Local and General

Horowhenua Chronicle, 5 February 1916, Page 2

Local and General

« Mr P. N. Dent-on, who spent over ten years in India, the land of mystery and temple, of shrine ana wonder, wil! give nil interesting talk on that beautiful country in the Oenturv Hall on Wednesday next at 8 when 130 lantern views will be shown, by •way of illustration. Mr Denton had exceptional opportunities of seeing good pictures and the evening with him ought to be most interesting.

The manager of the Levin gasworks (Air A. Burrell) will be absent from Levin next week, ou a week's leave.

Owing to the ausence oi several 01 its leading players the Levin Bra<is Band lias been compelled to postpone the concert usually given" on the first Saturday in every month. A petition in favour ol mixed banning at Lev id public; baths has bean oiueuluiled in iLcviu and. signed by a fairly large numoer 01 people. j .k matter is likely to come up tor discussion at next meeting oi Levin Borough Council. The oases brought by L. J. liarkiii is and George lie van respectively, tis reparate plain tills, against James Mi-Lei lau, uP"Otaki Dairy Jj'ac.tory, •wore re furred to in yesterday's C'iironicle as 'being brought against James McDonald, late manager to the Company. This was not so; the only case brought against this defendant wa.s that oi l\ V. Brown, heard hist DeceiU'ber. Frank Rumsoy, who has resided in Otaki for the past -It) years, diedi in the local hospital oil Tuesday. Deceased, who wa.s about- 70 years of ag,->, came to .New Zealand when almost a youth, and was known by all the old residents 011 the coast between Foxtail and Wellington. In earlier days he was recognised as a splendid bushinan and a.ll expert with the axe. In fact, competent critics says that he had not an equal 011 the whole coast as a bushfeller, sawyer, post and rail splitter, etc., and being a man of exceptionally line physique, was a great worker.— Otaki Mail.

A Mas Lor ton. Jmm who recently r urchased a fruit farm is inr from satisfied. lie states that lie lias come to the conclusion that lruit is intended f or small birds and not for liumiiu consumption. Jfiarly in the season the whole of his cherries, were taken. Then his red currants disappeared. Afterwards strawberries and raspberries went', and now liis plums and apples are being destroyed in a wholesale manner. "The birds are worse than rabbits," he says. "1 expect them soon to make an attack upon my po 1 " itoes. Unless something is done to destroy the small birds, J. am satislied that the fruit industry in New Zealand can never be a success.''

According to the News a striking little scene was enacted in Oai'terton, which resulted in two resruits marching to the Recruiting Office with a military escort 01 two. The two civilians engaged the soldiers in conversation, and a little later the soldiers weie going through their drill according to orders given theui by t£e ■civilians. Then the soldiers told .lie civilians to "fall in," and proceeded to put them "through their paces. As the drill was Hearing its completion, onb of the soldiieis, in the tyle most approved of in the army, bawled.

"-Now- then, you two, right-ebonl. face, to the Recruiting Office, quick inarch,'' and the men stepped out boLctly. .Ten mfinutes later they -were passed by the doctor, and are now accepted soldiers of the King.

A well-known .Me Ui veil farmer, speaking to u reporter recently, sa'.a he considered a great deal too "much had been made out of the alleged shortage of labour for harvest work. If or himself he had/ upwards ot a, thousand acres under crop, and he had experienced not the smallest trouble in obtaining all the labour which lie required, and what was more, the cla-ss of labour which was offering was decidedly better than in many yeais past, when large numbers ot tjrTfte incompetent men applied for harvest work." As far as his experience went, the men offering their services this season were much more efficient than formerly, the -so-called wasters being the exception and not the rule. 'I interms offered hy fanners, Is 3d per hour, were readily accc.pted, the men made no complaints, and he was satisfied they honestly earned their wages. —(.'liristc'hureh Star.

In tllie course ol conversation with a Siandard representative, Mr A. lii. Salisbury, Government Poultry lustricto), who is in Palmerston at present, said lie considered that the parauiouni need of the poultry industry at tJie present time is co-operation amongst pi oducers. It is Absolutely imperative, he says, if they are to get a fair return for their labour, that they organise in marketing their produce. The poultry keepers are the only unorganised producers, and they were up

mgainst organisation in both their buying and selling. He referred xo the good work which lias been done by egg circlet!, wherever they have been given fair sujppomt. lie instanced certain districts he had recently visited in winch the old time order of things still existed i.e., the storekeepers buying up all the eggs at their own prije, iind bartering! them for poultry foods, which they also Charged their own price for. In these places thousands ef poultry have been sacrificed at ridiculously low prices, and the industry is practically lion-existent to-dlay. Oil the other hand, he gave instances of places where egg circles existed, where the producers were obtaining remunerative prices for their eggs, and the industry was progressing satisfactorily. The egg circle movement is merely the initial step towards o sound organisation eimongst poultry keepers, which it is to he hoped will he brought aVout when the time is ripe for it.