GENERAL NEWS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2549, 9 July 1909, Page 7

GENERAL NEWS.

The “Evening Post” reports that a young lady, at present, visiting London, in writing to a friend in Wellington I states that she paid a visit to Poole’s studio, at Chelsea, and there saw the clay model of the bronze figure of the late Mr. Seddon, which is to surmount ■ memorial in the Sydney-street cemetery. “The model,” she says, “shows a symbolical • figure holding a book of laws in the right hand, a wreath in the left hand held by the side. The . right foot rests on two books. The pose of the head is very good. . The figure will be Bft 6in in height, and should bo completed in bronze by the end of October. If this is realised it should reach Wellington by the New Year. Lord Itanfurly, Lord Onslow, and Mr. Hall-Jones are personally interesting themselves in this matter.” The lady also states that the memorial to Mr. Seddon' for St. Paul’s Cathedral is being executed by Sir G. Frampton. It will b© placed on the left of the Grey memorial.

As an illustration of the profits that may occasionally be made outside the dairying industry by Taranaki farmers, the following experience of a wellknown resident in this province is perhans worth mentioning (says the “Stratford Post”). Just prior to the commencement of the autumn last year our informant bought 700 sound fullmouthed ewes at ss. . Three hundred of these he milled out and, bringing them to Stratford, sold for 7s apiece. From the remaining 400 he got 90 per cent of lambs, which, after having been shorn, were quitted at 12s. Their dams shorn gave an average of 81bs, and were subsequently fattened and disposed of at 11s 6d, whilst 10 per cent of dry ewes were shorn, and turned out at 19s 6d. A little calculation will be sufficient to show that on an investment of £175 a profit of £493 10s was made, and this inside twelve months!

A great Roman Catholic Congress is to be held in Sydney in September next. There will be a comparatively large attendance of loading laymen from New Zealand, and all the bishops of the Australian and New Zealand hierarchy will take part. It is believed that the congress will nrove the most important assemblage of Roman Catholics, both clergy and laity, ever held in Australasia, says a Sydney paper.

The seoretary of the Wellington Industrial Week Displays states that the essays by the school children are undoubtedly a very cheering feature in connection with the venture. He remarks that the following train of argument runs through many of the essays: —“New Zealand made' goods should be purchased, because there are no better made, and because by buying them, wo ’keep many of our own people employed, besides keeping the money in the country. If wo buy imported goods, the money for them has to be sent away, and we are helping to keep other people instead of our own.” Ono young author boldly asserts: “I am a young New Zealander, and I intend to buy New Zealand made goods, and I hope all other New Zealanders will do the same.” If this spirit grows it will knock the apathy out of some shopkeepers.

The member for Kaipara (Mr. John Stallworthy) informed a “New Zealand Times” representative that no fewer that 5000 diggers are exclusively living upon the kauri gum industry, and that there are probably at least some 3000 men casually engaged in digging. Production averages 45 tons monthly, and a ton of the gum is worth anything from £SO to £2OO. according to its grade. As an illustration of the value of these gum reserves, Mr. Stallworthy remarked that at Port Albert, a ten-acre reserve required to be levelled off for a recreation ground, and a contractor xvas found who was only too willing to do the work and to pay £l4O in addition,, so that he could have the right to the gum. He paid his employees £lO a month, and kept 25 men at work constantly for eighteen montlis, coming out of his bargain very well at the end. If the thousands of acres of gum swamps owned by the Crown were drained, employment would be found for a large number of men, and the land- would soon come into profitable use for settlement after it had yielded its harvest of gum. It has been long believed, said Mr. Stallworthy, that there is a kauri gum ring in London, and it is suspected that a number of Auckland merchants are connected with it.