THE OTAKI MAIL. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1922. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Otaki Mail, 20 November 1922, Page 2

THE OTAKI MAIL. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1922. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Shannon Dairy Company is payJ ing Is 7d per lb for butterfat received \ during the month of October. } It is probable that the Jubilee Hotel 1 will .change hands during the nest few < days, , It is officially reported that the explosion at Oldebroek to ten the theory of sound, na.- heard at Bomilly, in ! France. 300 miles away, and also at j places in Austria.. 650 miles away. Five j tons of perchlorate of ammonia were exploded at Oldebroek, in Holland, to ; test the theory of audibility and the 1 hypothesis of zones of silence after an ' explosion. I The opinion mat N«r Zealand is the best-fed and altogether the best eoun- I try in the world to live in at the present time was expressed with emphasis , by two young Xew Zeajanders, Mr and ' Mrs Oldbury, of Kawhia. who recently [ returned to Auckland from a world tour, states the 'Herald.' Next iv '. New Zealand, they said, came California, which, with its splendid climate, t abundant natural advantages, and fine reads, was easily the most desirable country in which they had stayed since ' leaving New Zealand. Mr J. W. Deem, Field Instructor. ' says: Mangolds are not subject to dryrot or club-root and can therefore fol- [ low rape, swedes, or turnips with per-' feet safety, or may be grown on lea land. They require deep cultivation and when they are to be grown on lea ' > land the best practice is to skim plough i early in the winter and cross plough i in the spring, as deep as the soil will 1 permit. Mangolds also do fairly well ' on maiden bush and, provided it is I ploughed early and well worked up. '• Sowing should be done between the end ' of October and. the middle of Xbvem"per; it ie hardly worth soring after,*' the end of November, the exceptions to . l this would be in xh& coldji po?itiwg«. *

The London Daily Mail states that Lady Strathcona figured romantically in. connection with McGrigor's bank crash. At the eleventh hour, on the strength of a lifelong friendship between the two families, Lady Srtathcona called at the bank and presented Sir James McGrigor with a cheque for £IOO,OOO. The present could not save the bank's collapse, but it will enable the payment of a larger dividend. "The good return ho receives for his butterfat has eased the burden of the daily farmer; the people who are the hardest hit are the sheepfarmers," said Mr B. Anderson in his address to the Auckland Rotary Club. Even the big sheep and cattle men were feeling the pinch, owing to the fall in prices of wool and beef, and most of the large holdings to-day were not assets, they were liabilities.

In the Wellington market strawberries, gooseberries, and plums are beginning to make their appearance. Strawberries have been fairly plentiful during the week, supplies coming from Auckland and NelsoD, and retailing at 2s to 2s Gd per punnett. The first halfcase of plums came from the Nelson district on Saturday and sold in the wholesale market for 7s (id, there being only the one half-case.

An indication of what an El Dorado some of the lakes around Rotorun are to anglers is evident from the experience of two fishermen; angling in Lake Rotoma on the opening day they caught 11 trout weighing 851 b., and on the second day 35, turning the scales at 1051 b. This means (says the Rotorua ''Chronicle") an average of over Tib per fish, and for the time of the season they were in remarkable eondi-

A fanner in Taranaki estimates that six rabbits will eat as much grass as a sheep. Mr A. C. McDonald, Government rabbiter, of To Knit i. computes that there are 4,000,000 rabbits on the farms adjoining Trooper's road, and that by February these will have increased to 16,000,000. This means a loss of grazing to over 2* million sheep, which would produce in wool and mutton an enormous sum. It surely behoves every farmer to play his part to the full to keep the pest in check if not eradicate it altogether.

There is a destiny which shapes our whiskers, trim them as we will. Take the man from King Country way, who was recently charged with attempting to commit suicide, and was sentenced till the rising of the Court. His intention to send himself "west" was defeated in a most peculiar way. He had made ;i drink containing strychnine, bu' i'i swallowing it his heavy moustnclie, acting as a strainer, retained the undissolved crystals, with tlic result that he imbibed nothing more harmful than a little water. The polite subsequently brushed from the man's whiskers a sufficiency of strichnine crystals to "out" a whole countryside.

The Grafton correspondent of a Sydney paper is responsible for the following:—"Bil Sonter, old-time hero of many contests in the boxing ring, tackled a large swordlish which was inoving lazily in fhe water, scarcely deen ' enough to cover its great body ut Yamba, Sonter clutched its tail and tried to pull the t'ewt of fish shorewards. The deep-sea visitor at first showed no resentment, and Sonter stepped closer and stooped to tighten his grip. Then tke fish took a hand in the proceedings, and the water became violently agitated, showers of spray shot skywards, and Sonter for a brief space, swung to and fro at the end of the monster's tail. The strain was too great, however, and Sonter's grip loosened, then: relaxed. The swordlish drew his tail clear, and with terrific force sent Son-j tor sprawling in knee-deep water, i When he had recovered Sontor lassooed the swordlish. and with help hauled it ashore, ft measured 16ft fin from tin to tip. with a sword Oft Sin long and as] sharp as a razor. Its girth measure- . nieut was Sft.

A great deal has been done by the Government during the past three years, but much had yet to be done, stated Mr W. F. Massey at Pukekobe! We had to find the war debt of £IOO,000,000, which would include the war pensions, if capitalised. With the additional cost of the requirements of the State Departments and the total of the bonus paid to the State servants, this made the Government's difficulty even more severe, but on top of that the slump in the world's market had come, and on his return from England last year he found that the revenue for the year had fallen off by about £6„ I 000,000. He had therefore to face re- | trenchrneut. and by the constant and ' valuable aid of his officers the position j was very creditable at March 31st. and i they ju.-t missed having the balance on the right side. Retrenchment was l ... . i

still going op. ; , Writing of pigs arid cows, a Tara- ' naki correspondent .-••Last win- ! , ter a farmer offered to bet anyone ; in a room wnere a raeetixig was held , that iiis seven Leghorn fowls for a month would beat any cow on butterfat payment it is very apparent ' tha". the man on ihg iana has; many ' opportunities of increasing his revenue if he gives anything like the attention he does to cows jo pigs and poultry. Again a neighbour obtained a 'dray load of pumpkins off a. Uttte patch, but the trouble is that the farmer cannot be troubled to take the trouble to do this extra work. Also, w-hen you should be watching Denis ■ and the Leghorn the carrot' patch requires rescuing from the weeds, and ■ as a man must sleep sometimes some- • thing must go. A weH-culttsrated flower garden could be made a vaiu- ! able asset, but it is strange how few- • people on the land §an be bothered to i take me job in hand. With almost i all the cow- stands supreme and when i butterfat falls we come a cropper.- 1 vhereas a little more attention to t these sidelines Sight mean eOl -.he a QiCerißife befwgls ivSZSis anU fail- t 822. U .... 2

It is not often one sees shrubs growing on the roof of a building, but on the roof of Whiteley Church, New Plymouth there is a taupata which appears to be flourishing. Apparently a seed carried by a bird has germinated and the shrub is now nearly three feet high and looks to be quite strong and healthy.

In the course of his speech at Taupiri last week, Mr Ft. F. Bollard, M.P., mentioned that the Hon. W. F. Massey was receiving £2OOO a year as Prime Minister, but the speaker knew personally of an offer to Mr Massey, from a certain bank in Wellington, of £SOOO a year to take over the managership.

Mr T. D. Burnett, Reform candidate, speaking at Temuka. said Mr Massey did not favour "the big man.*' In 1006, Mr Seddon's time, a farmer owning land valued at. £IOO,OOO and making 10 per cent, on his capital, paid £531 5/ in land tax, and no income tax. In 101-2, Sir Joseph Ward's time, he paid £651 13/9 land tax ancl no income tax. In 1921-22, Mr Massey's time, he paid £1:116 13/4 in land tax and income tax to the amount of £2482.—a total of £3798. Yet the opponents of*"the Heform. Party charged them with specially favouring the "big man."

A large eel was secured by a Maori a day or two ago in one of the ponds near tlie oil derricks, Moturoa (New Plymouth). The eel was taken on a large hook lashed to a stick, and upon being "jagged" straightened out the hook and escaped. The native, however, was not to be denied. After adjusting the hook he returned to the fray, and hooked the big "tuna," which turned the scale at 221 b, and was between five and six feet in length.

The question of land nationalisation us propounded by the Holland Socialistic Party, wus referred to by the lluii. Mr Massey in his address at Inglewood. He said the first attempt at. land nationalisation was made away back in history in the time, of Joseph in Egypt. He recalled that when Joseph's brothers came to him to buy corn and siad exhausted their money lie suid to them, "Very well, I'll take your lands instead.'' and they agreed. Joseph was a great financier, bui the country had never recovered from that transaction.

The Prime Minister was responsible tor an unconscious "bull" in the course of his address at Stratford on Friday night. He was telling the audience of some of his experiences in Kngland during the course of assisting in raising one of the big war loans, and said he was addressing a large audience in a town in the north of England. "It was an audience as 'dense' as that which T am facing tonight," said Mr Massey, and in a moment there was an outburst of laughter. When this had subsided, someone asked, "What about those behind you?" f. which the Premier cleverly replied, "I never forget the people who sland behind me." (More laughter. I

As an example of red tape the following will be hard to beat: The widow ot it German officer presented herself at the office in Berlin for the purpose of drawing the pension due to her. She profferred the usual certificate of the mayor of the village In whic-h she lived, to the effect that she was still alive "This certificate is

not correct," <-aid the official in charge. '\Vhai is tha matter with it?" said the innocent applicant. "It bears the date of July 21." was the stern reply, "and your pension was due on July 15." 'What, kind of certificate do you wish?" asked the disappointed woman. "We must have a certificate stating that you were alive on July 15," said the official, with great firmness.

The movement to improve me Fox- • ton Harbour is not getting much encouragement from the Railway Department. On Monday. Messrs. R. W. McVilly. general manager of railways, M. Buxton, chief traffic manager. F. w. McLean, chief engineer, and E. C. Gillon. chief mechanical engineer, visited Foxton. but the local Harbour Board wa.s not notified of the visit, although the Minister had informed the Board that this would be done. A deputation from the Board was to have interviewed the General Manager in reference to the railway crossing right; to the wharf, Svhich has been held up pending Mr McVilly's visit. The departmental officers came down and returned by special train.

There is no more delightful emendation of a hymn than one that .was made necessary by the advance of modern locomotion In "The Son or God goes forth to war." Bishop Heber wrote: "O God. to us may gracebe given, *o follow in the train!'' Thus it stood In the earlier books. When the coming of the railway gave to following "in the,train" a familiar meaning unknown to 'he Bishop of Calcutta, revision committees were obliged to provide-against the laughquality of the line by altering it "To follow in Thy train.'!

The Wairarapa Age says: Since trie Masterton Chamber of Commerce con--ldered the matter of starting a woollen mill in this district, several existing mills ha'-e pnousned their balance sheets for the year It is re"arkabie that, in spite of the troubled times they have almost ail dene exceptionally well. The Mosglei Company, with a capital of and reserves of £37,000, £>as made a profit of almost £62,000 for the financial year. The Bruce Woollen Company, a much more recent formation, did almost as well, thus showing that the prophets of evil who declared that' ail the prosperity of woollen mills was due to the war were not correct. The Wanganui Company, in any case. ' has thought fit to go ahead with, its ! Buspended scheme and we are now informed that the little town *<sf Winion, la Southland, is about to start ■ i mill. It is quite clear thai the woolen industry is a. very thriving Indusry In New Zealand and thai there ire ether people besides those of Maserton who consider thjare is still room

Mr Ben Catley, who recently had two bones in his hand broken through a cow kicking him, is likely to be incapacitated for another six weeks. There was a splendid attendance at Saturday night's pictures, when the Lyric quartette —Misses Walsh and Elderton, and Messrs Walsh and Hakuraia—sang very pleasingly. The programme submitted was certainly a fine one and Mr Morse is to be commended for his enterprise.

The Manakau Tennis Club is very fortunate in securing the services of Miss Middlemiss's pupils, of .Levin, for a recital to be given on Friday week next (December Ist). The programme to be submitted was recently given iu Levin before t'oo people. Watch for particulars.

The destruction caused by wild pigs, in the back blocks of Taranaki is emphasised in a letter received by the Taranaki Daily .News from a correspondent, who says: —"The wild pigs need killing off, because if something is not done very soon they will take charge of the place. I am not exaggerating when 1 say they will literally take charge, for already some of the farmers here have had to knock oil' breeding owing to the great loss in lambs, while others have lost 40 and 00 per cent. They also do great damage to fences, aud from a forestry point of view they are almost as big a curse us deer.

The Prime Minister had been speaking for an hour and three-quarto's at New Plymouth the other evening, and was just commencing to refer to the position- of the two Opposition groups when he was interrupted by exceedingly heavy rain. The hall has an irou roof, and the dow mall made Mr Massey inaudible, lie had to resume his seat for a few minutes, and. as the rain continued iu a moderated form, he closed his speech after explaining that, while he did not bend to political opponents, he had no intention of challenging the elements. tCheers and laughter,). Twenty-five years ago a gumdiggcr. named Reynolds, sinking holes for gum in the Mahakiruu Valley, found loose yuld iu a slip and from the spot £2OOO worth of gold wus secured. From time to time efforts to locate the reef from which the gold came were unsuccessful. Four years ago O. W. Andrews, a miner with 40 years' AusUilian experience, commenced the quest and single-hand-ed without Government assistance, persevered in a claim which he named '•The Lone Hand." He has now discovered a reef which is exceedingly promising and from which in a few feet he has secured specimens aud quartz to the value of over £2UO. The claim is close to the main road to Coromandel.

The enormous handicap upon New Zealand producers caused by / the present rates of freight, railway and wharf charges, storage and expenses at London docks, and so on, is well exemplified by an account recently presented to an Otago grower who .-hipped 200 bales of wool to London, states the Otago Daily Times. The charges considerably exceeded £7OO, and totalled between £4OO and £SOO u.ore than the same shipment would have cost in tho year before the war. The late advances in puces from the ruinous figures of the slump is on nothing like such a proportionate scale, and it looks an if the resumption of income tax paying by our producers in i.till an ideal <>i the future, though it may be hoped not a remote one.

A reward is offered for the recovery ' of a Stetson hat. Two lady- passengers for the Ashhurst races are required. Particulars of the Te Horo and Levin stock sales are advertised. Messrs C. M. Boss and Co. have an announcement of intcro-t to ladies in our advcrti,-.i:ig columns. • Mr H. Cockrell advertises floor coverings, curtains, etc., in desirable patterns. Tenders close on Wednesday for painting the Anglican Church anc vicarage. Frize-jnoney in connection with the recent show will be paid out at Mr ft. Norgrove 's residence on Wednesday from 2 to 5 p.m. Mr W. H. Field, M.P., will addrete the electors at the Otaki theatre tonight at 8 o'clock. His Worship the Mayor (Mr Brandon; will preside. Summer is here again, and if you require a pair of white shofii, we Lavo ;. large selection of tennis, walking, bowling, or cricket boots and shoes at town prices. Try Irvine's Shoe Store, Otftk. —Advt.