LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 July 1922, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Extensive soundings of the harbor and its approaches have been taken recently, reported the harbormaster (Captain Wm. Waller) to the New Plymouth Harbor Board yesterday. The channel ! maintains a good width and uniform depth. The breakwater extension foundation is holding well, and is helping considerably to break the force of the sea, especially at low water.

At last night’s meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, the president (Mr. T. C. List) said it would be a good idea for the incoming council of the Chamber to arrange for an inspection of the hydro works now under construction, and to invite members of all other Chambers in the province to join the party, entertaining them to luncheon either before or after the visit.

As showing the effect of the intense cold of last week (relates the Otorohanga Times), Mr. D. Turner says that on going to the weir for eels, he found them frozen to death in the water, a thing he has never known happen before.

A subscriber informs us that a bird, which answers to the description of the bellbird referred to in these columns recently has taken up its quarters in u tree near a bouse on the Mangorei Road. It has the plumage of the bellbird, as well as the note, which it emits regularly every morning at about 8.45. The unusual little visitor has created quite a lot of interest amongst the people in the vicinity.

The Kaupokonui Dairy Company increased its butter-fat last year by 279,673 lb over the previous year. The company paid out Is per lb butter-fat for eleven months and 1/4 for June. A bonus of 2d per lb was paid out for butter-fat supplied in the months of May, June and July. The company has disposed of 5000 crates ( f cheese at 8d per lb f.o.b. The output for the first three months, which will be solely butter, has been sold at the satisfactory price of Is 7d per lb f.o.b. ocean steamer. A model helicopter aeroplane, invented by two New Zealanders, Messrs. B. Mansfield (Palmerston North), and J. Marr (Wanganui), was exhibited to the Minister of Defence and the heads o! the naval and military forces, and members of Parliament in Wellington last week. It is claimed by the inventors that the machine could rise vertically and hover over any given spot for normal flying purposes. The model is being brought under the notice of the Imperial authorities.

In the course of his remarks at the annual meeting of the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce last night, the president stated that, in connection with the proposed visit of residents of Taranaki to Australia under the auspices of the Chamber, he had already received inquiries from all parts of Taranaki from people desirous of making the trip, and he was afraid that it would not be a question of getting the minimum number desired by the shipping company, but a question of whether they would be able to obtain a boat big enough to take all who wanted to go. At the sitting of the Magistrate’s Court yesterday morning, Mr. Mowlem, S.M., made reference to the impending changes in the boundaries of the magisterial districts of Taranaki and Wanganui. Mr. Mowlem stated that the change would not take place until the appointment of the new magistrate at Wanganui had been made, and with whom he would have to make arrangements to take over the work at Hawera. The relief afforded, when it did come, would enable him to meet the wishes of gentlemen of the local bar with regard to making special fixtures fur expediting the settlement of claims.

The net receipts at the football matches throughout Taranaki on the occasion if charity Saturday, June 24, were: New Plymouth £34 2s, Patea £l6 18s, Stratford £l5 19s, Inglewood £ll 10s, Waitara £l9 3s, Kaponga £7 7s, Eltham £4 12s, Hawera £4 Is, Opunake £3 6s, Okato £1 10s 6d, Urenui £1 6s, Waimate £1 5s 6d, Okaiawa 17s 6d, Midhirst 13s, Ngaere 9s. This makes a total of £ll3 16s. The committee unanimously decided to pay the clubs a proportionate share of the expenses out of the general fund on that date. In connection with the allocation of the fund, it. was resolved to vote £25 towards the Clutha Mackenzie fund for the blind, and the balance is to be forwarded to the clubs in the towns concerned, with the instruction that it is to be handed over to some responsible organisation for charitable purposes.

The lecture advertised to be given by Mr. C. G. Bottrill, M.A., on “The Way of Free Trade,” has been postponed to a date to be notified.

The members and friends of the Meth )- dist churches in and around New Plymouth are reminded of the welcome social to Dr. C. H. Laws in Whiteley Hall tomorrow evening. The Rev. Dr. Laws is visiting the circuit, in his official capacity as the president bf the conference. He is anxious to meet the people, and the congregations are urged to be well represented.

“A. 0. (Oaonui) forwards £1 10s towards Save the Children's (Russians’) fund.

Messrs. G. Blacker, J. Clarke and R. Brabyn have been elected as representing the Workers’ Council on the Unemployment Committee. Mr. Allan Wilkie and his Shakespearian Company will commence another tour of New Zealand in September next. A husband gave as a reason for not contributing towards the support of hia wife at the Magistrate’s Court at Auckland that the wi-fe could earn more than he. He said his wife could earn £4 per week, while he, who had been bank clerk, school teacher, and singing master, could not reach that sum. He added that he was now studying for the law, which caused a smile to pass round the Bar. At the nautical inquiry at Auckland into the stranding of the Rona, when the name of Captain Norbury, of the Manaia, one of the best-known seafaring men in Auckland, was brought up, a warm tribute was paid to his skill as a navigator. Mr. Mays, who appeared for the Minister for Marine, said that in his. experience of twenty years he had never come across a more capable or careful seaman than Captain Norbury, for, combined with his skill and his knowledge of the coast, he was a master mariner who absolutely took np risks. As an instance of the high freights which are strangling enterprise in Marlborough, when Mesers. R. F. Goulter, J. Barry and William Smith were in Wellington they watched the unloading of some thousands of cases of 'benzine from a steamer from San Francisco. The freight from San Francisco to Wellington, they were informed, worked out at Is 5d per case. On returning home, M.r. Smith received delivery of ten cases of benzine which he had ordered from Wellington. The freight from Wellington to Blenheim was over 2s 7d per case. If (remarks the Express) benzine can be brought the thousands of miles from San Francisco for Is sd, what is the reason for 2s 7d charge for the 52-mile trip across the Strait? For some weeks, over 100 tons of rabbit skins a week have been sold at the Sydney auctions (states a Sydney journal). The figures account for the destruction of close on 2,000,000 rabbits each week. Probably a further 1,000,000 rabbits are /being poisoned and trapped in the State, the skins of which do not reach the market. The slaughter of rabbits in such wholesale quantities would lead to the supposition that the pest is in process of annihilation. But so great is the productive power of the rabbit, that numbers show little falling off. High prices for skins are responsible for the big supplies being sold. Winter skins are selling at over 70d per lb. The catalogues being sold are averaging from 2/3 to 2/7, compared with 1 /- to 1/3 per lb a short time ago. “Go on the land, young man!” was the slogan often heard before the war. but an agricultural and pastoral career does not present many allurements at the present time for the average townsman. Speaking at the Conciliation Council in Wellington during the course of the shearers’ dispute, Mr. 11. Morison (Greytown) remarked that the representatives of the union did not seem to recognise the fact that many young men had left the ranks of tlie workers to go on the land. The wives and families of these men were entitled to as much consideration as the dependents of unionists. “They do theif own shearing,” replied Mr. Laracy, one of the assessors for the shearers. “What do they get for it?” asked Mr. Morison. “Absolutely nothing. Many of them have saved their money for years, and have now lost the whole blessed lot of it.”

The pitiful conditions under which many old folk are compelled to spend their closing days are well known to members of the Auckland Ladies’ Benevolent Society, the care of these old people, many of them gentlewomen who have come to poverty through sheer misfortune, constituting an important part of the society’s work. “But for the little dole we are able to give them, many would be compelled to end their days in the Costley Home,” stated the secretary at the annual meeting of the society. “Our oldest case is a lady of 90, with nothing but a pension of £3 5s a month, which tiny income she supplements by fancy work. Our society adds £1 a month to her support, and that small amount is described by this cheerful'old soul as ‘luxury money.’ Her gratitude and happy content might indeed be a lesson to many.”

The large forest trees of New Zealand belonged to the ancient order of trees called “taxads,” said Mr. J. W. Poynton, S.M., lecturing at Auckland. There were, he proceeded, 17 kinds of “taxads” in New Zealand out of about 50 in the world. The most numerous of our species of plants were not our forest giant but the “veronicas,” several of which are known as “koromikos.” Over 100 species existed in our country, the largest being about 30ft. high. The outlines of New Zealand during what is known as the glacial period in Europe and North America, perhaps 50,000 to 70,000 years ago, could not have differed much from its present form, yet nearly all its plants were evergreens. One only —the fuchsia was truly deciduous, and four others partly so. If the same intense cold over a. long period of time was felt here as in the Northern Hemisjjhere, our plants would have been killed or changed to deciduous trees. The monkey-puzzle and Norfolk Island pine belonged to the same noble family as the kauri. The rata and pohutakawa were myrtles, as also were the eucalyptus and the manuka. In conclusion, Mr. Poynton said trees could be induced to tell their history and that of the lands which their ancestors grew by studying their growth, flowers, and habits of life. He pleaded for the preservation of the native bush from wanton destraction.

Particulars of a small herd of grade Jersey cows to be sold on Tuesday next, on account of Mr. J. Stella, are advertised.

The people of New Zealand are being urged to eat beef instead of other meat foods and thus assist an industry which has been seriously feeling the result of the failure qf the markets abroad. This i<s a matter in which housewives can take an interest. Beef is one of the most nutritious of foods and has been the staple diet of Britons eince the earliest days. Even poet«s have made it famous in verse. To substitute beef as a food is therefore undertaking no sacrifice for a national good, but rather adding additional nutritive quality to the daily diet. The suggestion that has emanated from the Meat Producers’ Board that people should assist in this way is an excellent one and should be supported by the whole of the community.