NEW ZEALAND : GENERAL.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 26, 26 June 1902, Page 20

NEW ZEALAND : GENERAL.

It is said that new potatoes have already been du<* in the Auckland district. Wellington requires a town clerk at a saliry of £800 a year and already there are 90 applications for the position. We have to thank the Government Insurance Department for a copy of the currant issue of the Recorder, which is a very creditable production Thr Coronation number of the Auokland Weekly News is a very fine produc'ion, the illustrations being equal to any that appear in the best Home papers. The pnpe' has a beautifully, colored cover, and there i 3i 3 given as a supplement a ooloured presentation portrait of his Majesty. Advice has been received in the Colony thitthe National B«nk will, at the annual meeting, declare a dividend of 8 per cent, with a bonus of 2 per cent , making X) pQ r C3nt in all for the year A sum of £40 000 will be tmnaferrei to the reserve fund which will then stand at £150,000. The farmers of Hawke'u Bay are considering a proposal to start a new freezing company on 00-operative lines. At a meeting held in connection with the scheme speakers stated that the prices ruling in the province were much lower than in Canterbury. A proposal was made th*t a new freezing company with a capital of £50 000 be formed, but eventually a committee was appointed to obtain information and report to a future meeting. ' If a prohibited man wants liquor,' stated Sub-inspector Black at the Christchurch Police Court on Thursday, » my experience is that he can always find a mate to get it for him, if he shares the liquor with him. It only means that he pays twioe as much for his drink. The prohibition order is chiefly of service to the man who has it issued himself, and really wishes to reform.' The Wellington Trades and Labor Counoil are greatly disurbed by the statements made in London by Mr Seddon who is reported to have said there is no poverty here. They think that the glowing description of things in New Zealaud may cause an influx of labor wbioh is not required. A prominent trades' unionist expressed the fear that Mr Seddon's intercourse with the aristocracy in England would contaminate his liberalism and that he would come back a Conservative. In 20 samples of batter from Taranaki dairies, examined by the Government analyst, Wellington, the proportion of water was found to range from 9 I to 1-Jrl per cent., but the latter figure was exceptionally high, un eliminating this the average number was 10 9, the variation from this figure being (with the above exception) not more than 1$ units. This is an extremely satisfactory result, and tends to bear out the opinion of Home experts as- to the high value of New Zealand batter by reason of its low proportion of moiwture, and consequently high percentage of fat. A large and representative meeting was held under the auspioea of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce on Friday for the purpose of urging the Government to complete the Waipara-Cheviot section of railway, which has been partly constructed. The speakers stated that the Cheviot settlers were under disabilities in not being able to get their produco to market readily, as the port is not a good one, and timo and money would be saved if goods oould be sent by train to Christchuroh. A motiou was passed— ' That, in view of the large amount of money spent on the construction of the Waipara-Cheviot section of the Main Trunk line, the Government be urged to complete the line as expeditiously as possible, and that provision be made in the Estimated next session.'