RAIN MAKING.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 77, 21 March 1914, Page 4

RAIN MAKING.

We have yet to learn what is the J nature of the process by which the t Australian scientist referred to the cable messages a few clays ago claims J to be able to bring on rain, says the Christchurch "Press," but it may be pointed out, however, that this is a field of activity in which hope is particularly hopeful, and realisation particumrly difficult. ' The London "Morning Post" mentions that in the twelve years in which its "Discovery and Invention" column has been published, seven new methods for interfering with Nature in this arid similar ways have been described. One was the rain-making experiments by explosion near Oamaru in 1908, of which the present Government meteorologist said that they were as powerless to produce rain as the striking of a match in a room. Another was a series of acetylene bomb explosions in Italy, extending over five years, a. report on which declared that there was nothing to be gained or hoped for in the prolongation of the experiments. One of the latest devices of the kind was an elaborate electrical device designed to mitigate the hail-storms that do-such serious damage to the French vineyards at intervals. .For two or three years the apparatus, which stretched over the countryside ahd was designed to produce a flow of electricity from the upper to the lower air, appeared to answer well. But last year the protected districts were visited by devastating hailstorms of exceptional severity and frequency, and the vine-growers havenow no faith in the "protection." The Australia)) invention must be submitted to long and severe tests before people will be disposed to accept it as fulfilling the claims made for i.

LOCAL AWC SENERAL. Tlio Stratford Mountain House Club must surely now be classed as other than "a long-felt want.""' It is not a couple of months since the Club's inception, yet the membership totals over 160;

Mrs Laforge, of Middletown, New York, who is forty-six years of age, has given birth to her twenty-second chid. Her husband, a man of seventy-two, had twenty-seven children by his first wife.

Mr Atmore, M.P. for Nelson, at his meeting in the Town Hall, "Wellington, on Thursday night, pointed out that Colonel Goethals, the engineer in charge of the Panama Canal construction, received the same salary as our Railway Manager—£3ooo per annum.

The gift of a Dreadnought to Great Britain was "a mere flea-bite." This remark, according to the Sydney Daily Telegraph, was the opinion of Mr J. R. Crawford, a tin mine and rubber plantation owner in the Malay States, and who is now in Sydney. According to the same gentleman, the Malay States have no national debt, • and have more money than they know what to do with.

Mr H. T. Johns, a Wellington'architect, is at present in the Stratford district, working in conjunction with :Mr A. I). Blick: Although; resident in Wellington, Mr Johns' work is ; known over a large district. At Mr I Bliek's office, Mr Johns has on exhibition a large number of plans ol , buildings of various types. These include two churches in "Wellington i suburbs, business premises in Welling- ! j ton and Wanganui, and a line selecI tion of city, suburban and country . residences. The designs of some of i these are artistic in the highest de- | gree. / I The inquest into the circumstances surrounding the death of the boy Wilfred Arundell James, who was shot at the Tariki horticultural show on March 12, was continued yesterday before Mr A. S. Crooke, S.M., district coroner. /After lengthy evidence, the coroner found that deceased was accidentally shot by being hit by a bullet fired from a rifle at the gallery, and which passed through the butt behind the target, this butt being not 'strong enough for the purpose for which it was used. Xo blame was attachable to anyone for the accident. Tlie coroner remarked that while the arrangement of the gallery was certainly defective, the evidence of Sorgt.-Major Bond showed that the conditions under whics, a Morris tube could bo used with safety were not generally known, and the committee fiatl used a range which had been safe on previous occasions.

At the Opunake races on Tuesday (remarks the ITawera Star) horses sired by Patronus were noticeably successful, live wins, two seconds and two thirds going down to their credit. Then, too late to profit by the tip, it dawned on someone that it was quite ia accordance with the fitness of things that animals with a ''Pat'' in their pedigrees should be well to the fore on St. Patrick's Daw

Writing from Okau, out on the

Tongaporiitu river., to a member of the Stratford Post staff, Mr W. T. Jennings, who is already on his election campaign says:—"J am away back in a different direction just now, and the meteorological conditions have been vile

—nothing but rain (hiring the past two days. The usual muddy roads are in evidence again, and this year are very early, as the weather seems to have broken."

The increasing demand all over the world for copies of the Bible is shown in the following figures taken from amongst the returns of the British and Foreign Bible Society for last year:—Venezuela, 8209 copies; France 198,000; Belgium, 24,000; Calcutta Agency, '. 210,000;' Bombay, 179,000; Punjab, 92,000; Madras, 283,000; Burma, 118,000; Shanghai Agency, 2,626,000. Reports from Russia and Bulgaria also were encouraging, especially from Russia.

At the Stratford Hospital to-morrow afternoon at 3 o'clock, the Stratford Municipal Band, under Conductor T. Marshall, will (weather permitting) render the following programme:— Sacred march, "Songs of Praise ;" fantasia, "Evening Bells;" gavotte, "Stephanee;" euphonium solo. "The Pilgrim of Love" (soloist, Bandsman McDonald); march, "Queen of tho West;" intermezzo, "ifermionei;".cornet solo, "A Perfect Day" (soloist, bandsman A. Kelly); march, "The Victorian Rifles;" "God Save the King." A collection will be taken in aid of the Hospital funds.

Mr M; Lang,. Government, veterinary surgeon in Noumea, reports that as a result of a series of experiments he has discovered that "cod liver oil has a specific toxic effect on all flies, mosquitoes, and ticks. If those parts of a horse most subject to the attacks of the fly are lubricated with this oil the effect is to "instantaneously kill even those flies which have only been lightly touched by it. It is possible to relieve a horse in a few minutes of all the fles with the hand, smeared with this oil, and there is no danger of any subsequent caustic action on the skin. The same toxic action takes place in the case of house-flies and mosquitoes, and even ticks,- which are so hard to extract from the skin of a dog." At the Prahran (Melbourne Court on Thursday of last week, Geoffrey Morgan (22) was charged with attempting to murder his brother, John Morgan (25), by shooting him with a revolver. The evidence of the mother of the two men showed that there was a quarrel an the evening of A! arch o, and that John Morgan

had threatened, to .blow accused and his mother up. The accused fired a the bullet striking John Morgan in the cheek. Gounsel for the accursed pleaded that the law empowered a man to shoot anofcheiv in defence of life, and the bench discharged accused. When the chairman of the bench announced the verdict there were loud cheers in court.

The "Christian World" gives, some interesting particulars of "Go-to-Churcli" Sunday in the United States hist month. "The newspapers took the idea up, and 'boomed it.' Other methods of advertising were tekilfully used. Invitation cards were delivered with tlie bread, milk, and other daily necessaries. Public interest was aroused, and curiosity excited. The Churches prepared for a great influx of people not usually seen in pews, and their faith was justified. In Brooklyn the usual 300,000 churchgoers rose "to 000,000; in Chicago, instead of 500,000, a million and a half flocked to tlie churches. * President and Mrs Woodrow Wilson attended services at two churches in Washington. Preachers and choirs were on their mettle, and regular churchgoers wore smiling and affable to strangers."

"The housing of the people of Ireland," said Dean McKeniia, of Wellington, who lias just completed a world's tour, including a motor ride through Ireland, "is much better than it was 21 years ago, when I last visited the country. Laborers' cottages are being put up by local bodies all through the island, under tlie new laws. The laborers pay back principal and interest at from Is to 2s per week for four-roomed cottages, and 2s 6d for six rooms. In the country districts an acre of laud goes with each cottage. In the cities, cottages of from four to six rooms run, I believe, to about 3s per week. The scheme seems to be working most satisfactorily. Tlie cottages are very neat ; they are built, of stone, with slate roofs. I understood that approximately the cost of a building with from four to six rooms is £l5O.