GENERAL NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 January 1921, Page 6

GENERAL NEWS.

New potatoes are now Worth about £lO 10s per ton in Wanganui, with a tendency for an easier market. Trentham is now the only general hospital under the control of the Defence Department, and it is probable that it will be kept in existence as long as possible. Special treatment may be obtained there to a far greater extent than in any public hospital in the Dominion, and at times there are as many as 300 patients in the wards. The hospitals at Hanmer, Rotorua, Cashmere and Waipukurau are for special cases. A general reconnaisance of the forests from Lake Taupo to East Cape, covering the backbone’bf the mountain ranges of the district, is to be made shortly by a staff of conservators and rangers from the Department of Forestry. The object is to define the area of forests should be dedicated as State forests for protection purposes. A &imila£ and very important survey is to be made of the east slopes of the Southern Alps. Victor Cohen, manager of the ’93 Australian Eleven that toured England, is superstitious. He believes in starlings —or, rather, one starling. “See that starling on the ground,” he remarked during the first Test match at Sydney on the 20th ult. “well, that means goodnight to an Englishman.” And it did. Having no superstitions myself, wrote the cricket contributor, having been ! quite unaffected by the wave at Conan ! Doyteism. that is sweeping over this : city, I dismissed it as a coincidence. But ; that bird came back, and every time it ! did a wicket fell.

The wholesale price of oatmeal In Conterbury has been reduced by £5 per ton. There was a sifnilar drop a few weeks back—it was then attributed to the decline in the rates for oats. The prospects now are for very low prices—in comparison with those ruling in recent years —for the oats being harvested; and it is on this assumption that manufacturers have further readjusted their .price-list for oatmeal. The rate for 251 b bags is now £25 per ton. and for 71b bags £29 per ton. It is expected that adjustments to correspond will be made in the various oatmeal products. Probably the retail price for the large-sized bags of oatmeal will be reduced by Is 3d per bag and, for small bags, by 4d per bag. On Sunday afternoon, states the Otago Daily Times, a party of Milton motorists, consisting of four adults and a number of children, had an experience they are not anxious to have repeated. A small distance past the Mount Stuart railway station there is a very fine grove of pine trees along the roadside. When the car was approaching the crossing an overhanging branch, some thirty or forty-five feet in length, was i-een to break and fall from a height of about thirty feet. The brake was immediately applied, but the car was too close, and did not stop until it crashed amongst the fallen branches. A broken numberplate and slightly damaged radiator were the only visible signs of the collision, but, had the passage of -the car been hastened one second, further casualties would have been added to the list of holiday accidents.

“Everywhere in London there was the accustomed gai*ety; Theatres were full, and the queues were about as big as ever, but there were general Apprehensions of a bad winter so far as unemployment was concerned,” said Mr. J. Hutchison, editor of the Otago Daily Times, upon his arrival from England by the Paparoa. “A good deal of money was being spent, but this, liow.ever, was on the surface. Those engaged in trade and commerce must have felt uneasy. Just at present, too, manufacturers*, to a considerable extent, are up against the fact that goods are being produced on the Continent at prices with which it is difficult to compete, owing to adverse exchanges, which operate in favor of the Continental manufacturers.” Mr. Hutchison added that when the coal strike was impending in October last there was danger of an immense amount of unemploymen't in industries ’that would be affected, and it was fortunate that the trouble was averted. The extreme heat in Christchurch last week was reflected to no inconsiderable extent by the -sands at the various seaside resorts, and some rather laughable incidents, as a consequence, resulted (says the Press). Two very buxom matrons at New Brighton made particular fun for the spectators. They had been enjoying the cooling influence of the waves for some considerable time, and they ultimately decided to journey shorewards taking no notice of numerous suggestions that they should put on sandals or sand-shoes. They stepped the sands where the tide touched easily enough, but on reaching the really scorching dry sand, they found themselves Very much in the “torrid desert.” When their feet touched the hot sand, their evolutions were ludicrous to behold, and their impromptu dancing powers would have made the champion Highland-fling-er glare with envy. After a purely unrehearsed version of the “Buck and Wing,” one of the ladies conceived the idea of tempering the sands by placing down her towel, with that of her companion before it, and so transposing them that the distance to their clothes could be covered without further discomfort.

Prospects are bright for a plentiful supply of both stone and pip fruit in Auckland thia season, says the Herald. Though the crop on the whole will not be quite so heavy as last season, there will be sufficient fruit to satisfy the demand, and the crop is of good average quality. Tomatoes also will be in good supply. About 1000 cases were sold on Tuesday, and the supply will increase daily for a period. There is a heavier crop of outdoor grapes than usual, while there is also a good supply of the hothuse varieties. Strawberries are still plentiful, and if.the weather holds good the supply should be maintained for at least two weeks. Island fruit should also be. plentiful. * The Navua, with a carrying capacity of 20,000 cases, is engaged on the Fiji run, and her last shipment of bananas was the finest landed in Auckland for a considerable time. The Talune, which is engaged in the Cook Islands trade, is due with a shipment of fruit, • principally oranges. Heavy crops of both oranges and bananas are reported. Firms interested in the fruit trade have received a request for a .steamer from ijNolrfolk where there is stated to he a large supply of fine oranges, bananas, and knmaras available for the Auckland market. Formerly the residents shipped their fruit to Auckland by the mission steamer Southern Cross,* which made periodical visits to the mission station on the island, but as the station has now been transfered to Siota, Solomon Islands, th P steamer will no logger call at Norfolk Island. *