TOWN AND COUNTRY NEWS

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 36, 6 November 1933, Page 6

TOWN AND COUNTRY NEWS

Items of Interest From All Quarters

A dairy farmer witness whose initial was A, the same as that of his. wife, and to whom factory cheques were paid under the bare initial "A ——> wns questioned at the Magistrate s Court, New Plymouth, as to who received the cheque—he or his wife. He had no hesitation in answering that neither did a stock firin took them.

Mr. Lincoln Ellsworth’s flight across Antarctica from the Ross Sea .to the Weddell Sea will be made about th<? middle of next January, The exact day will depend on weather, conditions. He made that announcement in’Christchurch a few days ago. Advice has been received by Mr. Ellsworth that his ship the Wyatt Earp will reach Port Chalmers on November 10. This means that the explorer’s long stay m Christchurch awaiting his ship is almost at an end. .Next Tuesday he will go to Dunedin, and on the following Friday will meet his'ship, at Port Chalmers. “I’ve had enough of this mooching about, and now I want some ’action,” he said. '

. The corridors of a night school are •usually sacred to the personal confidences' of the scholars, but in , one Auckland school the corridors .-were converted into classrooms. Scholars had just settled down in the classrooms to the routine of shorthand, typing and other speed tests when all the lights failed. Clearly the trouble was with the house’switch, for the corridor lights remained on, having, by special dispensation of the wiremen, been connected with a separate section of the switchboard. So desks, seats and other paraphernalia were shifted to the corridors, where the evening’s tests were concluded.

Designed, apparently, with the object of keeping the burglar in as well as keeping him out, a new type of lock was attached to the front door of a publie building at New Plymouth about a week ago. It seems that from the outside it could be opened with a key, but from the inside it refused .to budge to a key or any other, form of persuasion. It was therefore necessary to make it a rule that the door should be closed only by the last person, to leave the building; otherwise members of the staff would be locked in for the night, or until a telephone call brought someone with a key to release the captives. If is understood .that such a misfortune did befall one or more persons on different occasions. Saturday morning the old lock was restored to duty.

Among the correspondence dealt with at a meetipg of the committee of the Taranaki Agricultural Society was a letter from the New Plymouth branch of the Toe H asking for permission to hold a health camp for children at the Waiwakaiho showgrounds from January 6 to 20,1934. Some discussion took place on the point, and several members spoke of damage caused by children at the last camp. Permission to hold the health camp on the grounds next year was refused, one member stating that there were other places to which Toe II might go. The chairnian (Mr. H. C. Sampson) said he very much regretted having to refuse permission for the camp to be held, but the damage caused on the last occasion (could not be repeated, and extreme measures would have to be taken. The ; damage had not been wilful, but was caused by .mischievous children. Still another attempt to perpetrate ■the old familiar -“Spanish • .prisoner” confidence ,trick has been brought to the notice of the Auckland "Herald." A letter contained in a light green envelope from Spain was received by a Remuera resident last week after it had been readdressed from Penrose. Obviously run off with others on a duplicating machine, the letter purported to come from a person in Spain "imprisoned by bankruptcy” and sought assistance in obtaining a sum of £75,000 he had in Australia. The letters are usually a forerunner to requests for definite sums of money to be used in recovering the fabulous amount, and in this case a "reward” of £25,000 is offered.

She' was very stolid, with a rather mournful expression. The community singing had been in progress for half an hour, with little result so far as she was concerned. Busy with her knitting, she sat through it all, the expression of settled gloom on her face becoming deeper and deeper. Indeed, it was a matter for wonder that she had. ventured at all into that company of people bent on enjoying themselves in wholehearted, joyous singing, and anyone less likely to respond to the prevailing influence could scarcely be imagined. The song leader announced the next number. The lights dimmed jind the words were flashed on the screen. Instantly she responded. Mood and opportunity appeared at last to have corresponded, and with a will she gave voice to the song. Was it to be wondered at .that her neighbour ■turned sharply and gazed at her in surprise—for with evident appreciation she was singing the refrain "Today I Feel So Happy.”

“I find among Americans a desire to visit New Zealand,” said Mr. J. David Larson, ■ trade counsellor to the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, on Ins arrival by the Monterey on a visit to the Dominion. He said that since visiting/this ■ country earlier in the vear he-had.bad opportunity on many occasions, in public and private, to voice praises-of New Zealand.-

The Maori has Solved the problem of driving, the pig to market. At Tolaga Bay a few days ago a’ Maori was seen walking in front of two pigs, which seemed to be quite happy to follow. A passing motorist was surprised at this, and was interested in the Maoris magic, which, on drawing closer, proved to be two cobs of maize tied to a piece of string and . kept moving just out of reach of the pigs.

The opinion that the methods of retailing New Zealand .butter, in England left much to be desired was expressed by Mr. J. G. Norman, a Hamilton grocer, who has just returned from a visit to England. Mr- Norman said that in the West of 'England and. in Wales New Zealand butter was sold from 561 b boxes. ~ The butter was unattractive and the quality was not up to the standard he had been accustomed to in New Zealand. Where the butter was wrapped, the wrappers were not well printed. Mr. Norman said there appeared to be a need for someone to keep in touch' with the retailer. Many people Were ready and willing to do business with New Zealand,'but better advertising methods and more efficient salesmanship were required. New Zealand could; follow Australia’s .example . in this direction with advantage, said Mr? Norman.

Auckland Press photographers suffered a great disappointment at the recent’funeral of the two old Maori chiefs at Orakei. It. was. learned early.in the afternoon that the new young "king” of the Maoris would be present, and attempts were made to photograph him. However, "King Koroki t’e Wherowhero had other ideas on the matter,'and kept very much to himself during the ceremonies., No one saw him, and it is believed that he spent the afternoon in a hut by himself. The efforts Of ail aged relative of the king, who was anxious that Korokl should be photographed, failed to persuade him from his hiding place. Numerous plates were wasted on various members of the colony in an effort to prove that no ill-effects would result from being photographed, but after a couple'of hours the pressmen left with many’pictures of the Maoris of the Orakei village, but not one of Koroki. It was not pointed out to himthat the King of England does not object to being photographed.

An unusual type of autograph collection is in the possession of Mrs. H. S. Sloman, an Englishwoman who is at present visiting Dunedin. Mrs. Sloman, who is the daughter of Admiral Sir Archibald Douglas, accompanied her father when he served on overseas stations, and in the course of her association with the senior service she made the acquaintance of many of its most distinguished officers. She conceived the unusual idea of asking such men to write their autographs upon a table centre, and each of these signatures was then worked in coloured silks. The result is a particularly interesting collection, which would be the envy of any enthusiast. Included among the names are those of Lord Fisher, Earl Jellicoe. and Lord Charles Beresford, in addition to those of many other of England’s most distinguished sailors. There is a touch of pathos about several of the autographs, for they are those of men who later wore to give their lives in the service of the Empire. Among these may be mentioned that of Admiral Craddock, whose fleet was annihilated in action with a superior German force off the coast of South America in the early stages of the war.

Three elderly and much-respected citizens in pursuit of one small butterfly presented an unusual spectacle for the delectation of Remuera residents the other evening. The cause of all the commotion was the butterfly, which was suspected of being of the "Cabbage, white,” variety. Citizen number one had seen it hovering near a row of cabbages in his garden, and, having read something about the destructive habits of this particular butterfly, decided that it must be caught, in order to be identified as "Cabbage, white,” or to be acquitted of guilty intent. He breathlessly informed his neighbours about all this, and the hunt was up. After a strenuous chase, during which two heads came into collision, the butterfly was caught beneath a Panama hat, and laboriously secured. Then came anti-climax, for citizen number one wasn’t quite sure whether the insect ought to have spots on its wings or not. To settle all argument, the butterfly flew away.