NEWS AND NOTES.

Wairarapa Age, 22 April 1927, Page 3

NEWS AND NOTES.

„ There are 89,000 men and boys and 54, --25 women, and girls engaged in dairying in Australia, and there are 2,444,000 dairy cows. The average production of butter is 117,000 tons a ' year, and 12,263 tons of cheese, while J ] 25,119,000 gallons of fresh milk is used annually in the Commonwealth. i There are 600 butter, cheese, and conid milk factories, whose output is valued at £22,726,214, and the total value of dairy production is £45,189,- | One aspect of the eternal red tape that wo all malign, which is not unk 1::.'.:-r to those who from time to • time find it necessary to use official forms and notices, is the unfortunate h; ‘ 1 4’ stressing the obvious and re- : peating what is already widely known. ; Such a charge, however, cannot be , levelled at the heads of. thosq responsible for the text of the nominations papers in connection with the Otago Harbour Board election. The barest details were contained on the form with absolutely no notification of the d. te upon which nominations would <dv- . This, combined with the fact that the authorities deemed no final notice necessary per medium of the papets, resulted in one of the sitting members of the Otago Harbour Board losing his last opportunity to contest

a seat on the board, to which ho had no intention of relinquishing voluntarily.—“Otago Daily Times.” “My only excuse is that I was too i hard up to raise the five shillings for my licence, ” was the explanation given in the Gisborne Magistrate’s ■ Court the other day by a motorist who « had not renewed his license. He added that he had only taken his car out with the object of trying to secure work. The plea had its effect and the fine was reduced to ss. A claim for the value of a pair of woman’s shoes, which it was stated had been ruined by tar laid on a foot- * path, was received by the Mount Albert Borough Council. “Just to test the feeling of the meeting I’ll move that half the value of the shoes be paid,” said Mr R. Allingham. “I think that’s absurd,” protested Mr W. Russell. “It’s asking us to pay for an, ] act of God. We laid the tar, but God ■ sent the rain which washed the sand ; off it.” The motion was lost by a large majority.

The arrival of 33 Chirfese at Auckland from overseas last week was discussed by the Pukekohe Borough Council. Mr G. Parviti complained that it was a breach of the Government’s promise that no further Chinese would be allowed to settle in New Zealand thu year. He urged the council to protest, stating that Asiatic competition was driving Europeans out of the potato and onion growing industry in the Pukekohe district. The council decided to write to the Prime Minister on the subject. In connection with the work of laying down the bitumen surface in Railway Road, Hastings, a new departure has been made in that the sides of the read for a width of 2ft are to be edged {with concrete. The effect of this will be not only to better hold the bitumen in position, but also to enable a car driver to keep within the, limits of tho road at night when there is a possibility of being dazzled by strong approach headlights. With the two different colours it is considered that a driver no difficulty in keeping to the road. A song-composer, who was also somewhat of a student of human onco wrote a song about foolish questions, which proved immensely popular with vaudeville patrons of a decade ago. Had tho author been travelling on a certain Normanby-bound car on a recent evening, says the “Otago Daily Times,” he could have collected material for an additional verse to his song. The_ car was crowded, and was just about to leave the Octagon corner when a very disgruntled and wearylooking individual, laden with, a tent, three rabbits, a weighty-looking haversack, and a gun, clambered on board. Whilst he was hunting for a place to stow his paraphernalia, an acquaintance who was travelling on the rear platform put his head round the partition with the cheerful inquiry: “Hullo; been away for the holidays?” The disgruntled one managed at last to get his rabbits packed where they would come to least damage, and, looking up, eyed his questioner sourly. “No,” he snarled, “Down at the Ladies’ Club for tea.” “I wish they would stop punishing people for driving motor cars on the wrong side of the road and punish those who are untidy and strew rubbish about the beautiful spots of tho city.”—Archbishop Julius at a children’s service in tho Crhistchurch Cathedral.

Much history of an interesting nature was recalled at tho opening of a kiosk on Mount Eden (Auckland), and it was mentioned that when the mountain was palisaded and fortified in the days of inter-tribal warfare, the defenders had the habit of rolling large stones dow/i upon an enemy trying to invade the stronghold. Though many years have passed since those times, the stone-rolling habit has con- | Wiued, particularly upon the western face. At one locality, during recent years, scoria rock has had a nasty habit of detaching itself from the slope vf the mountain. Exercising its powers under a by-law made in 1926, the Devonport Borough Council proposes to expurgate advertising hoardings from, eleven of the principal streets of tho borough. Applications for licenses have been refused and renewals of expiirng licenses will not bo .granted. Similar steps are being taken by local bodies in various parts 1 -of the Dominion, and motor associaE tions are engaged in a campaign for the extension of the prohibitions to i rural areas. The Auckland City Coun--1 cil has refused licenses for hoardings I in a number of streets. A resolution ‘ naming over 20 streets was passed fivo « years ago and since then there have been additions.

Beads invariably follow settlement, but in some Auckland suburbs a departure has been made in an effort to encourage prospective home-builders to take up sections (states the “Star.”) Decent subdivisions have been made more than' usually attractive by tho laying down of neat roads and footpaths, but whether tho investment by tho owners will prove profitable re-mains-to be seen. One wonders what would have happened to settlement in Now Zealand if farmers had demanded good roads before penetrating the baekbloeks. It is frequently the ease that struggling settlers are isolated for months on end owing to their roads or tracks being impassable quagmires. This recalls an incident that occurred iu a central King Country township a few years back. The settlers decided that they would at least have a metalled road in their shopping centre, and duly had metal carted inland. A scantily metalled road was provided by tho time winter came round, but the rain and traffic soon churned it up as of old and tho metal wa's eventually lost to sight. Undaunted, the settlers tackled their roading problems again -when the Okahukura-Stratford railway line reached them, and now have a wellmetalled road to their shopping centre.