LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 9 October 1924, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Of the imports of frozen mutton 1 - and lamb into the United Kingdom 68 per cent, comes from New Zealand.

Owing to the heavy rain yesterday afternoon the -athletic events which were to be run by the Hawera Technical High School were postponed until next Wednesday,

Four generations of one family are at present living in one house at Awhitu, Manukau harbour (states the New Zealand Herald). They are Mr William Lee, who is now 80 years of age; his son, Mr Arthur Lee, who is a grandfather at 56; Mr Lionel Lee, aged 23, whose baby boy is only three weeks old. The Italian Government is inviting tenders for' 12,000 to 15,000 tons of frozen meat for delivery during 1925. This marks a great departure, and gives another opportunity to the New Zealand freezing companies. It will be a- pity if Patea cannot be placed in a position to- tender for such eontraiets.

Rock oysters were in plentiful supply during the season which has just closed (says the Auckland Star. The total number of sacks picked from the greamds in the Hauraki Gulf, Bay of Islands, Hokianga and Kaipara harbour areas was something iust over 7000 sacks, each sack holding an average of 80 dozen oysters. Last year the yield for the season was 6800 sacks, the value being iust over £7OOO.

A good deal of concern lias been caused among dairy farmers at the appearance of the dreaded cattle tick in a herd in the Te Awamutu district (says the Waikato Times). Every effort is being made by Mr G. B. Melrose. stock inspector of the Agriculture Department, to prevent the insects from spreading to other herds. He has taken steps to have the cattle -craved and have them closely supervised. No animal will be’ permitted to leave the infected farm until all likelihood of the tick spreading through this agency has been prevented.

Much has been said and written about dairy farmers giving up milking cows to go in for sheep, the reason given being that there is more money in wool growing and raising fat lambs than in producing butter-fat (says tlie Southland News). That there is truth in this contention was fully borne out. at Wallac-etown sale. A pen of new season’s lambs, .just eleven weeks old, sold for 40s a head, whilst just across in the next row of pens twenty-one yearling heifers were disposed of at 8s a head. No encouragement for the cattle man there! It is not often that a correct estimate can he obtained as to the distance a horse will cover in a given period (states an exchange), for the simple reason that, unlike a motorcar, it is not equipped with a speedometer. There is an old horse in Levin, however, that enjoys the unique record. of having covered over 32.000 miles iu the course of six years. This distance is estimated over a series of regular trips at one time in a school ’bus. and latterly in hawking fruit and vegetables twice weekly to Mangahao, and does not include short runs round the town or on sin occasional family picnic to the beach. BOOT REPAIRS. Our hoot repairer is an expert, and we are now prepared to do your boot repairing—sole, heel, patch. We repair pump soles, sewn soles, riveted soles, and we do our work very neatly, and our charges are low. Bring us your boot repairs, and give us a trial, at the New Zealand Clothing Factory, Hawera. —Advt.

Lord Helper lias cabled tlie New Zealand Government fer deer-stalking rights, following the publication of a series of articles in England by the Dominion’s Publicity Office. More sheep were despatched from 1 the Waipukurau railway station for 1 the past railway year than from any i other station in the North Island, a £ true criterion that the busy centre is the heart of the pastoral country of the North Island (says the Na.pier ’telegraph). The number of sheep trucked was 172.665. whilst 6493 cattle were also railed away. Mr. Grainger stated at the annual meeting of the Patea Farmers’ Co-op. Freezing Works on Tuesday that he had visited several freezing works in the Dominion, and found that the Patea works were as economically run as any -works in New Zealand. In one works he found that the cost of fuel had been cut down from ti 15,000 to £4OOO annually, ancl this in spite of the fact that 30 per cent, more stock was treated than during the previous year. Mr J. M. Nielsen, hon. secretary of the South Taranaki Cricket Association, has -received a letter from Mr W. I. M ild, director of the Fielding Technical School, with reference to the pronosed competition for . the Silson Cup. Mr Wild suggests that “owing to Mr Silsoii being a. Hawera resident, the cop should be held first by the Hawera Technical High School, and that his school would bar.? the pleasure cf entei the first challenge for the trophy.” A well-known racing man in Hawke’s Bay was recently on a. visit to the back-blocks, and while there came in touch with a native who, years ago, did a' considerable amount of riding for aii erstwhile owner. There was a doubt in the racing man’s mind if the owner was a real straight-goer. so he put the question to the old-time jock : “When you were riding for Mr. did he ever tell you to pull a horse?” The native quickly responded with: “Py gorry, no, sir; but I tell you truce, once or twice the boss he say before I go out, ‘Hone, you make the bad start.’ ” Fishermen in the Stratford district so far have not had much luck, judging from the reports to hand (states the Post). After much whipping of the streams in the neighbourhood, the reward usually has been one or two fish, and baskets of more than three have been. few. Old hands report that there is too muah water at present in the rivers, bringing down plenty of food for the fish, with the result that they are not rising to artificial bait very readily. Fish up to three or four pounds in weight have been the best catches. Several new licenses have been issued, but the experience of the new disciples of Isaak AValton has been mostly wet feet and no fish, and they are not greatly enamoured of the sport. It will be all right when they have’ learned to spin a good fish yarn! ; Moderately heavy stocks of case oil are at present. held in Auckland wholesale stores. Since the petrol famine in 1 1920,. it is stated that there has not • been a shortage in Auckland, nor has ■ there been what might be termed a , ‘‘glut.” The seasonal causes, however, are responsible for the changes in the 1 quantities in store. Among these is ■ the dairying demand, which naturally i slackens in the winter (states the New Zealand Herald). With the spring, however, when the herds are coming in. the demand for petrol from the country districts for the milking machines at once goes up, and at the present time large orders are being received. Bad weather and the conse- , quent impassable roads in the country also slacken the demand. Prices for petrol are on a world parity, and are ' not regulated locally by variations in the supply and demand. - The following extract from the re- \ port of a Napier firm of wool brokers l. will prove of interest to sheep farmers: “The year 1921 was considered by . manufacturers to be a period of very ; low consumption, and it appears evi- ■ dent that the available supplies for • the ensuing season will be appreciably - short of the quantity consumed during ; that, year. A recent estimate of the , worldi’s consumption is on an average ! of 2,850,000,0001 b, and the available supply for last season was .2,511,000,- . 0001 b.; It is not expected that during ■ the coming season any material increase’! will he shown in the world’s j production of wool, and, as a matter . of fact, it will be some considerable [ time—probably at least five years—be- ! fore the. number of sheep in the world will approximate those of pre-war figures. From this it will be readily seen that the outlook for wool values ' for the coming season is on a distinct--1 ly sound basis, and it. is doubtful if the L prospect for growers has ever been > more favourable. ’ The great return that can be ob- - tained from a farm of little more than ' 10 acres is shown by the product of six - cows, the property of Mr* A. David, of ; Flint road, Stratford. The milk de- , livered to the factory yesterday morning weighed 2541 b, and there was besides half a gallon which was kept for 1 household use. This is probably a re- ■ cord for Stratford, if not for Taranaki, J but at any rate will take a power of " beating. The cows are all grade Jer- ■ seys. The milk tested 4.4, and was ■ produced off grass only. ' The work in connection with the inl stallation of Stratford town clock has j been actively commenced, and should Ihe completed within five weeks. Mr y Sutherland, the representative of the _ makers, Messrs Littlejohn and Son, s arrived in Stratford on Tuesday, and yesterday morning all the parts were placed in front of the post office prei paratory to being hoisted into position. A winch is being used to raise . the materials. The first work done j will be to place the clock faces in posit. tion. This preliminary work will probI- ably be undertaken to-day. ; Inquiries are frequently made (says r the Sydney Morning Herald) whether i the German mark has a. value. When i the currency first began" to be debased, t investment in the mark went on in s Australia on a fair scale. •_ Purchasers, - fortunately, soon paid attention to the . warning given them, and desisted from following the quotations' down, with the object of averaging the cost to them of their holdings. To-day marks are being sold as a. curiosity by trad--1 ers at the rate of about 10,000,000 for p Is 6d, which is a- good deal above their ‘ nominal value in the exchanges. The prospect of holders obtaining anything 1 for their purchases is very ' remote. e While this is recognised, some German 3 securities are held to afford the oppors tunity for speculation, though with f them also the risks attendant upoii inI vestment are so exceptional that they, 1 too, are best left alone. German 3 i, per cents could recently be bought for 1 5s 6d, a.nd Prussian 4 per cents, at 7 lls 6d. In London and New York such stocks trebled their price in a few days recently because of the belief

that if the German loan of £40,000,000 comes upon the international market, the German Ministry may feel that to make the issue acceptable they will promise to enter into some arrangement regarding German securities that will make them more valuable. Those who count upon anything of the kind being done are forgetting Geramn financial history since the war ended.