GENERAL NEWS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2712, 17 January 1910, Page 2

GENERAL NEWS.

Every day it is becoming more apparent that the big grain yields of which the district gave promise early in the season are not likely to eventuate (says the “Oamaru Mail”), tho dry, scorching weather having played havoc with the crops in all directions. Taking the district right through thenstate might be described as a mixture of good and bad; those that have boon able to withstand the ordeal to which they have been subjected being very good and still full of promise, while the remainder have become so affected by trying climatic conditions that their appearance causes the greatest disappointment.

The condition of the- grain crops in North Canterbury continues to be satisfactory, the weather during tho past week having been favorable (says tho “Lyttelton Times”). Both wheat and oats are now fast changing color, and a considerable' 1 area wil 1 be ready for harvesting within tho next ten days. Some reaping has been done already, and the crops in stook promise to yield well. Caterpillars are- making their appearance, and in the Loburn district they have done a good deal of damage. Some farmers are cutting their oats on the green side to save them from the post, and all are anxiously watching their crops, fearing a repetition of last year’s losses from the same cause. The root crops are showing the beneficial effects of the heavy rain on Christmas Day.

“A novel consignment in the chape of seventeen baby moose will be conveyed in the Australasian-Canadian liner Marama on her next voyage to New Zealand,” writes the London correspondent of the Wellington “Post” under date 26th November. It appears, he adds, that Sir Joseph Ward wrote some time ago to the Lieuten-ant-Governor of Saskatchewan stating that the Government was anxious to experiment with some of the big game of the Canadian North-west. Instructions were given to a trapper and hunter of the Beaver Hills to try to secure twenty young animals. Seventeen baby moose have already been delivered, and it is these that will shortly be taken to New Zealand. Inquiries made at the local Tourist Department go to show that the department has only purchased ten moose.*'" and that they are expected here in the course of the next few weeks. The locality in which they are to be placed has not yet been decided on.

Arrangements have just been completed by a Nelson firm for the shipment to England by direct boat, leaving at the cud of March, of four thousand cases of fruit, principally apples (says the “Marlborough Express”). Cold storage has been arranged for. An amount slightly above expenses is being advanced against the fruit to be slopped. Three thousand cases have already been promised, and -another thousand is a practical certainty, as the crops are heavy and the prospects of the experiment are regarded as excellent. The whole will be packed in cases similar to those dn use in Tasmania, of regulation size, holding a bushel, forty pounds. Paper is being imported, so that each fruit may be wrapped separately, while the shipment will be examined and graded under Government supervision, so as to qualify for the Government guarantee of one penny per lb. on all fruit exported. Last year Hawke’s Bay apples sold in London at 9s 6d per case, about one shilling loss to growers, but if the same price is realised for this shipment, it is estimated that there will be 4s 6d net profit. Twelve shillings per case are confidently expected.

A Napier painter named J. Jones refused to join the union when requested bv the secretary of that body, and was fined £1 on March 9th last. The inspector of awards (Mr. Gohns) proceeded against him in Court, and asked that instead of a fine the breach be merely recorded if defendant joined t-he union in a fortnight. The Magistrate concurred in this course, and made an order accordingly. Questioned as to why a non-unionist should bo compelled to join a union, Mr. Gohns explained that- the painters’ award provides that it shall be the duty of every non-union-ist engaged by an employer to join the union within one week after receiving from the secretary of the union a request in writing to do so. Compliance by the employer with this provision shall relieve him from all liability under the provisions of the award relating to preference.

“We can’t afford to pay old per lb duty on dirt.” The remark was made by an American buyer at the Wellington wool s&le last week, in conversation with a Feilding wool-grower. They were looking at a bale which contained a large amount of dirty matter, and the buyer said 'be would pass that lot by, and -would not trouble to even value it. Tho duty on wool imported into America is old per lb, which explains the buyer’s remark. The wool was of .good quality, and might have fetched a v-cry satisfactory price, but for the fact that it was carelessly baled.

Lord Kitchener seems to have impressed people in China ,by his enthusiasm for old porcelain, writes a Simla correspondent to an English contemporary, and the suspicion has been hinted that tho great organiser of Britain’s army came to China not to look at forts, or guns, or such like -paraphernalia, but to discover something new in the matter of porcelain. Lord Kitchener has acquired the finest collection in Hongkong, second only to that owned by the gentleman who has been given the name of tho Porcelain King by Viceroy Chang, of Canton, Sir Paul Chater.