LOCAL AND GENERAL

Horowhenua Chronicle, 6 March 1915, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The man, Walter Albert West, who was shot four times by Alice May Parkinson, at Napier, died yesterday afternoon. The condition of the woman, who a tempted suicide immediately after shooting West, shows an improvement. The case of Donovan v. the King, which was to be heard at Invercargill Supreme Court this montn, has been settled for £1030. It was a claim lor £xooo damages arising out of a collision uotween two railway engines at Dunedin, as a result or which plaintirt s husband, a fireman, was killed. Speaking to a Chronicle representative yesterday a resident of Manakau stated that the Manakau cTTsiTict was looking very well and feed was abundant, in fact the past season was one of the best experienced in that district In common with other places the milk suply at the local cheese factory 1* now declining. \\ ord has been receive'.! in Bulls by Mr J. McDonald, of the. death of his son, Alister McDonald, who left New Zealand for England with a consignment of horses, and then joined the foreign Legion. Ho was working ■■; battery with 18 others near Antwerp when they were blown to pieces with a shell'. A garden party is to be held on the grounds of Mrs James Prouse, Quo .'istreet. Levin, on March 24th. Details will be set out by advertisement in a Future issue of The Chronicle. The gathering js being arranged by lie local Methodist Church. Messrs Abraham and Williams Ltd. wish to draw attention to the fact tha'. they will auction some 401 bs of ripe graphs (kindly donated by Mr Peter Stewart; and the proceeds to gr. *<> ihe Belgian relief fund tin Saturday evening at about 8 o'clock m fro.it of ti.e Post Office. A large atten.ian « is requested as the object is a food one, and worthy.of patronage.

A large quantity ol Hour ground from the recently-imported Canadian wheat is finding its way to Levin, and it is stated that the baKers are not completely sat islied uitii it, one baker returned some of it that nad been sent to him. People who have seen vim-

u.'s of the wheat declare that •, small and shrivelled and they are not .surprised at the flour not proving altogether satisfactory.

The following ladies and men have Kindly promised to contribute musical ■tenis at the sale of work tor the Melanesian Mission, to be held on Wednesuuy next, 10th inst., at the Century riali, Levin.—Misses V. and B. Remington, 1. Pink, F. Gardiner, McNiclde; Mesdames Gardener and (J. B. Collier: Messrs Smith and rJinton and others, items ijy tlvise performers, in addition to the children's pageant, should make a very ei.joyable programme.

A " •cut-price" list oi meat issued b,> a nrm of butchers in Dundee, ticotland, snouii to the Chronicle oy Mr James uaidie, of Levin maKes interest'.ig reading. It is not a, special list ot prices to meet the deneiencies caused iy tiie war, for the date shown on u s -July, 1013. Prices are as follow -

met steak Is 5d lb, bono steak Is Id, round steak Is 2d; roast (rib end) Is .in, shoulder Is, roast beef lid, s'\ c oeei 10d. inince (sausage-meat) lOd anu Is; hough (sliiu) itd lb; sausago

• and 8d; boiling beef 10d, or with ■joiu- Sd: suet Bd.; Mutton. —Best loin ciiops is 2d, best gigot (hind leg) chops is iu, gigots in cuts Is Id. shoulder ..-;. boiling mutton 9d.

Some reminiscences of the introduction of rabbits into south New Zealand were given to a Southland paper a few days ago by Mr William Woods, an )ld settler. Asked what he had to do with bringing the first rabbits to New Zealanu Mr Woods .said he landed at BlufF in the s.s. Alhainbra in about 1866 "s servant to Captain Brown, of Belmont station, and.they brought the first rabbits into Southland, liberating theni it Belmont. Captain Brown wanted <:o make Belmont like a Home estate and remarked to Mr Woods; Well, Billy, you see wo will have a oeaiitiful turnout in two or three years." "But it was a turn out of another kind," remarked Mr Woods, "beeau.se the rabbits soon ate him out of the place and he had to return to England a poor man. By the 70's the district was over-run with the pest and farmers were at their wit'.s end to cope with the evil. As a lost resource the land owners decided to offer a bonus of 15s per 100 rabbits killed upon their stations. Some managers decided that the tails would be .sufficient, while others stipulated for the scalps. The rabbiters began to see money in the business without any effort upon their part. They commenced to sell the tails to one man and the senilis (of the same rabbit) to the man over the fence, and farmers were fleeced of hundreds of pounds befor they 'tumbled' to the game." For some time the Government offered i bonus of id skin upon skins exported from New Zealand. Castlerock station alone in 18 months exported over 1,000.000 skins, and netted over £2000 from the bonus, apart from the sale of the skins.

Weather permitting, it is the intention of Messrs 13. C. Aston, R. W. McTilly and W. H. Field, M.P., to cross the Tara-ruas at the end of this week, w it'll Messrs Maxton and Shanley of | the Greyfcown committee. The party purposes, leaving Greytown at daylight on Saturday and hope to reach Otaki on Sunday night. A good deal of work lias been done on the \Vairarapa side Tms year, the track being so much improved that hoises can bo taken as far as. Mt. Alpha, where a hut is being erected. On the Otaki side the committee, of which Mr Morgan Carkeek is chairman, has not been inactive. Ti'ie money suplied by the Govormneit aiiiT uy private subscription, for the hm at Table Top and improvement of the track, has not yet been spent owing to unavoidable delays. It is hoped, however, to erect a hut the plans of which have been suplied by the Tourist Department, and do something lurtner to the track before the autumn is over. A committee has also been formed .a Upper Hutt, where I>r Kemp has b>'on interesting himself in the matter, ior the purpose of improving the track irom Pakuratahi ,up the Quoin bridge, to Mt. Alpha, and so connect with the Otaki-Greytown track, thus supplying an alternative and highly attractive trip It is intended to construct other branch tracks later on to further open up the magnificent mountain and river «oenery of the Tararuas.