LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 53, 20 July 1912, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Australian mails ex Warrimoo arrived in Wellington at 4.30 p.m. yesterday. The New Plymouth portion will arrive at S p.m. to-night.

The Wairarapa hockey team, holders of the Xordon Cup, have a 'hard time in stoie. No fewer than four challenges have been received. The first match will be against Taranaki.

Mr. A, Cliff had the misfortune to sustain a sprained knee on Thursday afternoon through his horse rolling oil him at the Ilawera railway station.'' TTe was unloading his hunters at the time. Professor Mills will pay a visit to New Plymouth next week, lecturing to school teachers on Saturday morning, in the technical College, on agricultural'matters at 2 o'clock. In the afternoon, in the Town Hall, he will address the farmers on the methods adopted in connection with the agricultural colleges and experimental farms in America, The professor was lecturer to several agricultural colleges in the United Statcs°for some years,

f T !' e ■M' sslonilr y Anniversary of the Wlnteley Memorial Church w iii take, p.ace to-morrow. The preacher will be the Rev. J. W. Burton (for nine years missionary in Fiji). The morning subject will be, "With Christ in the South Seas, and in the evening the sermon will be on "Is Christ conquering the world.' rile offertories for the day will be on behalf of the Foreign Mission ary fuiids of the Methodist Church.

How or by what means they came to be there can only be conjectured, but at an early hour on Thursday mornin" the rocky beach between Cliff House, at rsland Bay, and Happy A alley, near. Wellington,, was found to be .-(rewn with cartloads of deep-sea Jisli, which had been thrown up (luring the night. As the fish were quite fresh, and seemed to he 111 a perfectly healthy condition if; must be assumed that thev had suffered rom a submarine disturbance of some kind or other. This is fairly certain, as the lisli arc nearly all deep-sea tish conger-eel, ling, liapuka, etc. The news of the silver horde awaiting anyone who cared to carry a load awav 'soon found ,ts way to the city, and 'durinthe day several cart-loads of fish were brought into town, and a number of tramway employees, off duty, secured a rich harvest of the very best of fish.

The address at the Brotherhood 011 Sunday afternoon .will be delivered by liev. T. 11. Koseveare, and the cliair wiil be taken by Mr. Henry Brown. The subject of Mr. Roseveare's address will be: "Can the Gospel history be trusted?"

There were two occupants of the police cells last night, and they will formally I make their appearance before the Magistrate this morning, charged with drunkenness. As Maoris are in the .habit of collecting vast quantities of duck and swan e fS s —f° r eating—the Acclimatisation Societies' Conference is being asked to take this matter into consideration, and, if feasible, to mako representations to the Government against such a practice. The proposal that farmers' unions should employ their own stock agents for the sale of stock was discussed by the Marton branch last week and rejected. It was decided, instead, that the secretary should keep a register of stock for sale and charge a small commission. An emigration agent, lecturing to a female audience recently,, informed them that women were so scarce in Canada that many of the married ones are already engaged to their second and third husbands. A man who can do this sort of thing should be at a great premium as emigration lecturer. For several years past Mr. Jas. Maxwell, a well-known motor engineer of l'nvercargill, his been experimenting with a view to perfecting a storage bat- | terv, a model of which was forwarded to Mr. Edison, the. famous electrician. Mr. Maxwell has now received word to proceed at once to Ameiica to perfect his battery, and will ieavo in the course of a few weeks. The Ashburton Mail state# that an elderly man travels about the country with a portable whare, and seems to be living comfortably, and making good wages, as a bird trapper. He has a number of live decoys ,in cages, and his practice is to set ■his traps at the foot of straw stacks or where oatsheaf has been stacked. By this method he makes good catches of small birds.

A resident of the Dannevirke district, who has just returned from a visit to Australia, strongly commends the proposal, which has been advocated in the Taranaki Daily News, that a carriage should be set apart on trains for the sole use of women and childen. This gentleman (says the News) found such a system in use. on the New South Wales and Queensland railways, where it was greatly appreciated "by travelling mothers. There is a possibility (says the Auckland Herald) of a new steamer service between the continent of Europe and New Zealand ports being inaugurated in the near future. Messrs. Aug. Bulcke and Co., with headquarters at Antwerp, in a letter which came before the Auckland Harbor Board, asked for information as- to port dues, etc., and stated, further, that if these were satisfactory, and if suitable arrangements could be made, they intended to start a new service. The information asked for is to be supplied.

Foremost among the King Country districts which are making rapid strides in the march of primary development is that of Te Awamutu. An Auckland Star reporter was informed by Mr. A. Schmitt, secretary of the Farmers' Union, that the district is opening up splendidly., and that the cattle are looking well. The staple industry, dairying, is increasing in dimensions, and a good season is anticipated. Under these conditions it is not surprising that the population is also growing rapidly. Mr. Schmitt predicts a good future for the district.

A small curly-haired girl, aged about three, had the time of her life yesterday morning. She was discovered by Constable O'Neill in a local sample-room, having lost her father and mother. She was conveyed by the genial constable to the police station, where she quickly made herself at home, and repeatedly demaluled, in a childish treble, that her doll should be produced. Soon after she wa.s snugly ensconsed in front of the Courthouse fire, quite happy, and when her father arrived, after a frantic search, the little one did not appear too anxious to rejoin (lie parental care, having evidently been given a good time bv the staff.

At a moderate estimate, according to Dr. A. 11. Cockayne, Government Biologist. weeds diminish the annual producing power-of our. lands by at least 5 per'cent. This represents a yearly loss of nearly £1,000,000 sterling on our agricultural exports alone. A good deal of this loss is now irremediable in those soils which year after year have carried large numbers of weeds, filling the ground with innumerable seeds that will develop whenever a favorable opportunity arises. _ Much of the loss, however, can be avoided. In the opinion of Dr. Cockayne, impure seed can be reckoned up as the greatest factor in the production of tiie noxious weeds problem, and' he advocates testing seed before sowing.

A Taranaki dairy farmer, who is visiting Blenheim, was asked by a local resident if the milking industry was really the profitable thing that it'was said to be. lie seemed to be surprised at the question. There was no doubt whatever, he said, as to the profitableness of dairy farming, and the work was not so laborious as some people supposed. The property in which he was interested comprised 115 acres, and it easily ran fi7 cows, 20 or 30 sheep, and four or five horses. The milking of the herd occupied not more than two and a half hours. It was estimated- that this year the average return per cow would be at least £l3, the milk being supplied to the factory, and in addition large numbers of pigs and calves were turned out.