LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 19157, 14 November 1924, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

On a turnover of £22,400 last year the Hamilton Borough Electricity Department made a profit of £7163. A reduction of 25 per cent. In the price of current is now sought. A full-grown kiwi was caught on Sunday near the Thames coast. It is the intention of the person who secured it to send it to the Auckland Zoo. The first vessel of the Canadian Government Line to bo berthed at the Castlecliff wharf will arrive in Wanganui in January to discharge cargo and also to load for American and Canadian ports. Seven thousand men were employed on public works during September. This is a record in the history of the department. In addition, there were many men engaged on contracts under the department—the construction of the Arapuni works and a section of the East Coast railway. The improvement in British trade for October is shown in the Board of Trade returns. The imports total £120,488,000, and exports £68,586,000, increases of £19,563,000 and £5,303.000 respectively, compared with September. Who got Abel’s sheep? This was the poser recently put to a Sunday-school teacher, as related by the Rev. G. S. Cook at Onehunga, illustrating the realistic manner in which Bible history was presented to the rising generation. Th e teacher could not answer, and the reverend gentleman said he would not attempt to answer such a thoughtful question either. At the other extreme, as illustrating failure to grasp the subject, Mr. Cook related the cas© of a teacher quoting tho injunction of th© patriarch Jacob to hig sons: ‘‘See that ye fall not out by the way.” Asking th e children the meaning of his advice, one young hopeful replied: ‘‘Perhaps th e cart had no back-board.” The butter and cheese factories that are joined up with tho South Island Dairy Association commenced making this season in September, as usual, but a week or two later than is customary on account of the dry winter and early spring (says an exchange). Up to now the deliveries have not been quite so large as in the corresponding period of last year, but the association has been ablo to fill all the space allQttments for shipping, and butter and cheese are now coming in abundantly, with every promise jof a really good season. The first ship *to carry new season’s''butter overseas was the Kaikoura. She took a small shipment. The Arawa, now on the coast, will have taken from the four southern ports (Blufl, Duncedin, Timaru and Lyttelton) 16,899 boxes of butter and 8,610 crates of cheese. There is one humane and certain way (writes a correspondent of the “Manchester Guardian”) of stopping (or at least of interrupting) a dog fight. If a puff of air either from the mouth, or, say a handy bicycle pump, be directed into on e ear of the dog with the effective grip a separation will instantly take place, and perhaps the combatants may be kept from further mischief. This simple treatment will cause any dog to drop from his mouth a stick or bone, or even to loosen his grip on a foe. The best way to stop a. dog fight (writes Mr. Jerome K. Jerome in the “Daily News”) is to throw your coat, cloak, or shawl over the dogs’ heads. In nine cases out of ten the sudden darkness startles them into letting go. Then seize your own dog, with the coat stil round his head. He will struggle violently. You must hold on tight. The other dog will dance round for a while and then cool down.

A man was thrown from a horse in a circus at the showground yesterday and had his shoulder injured. He received first aid by members of the Wanganui St. John Ambulance Corps and was afterwards attended by Dr. G. H. Robertson. Within the last eighteen months the rental values of eligible shops Tn the principal Dunedin thoroughfares have appreciably risen (says tho “Star”). One of our leading agents computes the advance to have now reached about 50 per cent, by comparison with the rentals of two years ago. The increase in the number of shops is quite remarkable. They are spreading in all directions, supplanting residences in several parts of the city and appearing on new sites in the suburbs. In support of a claim for a school the residents of Springvale can boast of not only an exceptionally fertile district but observance of the Scriptural injunction ti be fruitful and multiply. High distinction has been conferred on one street at Springvale, and the stork in its pregrinations has been exceedingly generous. One family hag been blessed with six sets of twins—at intervale of course — while two other families have made a start to follow the excellent example set. The latest recipient of good fortune is a Wanganui journalist. A tribute to the enthusiastic service renderd by Mr. Clutha Mackenzie, director of the Jubilee Institute, in connection with the Pearson Memorial Fuhd, was paid by the Hon. George. Fowlds in speaking at the opening of the institute fair at Auckland. The total fund received to date was £39,634, sums promised amounting ito another £2OOO. There had been some difficulty and delay with regard to the payment of the Government subsidy on the subscriptions, but £lO,OOO had been promised on account, and it was hoped that next year the balance would bo paid. Th© way in which real heart of kauri timber lasts may be seen (says the N.Z. Herald) by inspecting a small shed in the railway workshops yard at Newmarket. Like all railway buildings, this building gets occasional coats of paint, but in due course the words “Gun Shed” show through. Thia shed was once erected in Fort Britomart. where Emily Plac© reserve now is. The point on which th© fort stood was cut down to provide spoil for reclaiming the area on which the freezing works are erected near the King’s wharf. ■ In th© old shed may still bo seen th© names of some of the soldiers, carved on the rafters. A useful way of saying a good word for New Zealand in the Old Country papers is adopted by some old residents of the Dominion, who write “New Zealand letters” to the newspapers of their native towns or counties. These letters sometimes are made extremely interesting, and give the readers a clear picture of life in the antipodean country One of the contributors is Mr J. J. Weathered, of Christchurch, who writes interesting and entertaining articles on the Dominion for the Portsdown News, an Ulster weekly journal. The idea is that the attractions of New Zealand should be made known to the Irish emigrant. Why is tho stealing of motor-cars so common? At the Darlinghurst (Victoria) Sessions. Fhe Crown Prosecutor (Mr. L. J. McKean), speaking for the police, said that ther© was a belief abroad that some owners, who had not been ablo to keep up their payments on time-payment cars, encouraged thefts so that they would be able to claim the insurance money. Judge Holm said that perhaps the number of thefts would bo reduced if the insurance companies refused to insure motor-cars unless they had an understanding from the owners that when left unattended in the streets, the cars would be securely locked. He refused to believe that some means could not be found of locking the mechanism. Ten years ago the oval at Cook’s Gardens was one of the best sports areas in the Dominion, but through incessant use without the necessary rest for the turf to recover the ground deteriorated so much that last winter it wag necessary to_close the oval and top-dress it. Owing to both weather and climatic conditions experienced the work has scarcely been as successful as was hoped, with the result that, although the new grass has grown fairly well, the outer portions of the oval are still rough, that is, viewed from the cricketers’ standpoint. However, the ground is receiving steady attention, and it is believed that the defect will be, to a considerable extent at least, remedied. Unfortunately Cape daisy is again making its appearance, and" on several occasions a big "’contingent of the Technical College boys have made an organised effort to assist to eradicate it. The show staged by the Wanganui Agricultural Association during the past two days appealed to the mind of a Canterbury visitor as being one of the most cbmplete and solid exhibitions to be seen in either island. Only in point of wider representation could the metropolitan fixtures claim any appreciable superiority, stated tho Southerner to a “Chronicle” representative yesterday. For a more or less purely distinct show, the support accorded by breeders and the people generally would, he said, put numerous southern areas to shame. While ho would concede Wanganui honours in pure-bred cattle, he considered that most of the Canterbury and Otago associations, minor ones included, could show us points as regards quality in certain sheep sections, especially that of fat lambs. The manner in which the townspeople appeared to support this show has impressed him considerably. Ho remarked that at a recent mid-Can-terbury show easily 80 per cent, of the people present were from tho country. That particular association had been striving for years to enlist the practical support of the townspeople, but without satisfactory result. Wanganui’s show was certainly of an attractive nature, the ring competitions, which were featured and unusually well conducted, were doubtless a factor in attracting people who had little or no interest in live stock exhibitions. The show had many features to commend it, not the least being the manner in which it was presented.

Following tho German Ambassador’s request, an association representing twelve thousand ex-serv men at Roubaix telegraphed reopening .M. Herriot instantly to drop at intervention on behalf of tho release of Zathusins, charged with stealing furniture during the war. The Masonic Grand Lodge of New Zealand in pursuance of its peripatetic system, is now moving its headhas been located for the past two quarters from Christchurch, where it years, to tho City of Auckland. Colonel Barclay (Grand Secretary) left Christchurch on Monday ifi order to make arrangements for the opening of the Grand Lodge office in Auckland. The Wanganui Agricultural Association’s Jubilee Show was favoured with splendid weather on both days. Yesterday was like a day in summer, and as a holiday was observed in the city, a record attendance at the showground resulted. The returns are not yet completed, but it is officially stated that the attendance was about the 16’000 mark. The Jubilee Show was in every way a success, and It Is interesting to record that visiting ex hibitors spoke very appreciatively of the treatment they received from the officials on the showground, and the facilities that were provided for them. The unique experience of being conducted by a murderer over a largo American prison bcfel Mr Mainland Foster, of Gisborne, during a recent visit to California. “On a visit to the San Quentin prison,’’ said Mr Foster. “ I was met by a polished and cultured young man and conducted over the finger-print department, in which there are hundreds of volumes of records of criminals’ finger-prints, from the greatest to the smallest. Every phase of this branch of prison work was explained to me by this young man, after visiting the other portion of the prison, and, as I was leaving, the young man explained that he was a murderer who was sentenced to death but was reprieved and sentenced to life imprisonment. He said he would never get outside the prison walls, and would rather have died.” A sidelight on the objection of United Kingdom retailers to Ihe taking of high-class New Zealand bwtter in eartons was shed at a meeting of dairy company committeemen at Matainata, when Mr J. Attwood, of Walton, who claimed to know something about, the subject, saying he had had about twenty years’ experrenc e in the retailing of butter in Britain, described how the butter was cut off the bulk lot in chunks when a cusomei’ called for a pound. As the retailer lowered th© pound to wrap It up, Mr Attwood alleged that he knocked off a portion, so that tho customer did not get full weight. The packing of butter in pound cartons would rob the retailer of bis fraudulent gains, said Mr Attwood, and therefore his objections could be understood. A similar state of affairs prevailed in regard to the retailing of milk, added Mr Attwood. The roundsman would be given, say, 100 gallons but h© would be told, by inference, that he would be unsuitable for the job if he did not give short measure and makes sales totalling 110 or 11? gallons out of the 100. Mr. Attwood considered that the suggestion tc pack high-grade New Zealand butter in cartons was one of the best, that had been made so far in respect to the retailing of New Zealand butter on the British market.