LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Waipa Post, Volume III, Issue 141, 30 August 1912, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Talk carnival

The local Church of England ladies' guild has decided to endeavour, to wipe off the debt on the vicarage by means of a bazaar to be given just before Christmas.

Money is so tight in Ohakune at present that at the last two meetings of the Borough Council the finance committee refused to pay any accounts except wages.

The committee of the Waikato Musical and Elocutionary Society have much pleasure in informing the public that the railway authorities have granted concessions to those competitors travelling to the Waikato competitions.

Having offered 26s a week for a ledger clerk, a London city linn had 723 applications by the first post.

Mr Dodge, the newly appointed borough engineer forTe Kuiti, expects to leave Wellington for Te Kuiti on September 6th, and will take up his duties immediately on his arrival.

There is every prospect of the roads in the King Country being good this year. The present spell of fine weather is drying them up marvellously, and with the exception of occasional patches, they are now in very good order.

This month 45 years ago the first portion of the Thames goldfields was opened, it was on Ist August, 1867, that the paddle steamer Enterprise No 2 took a big crowd of Auckiariders to Shortland, and a good many of those passengers still survive.

The following appeared in Tuesday's Star under "Personal Notes from London":—Mrs W. Taylor and Mr J. O. Taylor, of Te Awamutu, have decided to leave London for New Zealand on September 20th. They will travel overland to Naples, where they join the Otranto. It is their intention to spend the next few weeks touring in Scotland and Ireland.

As will be seen from the bills accompanying this issue the new proprietors of Mr Dwen's boot shop, the Golden Boot Co., have decided to hold a clearance sale starting to-day. We understand that extensive alterations will take place in the shop, proper fitting rooms being provided, and the business will be brought up-to-date in every way.

A Maori superintending the removal of a coffin from the guard's van at Marton Junction the other day caused some considerable amusement to the onlookers by stating to one inquisitive individual, " Oh, that belong my father, he die and have plenty land, sj I give him te good coffin." Needless to state, it was a very presentable one, manufactured from kauri.

The Rev V . Woollass will conduct Divine service in the Presbyterian Church on Sunday evening. Miss Crawford and Mrs, Battson will sing solos, and a retiring collection will be taken up in aid of the Presbyterian Church at Waihi. The funds of the Waihi Church have- suffered terribly on account of the. strike, and all the churches in the Waikato Presbytery have been asked to help. \ ; •

The water supply for Te Kuiti is causing the Borough Council some concern. The dam is not yet constructed, and in order to weather a dry summer it is conceded that the dam is a necessity. The houses now being erected in the borough are not providing" for tank supplies, and unless, the dam is constructed in time to provide against a dry summer there is every likelihood that a water famine will be experienced.

During the last five weeks over a million acres of pastoral country in North Canterbury and South Marlborough have been covered with snow, and pastoralists will be heavy losers, as over 1,000,000 sheep hava been cut off from all feed for over a month. The losses in the' Mackenzie Country in Canterbury are understood to be less than last year, when the mortality among the flocks was very heavy.

The Hamilton Borough Council has had so much litigation lately that the members are becoming quite apathetic in regard thereto, and a writ more or less scarcely occasions any surprise. At the last meeting it was mentioned that the Council's late engineer had served a writ upon them for recovery of a sum of £BOO. The news was received with equanimity, the Acting-Mayor stating that the Council's solicitor was attending to the question of filing a defence. • ~

Following is the definition of unimproved value according to the Rating Act: —" Unimproved value of any piece of land means the sum which the owner's estate of interest therein, if unencumbered by any mortgage or other charge thereon, and if no improvements existed on that particular piece of land, might be expected to realise at the time of valuation if offered for sale on such reasonable terms and conditions as a bona might be expected to require."

Writing from London on June 29, Mr Bernard Tripp refers in terms of high praise to the farming methods adopted in Denmark where he had just spent some time. "The Danes," he writes, "are splendid farmers —much better than the English. The way they arrange their butter and eggs for export is splendid. For example, any farmer that sells eggs has a number given him by the Government, and every egg has to be stamped with that number. Before they can be sold in the towns they are all sent to a depot, where they are tested, and if there is a bad one they turn up the numbers, find the name of the farmer, and fine him from Is to 5s for each bad egg he sends in. The egg 1 had for breakfast in Copenhagen was No. 483, and very good it was.

The birth-rate in England and Wales for igii is 24.4, which is 2.8 below the average for the decade. The death rate is 14.6.

The following reply was given by the Hon. Mr Eraser to Mr J. A. Young, M.P.'s question as to the proposed extension of the Ruakura-Cambridge railway published in Tuesday's issue :--"The District .engineer was recently directed to make an examination of this route. He has not been authorised to make a regular survey, but will traverse the suggested route and report his observations thereon. The report is not yet to hand."

In reply to Mr Mander's question as to the desirability of keeping separate accounts of all railways and branch lines (published in Tuesday's issue) th'e Hon. Mr Hemes (Minister for -Railways) made the following statement:— On looking into this matter I find that a very heavy expenditure would be necessary to keep the accounts of the separate portions distinct from each other. The work at the various stations would be materially increased, additional staff would therefore have to be provided at the railway-stations and also in the Chief Accountant's Office. Under these circumstances.l do not consider it possible at present 'to institute a subsidiary system ,of accounts for the purpose of showing separately the earnings of each line.