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Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 19 February 1917, Page 4

Mr. F. V. Frazer, S.M., at Auckland, told a young man who had been taking carbolic acid as a beverage, 'that even the best girl in the world is not worth taking carbolic for. Says a London paper: Live bees arc sometimes shipped on ice, so as to keep them dormant during the journey. This is particularly the case i with bumble bees, which have been j taken to New Zealand, where they are j useful in fertilising red clover. Ur. Gribben, medical superinten- | dent of the Sunnyside Mental Hospit- j ai, told the Military Service Board at j Christchurch that some of the in- | mates had gone to .the front, but he j did not know how they had got on there. A total of over £40,000 was realised in sales at the recent ram fair in Hastings. These figures easily constitute a record for Hawke’s Bay, if not for the Dominion. Prices were high and some disappointed would-be | buyers remarked, “It was like buying racehorses.” A Carterton settler, Mr. F. E. Tyler, tried some Australian seed potatoes this season .understanding that they were very good. They grew lair tops, ‘and Jjo lias now commenced to dig the roots! lie has dug several rows without discovering a solitary potato of I any kind, and he is wondering what kind of fancy plant he has wasted Ills time over. —News. j A commercial gentleman who has i just returned to Auckland ftom fan- , terbury district gives a sad description of the effects of the drought. At one place where it had been v ery severe, the yield of wheat was only three bushels per acre, which would not ■ cover the cost of the seed. He was frequently asked why Auckland had collared all the rain, and was told they would have been glad if only they had one-fifth of the five and a-half inches that fell in Auckland recently.

' Sir George McLean, M.L.C., died at Dunedin on Saturday.

The strike of the freezing chamber hands is still unsettled. A conference between the men and employers was futile as regards a compromise. The decision arrived at by the employers after two hours’ consideration was that the positions of the men on strike were still open to them if they chose to return to work. As the men arc desirious of having th e dispute settled before they return to work, the object of the conference, as far as they are concerned, has not been obtained.

The French authorities, Mr. Wilford told his hearers in the Wellington Town Hall, have been working for the last year in perfecting a great gun. It was a 400 milimetre 10-in. gun, and was a “Jobber.” It was tried out not so long ago against an enormously strong and specially-prepared dug-out, of which afterwards there was not a vestige to be found. This gun, Mr. Wilford added, was used against Fort Vaux, and six shots took the fort. Then the Germans announced that they had evacuated Vaux, as was no longer of strategical importance.