LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LX, Issue 10857, 3 May 1932, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A public meeting will be held in the Borough Council Chambers at 7,30 this evening to consider the proposal for the closing of the Bay of Plenty line. The question is one of vital moment to Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty, and no doubt there will be a good attendance.

The Te Puke Branch of the Farmers’ Union invites candidates for the local bodies’ elections to address a meeting of ratepayers in McDowell’s Hall, Te Puke, on Saturday next, 7th hist.’, at 2 p.m.

A contributor to the London Daily Express tells a. good story of Mr Cunninghame Grahame. “I recall a storv told of his handwriting, which is notorious for its illegibility. A certain weekly paper sometimes tests compositors who apply for jobs by giving them specimens of indecipherable handwriting to elucidate. On one occasion a specimen was handed to a candidate marked ‘Cuuninghame Graham, late period.’ The candidate glanced at the ‘copy’ with a look of disgust. ‘Don’t tell me you have him here’ he moaned. ‘I left Scotland to get away from him!’”

After approximately a year’s work under the most difficult conditions, the first car on Friday passed over the Te Teko-Waiohau bluffs road which will give access to the Galatea estate (says the Rotorua Morning Post). This work represents one of the most considerable road construction undertakings in the Dominion and has entailed the foi motion of a road by excavating into the fact of the sheer cliffs which drop dow to the Rangitaiki River. It is not anticipated, however, that the road will be thrown open for traffic fr.r : 'me time as a considerable amount of trimming and consolidation work has still to be carried out.

The following officers were elected at the annual meeting of the Waihi Branch of the Farmers’ Union: President, Mr A. H. Blackmore; vice-presidents, Messrs G. T. Davidson and S. Morgan: committee, Messrs A. Gordon, J. Woolford, W. Campbell, P. H. Sutton and C. Gavin; secretary and treasurer, Mr G. R. Haszard; auditor, Mr C. Larsen; delegates to sub-povincial executive, Messrs S. Morgan, W. G. Thornton and W. Campbell.

A party of adherents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints will leave Auckland by the Aorangi to-day. Several are missionaries who have been working in New Zealand for some time. There are 7500 members of the church in New Zealand, most of them being Maoris. There are seven Maoris in the party going by the Aorangi. They will Lake up work at Honolulu, and then return to New Zealand. The other members are going on to the United States.

“The railway companies have met the road traffic competition, so far as passenger traffic is concerned, by taking large and profitable interests in the road passenger concerns (says Herbert S. Oakley, in the Review of Reviews). The problem of the goods traffic is somewhat different, for the concerns operating on the roads are in comparatively small units. It is not insoluble, however, if the railway authorities instead of pleading for Government assistance tackle it manfully. Make the railway attractive to the trader who has goods to send and provide him with the fast transit, the door-to-door facilities, and the reasonable rates he is obtaining from the road haulers, and he will not be slow to make use of the older and still more advantageous means of transport.’’

Black figures on yellow plates will be the colour scheme for the new registration plates for motor vehicles, which are now available.

The Tauranga Harbour Board invites offers for the lease of a reserve of three aces on Wairoa River.

A meeting of the committee appointed by the recent public meeting at Whakatane, to draw up and submit to Parliament a scheme for the settlement of unemployed men on the idle lands of this district, was held on' Thursday night (says the Whakatane Press). After all phases of the question had been discussed a scheme was formulated and it was decided that, if possible, a deputation consisting of Messrs Sullivan, Sutherland and Baird, proceed to Wellington to represent the matters to the principal authorities.

Several further gold-raining claims have been pegged out on the beach to the east of Ashburton, where there has been some activity of late weeks, following the discovery of gold in small quantities among the sand at high-water mark, states the “Guardian.” Washing has been carried out with some success. Two men who have claims near the mouth of the Ashburton River, by five days’ work obtained nearly one and a-half ounces of gold, which can be sold at about £5 an ounce. Twelve years of prospecting in the country at the foot of the Ruahine Ranges, approximately 38 miles from Palmerston North, has resulted in the discovery of gold -in apparently payable quantities. No exaggerated claim, is made, but an authoritative assay places the value of the blue quartz well above the average.

i She had spoken frequently of New Zealand butter during her recent visit to England, said Dr Elizabeth Gunn in an address at New Plymouth on Friday night, but the New Zealand butter she had bought in the northern districts —in Nottingham, South Berwick, Edinburgh, Fifeshire and Newcastle —had not been fit to eat. It was not made up in pound packages but was cut off a nasty, grubby mass. In the south of England the New Zealand butter was very good but there it was all made up in pounds. Where it was in bulk in the north the shopkeeper did not care whether it was fresh, and he let it stand next to bacon or soap. Something, said Dr Gunn, should be done about it.

During his address- at the Anzac service in Mosgiel, the Rev. Hugh Graham said that he had that morning been privileged to read an historic document —a document carried through the whole campaign—a copy of the orders given to the soldiers after leaving Egypt while on the boats bound for Gallipoli. This copy belonged to Ewan George Pilling, who later gave his life in France. In the course of that final command the general said: “This particular operation .... is one of the most- difficult tasks any soldier can be called upon to perform .... and it will go down in history to the glory of the soldiers of Australia and New Zealand.” Although the operation had proved unsuccessful, said the speaker, the words of the O.C. remained true. The Anzac troops had achieved a glory in the landing that would never pass away.

Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure For Influenza Colds.

The Government has decided that in future free school season tickets will not be issued for weekly or less frequent travel. It is considered that- if parents can afford to board their children at the school centre there will not be any hardship in expecting them to pay for occasional journeys to and from home.

Previous to the September 12-Oc-lober 10 period the railways’ year showed a net loss of £22,399 compared with the equivalent portion ot 1930-31. Board management began in June. On September 20 h. reduced scale of passenger fares came into operation (says an exchange). Meantime, economy measures had been applied, and by October they began to show results. The return for the four weeks ended October 10 showed a gain of £22.456 compared with the year before. It is the steady maintenance of that movement that the improvement of £149,000 over 1930-31 has been achieved. Reduction of expenses has been the dominant factor. The result is a justification of the change to board conti 01, an object lesson in the benefits of business-like management, anti suggests that there must be great unexplored fields for the exercise of economv in other Government departments. It also sharpens anticipation of what the railways will show after a complete year of the new form of control.

Mr S C Baron, who was nominated for the Katikati Riding seat on the Tauranga County Council, withdrew his nomination this morning, and consequently Mr W. F. Sincalir will' be returned unopposed. Mr Baron as already announced, will be a candidate for the Electric Power Board and the Hospital Board.