GENERAL NEWS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19959, 17 November 1934, Page 8

GENERAL NEWS

Shipping and Commercial News. Shipping and commercial news will be found on page 21. Sanders Cup. Arrangements for the 1935 Sanders Cup contest, which has been allotted to Stewart Island, were discussed at a meeting of the Southlard Yachting Association last night. After a discussion whether to hold the contest i in January or February, it was decided I lo commence it on January 24. Farmers’ Windfall. A delay of a day in the Waiwera’s loading at Gisborne resulted in a handsome windfall for East Coast farmers. Buyers for export last week offered prices conditional upon the meat being shipped by the Waiwera and the postponement of the vessel’s departure from Saturday until Monday enabled all killings to be shipped., When the new week’s buying schedule was announced on Monday the price of lambs for export had been reduced by 5d per lb. Sparrows on Ferries. Sparrows which frequent the vehicular ferries on the Auckland Harbour know how to obtain a meal of flies, bees, moths and all kinds of insects without great exertion on their own part. Dead insects are to be found in the honeycombing of the radiator of almost every motor-vehicle, and the birds have learned that this food is always available. The sparrows wait until a driver has stopped the engine of his machine, and then dart out to pick morsels from the radiator. Error or Compliment? Attention to the fact that his name had been included among those present at a recent meeting when actually he had been absent was drawn by the Hon. T. Bloodworth at a meeting of the Auckland Power Board, when minutes of previous meetings were being confirmed. “That is not an error, but a compliment,” remarkked a member, who added that doubtless the recorder was so used to seeing Mr Bloodworth in his seat that he had marked him present when he was not there. A Serious Game. The usual seriousness of the Supreme Court gave way to hearty laughter for a few second at Wellington when a witness was being cross-examined regarding a card game that had been mentioned. The witness had just declared that the game was a mild one with penny and twopenny “rises.” and counsel asked: “Was the game as serious after 4 o’clock as before?” “It was getting more serious; I was losing,” the witness replied in all seriousness, and then looked surprised when counsel and the jurors burst into laughter. Produce Prices 49 Years Ago. A leaf from an Auckland grocer’s ledger dated December 23, 1885, 94 years ago, shows that prices for butter and cheese then were very close to the rates ruling to-day. Cheese was 8d per ib, butter 1/- per lb, eggs 1/3 per dozen, and ham 1/- per lb. Evidently farmers had to face prices then on much the same level as to-day, but in the intervening years the price of farm land has increased very considerably. Onions sold at 2d per lb. which is about the price at the present time. White sugar and oatmeal were both 3d per lb. Lemons were dear in those days, selling at 3d each. Waihi Long in Dying. Referring to the progress of Waihi, the Mayor, Mr W. M. Wallnutt, said that a transformation had taken place, not only in the town, but in the surrounding farming district. In the year 1910 they were told that the beginning of the end of the mining industry was in sight. That was 24 years ago. but there was still no sign of any end. Notwithstanding the subsequent closing down of the Grand Junction mine and battery, Waihi was rated to-day as one of the most stable towns in the Dominion, and showing the least signs of the economic depression. He had every faith in the future of the field as a mining centre, and in the possibility of disclosing another Waihi mine. “Means” Test: The Unemployment Board has adopted a policy of subjecting farmers to a “means” test similar in principle to that which relief workers have had to undergo in the past, but in the enforcement of this policy it has met with indifferent support from the local bodies, to whom it looks for co-opera-tion. In the case of the Waimairi County Council the board has met with a direct rebuff. “Eighteen months ago my council took the view that the Unemployment Board’s subsidy schemes were doing nothing to cure the evil, but were making it worse,” said Mr G. S. Cowper, clerk of the Waimairi County, when asked if his council was cooperating with the Unemployment Board in its new policy. “For that reason the council had nothing to do with it.” Rigid Prohibition. The Agricultural Department is taking no risk of the introduction into New Zealand of the dreaded disease of swine fever, and a rather extraordinary instance of the effect of the prohibitory law came under consideration recently. A New Zealand farmer sent a carcase of lamb to a friend in San Francisco, and as a gesture of appreciation of the gift the American forwarded to his friend in the Dominion a cooked ham. To the surprise of the intended recipient, however, the gift was refused admittance to the Dominion on the ground of the possible danger of the introduction of swine fever. Notwithstanding urgent representations the department was adamant, as it was held that even the cooking of the joint did not eliminate the danger, and the ham will not grace the Christmas dinner table of the New Zealander.