NEW ZEALAND: GENERAL

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 3, 21 January 1904, Page 19

NEW ZEALAND: GENERAL

Blenheim citizens and local bodies are arranging to hold an industrial exhibition in Blenheim this year. During December 3658 persons arrived in the colony and "1662 took their departure, the respective figures for December, 1902, being 4188 and 1415. At the opening of the Piako Block (Thames) for settlement it was again urged on the Government that there are 60,000 acres of land available almost at present The drainage presents no great difficulty. We have received from Messrs. Whitcombe and Tombs two handsome medallion pendants of the late and present Popes. The portraits are remarkab,y well executed and the pendants are well suited for personal wear. Tha chairman of the Oamaru Harbor Board (Mr. Holmes) said last weok that for the want of suitable wharfage, the Board has been losing large sums of money every year. Last year £1000 was lost from frozen mutton alone, which was railed away to other ports for shipment, and a similar loss is expected this season. The report of Mr. Leslie Reynolds upon the water supply for Gisborne has been received. He recommends the lagocm on Widows Estate as the most suitable source withm reasonable distance of Gisborne. The estimated cost, exclusive of suburbs, is £39,600, or, including suburbs, £50,400, and the annual pumping charges £1100 for a population of 5000, and £1660 for a population of 10,000. Mr John Holmes, who toured the world in 1897-98 as Trade Commissioner for the New Zealand Government and is a specialist in the hemp industry, has written to Jhe Premier suggesting that a special exhibit of flax"dressing methods should be sent to the St. Loiiis Exposition, with a view of getting fhe machinery and methods of treatment improved, and also introducing New Zealand flax to the world at that Exposition. Mr. Pedersen, the new butter expert from Denmark, is (says the Wellington correspondent of the ' Otago Daily Times ') exceedingly pleased with what ho has seen in the New Zealand factories. He has found the colonial methods thoroughly up-to-date, and he does not tli ink we have much to fear from Danish competitors in that respect. A combined team of New Zealand firemen is being sent to compete at the Geelong demonstration by the I'nited Fire Brigades' Association, and two men have been nominated from Christchurch (says the ' Press '). The public will be requested to assist in raising the necessary funds to send the men over, and members of the combined fire brigades have been authorised to receive subscriptions. This is understood to be the first occassion on which a fire brigade contingent from New Zealand has gone to Victoria. The banking returns for the quarter ended December 31 show (says a Press Association telegxam)that the assets of the banks doing business in the Colony amounted to £20,580,387, and the liabilities to £20,3*31,994, there being thus an excess of assets amounting to £218,393. Advances shows an aggregate increase of

£970,660, and discounts an increase of £164,038. Free deposits shows the substantial gain of £685,566, and fixed deposits of £222,220. There was an excess of £3,228,527 in deposits over advances and discounts. The note circulation during the "quarter increased to £1,466,279. The coin and bullion reserves in the banks were as follows —New Zealand, £1,524,933 ; Union, £564,172 ; New South Wales, £700,907 ; and Natibnal, £377,340. These figures show a total increase of £454,490 as compared with the same period in 1902. The ' Winton Record ' reports that Mr. Norman, of Forest Hill, has on his farm a very eftective bird-catch-er, which is exciting a good deal of interest in the district. It consists of a light wooden frame about 7tt long, 2ft 6in wide, and 2ft high, covered with wire netting. From the top a wide V-shape4 indentation goes down to within 4in of the ground. The sides of the indentation are covered with wire. At the point of the V several holes are cut large enough to admit a bird, and a bird once in cannot get out. The floor of the enclosure is strewn with oat sheaves, and birds are caught in large numbers. Mr. Norman's experiments have been .so succession that the County Council has asked him to supply them with a couple of models. The mullock of the Castlemaine goldfields, Victoria, was long considered useless for any purpose. In the same way our Northern gum-lands are sometimes regarded as almost worthless, yet (says an exchange) in many cases they have yielded more profit to their owners than the finest of our agricultural land. A few years ago a settler in Tatarariki district bought a section, and whilst digging gum at odd seasons went in for a strawberry garden. The 'land produced this fruit in abundance, but the owner had occasion to leave the district, and sold out for £130. For two years the purchaser has been taking out gum from the property to the value of £4 per week, and has now sold out to Austrians for £300. A settler in the Redhill district, who has land, valued at 5s per acres under perpetual lease from the Government, recently sold the gum in one acre of his land for £25. He has less than 200 acres, and will not sell under £500. Gum is getting more scarce, and those who have gum lands are receiving good offers. News received by cable here (says the Wellington correspondent of the ' Lyttelton Times ') is to the effect that all capital required for the big fishery company is now subscribed. The promoters, I understand, attribute the adverse article in the London trade organ to the action of local rivalry. As to the alleged absence of fish, they declare that they have nat depended upon Mr. Ayson's trawling experiments, which they know were not particularly successful. They state that they have certain knowledge of very rich fishing grounds which will bear out, they are confident, everything placed in their prospectus.