TOWN AND COUNTRY NEWS

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 69, 14 December 1933, Page 14

TOWN AND COUNTRY NEWS

A Karaka farmer who makes regular trips to the north buying stock, etc., used to take three 'days away from home and the farm on the trip by car and train. He then got “air-minded, and a ’plane now calls for him on his farm at 8 o'clock in the morning, takes him North for his business, and lands him back on his farm at 5 o’clock on the evening of the same day, saving two clear days.

An unusual experience befell Mr. P. Bennett when flying from Wanganui to New Plymouth this week. When over Hawera the slipstream snatched Mr. Bennett’s silk scarf from his neck. He gave it up for lost, and was surprised on landing at the New Plymouth airport when he was handed his scart by the ground engineer, Mr. A. Salter. "When the scarf was blown from Mr. Bennett’s neck it was caught on the rudder, and remained there for the remainder of the flight.

Damage by the grass grub in the Gordon district, 15 miles from Te Aroha, is reported to have been particularly severe this season, and the beetles, which are now on the wing, are doing extensive harm in the district. Apparently the main swarms of beetles have moved south from the infected belt at Shaftsbury and Manawaru, and are now attacking new areas. Trees, particularly soft foliage varieties, are eaten bare and fruit trees come in for particular attention.

“Here is a case where your hopes are raised—and dashed again,” said Mr. Kenneth Mackenzie, president, to the Auckland University College Council. He referred to a letter from the Public Trustee, Sydney, stating that a woman had bequeathed her New Zealand estate to the college, and had expressed a wish that the money should be applied in establishing a scholarship in history. The Public Trustee explained that the woman was unfortunately not possessed of any estate in the Dominion 1 “The bullfight is regarded as the most interesting event in Spain, but I did not enjoy it. I regard it as the second worst game in the world,” said Mr. G. T. Wilson, in an address tomieinbers of the Canterbury College Graduates’ Association. “I did not like the Spanish .sense of humour,” he added. “At one stage the bull caught the matador by the seat of the trousers. We applauded and enjoyed the joke, but the hosts glared at us. In Spain, at a bull-fight, that was not a joke.”

A Hawera resident while motoring to Wanganui passed a hawk making a meal off a hare that had been killed by a car on his return in the evening he noticed that the bird had returned for another meal. Stepping on his accelerator, he charged straight at the bird and hit it, injuring one of its wings. He then took out a spanner to finish it off But the hawk, a particularly large one, “showed fight,” and attacked him. He then went to the homestead of a neighbouring farmer, who came with a gun and ended the bird’s life. '

“Do you remember me?” was a frequently heard question at the official onening of the new Parnell School; for, though It was an official opening, many of those present turned the ceremony into an unofficial reunion (reports the Auckland “Star”). The “Do you remembers?” were many, and in many cases both questioner and questioned had hot seen each other for many years. It was a day of reviving old memories and renewing old acquaintances. “Do you remember me?” would aisk a woman, and the man, with a ready smiling affirmative on his lips, would strive in vain, in the dignified, well-dressed figure, to see the likeness to the longlegged, all-angled, pigtailed little girl he used to call by Christian name.

An exhibition of art was an interesting feature of the entertainment provided for the passengers on the liner Tainul, which arrived at Auckland from England on Monday. Over 70 pictures,’ most of them by passengers on the vessel, were hung in the music room, the ship being in mid-Pacific at the time.. The proceeds of the exhibition were given tb charity. In the oilpainting section the majority of the pictures were by Jffrs. Ruth Browne, who has been at the Slade School for four years and since has toured Europe. She also showed a number of water-colours. Miss Tennyson Green, S.G.A., in addition to 15 etchings, exhibited two water colours. There were also shown a pumber of North Sea fishing scenes from the brush of R. M. Manning, and Miss G. Furniss exhibited examples of commercial art.

“Sweden buys far more from New Zealand than the official statistics show, but should increase her purchases still further,” says Mr. F. Jakobsson, a resident of Wellington, now visiting his home country, in an interview in the leading Stockholm daily, '“Svenska Dagbladet,” Mr. Jakobsson, who represents the wellknown Swedish world concern, S.K.F., the Swedish Ball Bearing Company, gave an interesting and enthusiastic outline of conditions in New Zealand. Sweden's import from the Dominion during 1931, according to trade statistics, was only £14,000, but Mr; Jakobsson pointed out that this did not include the extensive Swedish purchases of New. Zealand products via England and other countries. Sweden’s export to New Zealand during the same year amounted to a fur greater sum, and it was natural that New Zealand should look for increased direct sales to Sweden. The Swedish export products to the Dominion included principally wood, paper, separators, electrical motors, vacuum cleaners and steel goods. Mr. Jakobsson strongly advised Swedish importers of hides, wool and fruit, to obtain direct'bids from New Zealand. The reported capture of a great quantity of illicitly-manufactured whisky in Southland the other day recalls many stories about the famous ‘Hokonut brand,” as it is called in the district. One tale is woven round the exploit of an ingenious Southlander of long ago. The manufacture of whisky had grown to be something of a scandal. Questions were asked about it in Parliament. The police were harried about their supposed inefficiency, and at length a reward was offered to the person who would lead the authorities to a still. One man conceived the idea of receiving that reward. There was an old still which had for long been derelict and useless, left covered over where it was in the hills. He went to this old junk, burnished it up somewhat, put some w r ater into it with malt, lighted a fire to create the impression that the process had begun, stamped the fire out, and then went: to lay the information. The collection of old scrap was carefully taken away by the authorities, who rejoiced in the capture, and the informer rejoiced in the reward. The story may not be true, but in any case it is often retold when Hokonui becomes a subject for discussion.

Items of Interest From All Quarters

A tour of New Zealand has been arranged by the Victorian Scottish Union, leaving Sydney on January 2. Senator William Plain, past-president of the union, is to lead the party, which will spend 1G days in New Zealand. Starting at Milford Sound, the itinerary includes visit’s to the main towns in both islands, as well as to the principal tourist and scenic resorts.

The Canterbury Education Board has received from the headmaster of the Barker School, Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.A., a letter saying that the pupils of that school are establishing a museum containing exhibits from every country ou the globe, and asking that any typical exhibits of the products, costumes, scenery, life, and customs of the people should be sent to the school. Leona Argue, a pupil of the Rouleau School, Saskatchewan, Canada, has also written to the board saying that she wishes to establish’correspondence with a pupil in a senior standard of one of the schools in New Zealand.

That there are still some people to whom motoring is a novel experience was revealed in a letter read at the Auckland Rotary Club’s weekly luncheon by Mr. 11. Dearsley. Last week a party of elderly women from the poorer districts, some of them invalids, were taken for a motor drive round the city by members of the club. The letter, written by a member of the party, said that several of them had never been in a motor-car before, while one’s knowledge of Auckland was confined to the streets of Newton. The writer said the outing had been a memorable event in the lives of every member of the party.

, "1 knew a friend who used to keep a bottle of English beer to clean his teeth in,” said Dr. H. Money, addressing t'he Canterbury College Graduates’ Association on the subject of Peru. He went on to explain that in some of the towns the water supply came in a gutterdown theeentre of the street- The gutter would be fed at the top of the street by a tap, but the people threw all their garbage and dirty water out of the windows into this gutter. Then, when they wanted some fresh water, they went and bailed it out of this channel, although they knew that their neighbours higher up in the street bad thrown their wastage into the street, too.

In a light-hearted moment a New Plymouth girl recently answered, a matrimonial advertisement by a farmer of 45, who had told the world that as he was embarking on a long tour he desired marriage with a brunette (preferably pretty). The result of the advertisement was unexpected, to the girl, at any rate. The suitor arrived from a northern town, put up at one of the best hotels in the town and magnanimously offered to give the girl a fortnight to decide whether she would marry him or not. But’ the girl, hastily repenting her action, settled the matter by refusing, and the suitor wandered ou in his search of the preferably pretty brunette as a life-partner. \ Lieutenant-Commander Bingley, who was a destroyer commander at Scapa Flow through the war, gave an address to the R.S.A. at Papakura on Scapa Flow, relating many very striking stories of the days when they ran, through the night without lights along a dangerous and unlit coast. Reference' was made to the death of Lord Kitchener. The commander said that it was sheer bad luck that he was drowned, as when the cruiser Hampshire left Scapa Flow a course was set north-east, but' the weather turned out so bad that the destroyers accompanying the cruiser were sent back, and the Hampshire turned back through Pentland Firth and round up the northwest coast of the Orkneys. It was round that coast that the cruiser struck a mine and sank.

The fastest time on record for an unpaced ride from Christchurch -to Dunedin was bettered last week by the Christchurch cyclist, L. G. Fleming, Who completed his gruelling journey in 14hr. 25min., tlie previous best for the distance of 243 miles being 141ir. 52 min. 51sec., established by W. L. Oldman, of Oxford, Canterbury, in 1911, and unattacked since then. Fleming is well known as a long-distance rider, and two years ago won the round-the-mountain race in Taranaki. Last winter he was a competitor in the Otago professional 50-mlle road cycle championship, occupying a prominent placing. Some time ago Fleming rode from Blenheim to Christchurch, a distance of 225 miles, in 15 hours.

FATIGUE?—

I JUST POSTPONE IT!

A leading lady says: “No. I don’t have ‘nerves.’ You can’t have them and hold this sort of position. My head used to throb around three o’clock, and certain days, of course, were worse than others.” “Then I learned to rely on Bayer Aspirin tablets.” The sure cure for any headache is rest. But sometimes we must postpone it. That’s when Bayer Aspirin saves the day. Two tablets, and the nagging pain is gone until you are home. And once you are I'omfortable the pain seldom returns! Keep Bayer Aspirin handy. Don't put it away, or put off taking it. Fighting a headache to finish the day may be heroic, but it is also a little foolish. So is sacrificing a night’s sleep because you have an annoying cold, or irritated throat, or grumbling tooth, neuralgia, neuritis. Bayer Aspirin tablets do not depress the heart and can be taken freely without harm. That is medical opinion. It is « fact established by the last twenty years of medical practice. The only caution to be observed is when you are buying aspirin. Be sure that you are given Bayer and not a substitute. Nothing else acts the same or is “just a fi good.” All Chemists sell boxes of 12 Bayer Aspirin tabletes, also bottles of 24 and 100 tablets—the Bayer Cross trade mark appears on every tablet. Bayer Aspirin costs no more than the uncertain imitations and loudly advertised substitutes which physicians would not thins of prescribing. Say Bayer and insist I