LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 204, 26 February 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Aleadang drapery firm in Napier has decided to have its half-holiday on Saturday instead of Wednesday, and others are likely to follow suit.

There is at present an unprecedented demand for houses in Invercargill, notwithstanding the fact that buildings have been going up in all directions during tlie past two years. Mr. G. H. Bullard, Commissioner for Crown Lands at Taranaki, has been appointed a commissioner in connection with the merging of St. Aubyn Town district into the borough of New Plymouth. "J A meeting of residents of the trankley Road, Frankleigh Park and Westown tf™ m* dl l trkts is t0 ie »* the' Frankley to-night for the purpose of discussing the advisability of again holding the re-union sports, which proved.so enjoyable last year.

The ercetion of the buildings for working the New Plymouth ironsand deJSta progressing satisfactorily at Moturoa.

There are some ph,i,lanthropically disposed Chinese in New Zealand. A wellknown Chinese resident at'Wanganui has Reived thirteen cases of rare plants iroin China, which aro intended by him as a gift to the-Wanganui Beautifying Society. The plants will be planted ih the Society's Chino-Japanese : garden at Wanganui East.

Statisticians affirm that within another seven or eight year? greater New Xork will, have a population of at least a million more than greater London, and Chicago is coming on at a great rate. Crearer London has, on 693 square miles seven and a-quarter million people, compared with six and a-half millions of greater New Yorkers on 702 Square miles. But the copulation of New York is growing so much faster than that of London that -the director of the American census predicts a speedy ending of London's supremacy.

The White Cliffs. Co-operative Dairy Company (Puke-arutie).'has received the following excellent report on the quality of .their , cheese from the purchasers, Messrs.- Joseph Nathan and Co., Ltd.:We have pleasure in intimating that we have by the inward English mail received a report from our London house regarding your shipments of cheese. The re-' port is that the cYeese has given complete satisfaction in every way in fact to use our «wn London house words/ the quality is all that could be desired.' We compliment ttie manager on such excellent reports.» Mr. ¥.. Pennington is manager of the White Cliffs Dairy Fac-

In consequence of the recent, rise in the price of hemp, five flaxmills have (reports the Southland Times) recommenced operations in Otago and Southland. The improvement in prices, unfortunately, came too late, and several millers have thought it not worth while to* open-in consequence, If prices reTll good there wiu be a resuscitation of the industry, and a general reopening of mills when next spring comes round. At present" quotations, millers shpuld- reap a fair profit; but, unfortunately, many of them, sold early, and, m consequence, are not receiving as good a price as if they had tarried.' Tow is in great demand locally, but the supply is* inadequate.

The interest taken in recent'political developments in New Zealand, and more particularly in the Prime Minister per-sonally,-by people in England is -evidenced by the number of communications on the subject which have been received by Sir Joseph Ward by recent mails. One correspondent, a gentleman occupying a leading position in London, after expressing regret at the result of the elections, says: "Come Home, have * good rest, and then go into political life here." Sir Joseph's comment upon this to a Times representative- was that ; though it was very nice to receive such eqmmunications, he was not in any hurry to leave New Zealand.. He enjoyed a good political fight as well as anything. Another correspondent in a leading positidn, after referring to Sir Joseph's popularity at Home, wrote thai London people were astounded at the result of the elections. He added that on three occasions he had visited the Scala Theatre lately, and a picture of Sir, Joseph Ward at the unveiling of the Queen Victoria memorial was displayed and. was received by the audience with the most hearty applause. A good deal has' been-written and talked about the codlin moth of late, writes Mr. A. Malcolmson, of the Lower Hutt, .but, he adds, few have put forward or suggested any very satisfactory method of getting rid of the pest. "Yet recently, when' I was visiting a friend in the Hutt, I was struck with the strange appearance of bottles attached, to fruit trees in the orchard, and, in making enquiry as to what they were for, was informed they were to catch the codlin moth, and, on "being shown me, I found it to be half full of moths, flies and other insects. This method of -dealing with the pest is very simple, and well worth a trial. Get as many bottles as you require like the ones one generally gets curry or chutney in, and fasten a wire round the neck, with a loop over the top, so as to form a handle; this is to fasten the bottle to the stem of the tree with them. Next half-fill the bottles with a mixture thus: One" tablespoonful of treacle, one tablespoonful of vinegar, mixed with a pint of water. This only requires renewing once every three weeks. This method, I am assured, is highly satisfactory. Thia year, so far, not one apple in the orchard in question has been' affeated with the moth, although for years past the apples have been very bad with the pest.

According to Mr. Harper, a member of the West Australian Parliament, who was in Sydney recently, an annual influx of 30,000 immigrants would not overtax the State. "As in other States," he said, "our industries are languishing because of the lack of population. But our need is perhaps the greatest of all. We have a population of only 300,000, occupying an area of 1,000,000 square miles. Labor is almost unobtainable. We need artisans, farm hands, miners, domestic servants, and, in fact, all classes of labor. Our liberal land laws, too, and, our great stretches of undeveloped fertile country should attract, farmers. Our Arbitration Court is the curse of the country. It is responsible for the growth of bad feeling between the employers and employees. Their wages would have a much better knowledge of the details of the various industries than a judge of the Supreme Court sitting in arbitration. As a result of our arbitration methods and the scarcity of labor wages have gone up inordinately in West Australia. The average wage per head paid in West Australia is £SO above that in Victoria. The average rate in Victoria is £6B a year, and \\ est Australia £118."

Members of the Equitable Building Society of New Plymouth (First and Second Groups) are notified thai subscriptions will be due and payable today (Monday), at the Secretary's Office, Currie street from 9 a.m. to 12.30, from 1 p.m. to 5 pjn., and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.— Advt.