AMUSEMENTS.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 357, 11 February 1937, Page 8

AMUSEMENTS.

Plaza Theatre. “Accused.” i I i I “Accused,” the second production of the recently-formed Criterion Films Company, which heads the programme to be presented at the Plaza Theatre to-night and to-morrow, is a worthy successor to the company’s first screen presentation, “The Amateur Gentleman,” which was shown with marked success in Stratford several weeks ago. The story reaches dramatic heights in its thrilling account of a theatre murder and the trial ot an innocent dancer to whom circumstantial evidence points as the criminal. Dolores Del Rio and Douglas Fairbanks, junr., have the leading roles, and their characterisations of two dancers who are offered a contract to appear in a revue opening at the Alhambra Theatre, Paris, and who later become the central figures in one of the most stirring court-room dramas to be seen on the screen in re- | cent years, call for the highest praise. ! The opening scenes of the film are I devoted to a spectacular musical reI vue, but once the murder has been committed in the dressing-room of the I leading actress, the story moves with dramatic swiftness and the suspense is skilfully maintained throughout. Supporting roles are well filled by Florence Desmond and Basil Sydney. King’s Theatre. “Heart of the West.” To those who enjoy first-class action entertainment packed with all the thrills, hard-riding, gun-fighting, and romance which have made Western novels one of the most popular forms of fiction, "Heart, of the West,” the Paramount Pictures version of yet another ot Clarence E. Mulford’s stirring stories which is to be shown at the King’s Theatre to-day and to-mor-row, will have a definite appeal. Once more William Boyd gives an excellent characterisation of Mulford's popular hero, Hopalong Cassidy, and his performance reveals that previous experience in the same role has stood him in good stead in the present picture. Jimmy Ellison repeats his previous. success in the part of Cassidy's firm friend, while another good performance is given by Fred Kohler. Light entertainment, of a very cheering nature is presented in the second attraction, “Early to Bed.” a highly diverting comedy in which the two well-known players Charlie Ruggles and Mary Boland have the principal roles. “Early To Bed.” Enthusiastic applause may safely be considered a recommendation for screen entertainment. That the King’s Theatre will continually resound to the acclamation of a particularly large audience to-night and to-morrow will be sufficient testimony in itself as to the high quality of the programme. Not only are the pictures exciting and amusing, but they also provide a striking contrast. “Early To Bed,” with Mary Boland and Charlie Ruggles in the leading roles, is both ingenious and hilarious from beginning to end. The theme is a novel one and concerns the amusing adventures of Mr. Ruggles, who, with an incurable habit of sleep-walking, becomes seriously involved in a murder investigation. The manner in which his trouble finally clears him of all suspicion and greatly assists in revealing the real criminal, must rank as one of the best film climaxes of the year. Mary Boland gives one of the best characterisations of her career, and her inimitable personality proves to be an admirable foil to that of Mr. Ruggles.

Dairy Cow May be Made or Marred EARLY TREATMENT No one has ever made an accurate calculation of the cost of faulty calfraising to the industry every year, probably because such a census would be impossible and unreliable. There are so many indirect factors affecting the life and growth of calves which are quite incalculable, besides which there is the continuous and cumulative loss of productivity in badly reared animals throughout their later life. If it were simply a matter of saying that 15 per cent, to 20 per cent, of calves die from malnutrition or septicaemia conditions, these figures would show a straight-out number of Irestock that could never reach useful maturity. But in addition to this loss, which is certainly a conscrvitive estimate of calf mortality, is the inefficiency shown by so great a number of animals reared to milking age and then kept on in the herd. It would also be a hard matter to estimate the proportion of dairymen who can rear a calf so that it will gi' e the breeding handed to it by its parentn a fair chance of proving itself ,though it would be rather low in any case. Most dairy cows, in spite of their proved ability, could probably have been 5 per cent, to 25 per cent, better animais if their rearing had been fully success ful. We do not seem to realise this aspect in a true perspective. .Just so long as calves are brought to mating age alive, we believe they have been reared well. It does not seem to mat ter whether they are stunted, or fattened and coarsened —they are live animals and* that is apparently all that counts. This is where most dairymen make a serious mistake. They are pre pared to pay well to get good production bulls to breed better and still belter heifers out of their good cows, but they will subject those heifer calves to no such scientific raising as the care and money disposed on breeding them would warrant. The calf is not a hard animal to raise well, so that it is a pity to have to admit this big economic loss occurring each year by these lackadaisical methods, which in most cases really submit the calf to a rigorous test of “survival of the fittest.’’ If a calf if worth breeding well it must surely bu worth a few simple, out essential details of care in its upbringing. MYSTERIOUS CALF LOSSES. Most of the calves that are lost in the first few months of life seem to die foi no apparent reason. \ viy often the cause is attributed to a bait or poisonous weed. It is just as well to get this sort of thing straight by being honest about it. A calf is brought the world by the average cow in the fittest condition of all domestic annual youngsters to continue its existence, it asks very little other than its food-milk, so that it certainly neeus to have a good reason for giving up life. These call deaths are due to reasons most of us are apt to gloss over, and to them must also be added the liarinlui effects that the closeness to dying, experienced by a big proportion of calves that survixt bad periods, has on their later development. On the wild range conditions mortality does not occur unless eilhei one of two conditions, or both, happen. If the mothers milk becomes insufficient for nutrition, the calf will soon die. whilst it has little chance of growing to any size if there is no decent pasture. Bearing in mind that apart from these factors not 1 per cent, of calves fail to mature under range conditions, we might easily reflect that losses on dairy farms are governed by the same sei, of rules, arid are caused by the failure ot the dairymen to emulate the natura 1 state.

Briefly it can be enid by far the greater part of calf deaths are due tr over-feeding, starvation, bad feeding, and poor hygiene. Indigestion is quit* a common cause of deaths and poor ‘‘doers,” and it is due to the combiner* effects of too much feed and contamination of that feed or the calf-pasture® with harmful organisms that will proliferate in the calf’s stomach. This latter is the result of bad hygiene, which is a proverbial “ Peeping Toni ’ of trouble in calf raising, appearing a? does at every phuoC. Where feeding is quite correct lor adequate nutrition, it may be the cause of bloody or white cours, and these often, lead to fatalities, though frequently the chief result s merely to puzzle the owner of stunted calves. He cannot understand i why well-fed youngsters should not grow properly. Invariably hygienic deficiency is the‘trouble. Poorly balanced diet and starvation are not as common causes of loss as lack of effective hygiene is, though they are quite as prolific in their harmful effects on growth. WHAT IS CALF HYGIENE? Most of the bacteria that are injurious to calves are of a remarkably persistent type, and, unfortunately, as far as outside conditions go they are almost always present somewhere about a calf yard, and only need to become mixed with the calf’s food to enter the body. There is a natural resistance to infection built up by the calf, but complete immunity to these septicaemia and intestinal organisms is rare. Probably this is because it is so very easy to establish wonderful breeding-grounds for them in the very utensils used in feeding the youngsters. A common way of giving calves their milk is to tether them to posts out of sucking distance of one another, and pour the fresh skim milk into half kerosene tins, which the calves lick dry and somewhat clean. However, the seams are perfect plaguedevelopers, and will contaminate each issue of milk placed in that tin when in regular use, so that the calf in time acquires dose after dose of harmful bacteria. These eventually will wear it down and either harm its growth or kill it. Under range conditions that calf would get milk quite free from germs, except those it may pick up from the dirt on the outside of its mother’s teats. This factor is known to-day to be a small one in affecting calf health, because the general type of germ found on the teats is not pathagenic to calves. Consequently, since the ordinary dairy milk freely contaminated with bacteria of many kinds by the time it is separated, it is the sane thing to feed the skim milk out as hygienically as

possible from this stage onward, tn a matter to prevent further pollution. Take the best seamless milk buckets out and feed each calf individually from them with the cleanest of milk if you want results. Maybe this method is too slow when a lot of c lives are to be fed, when it will be necessary to provide several seamless basins or buckets (enamel ones are quite useful), and tliese must be washed as thoroughly as the milking utensils after every meal. If stanchions are ured, the same rules, apply—clean buckets or troughs are, vita) every time milk is fed <»ut.| Actually milk is the worst cause of calfi -nf estation because it is a perfect breed-* ing-groiind for most dirt germs, hence 'he need for hygiene where cal* routine • concerned. NUTRITION. •‘range as it may seem, the dairy- . 's chief responsibility in the matter feeding the calf is before ic is burn. 'he influence on its future healthiness nd growth of the dam herself is not properly appreciated. Even the much ’•sired fine dairy type in the calf is very largely controlled by the way the mother herself has been fed when developing a calf in the uterus. Jt is not possible for a dry cow, struggling to restore her own calcium bone losses and conditions of the previous lactation, to place in the world a calf fitted out to' go through its post-natal stages with a fair chance of growing properly. The 'i ain essential here is that, the cow in calf should have plenty of the best of pastures, together wiMi some hay if in winter. Other than this, she merely needs a good rug on cold nights and access to a nicely balanced mineral lick, ®uch as one of the 40 per cent, di-calcic phosphate and GO per cent. salt. In feeding the newly h'>-n calf there have been no reasons brought up in rei ent years for any discontinuance of the old method of giving fresh whole milk (from the dam if possible for the first iwo weeks) over a period of at least lour weeks and up to seven. For the average-sized youngster, 31b to 41b twice daily is an ample and almost complete meal, and this amount of fresh milk should never be exceeded. The total quantity can be raised to Gib or i 71b at the end of three weeks, by the addition of skim milk, with the fresfi gradually being replaced in the third to the fifth week by skim milk, so that it is completely broken off at the right time. This latter is Jetermined by several factors, *ll6 chief being the rich neus or otherwise of the calf pasture plots. Whole milk can be cut out early (at four weeks )if fat calves are not wanted, though the pasture needs to be short and nicely balanced clover-grass stuff. Otherwise the richer milk must be kept going a week or two longer to compensate for lack of good feed the calf gets. These two things, sweet, short pasture and clean skim-milk, should form almost the sole diet of any dairy heifer calf. As the calf does not develop the true ruminant's stomach until it is at least four months old. it canuoT chew cud well early in life, and so hard feed like chaff and ground oats are not very usclul. In fact, they may irritate the tender stomach in the first two months of existence. Plenty of pasture js the surest way of balancing feeds in this respect, because the calves can help themselves just when they feel they need such 1 odder. Baked or toasted pollard is a good ir -i to put in little dry tins near each ca. .Iter feeing, as it not only helps condition, but dries the calves’ mouths and so helps to prevent sucking. 'The syrup from boiled whole linseed is also an ideal extra I odder when calves need more fattening loods, whilst finely ground maize ia very little inferior As far as fatness or otherwise is conrerned in the matter of type,it ccn be honestly said that too much has been ass ci led about, over or Luder feeding, and its subsequent effect on fine dairy type. Most of the damage has already been done to the calf in this respect whilst in the dam’s uterus and so is mainly concerned with her nutrition. Consequently, a calf wants to be maintained at a good healthy degree of fineness —-just at tjio. point where a sleek coat appears. Stunting by withholding food (milk and concentrates) is merely an effort to correct an evil that has already been done, and so the practice must he condemned, as also must overfeeding of whole mil 1 ’ and linseed or other lattening things. 'These will assist a heavy brisket to develop very easily, and they may be guarded against. A fine healthiness, with plenty o( life in the calf, is what is needed BUILDING CONSTITUTION. Sometimes a calf docs not seem able io digest or use a good food properly, in spite of this being given in clean atensils. In these cases a teaspoon of cod-liver oil mixed once a day with the milk lor a few weeks may work wonders, because it provides vitamins the calf’s system is deficient in. This applies very particularly to stallreaiod youngsteis. Another weakness is often shown by anemia or bloodlessness. This if> indicated jnsfe plain listlessncss, with indigestion and general weakness. It may be cured by adding small quantities of a fleshly made syrup of ferrous sulphate (it must be green) to the milk. The dose is about half a level teaspoon of the solid daily to each animal. Still better is limonite, an iron, copper, and cobalt rock, which is very cheap, and can be kept indefinitely. About a teaspoon of this a day can be given to each calf, in a solution with water, and the whole mixed with the milk. Pampered calves are not worth much hv the time they are due to milk, ivhich makes a certain amount of roughng or exposure necessary for each calf to build up a tough constitution. Sheds in most districts only need to be closed 9u the two sides towards the prevailing winds, leaving the other two open for sunlight. Their floors should be concreted and duckboarded. with plenty of straw changed frequently, uhich is keeping an eye to shed hygiene also. Let the calves do what they will, otherwise, if this kind of shelter is available to them, though remember that an animal whose condition has become low needs some nursing back before it ia as strong as the others. In their second year, or even from eight months of age, calves are better off developmentally if they have no more protection than decent wind-breaks in the padflocks. The toughening required in this early period is extremely valuable to the future strength of the cow’s ©rzans. and it pays to encourage it.

Industry,” is not seen in print or heard from the platform so frequently as it used to be, simply because local industry is encouraged and that to a | most gratifying extent, in New Zea-! land to-day. Workshops and factories are springing up in the various centres of population, where goods in everyday demand are turned out equal to anything imported and in some instances actually better! Tobacco is a case in point. Grown and manufactured within the Dominion, this indispensable commodity for quality is second to none. The raw material is produced under ideal conditions. Climate, soil, highly-skilled labour, and the most modern methods of manufacture combine to make the five brands, Cut Plug No. 10 (Bullshead), Cavendish, Navy Cut No. 3 (Bulldog), Riverhead Gold and Desert Gold, the perfect tobacco. One of its extraordinary merits is that it is toasted. That remarkable process (the manufacturers’ own) eliminates the nicotine in the loaf and renders the finished product practically harmless —something that cannot be said of even the finest imported.