Dominion Items

Horowhenua Chronicle, 27 March 1911, Page 4

Dominion Items

"No Humbug ,, writes in a Southern exchange: "His"Lordship Risihop Julius is reported to have said at the Methodist Confereinco that he wished that body would take over half of ln's church people and improve t-he quality of the other halt. I should-like to inform his Lordship that a good many of his people in tin's diocese are quite ready to leave the Church of ICngland for some other body of worshippers now that lie and his clergy are forcing on them in the mother Ohiirch'of Canterbury a- ritualistic service at 10 a.m., which is neither flesh, fowl nor good red herring, but simply a play-acting: seance." The Wellington money market exhibits no changes, writes tilre• Freelance. Money is in plentiful supply, and borrowers with good securities to pledge have no difficulty in obtaining reasonable sums at reasonable rates. Conditions should l>: , oven easier after the end of the month, for then the "windfiw-dress-in«" of the hanks will he done with.

Paradise ducks are extremely plentiful in the Mackenzie district. The dryness of the small lagoons and streams has caused the ducks to no further inland to the big lakes. The intention of (he -Minister to have a close season for the Paradise duckis considered a mistake, says the Timaru Post, and it is claimed that the Minister, through not seeing t.\y crowded condition of tlia lakes on his ro;ont tour, is acting under :\ misapprehension, whieh n JitMe information from the settlers would, 'have avoided. .. Til" "Waitaki Acclimatisation Society' states the North Otago Times. U proceeding; with the erection ol > hut on their deer stalking ground m (he I'pper AVnitaki. Th? 'hut uiH accommodate fourteen stalkers, ami iidjacent are yards for horses. lio bu'ildin"- will be in readiness tor the opoiihv' of the doer-stalking season I «iii the'lst April, and should prove a groat convenience to stalkers, lu \vant of such accommodation : hn«= been folt by stalkers, and the- fioncty is makiivp; an effort to meet blipir wishes in the matter. At a meeting of the Council of the Wellington Society of Professional Musicians the subject of the propose:! music and elocutionary competitions to ho held in "Wellington came up !or discussion. It was decided U.\it these competitions wore not in tne hest interests of music, and a reflation to that effect was passed, whicli also embodied the decision to actively oppose the movement. A young man residing in I renin. Taranaki. found himself in the di.c-k nt New Plymouth, on a charge ol endeavouring to obtain £8 from t.:e Railway Department by I also pretences'as the result of trying to show up the railway officials at Inglewood. He had borrowed a bicycle at Frpnui to go to Waitara. travelling part of the way by tram. He did not trouble to see that the lucycle was transferred to the Tngleworvd train, and when he arrived at his destination he found it was missing. A day or two afterwards he saw the liicvcle on the, Tuglewood station and rode off on it witliout telling anyone. Subsequently he made a claim for I'b for the loss of the bicycle, and tih roc weeks Inter wrote stating that the bicyclo was in the hands of its owner — and he had made the demand merely to wake up the department! Tilre Magistrate pointed out that but for the "corroborative evidence that

lie did not intend seriously to press tlio clnim lie would he in an awkward position. The case was uismissod, lmt the public-spirited young man had to pay costs. A story of a burglar's comparative failure in the quest for money comes from Taumanmui. A few days ago AYirth's circus was per r -:;rtning in that town. Tt was well patronised, and on one particular nigilit Mr Wirth. the proi)rietor, liatl .L'3oo iii his possession. He was staying at Meredith House and fortunately took the money to the landlord,for safe Icoopms?, and the latter looked it up in a safe. Someone had evidently become acquainted with tl.o fact.that this money was in the house, for there was evidence t>..11 a .search was made in several of the rooms, evidently for the purpose of finding tihe one in which Mr "Wirtli was staying. Mr J. W. Ellis, a sawmiller. on awaking in the morning, realised that his clothes were missing, and 'beyond his pyjamas and collar, none of liis property was left. Xo sign of the clothes could _be found on ihe premises. On going outside, however (in borrowed clothes all too tight—for lie is a big man).

Mr Ellis was overjoyed to- find liis several garments in an adjacent allotment."" His valuable sold watch was missing, 'besides £10 in cash. The police lias the matter (but not the watch) in hand. Tit many parts of the country (says tlie Otago Daily Times) the dry weather that we- have experienced throughout tihe summer has proved little short 'of disastrous to the pastoral industry, bu,t there are exceptions to be noted. A case in point has just been 'brought to our .notice in respect- to the fattening of lambs for export. The lambs in question were bred and fattened on Mr Donald Maedonald's Okapa Estate, in the Olvatton district. The total lambing for the season num'ber-ed 2300, and upon the "fats" being drafted this week it was found that no fewer than 2015, or about 89 per rent of the whole crop, were prime freezers. The average weight of those is estimated to be only a fraction under -101b dressed. Such a percentage in a line of considerable .size is almost unheard 1 of in Ota go and Southland, and forms a striking evidence of the fattening qualities of the land in the district mention*'!.