DISTRICT NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 December 1920, Page 2

DISTRICT NEWS.

PUNGAREHU. (From Our Own Correspondent.) There has been a little uneasiness and talk occasioned by so much sickness. Certainly there have been a few milk cases of influenza, but nothing to cause alarm. All the patients are either going about again or quietly improving.

The interest in Ashing is still very keen, and people can be seen whipping die local rivers, bul with very little success. This is a imaltcr that .should receive the attention of the Acclimatisation Society, the stocking of the streams In this vicinity. Fishing prospects in other districts have been very encouraging.

St. Andrew's Day, Tuesday, December 30, wns observed on the coast in the usual way. People's day of the Stratford Show attracted quite a large number of folk from the coast, who made favorable comment upon the completeness of the arrangements for their enjoyment. The officials i avo every reason to congratulate themselves on the results achieved, the show as a whole being voted the best one ever seen in Stratford. The grand parade or Taranakl's wealth producers was Indeed a magnificent spectacle. The High Commissioner's latest cables do not. give one a particularly comfortable feeling with regard to cheese, the market being pretty lifeless at the present moment. However, tlis season's make will not get on the English market until about February, when It Is hoped the position will be reversed, otherwise there may be a somewhat doleful tale to tell at the various annual meet- | lugs next year.

We are suffering at present from the effects of the war and the policies brought Into being because of the war. But there is ao sovereign remedy for the' ills that afflict us. They are the natural and inevitable consequence of the war. They arise partly from the destruction of wealth, partly from tho Inflation of currency and credit, partly from the influence of governments more or less necessary during the war, with the normal course of supply and demand and very largely from the enormous dislocation. All these influences are undoubtedly at work In raising prices. Extreme labor advocate that nationalisation of all tlio important Industries will effect a cure, but government ownership and management cannot be beneficlent to labor unless beneficial to the community as a whole. If each line of industry would contrive fo increase its production Instead of limiting production, there would bo more to offer in the exchanges, and it Is evident that workers In every lino would have more for consumption. '

The few flue warm days experienced recently have raised thoughts of summer, and banished to some extent our natural regrets for the mlaslug spring. The local garden crops appear to lie coming on well, although many are experiencing a rather unpleasant time on account of a grub, which seems to attack tho plants nt il e root partially destroying some good crops. Shearing is proceeding satisfactorily, weatiier permitting, along the coast, and the clip generally appears to he good, although very little is ifluding it way to the stores. Speaking of the season's prospects from' a dairyman's point of view, they are now decidedly good. Feed Is plentiful, and the improvement in tho standard of cons milked, combined with the advanced methods now being generally adopted, count in the farmer's favor. Tho necessity for more caro on the part of dairy-farmers In tl:e culling and selection of their stock, in order to enable them to meet the extra costs entailed by the high price of land and stock, has been forcibly impressed upon formers of lale. The increasing shortage of milk In the Old Country, and tho strong probability of (he price being prohibitive to the consumer, has caused tho dairyman to mako a suggestion wJiicir: might with advantage be considered by some of our factories. The proposal is to send home frozen milk, which it Is pointed out is quite feaslbic and requires no expensive machinery, all that is necessary being a twice a day delivery, immediate cooling, pasteurising and re-cooling. The whole milk could then be canned in tins like petrol, shipped in frozen solid Blocks, and aeni home in the same manner as frozen meat. It has been stated that the shortage of milk is likely to lave a most serious effect on the nation's health, so that by shtppins quantities of frozen milk much suffering would be alleviated