LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 458, 8 May 1909, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A rarity in the form of a pure white pheasant was recently shot by Mr Thomas Gardner, ot Tariki Road, says the Stratfort Post. An Auckland volunteer officer told a Herald representative: “It would be better to go and buy lollies with the money which we are spending in firing away ammunition from such obsolete guns as we have here, or to save the money up to pay the future war indemnity.”

Subscribers are reminded that the HKRAivD quarterly accounts are issued, and we should esteem as a favour prompt settlement of same. :;:

The Westport Times states that at the meeting of the Grey County Council held last week, was received from a person who sent it as conscience money.

“ From Waihi to Rotorua, I did not meet a swagger on the road nor a man looking for work, showing that what lack of employment there is is not accentuated in the country as in the cities,” says the Hon, A. W. Hogg, who has just returned from that locality. Mr Cushen, one of the two candidates for the Mayoralty of South Invercargill, fell ill and died between the nominations and the election. The Town Clerk has been advised that he cannot declare the other candidate elected, but must countermand the poll and start de novo. There was once a man arrested on suspicion of a.geuerally fraudulent life. On him was found a map of England, and certain of the towns were marked with the initials T.W.K. The detectives who traced his career from town to town took quite a long time to discover that those letters were a personal warning, and stood for “ Too Well Known.”

A queer position in the value ot unknown lands is reported from the Waikato. Some time ago, a gentleman, who resides in Hamilton, sold a section of land near Sydney, which he had not seen for some thirty years, for a homely ten pound note. It now appears that the purchaser struck a very good thing, tor on making enquiries he found the laud, although burdened with worth of unpaid rates, was worth According to the Thames Star, the Piako district has lately been visited by the representative of a southern land company with the object of examining as to the quality of the land and as to whether it was suitable for settlement. As the result of the examination, the representative, a thoroughly practical man, was well satisfied, and his report to his principals will be a favourable one.

The Dargaville correspondent writes as follows to the Auckland Star; —The settlers are suffering considerably owing to the depredations of crickets. In the Otamatea county, especially about Paparoa, and Matakohe, crickets exist in millions, and hundreds of pounds, damage has been occasioned. Young grass is eaten as soon as it appears above the ground, and, generally speaking, vegetation just now has not much chance owing to the vivacious habits of the pest. Some time ago Mr R. B. Williams, ofW 7 inton, discovered a method of utilising flax fibre for brooms and brushware. For some time the invention has been passing through its initial stages. Mr T. R. Carroll, of Wintou, purchased Mr Williams’ rights, and after several improvements had been effected floated the new enterprise into a small private company. To exploit the new broom Mr Carroll is about to start on a tour of the Dominion. The articles are being manufactured at Riverton, and are already growing into great favour.

Varied as the contents of the Review of Reviews for Australasia generally are, the May number just to hand almost surpasses its usual excellence iu the variety and interest of the- subjects dealt with. In the Interviews of the Month is a description of a most ingenious machine by which the sex of fertile eggs may be discovered. Strange as it may seem, there appears to be no doubt about its success. “The Ocean as a Cure for Consumption ” is exceedingly interesting. The interesting article on “ Healers and Healing,” begun last month, is concluded iu the issue under review. For a world-wide view of current events the Review of Reviews is indispensable. “As I went through the various districts,” Mr Hogg said to a Herald representative on Saturday night, “ I could not help reflecting, as in the case of the King Country, that it was a most lamentable waste that so much rich laud is now lying unused on every hand. The extensive tracks of Native lands which are now producing nothing ought to be placed as soon as possible in the hands of people who will make them productive. In many of the districts that I visited, the local bodies complained to me that they are unable to collect rates upon the great bulk of the land within their boundaries, owing to it being the property of Natives.”