LOOAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15340, 1 October 1917, Page 4

LOOAL AND GENERAL.

A fire last evening destroyed the old buildings which were known as Mitchell's Freezing Works, situated near Languard Bluff. < Mr H. Melville invites all returned soldiers to attend at the Opera House to-night to witness "Aladdin." An Order-in-Council creates Vila, in the New Hebrides, a port of registry for British ships. An unposted letter addressed to "29412 Second-Lieut. H. G. Johnston, .Machine Uun Specialists, 27th Reinforcements, G.P.0., Wellington/' was picked up outside the Opera House, on Saturday night. So as to allay any anxiety on the part of the addresee, the gentleman who picked it up hay posted the letter. Ten persons turned up at the potatoplanting at Kowhai Park (Wanganui East Esplanade) on Saturday. Counterattractions took away many workers. Good work was carried on until stopped by rain. Mrs J. It. Sutherland kindly provided a very welcome afternoon tea. The work was expected to be completed to-day. A large number of people went to Castlecliff yesterday to see the wreck of the scow Eunice, and the ferry service across the river was well patroniised. Captain Hood, representing the Underwriters' Association, is making good progress with the salvage of the cargo, which is bein.a; shifted above high-water mark. The Eunice is 20 years old, and her timbers have appeared to* stand the strain well.. The Hon. "U. H. Rhodes, M.P., has given notice in the House to ask the Minister for Education: "Whether he will amend the regulations under the Education Act so as to allow Education Boards to 'grant an allowance to those who have to provide horses for their children to enable them to attend State schools?" This concession, he states, is urgently desired by many settlers who are living in hilly districts where conveyance by vehicle is not practicable. A correspondent of the Otago Daily Times says: "There is really only one way of dealing effectively with bookmakers, and that is to send them, on conviction, to gaol and give them swmetl ing to do that they never have done—h&xd labour. There is on record a caw of one man in a large way who wa« sent to prison, and he has never laid a wager 6ir,ce, or has been seen on a racecourse. This is the remedy, and the sooner this course is adopted by our Magistrates the sooner will the 'laying of odds' be effectually prevented, and the bookmakers be made to look for some honest •employment. These persons are parasites on the young men of the community, and should not be tolerated."

"The percentage of the strength of world population now united to fight for fee preservation of democracy and freedom as against the forces of autberacy and militarism is approximately 80 Ser cent," said the Hon. Arthur M. 'yers, Minister of Customs, in the course of at Auckland, on Saturday. "That proportion of the world s population still remaining neutral is 10 per cent, leaving a remaining 10 .per cent on the side of a deservedly losing cause. The capital wealth of the United States of America and in the British Empire together total some ,£70,000,000,000, whilst the collective capital wealth of Germany and Austria is about £21,000.000,000. J£jom the standpoint of both man power and .finance, therefore, the support still available for the cause of the Allies is practically unlimited, whilst the Central Powers are persisting in following a suicidal purpose—racially, financially, economically and morally, ,» A New York genius has developed a clever idea for automatically sounding the alarm at railway crossings, whereby the alarm is controlled by the whistle of the approaching train itself. The inventor proposes to mount a number of large-size horns along the crossing approaches, each horn being fitted with a supersensitive electrical microphone, such as that used in the dictagraph. When the train whistle sounds for the crossing, these microphones pick up the sounds and are caused to control a sensitive relay device operating on the tuned reed principle. They relay will thus respond with maximum efficiency to a certain whistle tone. When the approaching train's whistle has actuated the microphone and in turn the sensitive reed relay, the latter closes the proper circuits to a powerful electric siren installed at the top of the signal tower at the railway crossing. For night requirements the alarm may consist of the electric siren and a powerful beam of light, both of which are projected out of the signal horn. It is not generally known that a drought has the country north of Sydney, and far west as Moree and Tenterfield in a deadly grip, says a Sydney paper. The dry weather has adversely affected the cattle and sheep. The winter has been one of the severest on record. The lambing has been poor, and, to add to the misfortune of pastoralists, the blow-fly pest has been worse than ever. It is stated that the damage caused by ravages of the fly alone represents •< several millions, sterling—one authority . . put it down at ,£3.000.000. '' Comparatively few sheep and cattle are now being consigned to Sydney, and those in a position to speak with authority say that there is no chance of meat becoming cheaper for some time. It is thought that, even if a general rain fell now in the drought-stricken parts, the good effects "Would not be felt for some time, and would certainly not reflect themselves in the meat market in, the shape of lower prices for many weeks to come

"A new method of economic cultivation of the potato" ie described in a recent issue of the International Review of the Science and Practice of Agriculture, published in Rome. This -consists in planting budding stalks instead of tubers, and has been tried for several years with good results. The tubers are sorted out and spread in a dry cellar at a temperature abovtj 63deg. Fahr., if possible. In a few days, - before the tubers wrinkle, rooting sprouts are ob-; tained, which must be cut before they' reach a length of eight inches. After cutting they must be planted ias quickly ae possible. The sprouts are planted in twos on ridge tides at distances of 8 by ,20 inches, at a depth of 2f to 3$ jbachee, according to the soil. In & few days the, outside part becomes green and puts out one or two stalks, the roots taking hold at the same time. Etach planted shoot gives one or two tubers, whioK are eefdom very large, but never email; a crop of neatly 8$ tone, per ' a.cre of marketable potatoes may be' teokoned on. The method is applicable' to all loose, light, and relatively dry eoite.Its advantage ie that it leaves for, ootteumption those potatoes which,: fy& tbev ordinary method, 1 would have l&ietvused for planting. The *hovfc givsemott by the potatoes on germinating keep for several days, and can be planted dicpei, or even forwarded eome'dfetaiioe, ."forplanting. - ,'.'.,

- There » aa «©ut» ribertag* oS_ft»*' cattle in the Aishburtoa County at .the present time, states the correspondent of the Lyttelton Times, and butchers are experiencing considerable di Realty in" i obtaining supplies. At the .last safe at the Ashburton yards only two fat cows were submitted at auction, anld these realised the substantial price of £l6 12s. 6d each. A "few months ago the class of cows could have been, purchased for about JJI2 a bead. At a meeting of the Napier Second' Division League the other evening, a resolution was carried that the ment be urged to conscript a 11... Ally aliens for active service. It was pointed out that this, was being done iu England and America, and it could not be a violation of internatiortaf Jaw. One \ "member was of opinion that the wason Canada bad carried conscription was to catch the French Canadian*. He also 1 eaid there were many Dalmatians and Russians in New Zealand willing to fight. The motion, was carried unanimously. Mr Okey asked the Government whether steps would be4aken to provide that the-old age pension, or an income from any «th«r. source, should not debar dependent* from participating in the benefits of any separation allowance or pensions provided. Sir James Allen replied that no person in receipt of an old age pension, or equivalent income—namely, 10s per week—had been refused a war pension because of such income. It was the invariable practice to grant war pensions to old »ge jmmomm who applied for tfo&m in respect of deceased or disabled sons. The voyage of a hospital ship which arrived in New Zealand recently 'was marked by another departure from the usual arrangement, for, with the exception of one sister, who specialised in massaging, there was no nursing staff aboard, the hospital work having been done entirely by orderlies of the medical corps. This experiment was only made after a great deal of careful consideration and trial, but the results that have accrued from the change show that the orderlies, under the guidance of" the medical staff, were able to attend to the comfort and health of the patients with every success. The services of the trained nursea will be taken advantage of in the ba*e hospitals of England, where they are urgently needed. At Hants Assizes, John Slater, an engineer, pleaded guilty to perjury in relation to a death certificate. The case was a remarkable one. According ,to Mr Temple Cook, who prosecuted, the prisoner eloped with his aunt a few years ago, and when she died recently he registered her as hie own wife. "You are liable to seven years' penal servitude. What have you to say?" said Mr Justice Ridley to the prisoneis. "1 was practically driven to it, your lordship," was the reply. "You were not obliged to run away with your aunt," answered the Judge. At the preliminary hearing at Southampton it was stated that the deceased woman married Thomas Slater, an ostler, of Manchester, in 1888, and about eight years ago the prisoner went to live with them as a lodger. He was then only 18 years old. He subsequently ran away with hie a.ii».t. The husband added that he never saw hie wife j again. The accused, who said he committed the perjury to cover things up, was sentenced to three months' hard labour!

It will come as a surprise to most people to Jearn that at present there are many hundreds of wild pigs roaming the hills within a few miles of Dunedin, states,/ the Otago Daily Times. These pigs are to be found ranging over the watershed at the head of the Silverstream, and a responsible authority states-that they are in such numbers that in places the passer-by can actually "smell" them. They are under a strong suspicion of taking a heavy toll of the-lambs born on the runs adjacent to the locality, and are now becoming so numerous as to constitute a nuisance. The run&olders in the Silverstream district are, however, not greatly enamoured with the prospect of irresponsible shooting parties wandering over their lands in search of the elusive Captain Cooks, but they give it as their opinion that as the City Council has always been very careful to see that its reserves on the watershed are kept clear of sheep and cattle, so that the Silverstream water should not become contaminated, the Council should certainly take steps to exterminate these animals/ which range freely over the reserves and are a much greater source of contamination titan sheep,, cattle, or rabbits. The movement to gain more daylight for the country's work by changing the time of all clocks is gaining headway. says the New York Outlook. It deserves to gain headway, for it contemplates many obvious advantages; but before the daylight-savers can convince the country of the value of their proposal they must eliminate a good deal of confusion which still clouds that reform. The recent conference of the National Daylight-Saving Convention in New York City bore witness that. this reform is already so popular among Americans that this country may soon follow the lead of ten European countries that have already begun to make the most of their daylight. It seems to be the most popular view among the delegates to the convention that five of five and a half months during the longer days of the year was about the right period for observing the new. time. The city of Detroit, which recently moved from tho eastern limit of the Central time zone to the western limit of,the Eastern time zone, thereby unofficially endorsfed the principle of daylight saving. The most obvious advantage of this reform is an economic one; that is, the gain which results from the saving of gas, electricity, and other.artificial light. But the gain to the public health through the saving of Eyestrain and the gain of more Hime |pr exercise in ."the .open air ought not" to be overlooked.