GENERAL NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 300, 28 May 1915, Page 2

GENERAL NEWS.

We understand (says the. Kaikoura Star) that a "lind" of petroleum has been made; in a certain locality of .Marlborough by the Government. 'At the annual meeting of the New ; Zealand Paper Mills, Limited, held at Dunedin, the chairman stated that tin.' i, gross profits had increased [rom X:i7,fiO-t 11 in 1914 to £42,498 in 1915. 1 A F'cilding Star correspondent at Waituna West gives an instance! of dairying profits in that district, lie had li.") cows grazing on 05 acres during the milking season, obtaining a return of .■CIS per cow lor milk alone, the result, he says, of heavy culling and good pastures. Tile London Nation says that one of the prisoners from the wrecked Herman warship Blncher told his captors a curious story, it was that all the heads of the (German navy approved the'policy of raids on unfortified British towns, and that Prince Henry of Prussia, as a consequence of his opposition, lias lowered his tlag. Referring to the potato market a contemporary says it would seem tliat the Dominion has a surplus of potatoes, and that the only hope of prices improving rests upon the possibility of a demand for supplies coming from Australia. At present there does not seem to be much prospect of such a demand arising, for there is a .significant absence of the speculation spirit.

A curious result of the war is that several gramaphone companies are. busy making shell cases for .the Government. It seems that their machinery is specially suitable for this, and one firm, it is said, is turning out something like 3001) shells a day. Naturally there ha?, been a considerable decrease in the mak- . ing of new "records" since the war began, although many thousands of gramaphones and discs have, found their way to the front. The Lyttelton Times says:—We suni pose it would be wrong to say that tho-ie I |)eople who misbehaved themselves at Wanganui last Saturday night suffered from an excess of 'patriotism, because patriotism cannot very well he excessive. But thev certainly (•hose an unfortunate and a criminal outlet for their feelings. There used to be an unflattering saying, based in the first place upon some olliii.il report, that Wanganui contributed a larger quota of patients to the m»ntnl i hospitals than did any other part of New Zealand. "I hope you are not ill and that nothing lias happened," is tile beginning of a business letter from a Japanese house to the secretary of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce. With innate politeness the Japanese correspondent first enquires after the health of the person addressed, and then begins to talk business, touching -particularly on the keenness of the Japanese manufacturer to do any business that the Germans did in New Zealand before the war, and any other business that may be brought in their way. We have heard a great deal about the number of 'prisoners of war now held by Germany, but for some reason the number of prisoners held by the Allies has not been published. A correspondent of the New York Evening Clobe, a native' of Switzerland, says that the estimates of Swiss newspapers, usually accurate, : are as follows:—31)0,000 German prisoners in France; about 40,000 in Tunis. Algeria and Morocco; about 40,000 in England; and in Russia -1(10,000 Oermans and 000,000 Austrians. Since the statistics have not been officially published these estimates are conjectural, but there is no reason why they should not be substantially true. "We in New Zealand are 'having a prosperous time. We have never seen such prices," said <Mr. Hugh Morrison at the farmers' dinner at Pahiatua. ''This is due in the first part to the British Navy, and secondly 1.0 the assistance of tn» Allies." Mr. .Morrison added that the greatest Empire the world had ever seen was at death grips, and only the allied armies and navies stood between New Zealand and ruination. There was never a more just cause than the Allies were lighting for and if it were fr.uiid necessary to call up all men between 20 and 40—although he hoped it would not come to that—lie and every ablebodied man who was eligible would join the Expeditionary Forces. Sir Douglas Mawson mentioned at Sydney the other week he did not know where every member of his Antarctic party was, but he had knowledge of the following:—Mr. Rickerton, the aeroplane engineer of the party, is now a lieutenant in the Middlesex Regiment. Mr. Madigan, of South Australia, the meteorologist with the Mawson party, is serving in a unit of the Roval Flyjii" Corps. Mr. Percy Gray, tile second officer of the Aurora, is a lieutenant on H.M.S. Meter. Dr. McLean, surgeon of the party, is in the Armv Medical Corps connected with the Black Watch. Captain Page, the astronomer of the Mhav- . sou expedition, is with the Australian troops at the Dardanelles.

On tile eve of embarkation for the work on the fiallipoli Peninsula, one of the New Zealandcrs wrote to Lis father a well-known citizen of Wellington:— '/We are very keen to get to work. It is a ruthless, bloodthirsty business, but ode has only to remember the Belgian atrocities and the massacre of Christiana by tlie lurks during the past few years to teel that one's cause is pist and' righteous. With this feeling' one can face the greatest danger undaunted. We tire sons of an Empire 0 f which the foundation-stone is liberty, and which is dedicated to the principle tli.it no man call Stand on its shores and be a slave. We are prepared to give our lives, if necessary, that that nation may live, and that this principle may long endure. As you say, a simple, clear faith is a great help in facing the ultimate crisis ot life: so we shall all of us do OUI- little bit' at the Dardanelles" _ Interesting reference to the fruit trade in the Nelson province, its past,- present and future, were made to a- Post reporter by Mr. R. P. Allport, of Nelson, who has been concerned in the trade for several years. The past season, he said bad been a good one for apples— 000 boxes Shipped to South America. T„ art. most Of the fruit exported during the season had gone to South Amer:-a, the exception being a. few pears sent to Vancouver. That was an excellent ' S f isf:lctol T prices bad been ,1 Ii •" - Rood "Lout the 0 t]| ;»S' ,'S tliat the fiovernment is very particular about the grading and imlnsh-y Ti ' S . a S ' oo ' l I,lfl "' the mlustn. 1 lie industry." he said; "is now on such a good footing that the oichardist need not go out of bis orchard to sell his r n ,it. Previously he ad to go to auctioneers and accept the "V!""»"V's«».i j .or 'W?,S I,rt -