LOCAL & GENERAL

Horowhenua Chronicle, 8 April 1916, Page 2

LOCAL & GENERAL

The total nf the a mounts passed for piiymont to-day by flie Horowlienua County Council came to £827 2s 3d. The United States used to bo lookt'd upon as the land tmni whence emanated "tall storiea," but evidently Kiißland i« waking up, .pidgin'.;: l>v a paragraph that appeared in "The I'oor pic." Sunday, January I6th. w.hich read as follows :—"Complaining of the refuse at Guston. near Dover, a district councillor says that the. rats there "row near>v ns largo a-s rabliits. One lady found." to her horror, she had foeon stroking a large rat in the twilight "i mistake for a cat."

Application for a license lor a motor lorry, for passengers and general carrying purposes was mado by J. It. Woutnee, junior, oi loltomaru. Levui Co-operative Dairy Company, Ltd., will pay out Is 3u£d per lb 'or March bn-tterfat, and 2d additional for A ovembor . buttertat supply. It is reported that a fatal case o. infantile p.tralysin occurred at Oiiau yest«rdiay„ 'the uctim ueing a Maori ciiikt. Dalge.y and Company Limited, draw attention in this issue to a sale on Wednesday the 12th Aprii, oi' very valuable sites situated in_ the heart oi Levin Borougu. The sale will take place in the Town Hall Levin, at 11.30 a.m. on the date mentioned. Excursion tickets to J'uliuerstoH racws will tie issued on the railways on »\ ednesday and Thursday nexu Speciair trams will be run. .Eull details are set out by advertisement on page 3. The subjects of the addres.se- to he dekivoivd by the Uev„ \V. H. E. Abbey in the Century Hall, Levin, tomororw, are advertiser. 1 ! in our columns. In the morning the text will be "Let him that thinketh he standeth taJceheed lest lie fall" (the paradox ol an equilibrium). The evening text wii be "Lovest Thou Me" (the true orthodoxy;. All seats are tree and everybody is cordially invited to meet m worship and praise. Tlio Levin Brass Hand will resume its open air concerts this evening, and will plav the following program in Oxford street, beginning at 8 o'clock: — March. The Guards: valse, Sunflower; march, Empress of the "Wave; selection. Ala-. Those Chimes (from Montana) • march. Greater-intor-Ocean; ma i ch. My Pretty Jane; God tfave the King. According to inlovmation luriiished to the liorowheniia County Council by ihe Valuation Department the capital value of the Tokomciru riding is £l.t)U>, ,>59 made up of £7o i 2A'2 l J unimproved value andi L"2U4,'230 the value of the improvements. An excellent demand far poultry exists in Wellington just now, and high pi ices are being realised at auction ;or all good birds. In anticipation of the Easter demand, the Earmers' to-operaiive Distributing Co. Ltd. wili hold a special sale on Eridav next. 11th April. Any poultrymen of Levin and district who has entries to make for the sale-should rail his stock by Thursday next or earlier. The presence ol the opposum in the orchards in the Albany (AuckVmd) disi riot is more noticeable in a season like the present one when the crop is below the average (says the ">>ov ZeaJand Herald''). A lew years ago the jmarsupial was rarely met with south ol Lucas Creek or Albany River, though i'urlv numerous in the bush on tlie north side of that stream. Now it is to be found, and is very numerous, in all the plantations, orcl.arus and paicnes , f native bush between Albany and, Birkenhead. It* depredations in a«l the Albany orchards have been pronounced The opossum is one of the most difficult creatures to hurt, as it it active onlv at ni'rht time. There are orchards ne.'i'' Alboiiv adjoining clumps oi native l,u.h where no fruit is ever harvested, the opossum taking tue whole eiop.

The annual migratory flight .of mutioll birds past the Ocean Beach W been watc.'.ed with interest by bt. Clair residents tlii- week (says an exchange). Millions of birds must nave been "travelling. They fly in order, mostly about four or live .abreast, some times six never less than three, and mnks scorn to info? evenly (-paced, jiour aft'-r hour, nearly all the week, the winged host has streamed across, neither the front nor the rear m sigru. These birds hove a sense which is denied to human intellect. A sensation was caused at_l< itro.v last night bv what appears at present to he ■hoodhimi-ni of th~ worst type (.savs the • f Tarnu ald Herald"). Shortly alter 7 o'clock a succession ol heartlendiing cries was heard and were continued" for quite a of hours, evidently fr.'in a man in distress. As it, was plainly heard in a 'number ol houses quite a large party set out., accompsinied by the locaii constable, and searched the lupins, beach, ana the banks of the Vainakaiho river. Five men forded the river to their discomfort, by which time the hoaxer had thought, better of hi* follv for the cries were he/ird 110 longer. The search party, which consisted of nbout_ twenty persons '•> to he cmimemlied 011 its zeal, hut if the perpetrator o! the apparent hoax falls into the hands of some 01 his would-be" benefactors he will Oe sorry for his senseless act. Statistics collected by Trade Commissioner in New Zealand regarding the number of motor cars and motor cycl?s registered in this countv during the year ending December 3ist. 191-), 1 show' that the former total 4106 andi the hitter 201-1. Of these totals the United Kingdom manufacured 883 ears and 224<1 motor cycles:, the United, States 1562 cars and 248 cvcY's : Canada 1371 ears and 110 cycles: France 156 ears and 1 cycle: Belgium 43 ears and 39 cycles; Germany 9 ears and 2 cycles: Italy 31 cars and no cycles: Switzerland", no motor ears Jnit 15cycles: unclassified 40 and 52: and unknown IT of each machine, The machines ere distributed; as follows. Auckland and Poverty Hay 812 cors and 36! cycles; Hawke's Bav 4-I5 cans and 287 cvcles : AVel'intrton Bangitikei and Wairnrann 936 cars and 69fi cycles: Xplsou and Marboroucrb 12-1 cors nrtrl ;>9 cycles: Canterbury 791 env= and 080 cvcles ; Weptlnnd 25 cars and J1 cycles J Ota go and Southland o.W cars and 297 cycles. While John PatTerson, a carter emplnvedi at Mi - AVilian Hunter's flax,mill in Redan Valley, was driving a five-horse waggon loaded with ten boles of dressed flax and seven bales ot vow

alone; the district road to Wyndham railway station, he suddenly became aware of the proximity of heat and smoke (states the Wyndham "Former"). A strong, diry wind was b'owing at- the time in the opposite way to that in which the waggon was proceeding. hence it ws that l'il terson did not realize sooner that hip lbad had eausrht fire and when ho turned to 111 vesti< Y ato he found the -n domes., and "it was utterly b, yoiid phvsica, possihilHv I" extinguish the fh'i'iesfn a (.ri<v the highly inflammable Stuff was sonriue hish in icmited tuhs whici. fell nil around. The excited loam had broken into a rr.nllon. 'indi as the woasron passed Mr JY 1 ' I '''" 1 . 0 ," 11 s houso, lumps of burnm ■; fibre 101 l on to Ihe gorse hedge, on whH< t !•<";. l ,ryc >iVv until beaten out by help Ironi the h'ouso. Meanwhile the horses Had lipr", pulled up in a ho'lo- road lino and Patterson wit" ;* sot - |,o ,1 IW Bfvnnd UO < animals l.oi' O- si>htlv se-rel -d. uo r'.pirv nnp-Ver-1 to »!•..' +™.u. Th- woodwork oi thi' •■■a< T,r on howerer. w-,s .nirnedi to a oin.l r.'and the spol; > one wheel jiV.i stiff'' red .

/ Nineteen motor cars and thirty motor cycles were registered by the florowhernta County Council in the twelve moatts ending 31st December, 1915. llio question ol sentiimeiita.l value wu« u point put lor warn yesterday by counsel 111 the Vincent load Commission conducted by JWLr C. C. ivottie, b.M. (,says an Aucidaiid exchange;. 'iiie Commissioner, commenting on the poini, remarked that it, lor example, an oak tree had boon planted by the ixiug, and later the ground upon which the tree stood required* lor public works, the tree could not be allowed to remain in the way of public interest. -Mrs Le Grande (,nee Constance Baruicoat), writing from Switzerland to the Christcliurch Press, says:—lt must not be for a moment imaginod that Germany ii~ in such difficulties as to be in any way thinking of not continu'ng the war. .She is inconvenienced, but a stronger term „s lianlly appropriate. Exactly how strong slie i.s financially is a matter upon whicli even financial experts ore unable to arrive at very definite conclusions, and it is doubtful whether even German financiers could, save for a few of them, be very positive either. The AVangauui Education Board is pushing on its practical ngricuiiural instruction with most sntiiactory results and forty boys were recently camped on Mr Ernest Short's farm d't Aorangi undergoing their annual instruction (says the "Mnnawatn Standard"). Some satisfactory results have ensued during the present season. The Marton School farm threshed lit) bushels of wheat from their wheat plot. Apart from the Board .schools, the Palmerston High School is also doing good work in this direction, and the experimental - plot near Hokowhitu produced a good crop of potatoes, half a ton bfring ding in one week from one of the gardens. In both cases the work of preparing the ground and sowing and reaping was carried out by the boys.