUhl since, there wore inns in New Zealand. The new law rospucting tlio ;:ni])loyiiK!iit of barmaids will be <ntaivod as from yesterday. Tl. s moans tiiat no female Van any longer be employed in any capacity in or about t)i<lar of any 'licensed promises at any timo when tlie bar is open for the wiio of liquor, with these exceptions: (I) the wifi', sister, or daughter or keen r o of the premises; ('.') the licensee, hoi 13 a woman; or (i!) any person luly registered as a barmaid under the A< t. T!ip amended .Act was passed on November 21st, TDK), and provides that every person who, at anv time willr'n one year before tlio nn/sli'iH of the Act, has bean employed as a barmaid in any licensed promises for any continuous period not, Ito (lian three n.o.itlis shall lie entitled i<, registration under Iho Act if application for registration is made on Jim? 1 or at. any time previously. In Tiinaru, wo are informed, there were about twenty bnrmaids employrel and most of those were cl'silile for registration. While the majority of them registered, some did not. nnij there was a few who wre not qnnlified for registration. It is safe to presume that within a very few years, reckonniH on mnrrln<rps an<l other rirennistrmev*. the \ew Zealand barm.id will be a person of the past. And not many will be sorry.

•'THE DAY OF SCIENTIFIC . FARMERS." These are the clays ~i the scientific fanners (says the Mell.ngtou I'ost '). Kvery succeeding coniereneo of the Farmers' I'nion shows that I In; agriculturists are paying more awl more attention to experimsntiim. hi his pres.de.ukd addrcs.s on Tmsd.iv Mr J. G. WiUou urged tome l.u-il farmer... ill oath district to co-opei.ito with '.!ic experimeutiibsup'jivisur oi tiiu Government, farms (Mr liayiiss) and so institute experiments to soh\j tiie problem of the best .system of continuous cropping. Tli 0 Government, supplied tl.o seed and manure and unpen iscd tno experiments; the fanner di-d tho work need in all th<> hush d.-tricU for ..on.e experiments of this n. utile, and tho various branches slmnM arrange for some to ho carried m -.t- in their" neighbourhood. If thero ivns a high s-~!),-ol near, it tw.nld add a great deal to tho usefulness of tho osnt-riincubs, if they could bo made in conjunction with it, so as to bring tho pupils into cliso touch with what was being done. AN ELECTORAL CENSUS. It is understood that, the Government has decided to take an electoral census of the Dominion early- in Juiv in readiness for the compilation 01" the lolls for the new electoral districts (sr.vs a Cliristchurch telegram). In the four chief cities, the occupier of a house will be required to fill in the names of adults residing therein. Adults arcady on the roll will remain. Adults not enrolled will be given registration claims and on subsequent comparison of the schedules and tho rolls nonresidents will bo removed from tho rolls. In country electorates a house to house canvass will be made as in 1905, foor the purpose of enrolling eleo tors, and recording changes of address. It is not proposed to extend tlie house to house canvas to sparsclv settled districts, but postmasters will be- instructed to see that tho enrolment is as complete as possible.

26-INCH FLEEOE WOOL. There are now to be seen in the Christchureli office of the Sheepowners' Union two speoiniens of longstapled wool. One was part of a fleece of a seven-year-old crossbred wether, owned by Mr Pyin, of Opuha Gorge, Geraldine (says the "Press"). The fleece, which, weighed 361b, was shim for the first time last season. The length of the wool is 26in. Two years ago the -wether was under snow for ten weeks. The other specimen is a staple of wool of over 26in in length, from a halfbred full-mouthed ewe, the property of Mr Broughton, of White Rock, North Canterbury. The ewo had never been into tbo shearing shed, but was well-known to the musten-rs-. bne took np her quarters on a rocky tace, and sheltered on a large proKct- °? a -? uff - £eMom fi°'oe away from her territory except for a drink from a creek a few hundred yards from tiit, tace. When- the musterers appeared, the owe made for the rock, antftemamed dose to it for protection until men and their dogs disappeared. ttfll™™ exhibiting the Vwe at the last Chnsotchurch show, Air -ttroughton sent out and secured her on a pack horse, and by this means sLe to. earned t ; . within , few chains of w J^ S W keh had gone out to take her tha remaining distance of 10 miles »i. Btatl °?t.- The eTO i however, thed when within a few miles of the from the lot weather experienced at Jnw™ ex . oee <3MSly sound eon. diW and there is no appearance) of any break in the staple. i^ au " ul00 0I

SHORT-WEICHT BREAD. At Napier on Tuesday two bakers were fined £lO each for selling shortweight bread. In one case a 21b loaf, was 2Joz short, a 41b loaf 4oz fe?'-«. Hls ., IVor3Wl Vor3 W Mr S. E. ■WcUirthy said that however specious the excuses might be for selling lightweight bread, one could not blind oneself to several facts. First of all the trade of baking bread was as old as the human race, and if in all these thousands of years bakers had not ascertained what proportion of dough should be allowed in order to secure the proper weight, then very little intelligencecould be brought to bear in the exercise of their calling Another fact he could not blind himself to was that very few householders indeed asked that their bread should be weighed. When a baker sold a 2ib loat he represented it to be a 21b loaf «•* f custom «r was entitled to net a loar. As he had pointed out in a- similar case some little time ago, the average deficiency then shown on an output of 400 loaves per dav would represent £3OO a year, which the baker would make out of poor men He thought this was a verv flagrant case i d:eal wit ' l Jt according- -•, The defendant was fined £lO and his Worship said that if such fanes were not sufficient to stop the practice they would be raised In the second case a 41b loaf was sold lioz snort. Five others were weighed and the total deficiency was ''Si oz short. The Prosecutor asked' for a special order in this case, as defendant had been previously convicted, and it was stated that he had said he could make np his fines out of his customers Besides fining defendant ill), the Magistrate ordered the defendant s name, place of business offence and conviction to be publiolv advertised.

THE RACE FOR THE POLE. The news that Captain Amundson had reached the extrenntv of Ross Sea, and had become a competitor with Captain Scott, m the endeavour to be first at the South Pole, caused some controversy in .London. The news regarding Amundsen's intentions was ambiguous in lorm: it was not clear whether h a starting there and then for the pole, or was setting out to lay depots of food to help him in his dash next summer. In London, however, it appears to have been understood that he was' going to make toe trip at once through the winter and discussion arose as to the possibility of his success in such a venture. Sir E. Shackelton was confident that in the darkness of winter success was impossible. The temperature would probably run down to 100 below zero, and he did not think the human frame would stand a blizzard of that intense coldness. On th-9 other hand Air Alfred Ball, who had crossed the Andes in niid-winter, argued that a winW trip would be easier and safer than a siunmer trip. The worst things the fckaekeltou party had to face were buzzards. I n w ; llter thero are no olizzards: the winds are from the north, and comnaretiveiv rar° Ir was more likelv "rl. S r dii'il-HV of breathing would be found in the siillIhe second great obstacle, to L w -. was. crevasses in the 130 miles of glaciers; W have to be traversed. bir A. Shackelton made much of these as obstacles, while Mr Ball contended that tho crevasses, filled with sro'v and frcz-aj, wi;i give much less trouble m winter than when softened and opened in summer.