The Chronicle LEVIN. FRIDAY, JUNE 2, 1916. LOCAL & GENERAL

Horowhenua Chronicle, 2 June 1916, Page 2

The Chronicle LEVIN. FRIDAY, JUNE 2, 1916. LOCAL & GENERAL

:- :The Chronicle will be published as usual un Saturday (to-morrow), lint will observe Monday next as a tuil holiday, in honor of the anniversary ot the birthday oi iving George V. A special clause in the Factories Act exempts newspapers from the requirements that in factories generally the holiday in question must be kept on the actual day so far as certain mplovees are concerned.

A Loudon cable met*.age reports that, at Xobel'-s Jixpiusive Company's meeting the chairman said that the original £100 shares were now worth £3000.

.Mi'. 13. R. .Gardenor. lion, secretary of the West Coast Farmers' Patriotic Association, desires to acknowledge t-lie receipt of the sum of £150, a donation from the lhakara Patriotic Society.

Home idea of the expenditure ol ammunition in this war may he gathered from statistics prepared by Dr Gruuwald, a scientist ot some note in Vienna. He states that lrom the outbreak of the war to the end* of 1915, the Austrian infantry had: irred 1,500,000,000 cartridges, or roughly a'bout 2,900,000 per day; whilst the Austrian artillery nad despatched in the same time 12,000,000 shells at the enemy, which averages about 23.000 per day.

Captain Pitt, U Company, First .Maori Contingent, has petitioned Parliament asking for a commission of enquiry to report on the procedure adopted in connection with nis return to New Zealand, the termination of iris military appointment, also to determine if ilie petitioner siiould be permitted to sue General uodley for libel and defamation of character. Japtain I'itt alleges that ho was ordered before a medical board withotlf warning after being eight days and niglits continuously 011 duty superintending trench digging on Ga'/ilipoii; tiiat Brig-adier-General Russell tola him, no matter what the medical uoardi found it had been arranged to send the pettioner back to Dr Gavin. The board found him medically unlit. He returned to Near Zealand, where the medical board found petitioner had heart disease brought about by hard work and devotion to duty and therefor unfit for service of any kind. A pension of £26 a year had been awarded him. Petitioner, owing to hie health, resigned from 111s position in the .Native Department. He contends that General Godley, in letters to the Minister of Defence, undiuiy influenced the Minister to his detriment.

The following is an extract from a | letter recently received trom a nurse in a military field hospital) on tlie 'north-west coast of x'ranoe:—"Our latest oxcitement is a large whale, 54ft. long, which has been washedi up on the short near here. Everyone goes down to look at it on their afternoon off- Yesterday they eTartod to out it up and remove it bit by bit, as it was getting rather nigh.' and in its inside they found a six-inch shell. 'I'j. re has been much speculation as to the cause of its death, as there was no wound on if. So i suppose it swallowed it and could not digest it; anyway the sheil is still alive, and the whale is very much dead.'' That a. deorease m the stock of the Dominion must not be allowedi was a point emphasised by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. \V. I'. Maeaey, in the course of a speech at the opening of the Wostfield freezing Company's new works. Even with the heavy exports la.st year there was, 17? said, a slight increase in the sheep flock. He doubted whether there would be this year owing not only to heavy exports, but also to drought in some districts. He wantedi to impress upon farmers, stock-owners and praotioal men the ' tact that they must produce more stpek. At the end of tlie war there would be a groat many men coming back. Positions would have to be found for them, and many would go on tlio landi. The Government would do its best to find suitable land but etook must be xorthcoming for returned men. At present there was too much wastage of stock. The Prime Minister quoted trom' a return showing that in the prov.ncial district of Taranaki, which might, ho said, be taken as a criterion for other provinces, 90,000 calves were slaughtered, last year and 55,000 reared. It was a mistake to kill off the young stock, a.nd the proportion in the ligures quoted fchould have been the other way about.

Tlie annual report and balancesheet of the Bank of l\ew Zealand for the year ending 31st-march, snows that the profits wei'o £30i,G93, 'j?ss interst on guaranteed stock £21,292, leaving £335,800. From this £50,000 has been allocated in the reduction of bank premises, etc., leaving the balance of profit for the year £285,800, which with £57,170 from Last year totals- £432,971. From this there have been paid dividends amounting to £104,297, leaving available for distribution £238,674 from which dividends on A shares amounting to £20,000 are proposed to be paid.; a dividend on ordinary £<4,908; and a three per cent bonus on ordinary and B .sUares £37,301. It ib also proposed el to transfer to the reserve £50,000, making the reserve fund £2,062,141', and to carry forward £5b,464.

New Zealand products entered tor export last week were valued at £851,910 including dairy produce £177,190 meat £373,966, hides and skins £58,305 kauri gum £20,447, and wooi £185,292.

Most enviable is the capacity to sleep in any position, which has deen attributed to Chinese soldiers. In his ' 'Chinese Characteristics, Dr Arthur H. Smith, the American missionary, says: "It would be ea6y to raise In China- an arinv of a milium men—nay. of ten millions—tested by competitive examinations as to their capacity t.o go to sleep across three wheelbarrows, with head downwards, *ike" a spider, their mouths wide open, and a fly inside. It is common for Chinese coolies to sleep balanced on tlieir carrying bamboo poles."

Dalgetv and Company, Ltd., have received the 'following caiblcgram from their Londion office dated 31st May:—Wool sales continue very firm. Good combing merinos and merino In nibs are 10 per cent, and crossbred hunlbs par to o per cent dear or than closing rates of last Bales.

The "Wellington t'roviucial Farmers' Union decided to form a company of the union's members to take over the Mauricevfiie lime works with a capital of £20,000 (£4 shares.). Some £?000 worth of new machinery will be installed. This will be capable of treating ten tons of Time per hour, as against the present output of about only twelve tons a day, whioli fails to supply the present dembnd. It is expected that the new company wil) start work at an early date. The company also hope to supply lime on immediate demand, while the lime itself will 'be very clean, viz., 98 per cent of purety. Mr W. Perry (Masterton) ihas ibeen appointed! chairman, while the provisional directors have been appointed to represent each side of the ranges, viz., the chairman, Messrs. E. C. Holmes, \v. Howard Booth, It. Gray, I. Donald and T. Aloss (Wairarapa siile) and! Messrs Hector Booth, Ed. Law, Ewara uainpbell. O. P. Lynch, and G. R. Marshall (Mana- | v.-atu side).—N.Z. Times.