ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 43116, 20 July 1907, Page 1

ITEMS OF INTEREST.

- Ak Dupedin a Presbyterian orphan age. and children’s home to aecommo date about forty children was openec last week. .Hie number of miles of Government railway now opened for traffic in tin North Island is 943 as against 1521 in the South Island, a-total of 2467. . The Coromandel School of Mine! Council has arranged, with Messrs A 11. Gatland and R. G. Jamieson tc carry on the work of the school unti a permanent director is appointed. Dr. Chalmers Prentice, a Chioagc physician, is claiming' £SOO damages .against the North .German Lloyc Steamship Company for burying his wife at sea without consulting him a.to the disposal of the body by wire • Jess telegraphy. - The traffic in decrepit horses taken from English mines and shipped from Hull-and Grimsby to. Belgium, where they, are slaughtered arid used as food hv ,the..poorer: classes, has become so scandalous that the Belgian Minister of Agriculture has requested the- Ant- , werp authorities to suppress such commerce. '--The. French Government has order'd all public telephones to be carefully i; s ; nfected and inspected at regular in-te-vals in future. The precaution is .. :.c -to a Paris business man having ‘uiught a-skin diseaise after using one of the public, instruments. ! We learn that a discovery of gn auriferous and argentiferous lode has b>een reported to the Mines Depart■m°nt by a prospector in, the Puhipuhi Forest. Some of the 'assays are reported to have given payable of pold and silver, also a percentage of antimony • andl cinnabarAt the annual New .Zealanders’ dinner in London, the- High Commissioner (Mr Reeves) said: Prosperity brought its . temptations, but if the newspapers did not worry the Government, into worrying Parliament- into worrying the moneylenders of the world into lending us more money than we ought to ; :.borrow, he did not see why New Zealand’s prosperity should not be —(Hear, hear.) It was based not upon one industry only, but upon a dozen, all of which were receiving the energetic 1 development of the industrious colonists. Altogether be did not see any reason to anticipate any" change in our happy prosperity. Our Waikato correspondent writes :

“Ait a meeting o? the Waikato Rugto Union arrangements were made for a team to play Auckland on Saturday next. The team will leave Hamilton to the texpresa train on Friday, stay at the Imperial Hotel; and return' or Monday.- Seventeen players will he sent under Mr T?.. J. Gwynne as manager.” i : . The flaxmilling industry has developed wonderfully during the last, ter -years: In 1896 a total of 2968 tons o' fibre was shipped from New Zealand ports. Last year the quantity wai. 27,779 tons—an increase in the rath . of Ito 8.35 ; but, better still, tb increase in the amount realised hr shipments is in the proportion of 1 tc • 22.5.' w A report on the botanical survey o J ; Kap:ti Island has been made bv Dr Chokawne, of Christchurch. Tire report is a very complete one, and is weT v niustra.fed' by photographs taken to t . .the writer. It adds largely to our knowledge of New Zealand fauna and " flora, and is one -of the most interestin' ‘ and ya'uable publications on the subject that has yet -been issued. : f.-Before his' departure-' for America and England Dr. Bell, the Government Geologist, who..had visited Auckland in connection with the geolo’rvqy;/ .Said ' that he was very with the possibilities fc Nrtisfk.'ortV.- narticu-arly with, the ooppe-i /; which had been brought unV. 'Nr his notice. His observations, however,.'were necessarily of. so casual a nature that he. preferred to leave the tonnation of bis final opinion until ■ more detailed observations are taken next summer. .. ....A visitor, from: the South Island, who knows the ‘country around Timiaru and Oamaru well, states ‘that the wea- • tier conditions which have prevailed 4- there for many months past are almost incredible. “During the last five months,”. he told a Wairarapa Daily . Times reporter, there has not, -been sufficient rain to.necessitate: one donning his overcoat.” He further stated -that some big deals in wheat took p T aee reaently in tbo, South at- 4s 6d per bushel. The Country is in a very bad state down there,” he concluded. c. “large streams having dried almost completely up.” - ijjMS . : . Our Waihi correspondent writes'l® “The departure of Mr and Mrs H. L. Simmons and family from Waihi was . marked : by the presence of a large gathering of friends ah' the railway rtation to bid them farewell. Aimongst those present were Mr H. P. 13 any • - (superintendent of fhe Waihi Gold - Mining] Company),' / and other local mining representatives, also a number of the leading citizens of the- town and several lady friends.. The numerous Apfarewells were hastily mad'e, and as th 6 engine steamed j&way from the plat- - ’ form there were pin any expressions of regret at the loss to the community of ft highly esteemed' and honored fam- ..

The "Counties Conference -affirmet the necessity for Government grant in aid. of public works being madi available for expenditure during tin summer months. Kauri gum to the value of £522,48( was exported {from New Zealand las' year. The total quantity exported was 9154 tons, of which 4-28 G tons wen shipped to the United Kingdom, 425( tons to the United States, 513 torn to Germany, 39 torsi to Canada, It tons to France, 9. tons to Austria, 1 ton to ‘Holland, 4 tons to Fiji, 1C tons to. New South Wales, and 17 tons .to Victoria-. ’ Out of seventy eight men enrolled in the police force during the last yeai fifty two wore native, born New Zealanders, eight 'Australians, seven Irish six English, and five Scotch. In point of religion twenty two were Church ol England l , thirty two Roman Catholics, and nineteen Presbyterians. In occupation twenty six were labourers, twelve farm labourers, five miners, five artillerymen, five butchers, and four farmers. : “There is.room on the North Island Main Trunk Railway for all applicants,” says the Labour Journal, in reference to unskilled labour, “but considerable difficulty is bein'* Experienced in getting suitable men for the work. Even after selection some of the men do not turn up at the works.” There are 274 unions of workers in the colony with 34,978 members. The Waihi Amalgamated Miners’ and Workers’.Union easily tops the record with- the largest number of member's, 1187.