Interprovincial

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11, 18 March 1909, Page 423

Interprovincial

Misses Violet Wright and Una Sullivan, pupils of the Sisters of Mercy, Hokitika, passed the Matriculation examination, and" Miss Ellen Troy was successful in the Teachers' D examination. '< The Government has decided that the Mount Cook Barracks shall be converted into Dominion " Museum, and tenders for the necessary alterations/ involving about £10,000, are to be invited immediately. The Auckland: Herald points out that the railway revenue returns for the four weeks ending January 30 show tliat the North Island lines earned £5686 more than those of the South Island, though the latter has 441 mote miles of line open. - A despondent - looking land-hunter, who had taken part in 23 ballots for Crown lands,, mournfully told a representative of the North Otago Times that he " had grown grey in the effort to draw the right marble, and had now given it tip as a bad job. » ,The rain last week- did a great amount of good to the rape and turnip crops in South Canterbury, which were beginning to hang out signals of distress as a consequence of the long'ipell of dry,*U»t weather. The downpour was, therefore, welcomed by farmers, to whom it conveyed an assurance of a good supply of winter feed. The Southland Acclimatisation Society a short time ago recommended the Minister of Internal Affairs to withdraw the protection on Paradise ducks during the ensuing season, and • the, secretary of the society has been notified that it is not intended to comply with the request in the meantime. Tho Timaru Borough Council has resolved in connection with tho renewal of the waterworks loan of £60,000, next year to submit to the ratepayers proposals to add' loans of £18,000 to improvo the water supply, £6000 for permanent improvements in tho streets, and £4000 for municipal buildings. The valuation oiUtlie borough (annual value system) has just been completed. The total is £95,629, an increase of £4913. One of the six wards shows a decrease of £2. It is expected (says the Press) that in about" a month's time a new telephone system will, be in working order in Timaru. Under the new system a subscriber wishing to commuuicate with another subscriber will not require to ring up the exchange; by the mere act of removing the receiver from its hook he will indicate to the exchange that he wants to be put in communication with a subscriber; the number of the subscriber wanted will, of course, be given to the exchange by the subscriber desiring to be connected.* The exchange operator will then notify the second subscriber by ringing a bell near tlie second subscriber's tele-

phone. This system will be shortly installed ab Invercargill. The Registrar-general makes up an -estimate of the population -in the four chief centres of the Dominion, Basing his figures mainly upon the roturns of the number of inhabited houses "as supplied by the town clerks. This year's figures show'that the chief cities remain in exactly the same relation to .each other so far as population is concerned. Auckland is leading, with Christchurch, Wellington, and Dunedin following in that order. In com-''. piling his return the Registrar-general does not take ordinary city and borough boundaries, -nor docs he follow the course adopted in some countries of taking a circle. The plan followed is to take the cities and their " suburbs, - including contiguoiis boroughs and road board districts. The figures are as follow :- — Auckland city and boroughs, 75,345; road districts, 18,199 — total, 93,554. Christchurch and suburbs, 62,096; road districts or parts thereof, 14,613— t0ta1, 76,709. Wellington city, 69,357; Onslow, 1400; Karori, 1317; Miramar, 1623— total, 73,697. Dunedin city, 38,548; suburbs", 22,731— t0ta1, 61,279. . ' Notwithstanding the standing warning of the postal authorities, the public continues to send money' by post ' in unregistered letters in the most careless manner. It will hardly be credited by people who exercise ordinary prudence in such matters that it is a common •felling to find in the post office letters crammed full with lank-notes, very often in the flimsiest of covers. Frequently the contents protrude from the envelopes, or are found loos^in the mail-bags, .having burst their envelopes, and as frequently letters filled with" notes are carelessly thrown loose into railway-vans for the guard to deliver with the mails. Many other cases could be instanced of carelessness on the part of the public in sending money by post. It often happens that letters containing money are alleged Lo have been lost in the post office, and it has generally

been- proved that such letters were either not posted or were mislaid or lost after due delivery. No record is kept of unregistered letters, and persons who post such letters containing money expose to temptation every one through whose hands they may pass, and in the event of nondelivery suspicion is cast on many innocent persons. The public are again - earnestly requested to register all letters containing money or valuables intended to be sent by' post. Receipts are given for registered letters. The letters are traced from hand .to Jtand, and a receipt obtained on delivery ; ore it" is very rare that a registered letter is lost. The present state of the lamb trade is causing farmers some annoyance, so a" Timarw Herald reporter was informed on Saturday by a farmer, who stated that „he and others did not Tcnow where they were just now in regard to their fat lambs, as the altered basis of buying had altogether upset their calculations. Previously, growers had aimed at getting heavy lambs with plenty of fat on them, but now buyers had fixed 361 bas the maximum weight for first quality, with " the result that those who had bought store lambs at up to 13s 6d each to fatten were losing money, as the lambs, wero worth no more than this when ready for killing. . The prices now offering were : — Up to 361 b, first quality, 4£d per lb; second quality, same weight, 4id; 361 bto 421 b, 4-id; over 421 b, 3|d. Thus a big lamb over 401 b did not fetch as much as a prime quality 361 b lamb, and farmers, when buying stores, picked out the big-gest framed lambs, thinking to make up in weight for the reduced price now offering per lb, but instead of attaining their object they, found themselves worse off through having big lambs. The farmers further said that ' the freezing works had been at a standstill for some time because growers of fat lambs had been holding back to get extra weight on their .lambs before selling, but now that they found the extra ' weight was going to count against them they were pushing them in the works. Further, he

said that sending Home, lambs up to 501 b had been the means of detracting from the reputation of the New Zealand lamb export trade, something smaller and not quite so fat being what was desired by consumers in England, but tnc sudden change in weight and the drop in price would mean a heavy- loss to a good many sheep-mbn here this season. - - . > . ..