THE OTAKI MAIL. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1923. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Otaki Mail, 31 January 1923, Page 2

THE OTAKI MAIL. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1923. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Palmerston North's rainfall for January w;is nine inches.

Over fifty cases are set down for hearing at the Qlaki B.M. Court to-mor-row.

A young man—a first offender —was to day fined 10s on a charge of drunkenness. The reserved judgment in the ease. Hnnsby v. Bax, will be given at the sitting of the Otaki S.M. Court to-morrow. The' 17th annual show of the Horowhenua A. and P. Association opened at Levin to-day. To-morrow will be people ’s day, and a large gathering is expected.

Show schedules for the Horticultural .Society’s show, to be held on the -oth March, may be Obtained from various stores, “Mail” Office, oi the Scfretary (Mr S. Norgrove),

Two thousand horses, 122 shops, 41 roads, a golf club, a laundry, three licensed houses, and a vicarge are included in the Bournemouth estate of the Karl of Malmsbury, which is to be jiut on the market early this year. A rumour that a schooner was ashore off the Waitohu beach was the means of causing several people to visit the locality on Monday, However, all that was seen were large quantities of driftwood. The wet weather at Slangahao continues daily, and January is likely to record some startling figures as far as mmt'ali is concerned. Up to th« 20th in*t.. it has rained 2i days, and a total of 18 inches has fallen during this period. S

A. floating mine was discovered oil the Isle o£ Wight as the White Star j liner Homeric was on her wav to South- j ampton on her last voyage from New York in a dense fog. Three pilots put off in a small boat and sent a semaphore message of warning to the captain, who changed his coarse. A destroyer from Portsmouth sank the mine.

The somewhat ingenious method of going across the yard in a canoe- to milk the cC'WS was adopted by a woman in the'Foston distiler- tlie other day. as 4 result of the very heavy rSiBS. The Manawatu River is still considerably swollen and has a distinctly muddy appearance just now. The Bengal tigress, which came by the Port Elliott for the Wellington Zoo, arrived in Splendid condition. She was a deck passenger, but took her meals without apparent discomfort. Four years of age. the tigress is in her prime, with a magnificent coat of fur. The j purchase of tin elephant for the Zoo for the sum of £250 is to be considered in sonneetion with nest year’s city esti-

mates. If you require a pair of boots or shoes call at Irvine’s. We have plenty of odd sizes in ladies’, gents’, and children’s to clear at sale prices. Try a our sandals for the school opening.—lrvine’s Shoe Store, Otaki. — Advt,

For the 80 seats offering in the Dominion (says Quick March) There were 24 soldier entrants, and of ihese only nine were successful, and are now entitled to write M.P. alter their names.

A Masierton butcher foretells a rise in the retail price of mutton ii the price of wethers remains at its present level. On Wednesday 32 6 was paid lor a butcher’s line at the Columbia road yards.

A Sydney telegram announces the death of Mr Alfred Rielianison Holdship, solicitor, a native of Auckland. «.e captained the New Zealand cricket team against the Australian eleven some years ago. There is some inquiry lor cattle in the Wairafapa from export buyers, and a fair number are going through tlie works on behalf of exporters, but ii.-t < n farmers’ own account. The price now being paid for ox beef for export is said to be just over 20/ per 1001 b.

The teaching profession .Is apparent 1 v becoming more popular with young people, and particularly with young men. This was evidenced at the meeting of the Taranaki Education Board, when, in response to application to fill positions for 13 pupil teachers and 20 probationers, the board received applications from 22 boys and 46 girls, the number of boy- applying being in marked contrast to previous years.

A unique record in riding was achieved by the family of Mr Dan O'Connell, of Seacliff, at the \Vaikot> aili Show (Otago). The eldest boy Jack, won the high jump and district jumping competitions on Puzzle. Miss Catherine O’Connell carried off the honours for best lady rider, and Dan, a younger brother, won the stockman’s race. Molly was adjudged the best girl rider under 12, and Tom, aged seven, was the best hoy rider. Discussing the remark made by a slock authority in the Age regarding pig-raising in New Zealand, another well known breeder stated that he believed Ibis would be a most important inilusliv in ronnc-iion with dairying. The best pork in America' waited on lucerne when young and finished off on maize, and our informant believes that som" sort of grain will he necessary to put the industry on a proper footing in the North Island.

The richness of the Hawke’s Bay fiats in tlie neighbourhood of Hastings may be gauged from the fact that a field seen by a Masterton resident there recently yielded 80 tons of mangolds to the acre without any manuring. Crops of rape also grow to the height of 2Vft without manure. The rape crop on such land is found to he too strong for feeding lambs, and i= much better fed off by older sheep. The some thing lias been noticed on the rich lands bordering on the lake in the Walrarnpa.

Owing to the time of the year there is a slight falling off in production at -the Waharoa Waikato; dried milk factory, but nevertheless tlie average lor the period is being well maintained. The present average output equals 12/ tons per day, as against TV. tons at the end of November, the height '.if tlie season. The following are the figures for the month of December. 1922: Average grading, 02.63; superfine. 13.925 boxes; first quality, 51? boxes; second quality, 121 boxes. This makes a total oi 16,563 bo:*es for the month, equalling in weight 114 ions Icwi 2qrs. 'Mr I-. Robertson, oi Kapuka, has discovered at Waituua Lagoon, southland, a bottle containing a message puiporting to be from persons shipwrecked. An obi, 1 rayed piece of brown paper, which was taken from the bottle, and now in possession of the police, contained the following words: "Help. We are wrecked on an island 384 deg. 173. deg. lat (here follows a word that could not be deciphered, but seemed to be either L.. E.S., or H.). —Geo. Williams, i. Aitken.’' Until an examination is made ■ the effects of immer/ion it; sea water for any length of time usually furnish a valuable guide), tlie inspector

t is not prepared to express an opinion as io whether the message is genuine or is a hoax. The Customs Depart- ; men! has been advised of Die find. An increase of £• 1,108,46 iin net profits for the past year, compared wish the previous 32 months, is shown by ■ Mes.rs. and I*. Coates, the cotton thread manufacturers. Their net profits for the year, after depreciations ( and taxation, amount to -'£3,270,013. | The directors propose to restore i £250,000 taken front the dividend re- } serve fund last year, and to pay a j , bonus of 6d j:>er share, making a total | distribution equal to 3Tj per cent for | the year, in the j-eai eua«a June, 1 1021, a year of genera! trade depres-

sion, the firm’s net profits were £2.072.499, compared with "£4.164.80S for the previous 12 months. The 1919* 3wo toiai was tire highest profit in any year in me company’s history. In the year before the war, Messrs. J. anti P. Coats's profit was £2,634,400, arm the dividend 20 per cent.

a special responsimniy mat is • a -t upon teachers in native schools, hut which is not always fully appreciated, was referred 10 !>y the president ■ the Native School Teachers' Association, Mi < . T. McF&rlane, at the "oplnin? <rl the Association’s annual ; ! conference; on Tuesday, slate* the Auckland Star. Native school feadiets, ut s»i.l. trei-fc charged-wi’h a duty beyond shat oi ine teacher of «. h • T-T----•iinary board school The regjii-itioio relating to native schools .omauu-i the following: "1: is not intended >h:' the duties of the teacher shall be conlined merely to school instruction of the Maori ctiildren. On the contrary, i; is expected that the iea- ner* win b> tneir diligence, their kindness ana their -probity exercise a heneficiil m-

due nee on me natives living near them, ana trial they will endeavour to s xve the Maoris of the district such culture as may fit them to become good citizens. No teacher who neglects this most important feature of ' j-.is work will ba regarded by the Dei parunenf as satisfactorily fulfilling his duty.'*

The dance held in the Otaki theatre on Monday night was well attended and all present spent a pleasant time. Miss Rikiliana supplied first-class music while Mr W. Bowden was a capable M.C. The floor was in good order.

The annual meeting of the subscribers to the Otaki public library, to have been held on Monday night, was allowed to lapse owing to tlie poor attendance. The meeting has been fixed for Tuesday night next, and it is hoped the attendance will be large. The institution is one destining of support and it behoves ail w i-.fi .g n,-v, In show an active interest. The elec lion of a eonimiitee is also an important matter. Under the heading, "Tlie Routing oi the Ring,” "Iroquois,” writing in Smith’s Weekly, remarks: Rookmakers operating ai registered meetings have experienced a bad lime iaU/v. The racing of the la.-l 1w ■ months lias probably cost the ring something in the neighbourhood of a quarter of a million oi money. Am. tlie biggest contributing- factor to this loss, strangely enough, lias been the superabundance of racing. The more racing there is on a Saturday programme. the more expensive m the bookmakers. Divisions arc die cause of the (rouble. When a race is divided, the horses with winning possibilities are also divided. Supposing in a field of sft, such as there was at Moorefield recently, there are 12 with strong winning chances, while the opposition is made up of many who are being tried out, and others so useless that if they were let loose they could not win. We can quite understand how difficult it would be to pick such ait event run in one or 1 even two races. Rut divide ii into four (as was done with the Kogarali Stakes ai Moorefield), and the 12 possibilities are equally distributed among the four races, and it becomes a matter cf picking the winner of each race in Hirer, or perhaps only two. And when punters can pick races in this way, the books must lose.

,-A bull is advertised as impounded. Apples and plums are advertised, for The To Uoro stock sale takes place on Friday. The Otaki State School re-opens on Thursday (to-morrow). Mrs Darin, Haul ere. has liens for sale, while orders are being booked for Indian I tun ner ducks, ok.'. During January twelve births, one death, and one marriage were registered in Otaki.