DISTRICT NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2452, 4 May 1915, Page 10

DISTRICT NEWS.

JOTTINGS FROM PROVINCIAL CENTRES. (From Oar Sdccl&l Correspondents.) NAPIER. The Customs rovenuo collected in Napier last month amounted to £10,993, as compared with £11,395 for the corresponding period of 1914. Mr. T. Atkinson, of Napier, is leaving for England in May, with tlw intention of joining tlie Home forces. Sis building permits to the value of £3614 were issued in Napier during April. Building generally has been somewhat slack.

During' April there were 46 births, .12 deaths, and 32 marriages in Napier, ns compared with 43 births, 16 deaths, and 31 marriages for the corresponding month, of last year. The revenue from the Napier Municipal Baths during April was £3 10s. less than in April, 1914. ■ Mrs. J. H. Coleman, of Napier, who has been seriously ill for Eome time, is reported to be making a good recovery. ... WANGANUI. Exclusive of gifts in hand, the total raised in Wanganui towards the war funds, now' stands at £14,910. The. local railway men are forming a branch of the New Zealand National Reserve. • The vital statistics for Wanganui for April areßirths, 47 (previous April 55); deaths, 29 (16); marriages, 23 (2o). . At tne'annual meeting of tho Wanganui Acclimatisation Society, Mr. Donald Ross was elected patron, Mr. Jas. Allison president, Mr. H. J. Duigan and Inspector Wilson vice-presidents, and Mr. E. N. Liffiton hon. secretary and treasurer. It was decided to obtain trout fry for further stocking the streams of the district.

The Customs duties collected at the port of Wanganui in April totalled £6,727 10s. sd„ or £1127 4s. Bd. less than for the same month of 1914. The beer duty amounted to £112 6s. 9d., against £133 '4s. 6d. in April of last year.

The Plunket Nurse work in Wanganui is increasing so rapidly that the Society for the Protection of the Health of Women and Children is now considering the question of engaging additional nursing assistance. _ Believers in the theijry that solar activity has a direct influence on the earth's climatic conditions will be interested iu the recent observations by Mr. J. Ward, Director of the Wanganui Observatory. He reports that sun spots were very plentiful during April. One of the finest groups seeu for many years made .its entry on. the visible hemisphere of the sun on the last day of March. When near the centre of the disc it measured over 166,000 miles in longitude, while the largest spot of the group measured rather more than 24,000 miles in diameter, across Umbra and Penumbra- fringe. Another fine group came on' just afterwards in the northern and one in the southern latitude, while on ■ April 21 another fine group was observed iu. the southern latitude.