TOWN AND COUNTRY

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 195, 15 May 1922, Page 3

TOWN AND COUNTRY

NEWS AND NOTES FROM THE PROVINCES

With the near approach of the Wanganui races “dead beats” (states the “Herald”) 'are beginning to make their appearance in town, some of them with the heels of their boots tapering away at an acute angle.

Money may be scarce, but there are still people with plenty ,to lose (comments the “Otago Daily Times”). The other day a lady left in a tramcar a handbag containing £2OO and a bank book showing a credit balance of £75. The .motorman, who saw that it was returned to its owner, was rewarded with her thanks.

There is every indication of a, mild building boom in Palmerston North during the next few months (states the llocal “Times”). Several important contract*, are already in hand, and plans have been prepared for quite a number of other substantial structures.

Evidently the poisoning operations conducted against rabbits by the newly formed Wangaehu Rabbit Board are having the desired effect in the Wairarapa (states the “Age”). Sportsmen who have been hunting bunny on the sandhills between Putiki and Wangaehu have met with very poor results, whereas in previous years rabbits were plentiful.

A printer’s error altogether altered the meaning intended to be conveyed in a verse sung at a prohibition meeting in New Plymouth the other even.ing (states the “News”). As printed the passage [read: “Keep us 'from plague and dearth. Turn Thou our woes to mirth, and over all the earth, Lest there be peace.” The first word; in the last line should have been “let,” not “lest.”

The Kaitoki arrived at Napier from Newcastle and Sydney, will land 11,000 sleepers. Of these (states the “Hawke’s Bay Herald”) 7000 will be forwarded to Wairoa for the Waikokopu railway, and the remaining 4000 will be used' for the Eskdale section of the East Coast railway. A further shipment is expected to arrive at Napier in about a month’s time.

The chairman of the Taranaki Education Board with the secretary and the architect intend paying a visit to the Wanganui district towards the end of this month. This has been arranged at the invitation of the chairman of the Wanganui Board, who, with the secretary and architect of his board, paid a visit to t?ie Taranaki district in January last. An interchange of visits of this kind is believed. will be beneficial to both districts, states the “Taranaki Herald”). The board has agreed to pay the expenses of its officials in connection with the visit.

Counsel was cross-examining a defendant in a judgment summons case at the Christchurch Magistrate’s Court last week, and was inauiring info the temperateness of his habits, relates the Christchurch “Press.” Defendant said that he had about two drinks a day. “Do you ever have any more than that?” asked counsel. “Yes,” came the reply, “I had six with you, about a year ago, at the Clarendon.” Counsel sat down rather discomfited, while general laughter prevailed.

Since the reduction.. in the price of coal the mines at Kaitangata hare been working full time, states the “Otago Daily Times,” Where only six and seven shifts were worked in a fortnight prior to the fall in price 11 days are now worked, and all the men have been employed. The reduction in wages means a difference of from Bd. per shift for lads of 14 years of age to Is. lid. per shift for shift-men. On pay day last week the general comments were that the reduction had taken effect quicker than the rise did.

“In Switzerland I came across a grave of a New Zealander, a Taranaki boy in the Auckland regiment,” said the Rev. John Dawson at a meeting at New Plymouth last week, states the “News,” “and it was as tenderly cared for as if it had been the grave of one of Switzerland’s own sons.” Mr. Dawson said he had taken the opportunity of having a photograph of the grave taken, and this had been forwarded to the deceased soldier’s brother in Taranaki.

A point of considerable interest to solicitors,- tenants, and landlords was mentioned by Mr. H. Y. Widdowson, S.M., during tho hearing of a case in the Christchurch Magistrate’s- Court last week (states the “Press’). It has been customary to regard the seven clear days necessary in giving notice to quit as dating from anv (lav on which the notice is given._Mr. Widdowson stated that the notice must bo given so as to fall on the day on which payment of rent is due. Thus, if Thursday is rent day and notice is given on tho next day, Friday, it does not become effective for thirteen days.

Five Auckland industrial disputes that have been heard before Mr. P. Hally during the last, few days have all been settled, except in one instance where a question was referred to tho Arbitration Court (states the “Herald”). “In times like these,” said Mr. Hally, “the fact that the parties are able to adjust differences speaks excedingly well for the good feeling existing between employers and employees in Auckland.

To suggest means to a- crime (observes the “Manawatu Daily Times”) may be regarded as a criminal act, but to warn the Post. Office that -they have put such a suggestion to men of criminal intent is quite legitimate, and with that alone in view the “Tinies” points out to the Postmaster-General that any printer who cares to purchase or has in his possession, say, £25. worth of halfpenn.y stamps, can overprint them in red ink “twopence,” and straightaway use them to the vi|hie of £lOO. The operation would defy detection or proof.

When does a man present a firearm at another person? The popular opinion doubtless (says the ‘.‘Dunedin Star”) is that a rifle is presented when it is pointed at an object; but the Invercargill Stipendiary Magistrate (Mr. G. Cruickshank) took a different view at the Orepuki Court, when he dismissed a case in which a man was charged, under an amendment to the Arms Act, with presenting a firearm at another. As the gun was pointed from the alleged offender’s hip, and not from tho shoulder, His Worship considered that there had been no demonstration of the correct definition of “present.”

The. long flight of the Auckland yacht thieves recalls (states the ’’Herald”) the attempt to escape from justice made by John Caffrey, master, and Henry Penn, mate of the cutter Sovereign of the Seas, after the murder of a settler named Robert Taylor, at Tryphena, Great Barrier, on June 19, 1886. The two men, accompanied bv a woman, sailed in the cutter for Australia, the vessel being wrecked on that coast. They lived for some time in the bush, but were subsequently arrested and brought back to Auckland, where the extreme penalty of the law was paid.

The Greymouth correspondent of the Christchurch “Sun” says that the unusual spectacle of a Reform member sitting in Parliament for a West Coast constituency is not the most unlike"' surprise that the coming general elections may bring about. In the past years the constituency now represented by Mr. T. Y. Seddon has provided straight-out tussles between Liberals and Labour, but it is rumoured that a resident of Waiho (a settlement in South "Westland) is preparing to stand as an Independent Labourite. This would have the effect of splitting the votes, and it is thought by many people that if an outstanding candidate stood in the Reform interest he could win.

Mr. G. A. Lamb, secretary of the South Island Dairy Association, states that the shipping of cheese for the Old Country is going on at a slower, rate than the producers desire. The loading does not keep pace with the producing, therefore the stock is accumulating, though not at the rate it was accumulating twelve months ago. The difficulty about getting the cheese away originates in the" shortage of outward cargo from Britain. Some ships have to make the voyage to New Zealand in ballast. Until outward cargo is freely offering in the Old Country, ajid until the cost of working steamers is reduced, freight space from New Zealand must be limited, and owners are hardly likely to reduce freight charges.

A curious idea of magnanimity was expressed by a witness in a criminal case at the Christchurch Supreme Court (states the “Press”). Under cross-examination, witness said that he had resumed his friendship with a certain man two years ago, because ho (witness) was sorry for him, and had got him some clothes. He had not given the other man the clothes, nor had he paid for them, but had arranged for a tailor to supply him with a suit- “Who paid the tailor,” asked counsel. “No one. He hasn’t been paid yet,” replied witness.

Heavy Australian hardwood poles are now being deposited at intervals along the Kairanga-Bunnythorpe Road for tlio carriage of the main cable from Mangahao to the breaking-down station to be established at Bunnythorpe (states the “Manawatu Daily Times”). The current through the main cables from Mangahao will be at the highest pressure used in the southern hemisphere—llo,ooo volts. An indication of what this means is contained in the fact that the telegraph lines on the roadway will have to be moved three chains away in order to avoid being affected by the tremendous voltage in the transmission line.

That a great deal of price-cutting is going on in Wellington is the opinion of a recent visitor from the Poverty Bav district. He informed a Gisborne “Times” reporter that ticketing of goods in the retail shops is being carried on to an unprecedented degree. The general rule is, of course, to convey the impression that prices have just been substantially reduced. More than ever, too, is the lighting up of shop windows at night being carried out. Asked as to whether prices appeared to be still dropping, the reply was that the position was deceptive in that so many botail establishments in the Empire City, especially in those outside the main thoroughfares. a large proportion of the goods were not of high quality, whilst, in the leading establishments, many of the dearer articles were marked down because they are seemingly beyond the buying power of the public. He came to the conclusion that fair quality goods in common use are by no means being “sacrificeci regardless of cost,” but prices generally have eased fir the frantic competition to secure as much ready money as possible.

While on a recent visit to Lake Manawouri the Southland Acclimatisation Society’s ranger (Mr. Evans) discovered great quantities of whitebait in the lake, and, by pleasant experience, he found that the taste was identical with that of the fish found in the small rivers in season. Indeed, Mr. Evans is satisfied (says the “Southland Times”) that the fish are identical in every way, except that they are of a somewhat darker shade, due, no doubt, to remaining in the same water for a considerable time. It has not been known previously where whitebait spawn, butj in the light of Mr. Evans’s discovery, it seems probable that they find their way into the inland waters. Previously, Mr. Evans told a reporter,, he has seen shoals of small fish in Lake' Hauroto, which he took to be whitebait.

A well-known Napier tailoring firm recently received the following letter from a Maori client:—“l have received a parcel from you with my riding breeches in it, which I ordered you. Thanking you very much, for it had got in safely to me. Tho breeches fit me well, and I likes it, too. My friends talk to me that it was very good, they likes it. And I think I must always order a riding breeches for myself there. I think also riding suit and sack suits too. There was a letter in the parcel and I read it well. Excuse me I was sick in time, so I didn’t answer it so quickly. I wonder if you can manage to send me some samples of all suits. Riding suits, a coat, waistcoat, and riding breeches, or whatever you may call it. Forget-me-not.”

In a report on the North Auckland Main Trunk railway works, furnished by the commissioner of the Auckland Railways and Development League, it is stated: “It is expected that the permanent way will be laid to the 99 miles peg before next Christmas, and it will bo possible to go to Whangarei by rail by breaking the journey at the Wairere tunnel and resuming it at the north end. It is thus satisfactory to know that the connecting link between Auckland and the Bay of Islands will be nearly completed by the end of the year. This consummation of the pushing on of tho line to the Wairoa River and a connection with the Kaihu Valley line should revolutionise tho methods of transit in the North Auckland district, after 60 years of shockingly bad roads, which in many places are worse than that over the Rangiriri hills.”—“New Zealand Herald.”