GENERAL NEWS.

Waikato Times, Volume 96, Issue 15361, 9 October 1923, Page 8

GENERAL NEWS.

Jacob Harndan, poultry farmer, in 'Wiltshire, was examining a favourite chicken, when he felt a sudden stab of pain in his right eye. The bird was close to his face, but so sudden was' the pain that he could hardly connect it with the chicken, which he put aside in order to go to a doctor. The medical man found a serious wound right in the centre of the cornea, and it is doubtful whether the eye can be saved. The bird had, in fact, pecked at the eye with the lightning stroke of the head with which a hen takes its grains of food from the farmyard floor. It is' thought that it was attracted by the sparkle of the eye in the bright sun.

The vicar's son was down from college for the vacation, and the father thought he would not have a better chance of seeing how his son was shaping for the ministry. So he arranged that the boy should preach in the morning and afternoon. College had not improved him; he had begun to put on airs and to cultivate the correct Oxford drawl. In the morning, after sundry posturing's, he announced his text, "He that hath yahs to yar, let him yar." In the afternoon his text was "Now Bawabbas was a wobbah." At night the oil man preached, and took his his text, "Lord have mercy upon my son, for he is lunatic and sore tormented."

Ten oommandments taught to Japanese children in one of their school books, so Rev. C. E, James, speaking upon the disaster in Japan, said at a Young People's' Day service in the Wahroonga Presbyterian Church (says the Sydney correspondent of the Daily Telegraph), are:—(l) Be loyal—venerate the Empire; serve your country. (2) Care for your parents—remember their love and affection. (3) Love the members of your family and" live in unity and peace. (4) Do good to others. (5) Speak the truth. (6) Study the past. (7) Be kind to the poor. (8) Be careful what you eat and drink. (9) Have a noble ambition and a high spirit, no matter how poor you are. (10) Observe the teaching of your ancestors for the honour of home and country.

A Nelson fruitgrower who Is at present on the coast securing orders says that matters are not going very well with some of the returned soldiers who have taken on this means of earning a livelihood. Almost every week mortgagees' sales were being held. The reason for this was that this year prices for apples had dropped tremendously. Apples which brought 12s per caso last year were now down to 6s, and even ss. During last week a drop wasrecorded on the coast from 6s 6d per case to ss. This was a most unusual occurrence at this timo of the year. Last week (says a correspondent of the Christchurch Press) the grower had visited the mining towns of the Buller district, but the housewives were evidently anticipating trouble in the mining industry, and very few orders were placed.

At least one brand of plug tobacco now on the market does not appear to contain only the pure leaf (says the Dunedin Star). A citizen who is a heavy smoker of one particular brand brought into this office half of a plug, which, on examination, appeared to be made up of various substances', from a block of wood about lin. long and Jin. thick to long pieces of string and big patches of a black, sticky substance. He stated that the farther he cut into it the worse it became. "It is' practically impossible to smoke," he said, "and that is the sort of thing smokers have to put up with and are compelled to pay exorbitant prices for. It was time something was 1 done to compel the tobacco trusts and the Government to give the public something decent for their money." Our informant said he had returned the so-called plug to the shopkeeper. The latter, naturally, was upsdt over the matter, and said he would forward it to the right quarter, accompanied by a strong letter of protest.