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Taranaki Daily News, 25 October 1922, Page 4

At long last a start is to be made with the construction of the road which will connect Blenheim and Westport a straight line (says the Marlborough Express) and open up direct trade beetween the fertile agricultural districts oi Marlborough and the wealthy mining districts of the West Coast. About 20 men are now in camp ready to commence the work.

Judging from the evidence of « witness in the Hamilton Supreme Court on Thursday last, divorce proceedings are very expensive in New Zealand. Iho witness had secured a divorce at the second attempt and said his legal expenses were £l5B, while a private detective had been paid £53.

There were 84,899 farms in New Zealand when the statistics were compiled this year. In 1921 there were 84,076 holdings. The most noteworthy feature of the 1922 figures is the increased area occupied in •small holdings. The number of holdings of from 51 to 100 acres increased by 365 during the year while holdings of 101 to 200 acres increased by 365 during the year, and holdings of 101 to 200 acres increased by 214. A tribute to the way in which the English brides of New’ Zealand ex soldiers are settling down to life in the back blocks was paid by the Rev. H. Johnson, of Dargaville, in the course of a speech at n mass meeting of women at Auckland last week. The speaker stated that he had three soldier settlements in his district, and (here was not one woman there who had not proved a success. Some of the English girls had .been workers in the large industrial towns of England, but nevertheless they had adapted themselves to pioneering conditions in the back blocks with wonderful pluck, and were proving themselves in every way the worthy helpmates of their soldier-settler husbands. Martin’s huge furniture sale is attracting buyers because of the heavily cut prices. The present is the time to re-furnish the home or replenish for Christmas. The stocks are very large, well-selected, and the workmanship excellent. A visit to Martin’s sale should be included in every housewife’s shopweek.