NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3750, 4 February 1928, Page 4

NEWS AND NOTES.

Weeping willow trees in North Otago have been attacked by a blight or insect of some kind, and are rapidly dying off. By some people it is believed that the disease .is the same as that which attacked bluegum trees. A valuable Maori tiki was found by a Tauranga resident when he was engaged clearing a slip on the eastern terminus of First Avenue. The tiki is of greenstone and is a very fine specimen. It is over 5 in. long and nearly 3in. in breadth. The figure carvings are in the very old native style. A shearer who cut out 205 sheep per day for three days, shearing clean, close, and with care, would seem to be a champion. This is what an Australian accomplished in a North Otago shed this season. South Otago, however, goes one better with a blade speedster who -put' through 237 per day for four days —moreover, the shearer was a New Zealander, who learned his trade in the Poverty Bay district. WjanganuPs two fire brigades had had an active month by the time 30 days of January had passed for in that period they answered 82 calls to fires in the city and suburbs. Then the month went out in a blaze of activity, for recently saw the brigades called out on no fewer than seven occasions, thus making their total for the month 89, a number that must surely rank as a re.cord. Although the prolonged spell of dry weather is affecting production in the dairying industry, large allotments of shipping space have been made for butter and cheese in seventeen steamers, which are to leave the Dominion during the next six weeks. The bookings for these ships total 453,951 boxes _o£ butter, and 205,378 crates of cheese, practically all 'of which is for the Uni ted Kingdom.

A study )of the statistics relating to the dairying industry is of special importance, considering the condition oi: the primary industries of the Doiriinion and the trend of production in recent years. There is no evidcm.ee that the dairying industry is in a languishing state, but rather coutrary. There has been a phenomenal growth in this industry during the last ten years, and it is the main, source of the increased spending power of New Zealand. During the last decade the dairying herds of tihe Dominion have increased by 70 per cent., representing not only increased production capacity, but an actual building-up of capital to the extent of £5,000,000.

No rain was recorded in Nelson in January. The only similar occasions in the past forty-five years are February, 1908, and March, 1911.

Gisborne fishermen have recently been experiencing a great deal of trouble from sharks. The sharks follow the trawlers and when the nets are being hauled up bite through them and liberate the fish caught. This is very disheartening to the fishermen, for, apart from the fact that they lose their hauls, fish are at present very scarce.