NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 40026, 21 November 1929, Page 4

NEWS AND NOTES.

The cost of living in St'ate institutions has risen considerably of recent years. It now .costs, 21/per week to keep a child in a Goventment institution, according to information given to the Magistrate at the Raetihi Court last week.

Patrick O’Donnell,'a farmer with a family of eleven, was sentenced in the Supreme Court at Invercargill on Monday to six months’ hard labour for perjury. His son Joseph, also for perjury, was given two months’ reformative detention. James Duncan, on two charges of forgery and uttering, was sentenced to two years’ reformative, detention.

In response to a question put at the Rotorua County Council’s meeting last week, both the county engineer and the traffic inspector replied that a lorry with a single tyre tended to spread the road, while one with twin tyres did not. It went over/the top, even with a heavier load.

The Byrd expedition ship City of New Yoi'k will leave Dunedin about 15th December for the Antarctic, and the Eleanor Bolling on sth January. The latter will carry the planes back. The departure of the vessels on the dates mentioned depends on word from Commander Byrd as to whether the iee is broken.

“Citizen” writes to “The y Nelson Mail”: —“Do the public of Nelson know the good value the dock weed leaf is in case of blood poisoning? Well, here is one who has experienced its value. A very kind friend told it to me and I always like passing good things on to others,-es-pecially'Avhen they do such a lot of good. ‘First scald the dock weed leaf and then apply frequently till inflammation is gone.” Railway engines are being blamed for the destruction of-phea-sants in /fie Feilding district.. It was reported at the Acclimatisation Society's meeting there that four dead pheasants had been found at different times alongside the railway line, having apparently been hit by the wheels. The pheasants had gone to tlie railway line probably to gather grit and being slow to rise when alarmed, were caught by the train.

The introduction into New Zealand of hop-sets of any variety of hop is prohibited absolutely by an Order-in-Couneil appearing in .the Gazette. Downy mildew of hop has also been declared to be an additional disease under the Orchard and Garden Diseases Act, 1028. The best bullock slaughtered <at the Oamaru abattoirs.for a number of years past was put through recently from a farm at * Hampden, the dressed weight being over 1200 lb., and returned over £3O to the ownen#

A horse being trained over jumps near the Wa'ikaika Hotel the other afternoon met its death in a most unexpected manner (says the Te Aroha News). The animal was being- jumped over a light pole when as the result of an error of Judgment, it is stated, it came up against the side of the building. The rider’s boot went through a window,’ shattering it, and the horse struck its head on the brickwork of the’ chimney. It staggered back, and within a few moments was dead.

A correspondent writes as follows to the Nelson Mail: —The following from the current number of the “Christian Herald” (London) may interest some of the older residents of Nelson: —“Oldest Council 1 o'r in British Empire.—Mr. diaries Spring was botrn at- Fulmer Bucks, England, on Oth December, 1830. Having served his apprenticeship to a bridkimaker, he went to New Zealand in 1855 by the sailing ship Oliver Laing, being 75 days on the voyage, arriving in (Wellington on 19th December. His first home was in Nelson, where he was married to -Malry Elizabeth Garnett on 20th October, 1803. In 1876 Mr. and Mrs. Spring left for Foxton, where he has since resided. His wife died in 1881; there were eight children of the marriage. Mr. Spying became a, member of the Methodist Church while in Nelson, to which church he still belongs. He was choirmaster for some years and has always taken a keen interest in church affairs. Alii’. Spring has been used to the rough and tumble of early colonial life, having followed various occupations, and he still enjoys excellent health, and is a hale old maiCwith a wonderful memory and all his faculties unimpaired. At the ripe old age of 92 he is a member of the Foxton Borough Council, aiuti claims to be the oldest Councillor in the Biitish Empire, if not of thf world.”