NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 1055, 12 October 1911, Page 4

NEWS AND NOTES.

Probably the cow which holds the highest record in the Dominion as a butter fat producer is a Holstein-Friesian in the possession of the Agriculture Department at the Weraroa Experimental Farm. From this cow last season was obtained 58510 S of butter fat, which at nd per lb works out at the splendid sum of ,£26 16s 3d. Recently the Department was offered 300 guineas for this beast, but refused the offer. At the sale of stud stock last year, after the Palmerston Show, a bull calf, from this cow, brought 75 guineas under the hammer.

Addressing the Hurt electors, a candidate remarked : “I notice some of you women are here without your husbauds. When you go home say. ‘Daddy, give him a chance ; give Richard Short a chance.’ (Laughter). And I notice some of you men hete without your wives. It’s funny how men like to go about of a night without their wives. Now, when you go home to-uight, you say; ‘Now mummy—(roars of laughter) —give Dick a chance !’ (Applause). Give me one Parliament, and if I am no good at the end of three years, crush me like a banana.” (Loud laughter).

The never-ending hunt for smuggled opium adds a sparkling interest to the lives of Customs officers, says a Melbourne journal. Rich finds are always turning up in unexpected places, and, in spite of large expenditure aud much official anxiety, the barred drug pours into the country. The Minister of Customs was apprised recently of one of the most curious of opium finds. Two parcels of religious pamphlets, printed in Chinese characters and addressed to a leading Chinese firm in Cairns, Queensland, were overcarried by the Postal Department to Sydney. Prying officials, digging deep into them, were rewarded with the discovery of charred opium, ready for smoking, buried in cavities scooped in the middle of the parcels.

At a garden fete in the East End of London recently Father Bernard Vaughan was the recipient of an address and a gunmetal watch with a shoe-string as guard. Father Vaughan (who is averse to presentations to clergy), would allow uo adult to subscribe more than a penny, and no child more than a farthing to their present to him. In an amusing speech, Father Vaughan accepted the new watch, and told a story of of woman who one day tripped after him from Farm Street Church, W., into the sacristy, exclaiming indignantly that her satchel had been stolen while she was praying. ‘‘Next time,” Father Vaughan replied to her, “when you have valuables on you, follow the Master’s advice, watch aud pray aud you will save both your temper and your satchel.”

Dominion housewives are not likely to be envious oi their sisters in Rhodesia, when it comes to a matter of paying the monthly household bills. Mr F. L. Hadfield, lecturing this week in Oamaru (says the Mail), contrasted the cost of living in Bulawayo and in New Zealand. In Bulawayo a alb loaf averages nd and meal rod per lb. Bacon costs is yd per lb, and if one’s appetite yearns tor fried eggs along with his bacon, the eggs can be procured at a price ranging up to 6s per dozen and never for less than as per dozen. Sugar costs 5d per lb, a tin oi golden syrup is 3d, and a tin of jam is, A tin ot kerosene can be purchased for 10s 6d. As against these prices mechanics throughout Rhodesia, if employed by the day, earn as high as 27s 6d per day, and if engaged by the month the average daily wage works out at about 22s 6d. The chances a single man has of saving money in the country are apparent. Band may be acquired from the Biitish South Alrlcan Company on easy terms, the prices oi unimproved being about 5s per morgen. A morgen equals roughly 2 1-5 English acres.