LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9656, 22 November 1909, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tne latest return from the Work sop Dradge is 290z lldwt for the week. In the Eketahuna district there is at present a keen demand for shearers.

Reports received by the Touris Department show that trout are more numerous in Lake Kotorua than for several years. Farmers in Hie Kaiparoro and Rongokokako districts are turning over a largo area of land this season for cropping purposes. It is probable that an effort will be made early in the New Year to establish a branch of the Church of Engand's Men's Society ajt Carterton. Mrs Thomas Ferguson, a wellknown settler of Mount Hercules, South Westland, was accidentally drowned when fording the Mikonui river on foot on Fri ay night. The body was recovered. Mr Len Buckeridge, formerly of Masterton, and whose parents resi e ] in Martini oiough, met with a serious accident at Napi r a few days ago. He was kicked by a hora? and taken to the Napier Hos-m -i m a critical condition. At lirst en ail ii pes were held out for his rec .very, lint word has now been receive J that he is out of danger. The Stadium at Rushcuttter fcfay, Sydney, was fairly packed on November 10ih, the attraction being a 20raund contest between Arthur Cripps, who for ths pa3t five years has been regarded as one of the best of Australian middleweight?, and Rudolph Unholz, the Boer lightweight, who holds the New Zealand lightweight championship, taken from Tim Tracey at Wellington. "Bob" | Fitzsimmons, the New Zealander | middleweight champion of the world who arrived in Sydney from America the previous morning, refereed the contest. He was accorded an enthusiastic reception on entering, the ring. Cripp's weight was an- : nounced as list 21b, whilst Unholz '

only fccale i 9st 71b. Gripps won on points by 2 to 1.

Messrs H. Cule md Son have secured the contract for carrying the mails between the local post office and the railway station. The contract is for a period of three years. Kecently a farm of 45 acres, located at Shirley, on the outskirts of Christchurch, was offered at public auction, and sold in lots at prices ranging from £SO to £llß per acre. It is estimated that the numbsr of Chinese now in the Otaki district is nearly 150, vhile by Christmas it is expected that some 200 Chinese will be occupied in various market gardens.

Two classes have been added to the cookery competitions that are being held in connection with S. Matthew's Fete—viz., sponge roll and sponge sandwich. Mrs O C. Cooper has been appointed to judge the cooking competitions.

. The supply of milk at the Grey town Dairy Factory has reached 3,433 gallons duly—ato it. 3UO gallons more than for the Mi-responding period last year. Mr J '"!. Skeet is the largest supplier with 204 gallons daily, his test being 3.8. Mr H. D. Mcintosh has cabled from Sydney to America offering "to give a puis-3 o£ £15,000 for the Johnson Jeffries match for the world's heavyweight championship. If Mr Mcintosh succeeds in getting the handling of the contest it will probably take place at Olympia, London.

The Carterton Small Birds' Nuisance Association have already purchased 1,049 nestlings, 8,312 thrush's eggs, 3,250 blackbirds* eggs, 217 larks' eggs, 1,068 sparrows eggs, making a total altogether of 14,000 eggs and birds accounted for during the two months of the exist-' ence of the Association.

At the annual meeting of the Masterton Municipal Band the following officers were elected:—Bandmaster, G. W. Hutchinson; Sergeant, R. Harding; Corporal, A. Bryden; Drum Major, R J. Hunn; Custodians, A. Bryden, J. Andrews; Treasurer, J. Stalker; Secretary, W. J. Biggs. The honorary members' list was left open for a fortnight The baL ance sheet was submitted and consideration was held over. A shock of earthquake was felt in Wellington at about ten minutes to 10 o'clock on Friday night. A Press Association telegram from liivercargill states that a pronounced earthquake was felt there and at the Bluff at 5 o'clock on Saturday morning.. The motion was apparently west to east, and the quake was accompanied by audible rumblings. At Half moon Bay there was a light but definite? shock at 5 a.m. on Saturday,-audi Queenstown reports a sharp shock at; 4 o'clock on the same morning. The earthquake was also felt in Masterton; on Friday evening.

Owing to the low prices of Manila* fibre there has been a serious decrease* in the manufacture nf New Zealand hemp and tow. The exports for the year ended September 30th werevalued at £460,619, just half the amount of the previous year's export. The greatest hope of a recovery seems to lie in the cultivation of varieties which yield a larger proportion of fibre and of better quality than do the u icu'tivated varieties, and in some cheaper method of milling. The high royalties agreed upon during the prosnerous period of the trade two years ago are now prohibitive ot profitable working. "The Katipo," the journal of the Post and Telegraph Department, in its October issue, publishes a letter from a correspondent, in the course of which he remarks: "You may be surprised to hear that recently a country storekeeper, finding that our parcel rates were cheaper than those of the carrying companies, had about thirty Merry Widow hats shipped about a thousand miles at sixpence apiece, and that they were landed at the wayside railway station in thirty of the department's hampers. I guess these hats'brought the usual figure nevertheless, but the storekeeper reaped all the profits From the department's point of view, this can hardly be said to pay as a business; proposition." The first meeting in the bankrupt estate of Charles Gurote was held before Mr W B. Chennells, D.0.A., at the Courthouse on Saturday morning. There were no creditors presi nt. , Mr C. A. Pownall appeared for bankrupt, who stated that he had been in difficulties for a least two years. His wife had sued him for maintenance; his business got worse and he wa& pressed by hiss creditors, two of whom got judgment against him, while one threatened him with a judgment summons, in consequence of which he had to file. The security given to his wife in March, 1905, over his plant, was still in force. His unsecured liabilities totalled £llß 14s, while the estate secured to bis wife was valued at £lB5. No resolution was passed. During the past year the question of the inspection of stud flocks registered in the baoks of the New Zealand Sheepbreedew' Association has excited sharp controversy in the press; and at meetings of the Association in both Islands. The North , Island section has resolved on the compulsory culling of registered flocks by a certain percentage each year, ancta inspection and approval of registered ewes on sale or transfer. The South 1-1 u;d section, on the other hand, adopted a resolution abolishing inspection. The Romney Marsh Association has amended its- rules sd as to provide fur inspection of sheep on transfer or export, or on new application for registration of a flock. In the annual of the Department of Agriculture it is stated that the Department has no desire to 'undertake the inspection of stud flocks. g

A meeting of the OorHmittee to draft a programme for the Friendly Societies' picnic at Pigeon Bush on Boxing n.»y was helJ on Saturday evening at Vmi Foiesters' Hall, Mr E. Pragnell u. in/ in the chair. The following 7.e was drawn up: —Boys'and ffirls" i aces, under 15 years; baby show, lal ies under 12 months; Friendly Socittiea* handicap race in regalia; Friendly Societies tug of war, eight men aside; handicap race, open; rmii driving; quoits for ladies; Friendly Societies relay race* married ladies ai d single ladies' races. The programme for the day will be submitted to the meeting of delegates at Carterton on Thursday next when prizes will be allotted to the various events. There is every indication that the first Wairarapa United Friendly Societies' sports and picnic will be a record or;e.