GENERAL NEWS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 444, 2 March 1912, Page 7

GENERAL NEWS.

An amusing anecdote told of an old master of Eton named Day. A hir" boy named Coles, who was reputed to°be a bit of a '•swell," went on some errand into Oay s elassioom and stoon magnificently by the (lour, llie master looked at him long and hard. "What is your name? - ' he asked at last. "Co"les, sir,'' said the confident youth in resonant tones. "Then, Coles ,you may scuttle!" was the devastating reply.

The report of the Canadian. Dairy Commissioner for 1910-11, just received calls attention to great progress in the cow-testing movement, now carried out on an organised sya tem; but now they are applying in increasing numbers for information and the blank forms for keeping records. Some remarkable results have been obtained from testing cows and getting rid of poorer yielders, in creases in average yield in four year ranging up to 50 per cent, being recorded.

Mrs E. 11. Ilarriman, who, on being told that the offices of the Harriman Railroads had been destroyed in the great New York fire coolly remarked, "Well, I guess no fire can destroy the railroads,' 7 is believed to be the richest woman in the world. Her husband, the "railway king," died rather more than two years ago, leaving a fortune of something like £00,000,000 came to Mrs Harriman, besides a good deal of house property. The Harriman fortune Was the largest ever left in a single estate in America. The nearest approach to it was the sum of £40,000,000 left by Mr Marshall Field. Mr Cornelius Vanderbilt left £25,000.000 and Mr Henry Rogers £20,000,000. Mr Weightman, of Philadelphia, left a fortune of £16,000,000, and Mr Russell Sage's will disposed of £13,000,000. In recent years many large fortunes have been left, but even in America anything over £10,000,000 is exceptional.

The total import of colonial wool into the United Kingdom during the past year has been 1,750,943 bales, as against 1,721,330 in the previous year, the direct shipment from the colonies to the Continent and U.S.A. having been 1,123,500 bales in 1911, as against 1,066,500 in 1910. Of the year's import, 842,000 bales were landed in transit to various manufacturing centres as against 937,000 in 1910. All told in London 967,398 bales have passed the hammer during the vear in six series of sales, and about 363.000 bales were taken hence for France, Germany, Belgium, U.S.A., Austria, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, Russia, etc., in competition with the home trade who have thus taken considerably more than, half the quantity sold.

We had always understood (says the North British Agriculturist) that the prodcution of butter m Ireland was going up by leaps and bounds since the establishment of creameries in that country. But, according to a question in the House of Commons, the opposite is the case. At any rate the exports are going down, and that, is substantially the same thing. Mr Russell in the question referred to said the export of butter from Ireland in 1900 was 4,383,4371b, and in 1910 it had fallen to 3,584,8101b. While the export was diminishing continuously at that rather alarming rate, the tendency of the import trade was upwards, and the increase was 127,6701b in five years. Mr J. Redmond asked whether the hon. gentleman could give any reason for the diminution in exports. Mr Russell said he thought there were very plain reasons. In the first place there was no system of winter dairying in Ireland, the trade being practically shut down to four months in the year; and, in the second place, there was ths still more fatal reason that a large quantity of the creamery butter in the English market was not creamery butter°at all. Unfortunately the creamery had departed from, the original conception of the founders, and now they had imported butter into the creameries which was blended, and sent over to the English markets would not have it. He hoped, with the permission of the Prime Minister, to be abie to introduce a Bill next session which had received the support of the butter industry.