LOCAL AND GENERAL

Horowhenua Chronicle, 15 January 1915, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

It is said by agricultural experts that sugar beet cannot be grown successfully within six miles of the sea- owing to the salt spray, and people throughout this district, from their experience this season, know what salt spray means. Yet there are apparently exceptions to the rule laid down by experts as Blr J. C Neill, of Weraaoa, has some good healthy rows of the sugar beet growing on his farm. The root j is very sweet, and is more solid than mangles or ordinary beet and should prove an excellent food for pigs. The American Indians are outraged by the terrible war in Europe. Thirty members of the Puelbo tribe, headed by the chief, appeared in New York on November 13, calling at the Mayor's office, they expressed horror at the calamity the great nations of Europe exhibit in slaughtering each other. They joined in a petition imploring that peace be restored. Thus "the savages" of America, in the name of humanity, appeal to Oiritsians to abstain from the murdering policy in settling their disputes. For Eczema, Burns, Wounds, Piles, Chilblains, Ringworm, Ulcers, Bruises, and all irritable skin diseases use mgton's Derma Ointment. Price Is 6d, 2s 6d, and 4s 6d per pot. The .best soap to use for the toilet and skin is Remington's Derma. Antiseptic Soap. Price Is per tablet. 4d

The Hamilton branch of the Farmers' Union lias protested against any interference with the sentence of five years' imprisonment passed on F. E. N. Gaudin by the courtmartial at Samoa. The railway revenue lor Decernber showed an increase of £34.929, and the expenditure a decrease of £4,590. The -Mayor of Wangan.ni lias accepted the offer of Mr .Patterson, of Matarawa, to allow all the fruit in his .ine orchard to be picked and .sold for the British and Belgian Food Funds. According to a Sydney cable a .suggested is mooted to match C. Towns against Webb (of Wanganui). Towns, provided he can get the hacking, ; s willing to take on Webb .for £200 and allow travelling expenses. The drought in the Tikokino district, Hawke's Bay, is the worst known since 1878 (says the local correspondent of the Hawke's Bay Herald). In the drying pools, where the creek was running .thousands of young trout may be seen dying and dead. The Chinese are not a race given to flattery. A Hastings resident called on a Chinese laundry for his clothes. On receiving the package he noticed some Chinese characters upon it. Being curious, he asked, pointing to the lettering: "That is my name. T suppose?" "No. 'Scliption.** was the Chinaman's bland reply. '"Lil ol' man, close-eyed, noteet'!" The steel darts used by the aviators with the Allies, referred to several times in the cables, are an ounce in wieght, and discharged by dropping a thousand at a time. Dropped from a height of 500 feet these darts will penetrate through a man and horse. It. is anticipated by some who are in a position to form a correct opinion that the price of beef will' be extremely high next winter, for the reason that the works are now killing cattle that are really only in store condition, thus drawing on supplies that would ordinarily be ready for killing by the winter.—Auckland Star. ti. :- a„ !.- 1 i / j.K_ /~n..-.x

It is to no hoped (says the Christchuroh Press) that New /jealand troops going to the front will be well supplied with tincture of iodine, and taught how to apply it to wounds. This -war has confirmed the high opinion previously held of its virtues as a sovereign specific for cleaning wounds and preventing them from developing tetanus, gangrene and other microbic diseases which swell the mortality list in the war. Many thousands of pounds have been subscribed in England to insure a full . supply of this preparation for troops, and an ingenious Frenchman has invented a little tube, about the size of a pencil, containing a supply of iodine, and a brush or pad for applying ft. It is hermetically sealed, but the soldiers having the use of only one hand can break the bulb and apply the dressing. Two hundred saloons where intoxicants were sold in Minnesota were closed for ever on the evening of November 11th, the United States Supreme Court having issued a decree to that effect. In 1885, an Indian tribe, in a treaty with the United States, in extinguishing their titles to the said lands, made such provision which the highest judicial tribunal in America has just interpreted. Decision of the Supreme Court and the action of States will soon, by legislation of Congress, make prohibition universal, so far as this Government is concerned. The Union Company's popular Ta hiti, effectually disguised as H.M.X.Z.T No. 4 came alongside at Port Chalmers on Sunday morning showing every sign of having had a lengthy spell at sea. The voyage "with the New Zealand troops to Alexandria had been a most successful one. There was no sickness on the voyage, and' out of 282 hor.sos only three were lost. Good weather was experienced. The Tahiti reached Alexandria on December 3, and immediately disembarked the men, sailing again on the return voyage next day The value of manure for mangles, even in virgiu soil,^is strikingly shown by an experiment carried out by Mr J. C. N'eill, "Tirvean," "Weraroa. The mangles sown with superphosphate in virgin soil have come away without a miss and are of a good size already. It is pretty safe to say that there is no other crop of mangles in the district equal to them. Here and there Ma- Neill put in a few rows without the superphosphate. The young plants in those rows are weak looking while in a lot of places no plants of anykind appeared. Levin Defence Kifle'.C'lub'lias not obtained its ammunition .grant for 1913-14 yet, but it is hoped that the Defence Department will "send it along this month. In that event the class-firing and competitions will be started on Saturday, 23rd. January. A practice match for the Fresh Food and Ice Oo.'s Cup will be fired on 30th January. This cup is competed for annually. Irne dates for this year's contest are the 20th and 27th February. A meeting

of the Levin Defence Rifle Club was held on Thursday night, when comment was made on the fact that although ammunition had not been obtainable in Levin and other country districts '"or at least six months' past, the "Wellington Oity Rifle Clubs hare been firing matches regularly every week since November last. It is often claimed that the small birds have done away with the caterpillar post in New Zealand., but the periodic visitations of the latter sho»v that this is not so. In the Wairarapa caterpillars have recently appeared among the crops, and a number of farmers have been compelled to cut their oats while still green in order to save them for feeding purposes. Practical farmers contend that it is the cultivation of the land and more or less heavily stocking with sheep that has done more to get rid of the caterpillar ' pest than small birds, and the best evidence that this is the correct view is that the invasion of caterpillars come | from uncultivated lands, where they have found a safe harbour. Notwith- ' standing that the caterpillar does con- ' siderable damage periodically, it is sur- ' prising how little is known of its habits except when .they become obnoxious, ' and no explanation has been forthoom- ( ing why the pest should make its inva- ' sion into crops only in occasional years. J He jests at colds who always uses j "Nazol." Nothing so pleasant, so v speedy, so sure as ''Nazol" in ouring t coughs and colds. Splendid for ohil- i dren. Is 6d pea- bottle of 60 doses. j

The Limestone Island cement works at Whangarei were destroyed by fire on Wednesday last. The loss is estimated at £80)000. The New tioutli Wales v. South Australia cricket match played at Sydney tor the Sheffield Shield provided •an exciting finish, the former winning by 16 runs. Jn a letter to the Mayor of Wellington (Mr J. P. Luke) Mr Nbrman Kirkcaldic, of Levin, says:—! am enclosing a cheque of £o towards the Mayor's J?'und for the purchase of any articles or luxuries that will make the stay of tlio reinforcements of the Expeditionary Force in camp at Trenth'am more agreeable. A similar contribution will be made each month during the continuance of the Avar." Minnie Bonaface with a family of five small children. trooped into the Keilding Court on Tuesday to answer a charge of using indecent language. Tho accused l was the noisic&ulefendant the Court has held for soiispfime, -and neitTfer the Bench, the clerk, nor ilie police could keep her quiet. When' asked whether she would elect to be dealt with summarily or by jury, she replied "Oil. just please yourself; I don't mind." She kept up a running fire of comment during the whole aF the proceedTngg, and while witnesses were giving evidence called down the divine curse on them. There waa no doubt in the minds of the Bench of the woman's guilt, and they convicted her and ordered her to come up for sentence when called upon. The Levin Borough Councillors have agreed more than once that noxious weeds should be rooted out, and the Horowhenua County Council at its last meeting said that tho Noxious Weeds Act should be enforced throughout the whole County. If the stories anent the rapid growth of the noxious blackberry vine are true, Councillors will soon have to enforce the Act personally and carry slashers to cut their way to the door of the Council offices through a junglo of blackberry, and the Town Clerk and County Clerk will have to place a ladder against tho wall of the

building and enter through a hole in the roof. This, of course, providing that the young blackberry vine at present growing under the County Clerk's window in the Council offices, grows as fast as some travellers say blackberry vines do. —■—■*