GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 35, 17 January 1916, Page 3

GENERAL.

Mrs Tapp, a Timaru lady, was discending some steps the other day, <vith a bottle of milk in her hand, when she fell, and the broken glass cut the tendons of her wrist. It is said to be questionable if she will recover the full use of her hand again.

The honey crop this year, according to reports received by the Director of Horticulture from district apiary instructors, should be fairly good in the North Island, but will be considerably affected in Canterbury as the result oft the droughts and hot winds. Otago is expected to supply a light crop, but the prospects in Southland are good.

j While passing through the Henderjson district, Auckland, recently, Mr |C. J. Parr, M.P., drew the attention 'of the Minister of Railways, the Hon. jW. H. Herries, to the great strides that had been made by the fruitgrowing industry. As showing the capabilities of the district, he mentioned that 400 people were now raising fruit within a radius of two miles, and that last season about three times as much fruit was sent by rail from the station as in the.previous season.

The discovery was recently announced of an immense rubber tree in the

borderland of Bolivia. It measures 8.25 metres in circumference ■ at the base (about 27ft.), and jthe daily yield of caoutchouc for 120 days in the, year is 10 kilogrammes. It belongs to a family of seven persons, anid constitutes their entire support, which ought to be a sery comfortable one, since La Revue (Paris) estimates from this yield that at the present value of rubber the tree represents a capital in round number of 300,000 francs (£12,000).

| The “Railway Review” says:—“We are puzzled to know what the Railway Department means by dismissing men from the workshops, and advertising for men in the public .press. Does anybody know why they do it P How many people control Railway Department policy P Surely it is not Mr Haley alone who sets the pace. We have it! The General Manager is forgetful! He can promote several sorts of policy with cheerful abandon, all in the same week, and he follows the Biblical injunction never to let his left hand know what his right hand dooth! He signs his ‘policy’ letters to A.S.R.C. with his right hand! If anybody else can provide a more plausible solution, let him try!”

A Canterbury man, writing to the l, .\ew Zealand Times,” complains that lie came to Wellington to join the expeditionary forces, in response to the appeals fm' men, and was informed, after he had .passed the medical examination, that he would not be wanted until February Bth. He had left his employment, and had brought his wife to Wellington with him. A reporter who made some inquiries regarding the case the other day was informed by the military authorities that the man should have enlisted in his own district, where the shortage of recruits was much more acute than in Wellington. This district was now engaged in filling up the lists for the 13th Reinforcements, due to enter camp earlv in February. The authorities added that rather than cause hardship thev would take the man into camp on Tuesday next if lie wished to join the infantry.