LOCAL AND GENERAL

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 January 1939, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Greymouth had only one bankruptcy last year, the first time for at least a decade, that there was loss than two. The petitioner was a butcher, whose total liabilities were £lO5/19/5 and his assets nil. In the previous year there were two bankruptcies, the petitioners being a labourer and a carpenter, their total liabilities being £1,006 16/3 and their assets nil. In 1936 there were two bankruptcies and in 1935 and 1934 there were six.

Waikato apiarists are experiencing the worst season in 20 years. 'rhe absence of bright sunshine, and continued spells of cold weather during December and early in January, resulted in a very light crop to date, and though by mid-January, usually, half the crop is harvested, this year the work has not yet been started. The la,te honey season resulted in this year’s crop being of good quality, but the improvement In this direction will not compensate for the smaller quantity gathered. A local grower, who has returned from an extensive tour, expressed the opinion that similar conditions are being experienced throughout the Dominion. —Press Assn.

The operation of tho import restrictions has caused some strange situations. An Auckland importer obtained a master agency for a line of electrical goods last year, and appointed a number of sub-agents in other centres. He was not importing the goods during the first six months of last year, and his application for a licence has been refused. His subagent. in Wellington, however, was importing goods of a similar kind in the early half of 1938, but not this particular brand. He has been granted an import licence, and has now offered to include a quantity of the Auckland, importer’s brand in his quota, and supply the line to the master agent on a commission.

A Press Association message- from Wanganui stated that an examination of Castlecliff beach reveals a transformation as the result of the recent storms, but the beach itself is greatly improved for bathing. On the other hand, a heavy toll was taken of the improvements recently carried out. by the City Council. The popular sheltered area, the children’s playground, is covered by several feet of sand, blown from the beach. Battered gardens and broken shrubs are legacies of the storm. Exposed to the full fury of the gale and pounded by huge seas, the lantern of the south- mole light, at the entrance -was washed away. It was valued at £lOO. A resident of Castlecliff for 40 years declares the seas were the roughest he had seen. The moles at the entrance were subjected to a terrific pounding but. stood the test well.

Valued at £30,000, a remarkable coiIpction of exact, replicas of the regalia, jewellery, and plate of the Kings of England and the principal Royal houses of Europe will be a feature of the Centennial Exhibition. It will be housed in a special building, modelled on that portion of the Tower of London where the Crown jewels are kept. The collection, which has taken a lifetime to assemble, is owned by Mr. Max Berman. of London. It. comprises some hundreds of pieces, each a perfect facsimile of the original, and only distinguishable from it by an expert jeweller. This collection, which has never before been seen in the southern hemisphere, has been exhibited at leading exhibitions throughout Europe and America, and was one of the most popular attractions at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto in 1937. — Press Assn.

Thousands of yards of bargains in Silks, Woollens, Cottons, and Linens at. C. Smith’s Summer Sale. Stocks simply must be cleared. It’s your chance to secure quality fabrics for a fraction of their real value. What a selection too. —Advt.

Have you been to C. Smith’s Sale? Then don’t delay your visit. You can save by purchasing your requirements now at greatly reduced prices. Go where everybody’s going. C. Smith’s Annual Summer Salo, the event of the New Year!—Advt.

Draughtsmen’s Requisites stocked at B. Dixon’s. Tainui Strec-t, Drawing Boards fitted with T Squares and Set Squares 16/6. T. Squares in various sizes and qualities 3/C to 21/-; Mathematical Drawing Sets 7/C io 160/-; Scale Rules 4/6 to 16/6; Paper Scales in Sets 3/6: Parallel Rulers 12/6 to 30/-; Drawing Papers 6d to 2/- a sheet. Drawing Pencils 2d to 6d each; Drawing Inks 9d to 2/6. Drawing Pens 2/- to 8/6 each. —Advt.

Office Stationery at B. Dixon’s Ltd. Account Books in all rulings, bindings and sizes. Boxed. Clip, and Collapsible Files of all kinds and for all purposes. Desk and Waste- Paper Baskets, Timo Books, Wages Books, Note Bocks, Invoice, Delivery. Receipt, Bill and Letter Books in all sizes. Typewriting Papers, Carbons and Ribbons, Ink, Gums, Mnciline, Pastes, of all kinds. Duplicate Paper, Foolscap Papers, Cash Boxes. Deed Boxes, Paper Binders, Pens, Pencils, Rulers, Rubbers, Pencil Sharpeners etc. — Advt.

New Year hospitality" will certainly call for the best Whisky. Therefore we earnestly recommend Dewar’s Imperial as the New Year Spirit. It can safely be said that each bottle of Dewar’s has seen several New Years before the lever is prised, and it is the ageing process that brings to Dewar’s that unique flavour which appeals so greatly to all men who value good matured whisky. Griffen and Smith, Ltd., Distributors, Greymouth, Hokitika and Westport.—-Advt.

Preparation of the roll of ratepayers eligible to vote on the Civic Square loan proposal at Greymouth is proceeding, and it is expected that the roll will probably be ready for printing next week.

Mr. Frank Herbert Newman, of Owen River, has been elected to represent the East Ward on the Nelson Education Board, in place of Mr. E. J. Scantlebury, who retired on account, of illhealth. Voting at the election on Wednesday resulted: —F. H. Newman 83, J. B. Auld (Reefton) 58; informal 1. Mr. Newman is chairman of the School Committee at Owen River, and a member of the Murchison County Council.

At intervals reports appear in the press of “conscience money” being returned to various offices through the post, but as an example of honesty an incident at the Hastings races is well worth recording. Having taken out a 10/- ticket which returned a dividend of 17/6, a punter was paid 35/- by a clerk, who was under the belief that the ticket was for £l. Shortly afterwards the punter returned and refunded the amount which he had been, overpaid.

A special survey of the route from the minehead at Stockton to the bins at Ngakawau is being made by the Westport-Stockton Coal Company to ascertain the prospects of installing an aerial conveyer, and thus dispensing with the electric locomotive haulage system which carries coal from the place of production to the bins adpoining the Westport-Mokihinui railway. If the new scheme is adopted it is possible that other economic alterations may also be considered. Some 10 years ago a fluming system for taking coal to the bins was used for four months and then discarded in favour of the electric locomotives.

A story is being told by a Te Awamutu farmer at. the expense- of a fellow-dairymen who hails from Scotland. Observing that his Scottish friend was late with his milking on more than one occasion recently, the native-born farmer commented on it to his neighbour, for at these belated milkings the electric ‘light had had to be used. With a twinkle in h:s eye the Scotsman explained that with lower production and increased costs he had to balance his budget somehow, and his late milking was a daylight-saving system he had inaugurated. He used the daylight for necessary work in the house, and did his milking by electric light. “The lights, ye ken, cost 5d a unit in the house,” he said, “and in the shed it’s only 21d a unit.”

Be sure you read the Farmers’ Meat Supply’s advertisement in the For Sale column of this issue. You will be pleased if you do. —Advt.

The currency regulations had given some persons—who desired to go abroad for a trip—the idea that their they would not be able to take some away with them, said Mr. J. F. Beckett, of the Christchurch office of Thomas Cook and Son, yesterday. However, he had not encountered a single case of inconvenience in this respect to a prospective tourist, except, perhaps, when there was some doubt about the regulations when they were first brought into force. There was nothing to impede a person going on a holiday abroad. Tourist traffic from New Zealand to the Continent and England this year showed an increase of 70 per cent, on that of last year, said Mr. Beckett. The bookings to the Continent were higher than at anytime previously, and a number of persons had also booked for a trip to California, including a visit to San Francisco.