LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1656, 30 December 1916, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

'the cost to New Zealand of the military occupation of Samoa to November 30th last totalled £291,7SO.

A Daunevirke man who presented nimselt tor medical examination at Masterton stood ()ft. (ifins in Ins stockings.

To-morrow evening the Horough Hand will render a programme at (he beach, returning to Foxton in time to “play the old year our.”

Says the Napier Telegraph: It is said dial, on the arrival home of Mr Massey and Sir Joseph Ward, two Ministers will leave the Cabinet.

Owing-to the largely increased cost of production since the war commenced, the Levin paper has decided to publish three times a week instead of daiiv.

A single pound of radium, which you could pul in your jacket-pocket, contains sis much energy as a miiliou and a-half tons of coal, and would he amply sufficient to propel a battleship of 15,000 tons for thirty years at a speed of fifteen miles an hour.

Napier residents have been warned to he economical with the use of water, because there is a danger of a water famine. The engineer in charge of the waterworks has reported that some 200,000 gallons of water were taken from the low reservoir between (5 p.m. and (5 a.in. one night last week.

A rise in the price of new boots and in the cost of repairs to old ones is forecasted. This is attributed to the increased price of leather and findings used in bootmaking. It is anticipated that the hoot manufacturer's will revise their prices for the new year and show a very substantial advance. The working bootmaker must necessarily follow suit.

Several shareholders of the Feilding Freezing Company, who have recently put their lambs through the works, have found themselves credited with from two to three pounds per head more than ever they had before, having saved by means of the local works .the weight previously lost in carriage. The gross addition lo the cheque therefore has been very pleasing. “There will he plenty of money in circulation shortly,” so a prominent commercial man assured a Gisborne pressman, when discussing the purchase of the wool elij) by the Imperial Government. Sheepfarmers, he pointed out, would receive their wool cheques fourteen days after valuation, and ns the second catalogue is being' submitted next week, a considerable sum will shortly he paid over locally on the initial purchases.

A definite refusal to hear a ease, on the ground that it involved a criminal charge against a dead man. was made at the Supreme Court at Auckland on (Saturday by Mr Justice Hosking. “The allegations." said His Honour, “are such that if the man were alive he could he put in the dock without parley. When a man is accused in that way he has a right of trial by twelve of his fel-low-eilizens, and it is according to custom to give him the same privilege after he is dead. There is no hi w against libelling a dead man, but his integrity should he protected as far as possible.” An adjournment to (he February sittings was then ordered, and His Honour directed that the case be tried by a common jury of twelve.

One of the worst [tests of tomatoes is the tomato moth (says a writer in the Hawke s Bay Herald). It belongs to the cutworm moths (Agr i) I is, Heliothis, etc.). These caterpillars hide just under the soil in the day time, and at night come up and eat the tomatoes. At other times, the moths deposit their eggs on the tomatoes, and the young, as soon as they emerge, commence to bore into the tomato, and in a very short time the inside is eaten out. The caterpillars are about an inch long, of a dirty brownish colour. They are usually curled up under the soil. The female moths hide in the day time under wood, old bags, weeds, etc., and in the evenings fiy about from plant to plant, depositing their eggs. Poisoned baits can he used, which are made as follows:—Bran 101 b, molasses 41b, Paris green 4 oz. The whole is to he made into a paste °f dough, and placed in small piece* about the size of a nut amongst le tonmlo plants; this will destroy cutworms wholesale. The tomatoes themselves should be sprayed "’ith arsenate of lead, but should he washed before using.

Why bother making cakes when there is such a good assortment a Perreau’s V

The “Herald” will notT'tyc l lished on Tuesday next, Local business (dosed on .Monday and % Tuesday next, January Ist and 2ufH; (treat destruction Jr’ 1 ’ 1 * done to potato crops in th® l, nekohe (Auckland) district by! kliit week’s rains. Many tons of washed out and carried, by the water over the low ground below Pnkekohe Hill. Many crops have been irretrievably ruined, and the losses to growers are considerable. The Ashburton Guardian states that the frost has played havoc with several of the wheat crops in the Killinchy district, and more 2 J:ir " ticularly those grown on the heavy peaty soil. In one instance a whole emp of 30 acres was, on examination, found to he devoid of any sign of grain, and the owner, on making the discovery, promptly cut it for cliatf. What is regarded by the Christchurch Sun as an illustration of the relaxation of (he standard of medical examination of men ‘ for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, under the present system, is the fact that one of the Christchurch men drawn in the first ballot and passed as (it for active service abroad, had enlisted seven times under the voluntary system, and had been rejected as unlit each time. A man who was accused by the Wellington Acclimatisation Association of pouching for trout is reported to have said that he disliked llie idea of being prosecuted, because he wits a Sunday school teacher. One of the members of the Society says he agrees with the man that Sunday school teaching and pouching did not go well together. He thought, the man ought to decide which of tlte two he was going in tor. In a will ease that was before the Native Land Court at Gisborne, it transpired that the testatrix, an old Maori woman, in order to induce tier son to refrain from going to the front, promised that he should have a motor ear. The motor ear was purchased, but had not yet been paid for, and the husband was anxious to get possession of tlie estate in order to’ make the necessary financial arrangements to pay for the son’s motor ear. The Court suggested that perhaps now the restraining influence of the mother was removed the young man might want to go to the front. The father shook his head and appeared very doubtful about it. The second of the series of “Stingaree’’ pictures was screened at the Town Hall pictures last night, and wilt be repeated this evening. This episode proved very interesting and entertaining, and tells bow Stingaree, holding- the people at pistol point, compels his former sweet- . heart to sing, and thus secure her' engagement with the musician’s (Sir Julian) company. An endeavour is made by Clarkson to shoot the outlaw, but this is prevented by Ethel, his sweetheart, who extracts tiie cartridges from Clarkson’s revolver during the entertainment. The other itms of the programme completed a strong selection, and included a very amusing Vitagraph comedy, “The Shabbies,” featuringthe favourites of the screen, Lillian Walker and Wally Van. The extent to which Japanese traders have benefited by the war is disclosed by iignres given in the Japanese Times. It states that.for* the half-year ended June 30th the combined net profits of (58 leading firms in Japan amounted to £9,241,000, and the average dividend was 15.8 per cent. The lion’s share was obtained by shipping concerns, seven of which account for £2,527,000. Eight sugar companies obtained £1,810,000 on a capital of £5,477,000, and cotton companies earned £1,35(5,000 on a capital of £(5,191,000. All the concerns included in the investigations have increased their dividends in proportion to their expanded incomes, and, at the same time, large additions have been made to their reserves. With these results in front of them it is not surprising that taxpayers suggest that a levy should be made from war profits. During the sitting of the Uaihvny Appeal Hoard at Dunedin last week, the question arose of the charges made for afternoon tea on the dining cars. U was stated that the Department had had to increase its charges in the North Island for ternoon tea because on some oli lines the people using the dining oa r were in the habit of making a hearty meal for (sd, and the Department was losing money by the large quantity of food which they consumed. So far as could be gathered front the discussion which ensued, jj. ' would appear that on the South ■ land lines afternoon tea —that a cup of tea and sandwiches — (id. If, however, the passenger dosires a “pot” of lea for himself, that costs (id; jam costs another 3d, and v the sandwiches or cakes, a further 3d, so that in this case the repast actually means an expenditure of Is. Mr Haseldeu, 8.M., said he had been under the impression that the \ absence of jam on the table was because t| ie attendants were so busy (hat they purposely omitted to p ut it on Hie table. He had never tjeeu* anyone “hogging” iL -As stated a bove, the complaint of “over-eat big” as it wen*, was practically UOJI ' * hued to certain lines in the V/w.' Island. ° rtli - Wanted Known. —Come all the seasonable Emits and p Se ® fee lions, and all the good thin ° Q ' cat, that we have secured for ’Xmas.—Walker and-' Foxton.

iSaMr*** '***'' - A JL) n, ' lL ,L ife ‘{Minister for B otciuaD, received advice Yesterday \morning (hat the 18th ■ Reinforee%tents have arrived at'their destina--1J"m t “All well.” the three days races at a '%iip»m this week, the totalisalor P«tA through £105,719. The total >wir was .1.76,503, the increase u |>iiage of money in this district is ■apspareat. I Sugar mills at Honolulu which prior to the war were practically /bankrupt are now paying dividends, .according to Mr C. C. McMillan, j ’who returned to New Zealand by the ‘l last week. The whole conn--1 * r -V has been taken up, he states, and the banana plantations are also paying handsomely. After the war a reaction is expected, when the •sugar cane again (mines into competition with the beet. That (he war is exerting a marked influence upon this country is becoming more evident daily. The Minister for Public Works, (the Hon. \\. Fraser) made some comment bearing upon this matter to an Auckland Star reporter. He mentioned thav works in hand are being prejudicially affected by the luck of engineers and labourers. In common with the experience of other industries, an acute shortage of steel supplies is also being felt. The Minister considers that there is no prospect of securing supplies of this valued metal until the war ends. At present such huge quantities of steel are being utilised by the Mother Country in the manufacture of munitions and for other important military purposes that none can be exported.