LOCAL AND GENERAL

Feilding Star, Volume 3, Issue 551, 28 December 1925, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

During the present year, do petitions ni bankruptcy have-been filed in the Supreme Court at Palmerston, as compared with MO tor (he whole oi 1921.

Said an American lady tourist on seeing the Glowworm Cave at Waitomo: “If Heaven is more beautiful, then 1 want to be good, so as to get tli ere!”

Yesterday the- first ol the Sunday trains to Fox ton from Palmerston was well patronised, the Railway l Department reporting an excellent hooking, A big crowd was transported to to Manawatu Heads by river • and road from Foxton.

Five of the'New '-Zealand Commissioners of Crown Lands are retiring almost simultaneously on superannuation.

A commencement will he. made almost imediately with the erection of 10 workers’ dwellings applied for by employees of the Palmerston Borough Council under the £IO,OOO loan scheme.

‘‘While some members of the Dunedin Gun Club were searching for-'-un-broken “clays” recently, a n interesting find ol a wild duck sitting on her nest on the club’s property was discovered. The duck had (However; built her nest in the safety zone.

\ A police witness was asked during the hearing of a book-making charge at Hamilton if ho knew the defendant had boon a farmer. The Magistrate interposed drily: “Do you mean a shoepfarmer; one who looks after the lambs?”

The Railway Department advertises in this issry-, particulars of train arrangements and of issue of ' cheap excursion fares in connection with New- Year holidays, also particulars of special train arrangements in the South Island in connection with Roy Scouts Jamboree, Dunedin Exhibition.

“Tf you found you couldn’t pay arrears of hoard and lodging, when you are a single man and earning £1 17s 6d n week, you should pay £4 a week off the arrears and use the other 17s fld to live on. Being a Scotchman, you could eat plenty-of porridge, ” said Mr E. D. Mosley, S.M,. in the - Oamaru Magistrate’s Court.

The Hon. Edward Newman' hopes the Manawatn County Council will Giink twice before it decides to declare lupine a noxious weed under the Act. “No doubt it is objectionable under certain circumstances, but on the other hand lupine and marram grass are the only plants available for stopping sand drift, and that they have done anything who remembers the West Coast before their introduction and now, must admit.”

A local resident received rather a pleasant surprise recently when from a. sitting of 12 eggs 13 healthy chickens were hatched (states the Mataura Ensign). Many reasons were advanced in an ondeavoiip to solve the mystery. jTlie eggs had all been marked and were counted' each evening, as other feathered members of the fswlyai'd often succeeded in depositing an extra egg among the sitting in tlm absence of the “clncker” in quest of food. The only feasible solution which offered was that a double-yoked egg had been among the setting, and this accounted for fhe welcome addition to the brood.

This is a little tale of good intentions and bad luck. An enthusiastic gardener at Greymouth arranged with a friend to leave a small load of manure at his residence, to stimulate the growth of blooms destined iu oe prize-winners at future flower shows. The friend carried ont ! his good Intentions, and deposited the load of manure o n the roadside in front of the gardener’s residence. Then bad luck began its dirty wrk. The day was Friday. During -the temporary absence of the gardener, a rubbish collector, also with good intentions, hove in sight, spotted the heap of manure, shovelled it into his cart, and disappeared around the corner.

A man who wished to purchase a few stamps from one of the automatic machines at, the Wanganui Post Office had an interesting experience. His first penny drew forth a penny ■stamp, but the next,- gave him two stamps of the same denomination. Wondering whether the machine worked on a graduated scale, he inserted another penny, and drew a blank. A. fourth penny produced one stamp, and the purchaser left it "at that, satisfied that--ho received what he had paid for and had not gone away after the second attempt and left the next comer to draw the blank.

“Why should a hoy bo damned eternally because he can’t get five sum s right asked AT-,. Charters, principal of' the ’Wliatigarei ; High School, in an Address at school prizegiving. There was the ease of a hoy he came across in the Waikato when he was a school inspector. The lad was 13 years of age and only in Standard 11. On asking the teacher the reason of this,' he wag informed that the hov was “very thick in the head,” his trouble being arithmetic. The speaker questioned the boy, and found that lie was fond of reading and had read one or two hooks which the principal was ashamed to say lie himself had not read. He advised the teacher to put him to Standard TV., and the result was satisfactory. As foj« arithmetic, commented the speaker, as long as the hoy knew that two plus two was four, and could count the change he received from a f storekeeper, lie Had sufficient for big needs.