ROUND ABOUT THE COLONY

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 6, 9 February 1907, Page 22

ROUND ABOUT THE COLONY

Quite Simple. Colonel Gudgeon, who is now in Christchurch, is one of the few white men (remarks the “Press”) who have ever performed the feat of fire-walking, having crossed the burning stones unscathed when the rite was being performed at Rniatea. A reporter asked him if he had seen any of the performances of the Fijian fire-walkers, and lie replied that he had not, and did not take much interest in the rite. He knew that it could be done, and. that there was no risk involved. When he witnessed the performance at Raiatea, he thought the stones might be just cool enough to allow the thick-soled natives to pass over them uninjured, but that a European might be burned. After walking across himself, barefooted, he was convinced that no one would be burned. He did not know how to account for it, but it was a fact that one could walk across hot stones and not be hurt. JX JX Profitable. Poultry-raising is not an industry that has been gone in for extensively in Southland, but there are a number of farms in difigrerit parts of the district, and one in whieh the owner has devoted considerable time and money is that carried on in conjunction with his market gardening business by Mr. G. R. Hilton, of MaeqUarrie-street, Soutli Invercargill. He has expended some £4OO in the purchase of plant, which he procured from America, and though at the outset, under the disadvantage of inexperience, Mr. Hilton has passed through his hands, during the five years he has been engaged in the enterprise, a very large number of the feathered tribe. He has now on the farm over 1000 head, and passed 925 through the hatchery this season. The machinery consists of a tubular boiler engine, a grain grinder, vegetable pulped, a bone mill, and steam digester, in whieh the food is cooked; while he uses four incubators with a capacity of 580 chickens. Among the buildings is a brooder house 50ft. square, divided into eight pens, and heated bv steam, and all the machinery is worked by the same motive power. Mr. Hilton finds the demand for the poultry greater than the supply, and hopes, in the near future, to be able to more nearly meet requirements than at present. J? Wellington Wharf Cranes. An informant who is stated to be behind the scenes as far as the Wellington Harbour Board is concerned informs the Dunedin “Evening Star” with evident glee that “the giant cranes on the wharves up there arc more imposing in appearance than useful. He says that it is an open secret that the secretary of the Wellington Board wolud not be much disturbed in mind if they were all at the bottom of the sea to-morrow/ They do not improve on the discharge of vessels by their own machinery, and they are very much in the way. The same informant states that "the records for discharges in all ports of the colony show- that Dunedin outstrips them all in the matter of despatch. He attributes this partly to the fact that all the local sheds are higher than the roads, and. the carts can back right up to them. Consequently, cargo having once touched the floor of the shed does not require to be lifted again. At other ports every ease or bale has to be lifted into the drays.” A Plea for. Pure Milk. “The only way in whieh to ensure a proper and clean milk supply,” said Dr. Mason, Chief Health Officer, recently to a “Times" reporter, “is jo give authority to a private firm to establish a clearing house, or for the municipality to take the matter in hand on those lines.” If this were done. Dr. Mason said, and if proper contracts were entered into with the suppliers, a regluar

price all the year could be guaranteed, and in consideration it would be perfectly fair for the owners of the central depot to require greater carefulness on the part of the dairymen. Properly constructed cans could be insisted upon, and the immediate cooling of the milk. Its conveyance in properly constructed vans would permit of its being kept at a low temperature. The keeping of milk cold was, he said, one of the most important factors in preventing the multiplication of the organisms whieh were nearly always present in milk. The contractors could insist upon the milkers observing proper cleanliness, both in their own persons and in regard to the cow. It would, of course, be impossible, the doctor added, to make it a financial success unless some regulation was brought in whereby it would be impossible for people to sell milk other than that whieh had gone through this clearing house. J* JX Maori Thrift. ■ A correspondent of the “Poverty Bay Herald,” who is travelling through the East Coast districts, writes: —Talk about telephone lines! I was amazed to find quite a network of telephone lines from Waipiro to Orete, in the Bay of Plenty, all owned and erected by natives. In a year or two every settlement and homestead of any size at all will be connected by telephone. The main line is completed as far as Orete, and there are only a few branch lines waiting to be put up. At present there are twenty-nine connections, which number will be shortly increased. The line is well done, and every machine of the best.. Mr. Apirana Ngata, M.H.R., reckons that the Ngatiporous have now 120 ifailes of telephone lines, at the cost of over £7OO. JX <S* Slow, But Sure. ■ The hare and the tortoise fable up-to-date. Recently a motor car set forth on a journey east of Stratford, Taranaki, at four o’clock one fine morning. At ten o’clock that same day a party of old-fashioned people driving a modest buggy came suddenly upon the machine on the roadside about three miles from town. The occupants of the buggy were at first a little alarmed, because all they could see were two male legs sticking out from under the car. Investigation showed that tke motorman was merely wrestling with the internal works. The buggy people passed on. Late that afternoon the car was noticed a mile or so further on, but all ablaze, the petrol tank- having caught fire. First aid was rendered, and the conflgration got under. J* J 8 One In a Million. Some people spend the be>t part of their lives in endeavouring to achieve fame and some -have fame- thrust upon them. In this lutt-r category is the young lady who, through no fault of her own, happened to be the millionth visitor to the Exhibition. It must have l>een the most embarrassing and crucial moment in the blushing young lady’s life when the gatekeepers grabbed at her and demanded her name and address, remarks Christchurch “Trutji.” Possibly visions of prison cells arid bread and water flashed across her bewildered, mind, and she felt sorely tempted to burst into a hurricane of hysterics. But when the momentous truth dawned on her that the one .fehance! in ai million had come her way: she must have felt amply compensated. for the terrific buffeting and corn treading she endured in the wild Stampede for admittance. The experience of being followed about the landscape by a gaping crowd such as collects at a dog fight or on the Slightest provocation, and being made the focussing point for the eternal weekly paper photographer, was at any rate novel, if disconcerting, and conducive to a ruddy complexion, but these little inconveniences were ever the penalty of fams.

To Be Promptly Squashed. The “chain letter” nuisance has reappeared in New Zealand, this time in the form of an irreverent houx. The “letter” originated in the United States, and contains a short form of prayer, said to have lieen put into circulation by Bishop Lawrenee, who has publicly repudiated any connection with it. It has to be copied by the recipient nine times and sent to as many other people. AU who follow the directions “will, on or after the ninth day, experience some great joy,” and “one person who paid no heed to oiot met wit han accident.” “The covert threat,” remarks the Dunedin “Outlook,” is worthy of the dark superstitions of the Middle Ages.” This piece of imposition has reached Christchurch. Recipients should promptly put it in the fire and risk the “accident.” JX JX For Charity. During a comparatively short existence the Grand Lodge of Freemasons of New Zealand has accumulated charity funds to the amount of over £B5OO, the greater part of whieh is capitalised and the interest expended in the payment of annuities to the old and impoverished Masons and the widows and orphans of deceased Masons. At the instance of the Grand Master, Lord Plunket, an effort is to be made throughout the colony during the present year with the object of largely augmenting the Widows’ and Orphans’ and Aged Masons’ Fund, so as to materially increase its usefulness. Unattached Masons (those who are no longer subscribing members of lodges) are being invited to contribute, and it is anticipated that a handsome sum will ba raised from this course. JX JX No Inquest. The “ Southland Times ’’ says: — A. peculiar find was made on the beach near the mouth of the estuary a few days ago. It will be remembered that about twelve months ago an old fisherman reported to the police that he had one evening discovered a dead body in his net, but being unable to get it into his boat without’assistance he had been obliged to cut it adrift. It afterwards transpired that a certain noted personage, who was urgently “wanted,” had disappeared about the same time, and some discredit was thrown upon the fishermans’ story. However, a -visitor to the beach recently discovered a “ being ” which had been “ cast up by the sea,” evidently after undergoing a prolonged immersion. This was a dummy, whose construction is at once fearful and wonderful. A fairly complete suit had been stuffed with some matrial, the necessary rigidity being secured by the use of boards and sticks. The head was ingeniously made by the utilisation of a white enamel pot, marked in a grotesquely human fashion. In the dark, and partly submerged, the figure might very* well have passed for the body of a drowned man. It is now reclining peacefully against a tree on the beach, a silent monument of misdirected ingenuity.