LOCAL & GENERAL

Horowhenua Chronicle, 27 December 1913, Page 2

LOCAL & GENERAL

in the married ladies' race at Pleasant Point (says the Timaru erald) (he result was a dead heat. The competitors who arrived level at the "tape , ' , and ran oil' lor the* sugar and lea prize, seem lo have been ptetly well level all their lives. They wej'e I win sisters. JN'ew Zealand bids lair to beccme the dairymaid oi the Empire (remarks an English paper). She i.s now actually supplying butter and cheese- to Uauadaj where the population has outstripped the home supply. Consequently, for the iirst time in sixty years, 'Canada will send no butter to England. 80 we shall give our large orders to Zealand, who already senxls us about -jd, 000,000 pounds of butter, with tons of cheese, which brinjrs the yearly bill up to about ,&V)()U;U(J0. In addition, New exports butter and cheese to South Africa,, India, Fiji, and, the South Sea Islands, though the dairying industry began to be developed only 20 years ago.

The re])orfc of the final performance of 'Princess Chysanthemum' by the Ohnu children, at Otaki, will appear on Monday. The engine of the -j o'clock train on Wednesday afternoon left the rails below Levin station. After about three hours' work it replaced and at (i o'clock preceded on its way. Hie unfavourable seasoir.'th'e gardens at the Training Earm, Weraroa, are looking well and some fine flowers arc to be seen. A large area is devoted to vegetables, and supplies the institution with all the vegetables required. A feature of the vegetable garden is a large bed of splendid cabbage.. ' On Christmas Eve an altercation iu their'own language took place between two Maoris in OxI'ord street. One apparently said something that touched one of the Maori listeners on the "'raw," for without warning he struck the speaker a violent blow in the face, felling him. In his fall in l struck his head on the kerb and he had to be h'd away by two of his friends. About 1.1 o'cloclc on 'Wednesday night a motor car returning i'loin Manakau lo Levin ran into a pony dogcart, driven by a Maori, woman. fn Ihe glare of (he headlights she misjudged the distance of the oncoming car and attempted to cross on to the right side. The dogcart was struck and the woman and the children with her were thrown out. As far as known they sustained no injury, the only damage being a spliuicred'Sshaft on the dog cart. About yO(.) people made their way to the llokio Beach yesterday (Jioxing Hay). The ini jH-ovenients recently ell'ected on ihe road to the heads arc making (lie resort very popular. The day was warm, and most of the trippers bore traces of the Sun's kisses. Eor the next few days Chamberlain's Balm will be in much demand. Sweet pea growers who are troubled by (lie slugs eating off the young plants as soon as they come through the surface should try (he following plan given to (he wriler by Major.Burliiison, man-

ager of the Training Farm, Wor-

iiron. Save all the old eggshells and fill wiih a compost of loam, etc .Plant a pea in each, and sfand the shells in the meshes of

a length of netting tacked to a

frame and raised well oil: the ground. Do not lut the shells icuch Ilio frame. The snails and sink's cannot cross on the wires an dwhen (he plants grow a little (hoy an- planted, shells and all, in iheir alloiiod places: and the roofs soon break through the shells. The mcshe of the netting should jusl hold the shell, (hrough whicli a small hole in the bottom will give the necessary drainage. When m' the nesting protect from sloj'ins, etc.. The ancient cottage at Griff (Warwickshire) at which 90 years ago was held the first school, atIcndcd by (ieoige Eliol, is having new roof limbers put in. The collage is situated (wo miles from Xuneaton, exactly opposite the entrance gates of (4rill' House, which for twenty years was the residence of (ienrge Eliot's father, Robert J'] vans, the original of Adam ]?(>de. and subsequently tenanted by Isaac Evans, the Tom Tulliver of ••The Mill on (he Floss." The "tired feeling -- of a-Wait-olara mailman may lead to trouble (siys a Waverley correspondent), it is his duty wlien the southbound express train reaches Waitotara, to safely place the mail bags in tliu travelling postal van. He was standing on the platform when the mail train passed, and to avoid walking down to the mail van wheu the train pulled up, a distance of about ten or fifteen yards, he essayed to throw the maij. into the open door of the van jis it passed. Unfortunately he miscalculated the speed, and the big bag struck the side of th'e van and rolled under the wheels of the next carriage. If acted as a kind of brake until the tram was pulled up. When released, the (>ag was a perfect wrecK. boots and other parcels, and some y valuable Christmas presents for the south were cut up very badly, whilst several letters were also destroyed. , The kelson apple industry is evidently going to be a big thing, good for the growers and for Scuth America, whither, it a»pe.ars, most of the apples are being sent. Why South America should be such a good customer for Aew Zealand apples is not easy lo understand, for in parts of tlnit continent appjes grow magnificently, and the seasons are the same as in New Zealand. Bui the fa (it remains that (Tiere is. apparently unlimited demand over (here for our apples, and two of (he Nelson Associations have b'een told that if they choose they may send across 200,000 cases'" next season. Possibly the reason for the popularity of'our fruit lies in the thumping profit the retailers make on it. They \n\y the apples a( 7s a case and sell them ai a price whicli gives a return of /Bo or ,£■'] 10s ■ a case.— Oamaru Mail.