ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVI, Issue 43065, 5 March 1907, Page 4

ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Tihajmes sent £52 to thie H-ogie Rule fund, WaaM £llß, and Hamilton £Bl 19s. - ” •"

The Waikato river is now well stocked with trout at Cambridge, the Rood having evidently washed some, of' tlte fish devh from the- urvoer reaches. The Wiaibd Li beral and -Labour Federationl have a-esolved to- invite the Hon, R. Mid Nab to visit Waihi shortly and give a public. address! on the land question.. •■■ G. Hunter, -a carpenter, at Coromandel, severely cut the palm of liis left hand with a chisel, necessitating medical treatment. Thq law for the suppression -of insect. pests in Victoria is very strict, and a, number of Melbourne fruitsellers were recently fined for exposing for -sale tomatoes infested with gnib and apples infected with the codlin moth larvae.

The Minister of Mines (Hon. James McGowan) visited and inspected the ■Seddonville State coal mine at Westport, and in answer to a deputation said if was his intention to l have further prospecting work carried out, in the hope of discovering- more coal ot marketable quality. . ; “Friendship is everything in a man s life. We should all seek to make good friends, and keep them,” said Mr John D. Rockefeller, the head of the Standard Oil Trust.

Dairymen, in the Manaia district are doing exceptionally well at present, one farmer with an 800-acre dairy farm receiving £350 for his produce for last month, and another with 500 acres ; made £550.

At. ah inquest on the body of a mam a[b Wellington it was- shown that, deceased -had died.< fr-Sin convulsions caused by drink, ‘and in referring to the case -at a later stage the coroner (Mir Jamies Ashcroft) said that at least 50 per -Cent of the deaths which came*'under has notice Were due to drink. “Would! our police constables be satisfied if their salaries depended up'on thie number of arrests they made?” asked the chairman at a meeting of the Dunedin and Suburban S'choo-1 Gommitteesi’ Association. The speaker was pointing out that so long as the present system obtained of rating a teacher’s salary upon the average attendance -of his pupils-, there Would be the ■ greatest dissatisfaction in the Service.

Our Coromandel .cotT esp o ndOnt writes!:—“In connection with the public saleyards, it was- decided at a meeting -of thie committee to advise that i the sale should be held at the end of March next, or the beginning of April- It wa® decided that on the first:day of the sale, the Hon. James McGowan,: .the.-chairman and members of the County Council,- and- leadjng citizens!, be invited, to .attend, to assist in opening the yards. The yards were reported, as! finished!, and every satisfaction was expressed! -at, the way the work hiad -been! diohei/i . " - •The Rand gold Companies paid dividends! during the year 1906 to the amount of £5,565,970!- This constitutes! « record. The total dividends .paid since the South African war amount to £20,107,969. Mines not in the Raid districts paid dividends this year amounting to £169,192. The Premier diamond mine naid £260,000 dividend, the coal companies £12'3,518,, and fchlei financial - corporations £1,204)542. :;V FWe understand that a ‘party of Salvation officers spent several days last week inspecting Ruth's Island and Paka.toa Island (nspr Waiheke), with a view to establishing homes for inebriates, under arrangements with the Government,., a®''the outcome Of legislation- passed, last sessionv ; , :V

I Colonel Loved ay, -.speaking about the encampment of cadets at the Exhibition, remarked that in .-all lias experience he had never-had to order the' striking of ai teht beidaulse it- had been pitched badly by cadets, though in the case of tents pitched by volunteers that was ai common oiooui'rance. We understand^that when the new trawler Norai NiVen, built for the Napier Fish. Company, comes out to the colony, thle Minister for Marine intends to arrange' for her to be chart- j ered by the Government to make a . number of ‘experimental fishing expeditions on the coast in other grounds than, those at present visited by fishermen. 'ln this connection -slie will probably -make a run down' to the Chair haansi -and other'islands.., // |- p It is interesting to note that-there are at present five distinct parties in. he field engaged on the geological survey of New Zealand. The director of the survey, Dr J. -M. 8011, who is assisted by .Messrs Clarke and Webb (geologists) and Graham (topographer), has almost completed the work in the Colling Wood district-. Mr- P. G. 'Morgan is prosecuting the work in Westland,’ where he is ‘now engaged on the MSkonui -sheet. Mjr Colin Fraser is in the Coromandel district, and expects to - complete ibis present, underbaking in MarchPark is 'at; work in Central -'Otago;' The bulletins for; these four parties' will probably be issued during, the" coming session '/of,* .iPajrli&ipieniiK Gfeviße is canTingv^ut^topogTapbicah work at the head waters of the iHckitika river, in some veiy rough to 1898 there -was - an 'Chinaman ' to every HHBHHHjflfcns engaged in alluvial Says Mr Mbr, essay. About th& alKwia-l ’adcas