LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 31 March 1921, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

It is stated that Armour and Co. have ceased operating in the South Island for the time being.

A Maste.rton lady has just presented her husband with the third set of twins. ■Sluicing for kauri gum is one of the most popular occupations in the Far North at present. Two returned soldiers who are running what is known as “one-man” plants, have earned on an average £45 .per month each on a very small area for several months past. A Christchurch message says that 21 -forged National Bank pound notes passed through the totalisator at Riccarton on Tuesday. The fraud was not discovered till late in the afternoon. Until a thorough check is made of the money invested at Riccarton and Addington it will not be certain if the fraud was limited to £2l.

The retail price of meat in New Plymouth will be further reduced as from to-mojrow (April 1), this being possible in view of the decline in the stock market. This is the second fall during the last month, the total reductions being 2d to 3d lb on mutton according to grades, and from Id to 2d per lb in the cost of beef.

To-day is the last day for payment of dog tax. For the last couple of days the New Plymouth Borough offices have been visited by a continual stream of owners making registrations, and evidently anxious to secure the advantage of a reduction in the license fee which is granted if payment is made within the prescribed time.

Several prisoners who were out on bail awaiting trial in Christchurch, within recent months absconded. One of these, Harold George, who was arrested with another man at the races at Addington on November 9, on a charge of attempted theft from the person, has been arrested by the Adelaide police. He will probably be extradicted. Another “bail-jumper,” Arthur Thomas Hart, against whom the charges of a similar nature to those against George, is also believed to be in Australia.

“The reduction in the value of the sheep and cattle in the Dominion during the past four months has been enormous,” remarked Mr. O. J. Hawken, M.P., to an Jhtham Argus representative yesterday. “It is at the lowest estimate twenty-'five millions sterling, but personally I believe it to be over thirty millions. We have had times in the Dominion before to-day, but I have never previously known values drop so much in such a short period.” But the reduction in values is not likely to be permanent. There are already signs of a recovery, and the person who buys stock at the prevailing rates may be in for a big win, providing he has the feed.

Inventors are continually exploited, and rich men among them are rare, said Mr. Godfrey Cheesman, of the National Union of Manufacturers, at the first meeting of the Incorporated Institute of Patentees in London. Giving as an illustration the glass ball in the soda-water bottle, he said the inventor was unable to sell it for years, and finally gave it away for £2o.* The man who bought it made two and a-half millions. In the case of the screw stopper, the man who bought it made a fortune, and the inventor got practically nothing, Recently an invaluable invention had been made for the telephone, but it was impossible to sell it in Britain, and it went to the United States.

At the inquest concerning the Paekakariki Hill tragedy, by which Mr. H. E. putred, of Hawera, lost his life, the Coroner found in accordance with the medical evidence, and added the following rider:—“That the attention of the local body having control and being responsible for the maintenance of this road be called to its apparent dangerous condition, especially for vehicular traffic, three motor accidents having now occurred at the particular spot known as the Horseshoe Bend, and it is urged thdt a suitable fence be erected immediately at 'this spot and at other dangerous spots on the l)ill.”

Says a Stratford, man on holiday in Canterbury:—“Arriving at I) a.m. in the morning, I left at once per car for a sheep fair forty miles put through some of the most God-forsaken country I. ever saw. Farms pointed out were one or two soldiers’ places, taken at £6 per acre —dear at 6s they say, and they ought to know. We arrived at the sheep fair and about 4000 were yarded. Splendid lines of lambs, fat and forward, 4s lOd each; full-mouth ewes, 12s a dozen up to 48s; a dozen 2, 4 and 6tooth ewes, real good suff, up to 10s each, but the average sale would not be above | 6s. Purebred Romney rams brought 26s —a year ago they were worth £7 7s,”—Post.

Regarding the quest for bargains in London, the Daily Telegraph gives some interesting details. “Owing,” says the writer, “to the past high cost of almost everything, -many families have refrained from buying all but bare necessities in the expectation that a slump would take place, and now t'heir chance has come. Manufacturers having sold abroad have had orders cancelled owing to the unsettled state of the markets.* Finding themselves with large stocks on hand and excess profits duty to face, they have promptly yielded to enterprising home retailers, who have come to them with ready cash. The result is ithat an immense quantity of material has changed hands at less than cost price. Hence the bargains which thousands of women and men are scrambling to obtain. It is stated that people came hours before the shops opened, and stood in queues, some having brought parcels of food with them. Establishments had to be closed because of the press of people, and the satisfied bargains hunters let out at back entrances. In referring to furs, it is stated in the same article that fur coats which sold a.month ago at twenty guineas were offered at nine, guineas. At another the price fell from £195 to £95; from £29 to £lB, and from £25 to £l2 10s. But the public are nQt going to get such bargains in the*future, is the opinion of an experienced salesman. Regarding towels, 200.000 sold in one day at 2s each, and the next day 250,000 were offered to the public.

A demonstration of judging Jersey cattle will be given by Mr. H. E. B. Watson, the successful Jersey judge and breeder from Canterbury, on Wednesday next at 10.30 a.m. on Mr. R, J. Linn's property at Normanby. The demonstration will be given under the auspices of the South Taranaki branch of the New Zealand Jersey Cattle Breeders’ Association, and all interested are invited to attend.

An error was made in the report of the Kawaroa Park competitions. The weight of the Hygienic cake as guessed by Mr. Garner was given as lOlbs 3oz. 'mis should have read lOlbs 120 z., i.e. within loz. of the correct weight.