CLIPPINGS.

Waikato Times, Volume XVI, Issue 1391, 2 June 1881, Page 3

CLIPPINGS.

A small fry- bookmaker in Tasmania named Glynn, has f beep, sentenced ,to A Bix months for refusing' to" ''part " to" a backer who had, deposited a stake with him. * The ttjtal yalue of prizes, awarded by the North Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association last "year" was ~£4'44 17a, the number of prizetakers being 81. The largest amount awarded to an exhibitor was £63 10s 6d, and' the lowest 5s ; the average being £5 9s lOd. In commenting upon the burial of man named Gray, ' drowned in the Otameto river some time since, the Invercargill correspondent of the Western Star makes the astounding statement that his widow was not informed of the sad event, nor did she know that her bairns were fatherless, till a bill was handed to her for the expenses incurred in giving her deceased husband burial ! The annual report , of , the Southland Acclimatisation Society states that the success of the salmon experiment, which has extended over a considerable number of years, is still an open question.// Large flsh have been seen in the dreti and Aparima -rivers, but 'whether they are salmon, American' salmon, or trout has no^yet been established. The acclimatisation of brown trout has been' partially successful, but has not fealised, so far,, the expectations, a,t one tim,e indulged in' owing, it is thought, iSd the'ravages of the native birds and fish, chiefly sh^gs and eels. ' " % The London and North-Western Company maintains the astonishing amount of no less than 10,000 miles of rail. The capital embarked in this vast aggregate amounts to no less a sum than. £1 00,000,000, while its average weekly recoipts fall little short of £200,000. The company annually carry nearly 50,000,000 passengers and. between 30,000,000, and 40,000,000 tons of merchandise and minerals, in the conveyance of which their trains run 25,000,000 miles, while there' are employed an army of 40,000 men. The Wcdtrn Advocate (Orange) says that the Slaughtering Company have received the first parcel of fat stock intended for freezing and exportation to London from the Company's works. They are the property of Mr. Thomas Baird, of Dundalimal, and are from his noted Belerangar station, near "Warren. As a specimen of what good breeding and splendid pasturage can do, we are confident these beasts will hold their own witli some of the best English-fed beef. To Mr Baird belongs the honour of being the squatter who hae actually got his cattle at the works first. The ostrich is gradually supplanting the sheep at the Cape, the supply of wool from whence must consequently decrease. A Port Elizabeth letter says :— Farm after farm in this Province is being cleared of sheep to make room for the ostriches, now all the rage. One result of this was felt in this town last week, when the butchers here issued a notice that the price of mutton would be raised to 6d and 7d per lb, on account of sheep farming being pushed aside by ostriches. Ostrich farming is undoubtedly the most profitable of all farming, and recently several joint stock companies have been started. Development of Children. — In a communication, Dr Boulton, in the London Medical Record, states his conclusions from observations, not on single individuals, but from repeated ones on the same extending over ten years, that different healthy children grow at different rates, and in the average English children, brought up under favourable circumI stances, the rate is two to three inches per year — a growth of more or less than this should excite apprehension. The healthy child, that grows regularly two inches per year, becomes a short-statured adult, whilst the rale of three inches per year indicates a tall adult. Puberty arrests the growth normally, but intercurrent disease will interfere with the regular progress. Whate7er the rate of growth, ho affirms that weight for height should be in each case identically the same ; and all healthy children should grow broad in proportion to their height. Between three and four feet, the increase in weight should be 2 lb per inch,; and between four and five feet, 2\ lb per inch. And further, the average weight at 3 ft is 2 st 81b ; at 4 ft, 4 st 41b ; aud 5 ft, 6 at 6 lb. These weights may be exceeded slightly within healthy limits, but the author gives 7 lb below these averages as the margin of safety ; below thaij limit the children are ill-developed, and readily succumb to constitutional diseases.