HALCOMBE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19435, 22 October 1925, Page 3

HALCOMBE

BUDGET OF INTERESTING ITEMS. (From the “Chronicle’s” Special Corresponden c). Something like spring weather having at last arrived, no one on farms seems to have time for anything but i work. Farmers are so busy that they have not time even to talk politics, i and only respond with a grunt when j asked “Who is going to get in?” j The improved weather has made pas- | lures come away wonderfully and: there is a distinctly hopeful outlook. Lamb-marking is finished, or nearlv so, and shearing the dry sheep is going on. Circus v. Politics. A circus visited Halcombe on Monday night, and as it performed adja- i cent to the hall where a political meeting was being held the atmosphere at | the time seemed to be impregnated : with something foreign. The Suzannes of Halcombe. Tennis players are now practising' on the local courts, and everv evening these days visions of loveliness mav' be seen skipping about trying to out > do the contortions of the ineoraparabl' ll Suzanne. Address By Mr. Cobbe. Mr. Richard Cobbe, the Nationalist candidate, delivered his political ad dress here on Monday night, when he had a good audience. Mr. W. B. I’aoh’ing was chairman. Mr. Cobbe made feeling reference to Mr. Massey’s deatn and Mr. Guthrie (our present j member) who is at present indisposed, and then went on to say that he will, if elected, knock corners off Commun- i ists and other unlovely bullies who are seeking to bring about the disruption of our social system and everything the average man and woman hold dear. He believes in a higher social state being reached by constitutional methods not by the coercive measures o. men who boast that thev acknowledge neither God, man, flag, nor country. The speaker also believes m fusion. for only by combining can law-abiding people hope to combat the forces that are out to wreck civilisation. In view of the loans that have to be renewed in the near future, Mr I'obbe was against going to the London market at present for anv more money. He dealt with the AnditorGeneral’s report, and said some of the Departments referred to in that document need special attention. Soldiers’ farms, housing, workers’ compensation j insurance, banking, and other impor- ' tant matters were touched upon. He 1 was in favour of a graduated income ! tax as opposed to a land tax, and was of opinion that taxation should be ’ earned on the shoulders of those broad i enough to bear it. Customs duties on i necessities should lie done awav with. ' Mr. Cobbe, who was manv times loudly - applauded, told his audience to vote : Reform if they couldn’t sec their way ’ to support him. Questions concerning j Fusion, tyre tax, gambling. State Con’ i trol, and Communistic Sunday schools j were satisfactorily answered, and a i vote of thanks was passed on the I motion of Mr. W. McLennan. Mr. Gordon Elliott’s Candidature. On Tuesday night a strong local i committee was set up for the purpose ! of forwarding the interests of the Re- j form candidate, Mr. Gordon Elliott. Coming-of-age Party. Mr. and Mrs. Zwiebruek, of Toko- ’ rangi Road, had a house full of guests on Monday night to help celebrate the birthday of their second daughter, Trixie, the young lady having reached *he mature age of 21. The company, ■ ijich was representative of the dis- ' " liad a good time, singing, dane- i Ing, feeding, etc. The instrumental music was supplied by a native string band from Onepuhi, and the cause of the jollification. Miss Zweibruck, who , is a popular girl, got a diay-load of presents, many of them valuable. A Common Need. A doctor says that many men are in danger of becoming too fat. What we evidently need is a Girth Control Movement. A Garden Party. At “Bushlands/’ the beautiful home of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Bedmayne, they make a sepcialty of growing tulips, and just now the flowers are a gorgeous display. So proud are Mr and Mrs. Redmayne of their efforts as horticulturists that they invited about one hundred friends on Sunday afternoon last to have a wfelk round the

■ garden. Besides being hugely delight- , ed with the flowers, the visitors varied : tea and talk with an -interesting programme of music supplied by the Tokorangi Orchestra. Personal. Mr. D. P. Jenkins, of Feilding. is chief postal official in Halcombe just now, Mr. Saywell, the permanent postmaster, being on holiday, Mr. Jen- • kins has been here before and his unvarying courtesy is no doubt the i reason of his popularity. An Unpopular Loan. | Our county councillors must have got to know that the proposal to raise a £40.000 loan for road maintenance had met with a good deal of adverse comment. for at their last meeting the resolution to try to raise the money was rescinded. Originally the idea ; was to go on the market for £70.000. i which scheme had an even smaller { .-nance of being carried out than the 1 proposal just thrown overboard. A Disputed Date. I Tn the obituary notice of the late j Mr. W. H. Clapliam, of Wanganui, it was stated that the deceased gentleman’s father came to New Zealand in ■‘he sbi:» Birman, which arrived “early ■in 1842.” One of our old citizens ; thinks the dtite given is wrong. Mr. ! William Monk, of this village, came out in the Birman with his parents, and he says the ship reached Pert Nicholson in March. 1841. Voyages in those days took so long that it is hardly possible for the ship to have ’■ •turned early in the following year. Moreover, vessels coming to Now Zealand in the earlv days did not load up ' and leave within a month or so of their arrival for the old land. There was very little, if fcny, cargo to be had. and vessels returned to Britain via China and India, where hack loading could be picked up, the round voyfege sometimes taking two years or more. The Making of Butter. The Cheltenham Dairy Company paid out Is fid per lb for the butterfat supplied during September, which is the same as for the corresponding month last year. The circular accompanying the cheques does not state the amount of butter manufactured by the company during the month. It must be considerably less thfan usual, for besides a poor start this season, some suppliers got the wind up when it became known that the shipping strike would probably have the effect of delaying advances for butterfat sent in, and made butter themselves instead of for- . warding the cream to the factory. By doing so they got the value of their product right away. Many people believe it pays better to make their cream into butter at home instead of sending it to the factories. And there may be something in the contention, • for dairy-made butter is worth at pre- ! sent Is fid per lb wholesale—the same as butterfat—and a given amount of ; butterfat will make U good deal more ; butter. But there is a terrible lot of I work converting the cream of a herd 'of cows into home-made butter, ! even when all the latest appliances are ! available. Many of the older genera- ; tion of dairy farmers know what it is ' to turn the handle of a churn for hours —occasionally for days—without getting the cream to “turn.” All sorts ; of contraptions were used as churns ; in the very early days—barrels, boxes, i basins—the cream being beaten by a • piece of flat board or <t wooden spoon ( or a bottle. It is even recorded that ' one old-timer used to churn the butter ; with his feet. Seated on a three-legged stool, with his trotters in the cream- • crock, he soon beat out the buttermlik to the tune of “The Prairie Flower” or “The Wearing of the i Green. ’ ’ Pork Industry. i A meeting of representatives of ' local dairy companies was held the i other day, when the scheme for coI operative marketing of pigs was fully ■ considered. Regulations were drawn 1 up, and the following gentlemen were l appointed as Un executive committee: Messrs S. Broadbelt (Levin Dairy Co.), • C. Dermer (Cheltenham Dairy Co.). H. McManaway (Rata Dairy Co.), and L. Gardiner (Dalgety and Co.). The Cheltenham Dairy Co. directors strongly recommend locb.l pig farmers to give the scheme their earnest consideration, as it secures all the benefits of co-opera-tion to the producers as far as export is concerned, while they are assured of fair market value for their unexportable p-gs. Also, it obviates the necessity of providing a large amount of capital with its resultant liability which would be unavoidable under any other scheme of co-operation in the pork industry.