GENERAL NEWS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXIII, 3 May 1926, Page 8

GENERAL NEWS.

There was a very noticeable diminution ni the number of travellers by the south-going express trains on .Saturday. A good many empty carriages wero taken to Dunedin to provide accommodation for, returning travellers.

Only .‘IOO people left by the excursion train bom Timaru to Dunedin on Saturday morning, bait’ this "number was augmented at stations at which the tram stopped, as far as Pukeuri. where 00 residents of North Otago joined it.

Before Mr E. D. Mos'ey. S.AI.. at the Timaru Magistrate's Court- on Saturday morning, a first offender, charged with drunkenness. who had been remanded for medical treatment, uas convicted and ordered to pay expenses amounting to £2 11s 3d.

Something in the nature of a war is being waged in the petrol, trade in Timaru, and motorists will be able to-day to fill up at a price which is understood to be lower than the wholesale rate which prevails in this district. Usually users of motor .spirit in Timaru, despite their proximity to the port, are required to pay a higher price for their supp’ies. than obtains in Christchurch, but just at present the boot is on the other foot.

A good illustration of the results '►oing achieved in keeping the dairy herds free from tuberculosis was given, at the recent cull cow drive at AufoaU v lien the full draft of 97 animals sent to the. Paten Free, r :ing Works passed the inspection for disease. Considering that the animals were culls thrown out ns being no longer of use to producers, the incident affords a striking tribute to the healthv condition of the dairy herds of the district. '

Surprise was expressed at a meeting of the council of the Auckland Acclimatisation Society when a letter was iceeived from the Wellington Zoology, cnl Society asking for two live pigeons.' Assuming that it was native pigeons that were required, and not the fanfail or tumbler variety, one of the members said that there was a much better prospect of getting birds close lo Wellington. Another member mentioned the general .scarcity of tin* native pigeon, and said that it was a matter of common knowledge that on one occasion the Maoris give a feast in honour of Viscount -lellieoe at T.-Min when 1700 of tlie birds Mere coked.

A plot of 40 acres at Wairoa is being made the centre of all blackberry experimental work in .New /calami. Here will be tested the various mixtures forwarded to tbo Department ol Agriculture in connection with the bonus of £!0,0(NI wbicb has been c/fered for tbe solution that will deal eilectivelv and ' cheaply with blac-K----berrv.

At the Gove ram fair a disputed bid proved to be very profitable to the vendor of a shearling ram which as a result topped the market- at AO guineas. The ram was first knocked down at _0 guineas, but' the bid was claimed nt two places.' On being put- up .at auction tbo second time the price rapidly rose to 00 guineas belore one of tbo contestants withdrew.

What is perhaps the largest cabbage ever seen in Wanganui was on exhibition at the Frankleigb Park Chrysanthemum Show. Some idea ol its size may be gathered from the tact that it could not be cut with a Kiiile. and it is undci’stood that it had to be ■dolled” with an axe. H was taken to tbe hall on a lorry and required two men to lift it into the building. As the grower is also a chrysanthemum exhibitor, something phenomenal m that direction may possibly he looked tor in the future.-

Tho Alain Highways Board lias arranged, for an increase m the speed limit of motor vehicles in the Alaiiaivatu Gorge, which . it . lias recently taken over as a main highway. Inject to certain restrictions when cam are travelling in the vicinity ot woikuig parties engaged on the. road, tic sf - limit is to be increased lroni L>to -• miles per h.our. r l lie cleaving of slips on this section of road is now beinfnndertakoii by --the., l-nhlic A\ CDepartment, a steam oxcavatoi bin „ used for the purpose.

Tim Wanganui “Herald” says:— The recent change in the administration of the Justice Department appears, perhaps merely as a coincidence, to nave been lodowed by iueie..sed activity on the part ol the police in the suppression of illicit betting. Quite a uiiiuoer ot the- small Ir.v among tne bookmakers have been brought A book du ring the last week or so, nn.i the evidence submitted to scoute fhe.i conviction suggests that gambling ot the kind they have .been carrying ou is assuming larger duncns.uns year by rear. The police arc- to he coinmended for their increased activity, whatever their inspiration may have been, but it is disappointing to find the big opertors xt:U managing to evade the law and the small one haled before tne .Magistrates, in many cases escaping with much lighter penalties than too Beg stature has provided .for their niisdeeds. No doubt the Hou. I’. J. Roileston, the- new Minister, has the whole matter under his eye, and as opportunity. offers, vill impress upon Ins executive officers the need lor the utmost vigilance and for adequate punishment when the offenders are. discovered. The administration of the law, in many eases, in the past has been so scandalously lax that the .whole eoin.iimnity has begun to look upon illicit betting as a venial offence, and to readily condone the lenience ol a Magistrate who accepts any plausible excuse ior breaches of the' law to reduce penalties to little more than a nominal amount.

Inc'tided in the shipments recently landed at Timaru was a consignment of rabbit traps. There were the “Kowhai” (Hat spring), and liic “lvowirc” (wire spring), for which England, Mcßae, Ltd., are the agents. These traps are now well and favourably known among the best trappers in South Canterbury, and deservedly so, as England, Mcßae, Ltd., have gone to considerable trouble in order to be able to supply a high finality trap of the required pattern. Full stocks of guns,.rifles and. ammunition arc also available at the Progressive Hardware Store.