THE OTAKI MAIL. Published on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 1922. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Otaki Mail, 3 May 1922, Page 2

THE OTAKI MAIL. Published on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 1922. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Bishop Liston, or. a charge of seditious utterance, has been committed for trial. The final,result of the “Poppy Day’’ r rejection in Wellington was the raising of a sum .of £174*1. Constable Satheriey 94 Monday apprehended a youth, who had escaped form the Weraroa Training Farm. at Waikanae. He was returned to his former home. A movement is on foot among members of the Otaki Driuds ’ Lodge to considerably enlarge their present hall and thus make it more suitable for entertainments, etc.

At the Horticultural Society's meeting at Otaki cn Monday complimentary reference was made to the able manner in Which Mr H. Witch-: il had carried out his duties, sztd to his popularity as President. Mr Witcbell. who at first declined re-election, considering the honor should go round each year, suitably acknowledged the compliment, and said whether President or not he would always do hi.- best for the Society. (Applause).

The only way to keep your feet dry this winter is to buy a pair of fresh gum boots. Ladies’ only cost 16s 9d and 17s fid; gents’ heavy 275; Bed Bali brand, best quality, 31s, new stock; greenhide shooters 295, football boots from 16s 61, football laces 4 d a pair.— At Irvine’# Shoe Bjora, Oiaii. —

As Te Awamutu an endeavour is Ltii g made to keep the roads free from straying cattle, and with this object in view, the Council appointed it number of members of its staff as rat: :e;s. Oh Sunday morning several oJ .iiese rangers were informed that a number of horses were at large destii ving private property in a certain street. The animals were quickly secured when it was discovered they vet e the property of the Council. A safety belt has been put round a flux swamp at Marlborough to protect it from fire. With the use of a tractor, a wide belt of the surrounding raupo has been flattened down so a 5 to enable any outbreak of fire in the raupo to be prevented from spreading to the valuable swamp. It is interesting to note that the tractor does the work well and efficiently, travelling over the swamp ground cn ton of the crushed raupo, whereas horses could not possibly be used.

A two-roomed cottage near Shannon was destroyed by fire on Saturday night. The building was owned by Mr R. Tippler, and occupied by Mr J. T. Wells, a contractor, and an employee named Oswald Coley. They left to go to Shannon on Saturday afternoon, and on returning at 11 p.m. found the place burned to the ground. Mr Wells lost a set of toots valued at £BO, and Mr Coley lost all his clothing and effects. The only insurance was on the building, which was covered to the amount of £75.

A representative meeting of retail tobacconists ..was held in New Plymouth to discuss the position relating iu the new terms ol business and prices of tobacco established by the tin reliant traders of the Dominion. I he: merchants have advised retailers tint the price of tobacco and cigarettes has been advanced —tobacco by Cu per lb, and cigarettes by 9d per lin >O. This is in addition to a rise previously notified which at that time represented a rise of Vd per lb on tobacco and 1/3 per 1000 cigarettes. This lan' his is accompanied by the shortening of terms, which practically means cash terms. No prices have yet. been advanced by the retailers on account of the latest notice received by them, and they are unaware of any advance in price having been made by the tobacco companies. It was de-

cided to convene a meeting of Taranaki retailers for the purpose of protesting against any rise in price at the present time, it was also stated that the public should be made aware thin if any advance tiau to be made it was not due to the retailers.

steady progress is being made with th 3 sand dune reclamation work undertaken a little to the south of the Kaugitikei River mouth by th# aitaw Forest Service. The iirsi problem was iu check the tremendous sand drift that flows inland from the coast tit rough the valleys between the frontal dunes, and this is being tackled by the construction of rough barricade? formed of driftwood. Vertical stakes are driven into the sand, and all sorts of logs and branches are interlaced to make a strong barrier. As the drifting sand piles against the obstruction and threatens to overlap it, the barricade will be built still higher until a long unbroken dune stretches along the foreshore. Behind this front line of defence, marram gtass will be planted to hold the loose sand. As soon as some form of stability is reached, experimental tree planting will be undertaken with the ultimate view of foresting the great area of waste land which at present stretches far inland and is a •. onsiant menace to ‘he adjoining farm lands.

A young and wealthy Australian tourist, to take him at his own valuation, travelled through iroin Christchurch to Blenheim last week on the never" (says an exchange), explaining to itie car proprietors, hotelkeeper?, etc., with whom he had small business relations, that his father, who was iu Nelson with their RollsKoyce, would be through in a day or two, and would settle all accounts. Unfortunately for the tourist, who was accompanied by a lady friend, r>e was recognised at an unhappy moment as an ex-Christoiiurch hotel porter, and then trouble started- He managed to find enough money to pay his car fare front Blenheim to Nelson, and under the urge of the police dug a little deeper into his pocket and raked up sufficient to settle his hotel bill within a shilling. •The local Boniface was glad enough to cry quits at that, and the wealthy one proceeded on his journey to Nelson with a stern warning from the police that any further reference to his Rolls-Royce and his squatter father, which might induce the unwary to give hirn credit, would probably lead to an acquaintance with thar: awkward piece of legislation which deals with rogues and vagabonds.

| The Mokau correspondent of the New 1 Plymouth Herald writes: One of the 1 members of our Progressive League ! rerently installed in his milking shed 1 a device for recording the weight of ( eacn individual cow's milk. The | simple part consists of a face with an mde>- hand sinqUar to that of a clock. ju c t as the milking of a cow is finish•ed the hand records on (he dial the weight of the milk given As showing The marvellous pitch of intelligence reached by the modern dairy row, the owner vouches it to be a fact that the very first day he set up the machine' each cow on backing out of the bail immediately turned round ana scanned the face of the d-a. w.-h the greatest interest. Later on he said be noticed all the cows in the yard having an argument among themselves, presumably as to which had given the greatest quantity of milk. He is afraid their next move will be to adopt unionist principles and fix a maximum ?or milk production. This would probably mean that any cow found g irin ? more than the maximum agreed upon untild be promptly gored to death ny the others. The bosr says be can foresee quite well the end of the machine will be to stop a gap in the Jenci >ostfwhei»-

The monthly sitting of the Otaki S.M. Court will take place to-morrow. Mr E. Howe, the Education Board’s wood-work inspector, paid a visit to the lucal classes to-day.

Anglican Church bazaars will bo held at Manakau s:;d Te Horo on Wednesday next. Particulars will appear next issue.

Mr T. W. Garth, who has taken over the Railway Hotel, intends to run this well-known hostelry on up-to-date lines, and besides the best of accommodation will atoek only leading brands of wines, ales and spirits. Visitors cannot do better than make the place a port of call.*

The Post Office authorities (says the Wairarapa Age) recently put into force a most drastic regulation, to the consternation of at least one resident of Masterton. He received from a friend at Auckland two newspapers, fed so that there could be no doubt there were two, and with a 1J stamp affixed. Usually the reciever of papers insufficiently stamped lias to pay double the deficient postage, and in ihe case under notice the local postoffice officials would have collected Id. But a genius at the Auckland P.O. resurrected a pre-historic regulation which provides that if two newspapers are posted in one wrapper and (he fact is not clearly stated, they are to be charged at book- rates; the result was that a fine of ninepence was inflicted on the innocent recipient of the papers. This is one method of discouraging the public in their use of postal facilities.

A gross return of £20,031 from 73$ acres of 16-year-old pinus insignis trees was mentioned by Mr Walter Gil!. F.L.S., the South Australian Conservator of Forests, in a paper prepared for the Australian Forestry Conference. The clear cutting of this plantation at Whyte Park. Wirraburra Forest, afforded, he declared, what was probably the most, unique opportunity of obtaining absolutely reliable details of the value of this well known pine. Mr Gill assessed the cost of the land, fencing, ploughing, planting, and maintaining at £lO per acre; allowed compound interest for 36 years, and added £22 per acre for exploitation costs, making a total of £7l in th 3 case of one plantation. Deducting 'his from the gross return of £365 per acre left a net return of £294 per acre. On the same basis the net profits of the other three plantations were £195, £IBB and £257 per acre. Fire-wood cutters aro advertised for. A Wertheim sewing maehinrf is advertised for sale. Mr Rimmer, of Levin, inserts a pricelist in onr advertising columns. Tenders close on Friday for cutting twenty cords of wood. An advertiser desires one er (two rooms, with use of conveniences. Messrs Faith and Allen, land agents, have several fine properties for sale. Mr H. Cockrell advertises galvanised wire at 25s per cwt., nails at 4sd lb and staples at sd. Messrs Wardell Bros, advertise kerosene at 14s per case, or five-ease lota at 13s 6d. /. A concert and dance in aid of the Anglican Boys’ Home will bo held at Te Horo to-night. Messrs Howard Andrew, Ltd., invite inspection of several lines of drapery bargains, prices of which are advertised. For Children ’a Hacking Cough, ■Woods’ Great Peppermint Core.—Advt.