GENERAL NEWS ITEMS

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1956, 25 March 1919, Page 1

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS

Though Ihe biddy-biddy, or burr, causes much annoyance when it comes in contact with one’s clothes, (here is no doubt about its valuable medicinal properties. A farmer informed a Levin Chronicle representative this week that he knew of a ease where a herd of CO calves were badly attacked with scour, and all would probably have died but for treatment with biddy-biddy. The plants were pulled and boiled, and about half-a-pint was given to each calf, with a similar quantity of milk. All.the calves were saved but three. The plant is very well known to the natives for its medicinal properties.

“Report has it that Sir Thomas Mackenzie is shortly to vacate the New Zealand High Commissionership, which ho has held for many years to the satisfaction of his old friends in the Dominion and a. host of now ones which he has made here,” says (he British Australasian. “At his own request, the High Commissioner's term has been renewed as it was on the point of expiring, for only a few months at a time, but if he is really to leave us in the near future there will be widespread regret. The successor with which report credits him is Sir Francis Dillon Beil, a Xew Zealander burn in 1851, a solicitor by profession, and a politician of wide Ministerial experience. He has been Solicitor-General, and is now Leader of the Legislative Council."

Mr -I. R. Barton, R.M., nt tin 1 eonelusion of a «-ivil ease at the Gisborne, Magistrate’s Court, commented on the way in which busine. s is transacted between commercial men. There are two ways of doing business, lie said. One Is (o trust entirely to the man one is dealing with. That method involved no notes, saved much valuable time, worry and expense. It had its disadvantages, however, in that if a man's confidence was misplaced he was put to great expense it: he came to Court to enforce in’s' claim. The second way was to have an agreement in a proper form, in writing; in fact, do (he business in a systematic ntiinner. That method, however, involved lime, labour and expense, but its advantage was that in case of a disagreement and subsequent Court proceedings everything was down in black and white.

Describing a visit to (he fast-, nesses of the Crewera Country, the special correspondent of the Auckland Herald writes: “At Moungapohatu (ho country opens out somewhat, and the scenery changes, many hundreds of acres have been put down in cocksfoot, and there ispasture enough to carry large herds of cattle. Whatever Rita’s faults may have been and. are, he is certainly a captain of industry. .Manngapoliatu is a model of neatness, and besides the big grass clearings, which arc remarkably free from limber, there arc extensive cultivation.-'' —lields of potatoes and other crops, all in excellent order. The. fences are exceptionally good, consisting of wire and split pollings, be-: ing eat tie-proof and pig-proof. The houses of the village look neat and clean; the narrow roads, or tracks, are in excellent order, and well graded, and altogether the village boars evidence of better management than many a Xew Zealand township I have seen. It is a picturesque place. The grassed clearings slope up to wooded hills, and beyond the hills rise the massive heights of Maungapohalu mountain, one of till most striking features of: the Urewera country, whose, gbits and crags reach considerably over 4.000 ft. above sea level. When I looked on this place and realised that this indeed was the last centre of Maoridom, 1 confess I felt a strong sympathy with those natives who wisli to preserve it forever against European acquisition."