LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 18791, 28 May 1923, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Turakina Co-op. Dairy Company has been advised of the sale of its consignment of cheese per Armagh, at 90s 6d per cwt. It is understood that in order to leJicvo the sugar shortage in the Dominion, the Government intends to icmove the duty on Java sugar, which at present stands at a M per lb. A Melbourne cable states that Nurse Mitchell was acquitted, on the charge of shooting her divorced husband, Bonfiglio, with intent to murder. There is good authority for stating that there will bo a substantial reduction in the price r»f tea in the near future, states the Waikato Times. Dalgety’s premises at Tedding wore burglarised on Friday night, and the safe taken away. On Saturday morning the safe was found near the railway line, about half a mile from the premises. It was unopeued, nothing having been taken. The contents were valued at over £5OO, mostly cheques. Mr C. J. Sharpe, at the U.F.S. building celebration on Saturday evening, said : “We are in an exceedingly fortunate position. For 32s a year wo get , medical help for ourselves and our families—and 1 have five.” "Mr Witch. “What! Five families?” Mr Sharpe’s renly was lost in a roar of laughter, in I which the speaker heartily joined.

The Americans are advertising an epoch-making shipping event for July 4th—the departure from N w York on her maiden voyage of ihe s.s. Leviathan, the largest ship in the world. Her tonnage is 59,956.65, and it is claimed that in beauty of appointment she surpasses any ship the world has ever known.

The Levin Chronicle says: There has been quite an epidemic of absconding from the Wcraroa Boys’ Training Farm during the past ten days. No less than eight have got away, some singly and others in parties of two and three. Three have been recaptured and the other five are still at large. A fire was discovered in the commercial room at- Parkville yesterday morning. The brigade? were on the scene with great promptitude and succeeded in extinguishing the fire with the chemical extinguisher from the Dennis] engine. The outbreak was caused by a fire screen becoming alight, the llanos getting in between the mantelpiece and the lining of the wall. At Ashburton, John Franklin Smith, alias C. Hertz, conjuror, mesmerist, and public entertainer, was sent to gaol for three months for the theft of totalisator tickets from persons at the Ashburton racecourse. He was also convicted and discharged for being on a racecourse though prohibited. Smith admitted preHous convictions for indecent assault, vagrancy, and evading the amusement tax.

Speaking at the ILF.S. celebration on Saturday evening, Air John Jones dated that he had been a member of a friendly society for 60 years. 11-o Mayor, Mr McKennan and he (the speaker) were the only members of the original U.F.S. Council now alive. Air Jones was treasurer, and he still remembered the council’s flow of pride when the handsome sum of £22 was raised by the societies’ united efforts at a picnic. The Wanganui sheep dog trials will he held to-morrow, Wednesday, and Thursday, on Air R. Martin’s property at Wanganui East. there will be four events —long head, short head and yarding, huntaway, and a class for novices. Splendid entries have been, received, and some of the best dogs in the North Island will compete. The judge will be Mr F. McDonald, of Dannsrirke. The Makirikiri ladies will provide lunch on each day, and the funds will be devoted to the Makirikiri Hall

"No one knew that the price of wool would come down to 3d per lb., or that beef and mutton would slump. There are men here to-day who actually had to pay up to £4 10s per head on their cattle after they were sold,” said a speaker at the Taranaki Farmers’ Meat Co's reconstruction meeting. “We are not responsible for the worldwide slump. We might be responsible for putting up large buildings, but at that time farmers were crying out for more storage, and to get their stuff away. Not a soul could foresee the slump in beet or mutton, nor that wool would come down to 3d.” There was a good deal of a reminiscent nature at the gathering held at the steward’s stand at the Racecourse on Saturday to mark the occasion of the 80 th birthday of Air. E. A. Campbell, president of the I Wanganui Jockey Club. Mr. J. Biggie related how at one time in his younger days he decided to own a racehorse, and bought one for £GHe might not have been a Tamatete. but as he could beat a dog they had named “Butcher,” he was regarded as a racehorse. The next thing was to find a race for him, and “The Rangitikei Skurry of £10” was picked out. On the strength of a prospective win a bushel of oats was invested in, and the horse was treated to la pannikinful a day until the race 'came off, and which, history records, lie won. Some amusement at the expense of Mr. T. M. Wilford, ALP., was caused at a meeting in Hamilton this week to discuss ways and means of developing the peat lands of the Waikato. Mr. J. A. Young, M.P., said that when Mr. Wiltord returned from America he suggested in Parliament that the Swamp lands of New [Zealand could be drained by sinking J holes into which the water would flow. Mr. Young said he exploded I Mr. Wilford’s theory by explaining that if a hole were sunk into the 'peat lands of the Waikato the water I would be thrown into the air as ■ from an artesian bore. Several ■ speakers confirmed Mr Young’s statement from their own experience on swamp land.