LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 21 May 1925, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Haw era Municipal Band has kingly consented to assist the Fennell Scholarship Fund concert to-night- by praying a programme of music outside the Opera House prior to the commencement of the concert programme. The Auckland Education Board has rescinded its previous decision to grant only one week’s holiday in schools in August next, and decided that schools should close down for two weeks. The health of the children was put forward as one argument in favour of a longer-holiday.

Including amongst- the correspondence received by Batana by the last English mail were letters from Bussi a and Riga, invoking his aid in the treatment of ailments. A tribute to the Empire’s postal officials is the delivery of. a letter to Batana from Berlin,* addressed originally to “Herr Natana, South Africa.” That Hawke’s Bay sportsmen are not all dead shots, or that they are sometimes not too particular in their choice of targets, is shown by the fact that ra .backblocks settler recently found four of his sheep shot dead (says the Telegraph). On an adjacent holding a bullock had been slain in the same manner.

Owing to the demands of the firemen on tlie Manuka in the matter of food, the steamer could not sail for Melbourne yesterday, and is still held up (says a Wellington message). She was uot expected to get . away until'to-day. It is stated that the men want ham and eggs twice a week, while the award says the food must be ample. The seamen, on the other hand, said they would accept the same fare. Alan George Watt was fined £SO for leaving a motor car across the railway line, to the danger of passengers on the express, and his driver’s license was cancelled (says a Press Association message from Invercargill). The defendant alleged that the car was removed from his property by another, and had been left on the raiway. The magistrate described this as a “cock and bull” story, and said the defendant had committed gross perjury. Defendant’s counsel said that the car, which was. struck by the express, had been sold at a loss of £340, and Watt would not drive again. He had also taken out a prohibition order. The crossword will presumably go the way pf the jig-saw and of so many more forgotten enthusiasms. But it will have achieved triumphs while it lasted, much more sensational than did any of them. In America it is said to have strained this country heads of business firms the capacity of the lunatic asylums; in have noted a decline of efficiency in their office staffs of not less than 50 per cent, (says a London paper). And nave not crossword puzzles been mentioned in public speech, and more than once by the Prime Minister ? It is seldom that such effects as these have been placed to the account of a word of five letters, beginning with “C” and ending with “E.”

Prior to sailing from Wanganui, Captain Harris, of the steamer City of Madras, expressed the opinion that the port of Wanganui, owing to its geographical situation, .and the large area of' country which it serves, had a. bright future before it. From a. navigator’s point of view, he saw no difficulty in the working of the port by overseas vessels. He was pleased to be in charge of the first ship to swing in the new basin, and he thought that the board should push on with the furthe r dredging of the same as speedily as possible. He could not see any season why,' given the necessary depth of water, and sufficient room to swing a vessel comfortably-, Wanganui should not be a regular port of call for the overseas liners. He also approved of the policy of the board in obtaining a powerful tug to assist in the berthing of overseas vessels.

'fnere are more ways than one of showing displeasure with a team, that does not come up to expectation''-;, in a Wanganui cup competition a week ago there was. engaged a team of Maoris. They are. in the fortunate position of all living in the one pa. a compact one, anil having no distance to travel to practices, and having little else to dp are practically always on the field. They played against a. team of pa.kehas, and were badly -beaten. Their strongest supporter is their chief, who, by. the way, is also their spiritual adviser. So disgusted was he that he curtly informed the crestfallen warriors that on S-unday there would not be any divine service, and there wars not. . Evidently failure to receive the Sunday message which cheers so- many was responsible for their defeat again on Saturday. Sentence- has not vet. been announced.

Members of the Ma.naia W.E-.A. class are reminded that the weekly meetings will be resumed this evening, when the subject -will be “The Return of the Gold Standard.” - , Head colds, throat colds, chest colds, are quickly relieved by “NAZOL. ” Penetrating and soothing. 60 doses Is 6d. . 4

At yesterday’s meeting of the Taranaki Education Board, the recommendations of the”following committees to make up the total number of their respective committees were confirmed: — Hawera, Dr. Thomson; Normanby, Mr J. McGill: Te Roti, Mr A. McCasey. In reply to a message of sympathy from the Patea Eectorate Reform Party League, the local secretary has received a cablegram from Mrs. Massey as follows: —“On my own behalf aud on behalf of my family, may I ■ thank most sincerely yoursell- and the members of your branch of the New Zealand Political Reform League for the very kind expression of sympathy and condolence conveyed in your telegram. To have received so many touching messages from Mr. Massey’s active political supporters has been a source of great consolation to us.” The construction of ' the new mobilisation camp for the defence authorities, some 'three mites north of Ngaruawahia, is now well in hand, but the work will yet take some months and Paeroa, the Public Y\ ones Departpartment has at present about SO men employed upon tne project, which includes* the 1 'erection of hutments, the formation of streets, the provision of a water supply, and the construction of the railway siding The water for the camp is being obtained from the Waikato River, whence it is to be pumped up to a conical hill situated on the Government property, and stored in a reservoir for distribution.

As showing the durability of timber employed in the early days it is interesting to record (says the Oamaru Mail) that the floor joists of the Empire Hotel were made from the oak of the ship Star of Tasmania, which was wrecked in the Oamaru roadstead in 1868 during a violent storm which occurred when . she : was loading wool. In the renovations that are now ] being carried out in the front of the hotel the floor was taken up, when the joists were found to be in such a remarkable state of preservation that they did not need to be replaced. Half a million pounds avaiable for the South Island main highways is lying idle because people are too timid to use it, according to Mr M. H. Wynyard in a report made to the Marlborough Automobile Association. “The money is there; all you have to do is to back in your barrow and cart it away,” declared Mr Wynyard. The president of the association, Mr R. C. Furness, said the trouble appeared to be Hint the local bodies in the South Island had not been active enough. The exact amount that the Highways Board had to its credit was £581,715. “I believe that in Liverpool there was at one time a certain ciass of people who made a living by the manuracture of pips for jam,” said Dr. Sperrin Johnson in tne course of his address on the use of the microscope at the Dunedin Rotary Club luncheon, “but here again the microscope, was used in detection. The artificial plum stone, for instance, no matter how fine the sculpture, can be identified as a fraud merely by an examination of the minutest shaming. Wood has a distinctive structure, and it looks now as if the practice of supplying artificial stones will die out.

“Over £1,000,000 worth of fruit is produced in the Auckland province annually, and none of it is exported,” said Mr G. A. Green at the annual conference of Auckland fruitgrowers. He was talking about the Board of Control which deals with the export of fruit only, and urged members of the conference and fruitgrowers generally to look after their own interests in a better manner (reports the Auckland Star). Later, in the course of his remarks, he stated that New Zealand produced approximately £5,000,000 worth of fruit and by-products, of which huge sum only about £250,000 worth was exported.

Geology students of the Auckland University College discovered a human skull, almost perfectly preserved, near Port Waikato last week'. One tooth was, missing, otherwise the, skull was perfect. Tire fact that skulls have previously been found in the locality by students while on geological exploration seems to indicate that the spot is an old Maori burying ground. A. test for the suitability of a butterbox made of pious insignis has just been completed at Auckland, The box was made to standard, filled with butter and placed in the stores. at Auckland some time ago. It 'was opened last w r eek, but the experiment was- found to be a failure, as the butter was tainted with resin.

For the purposes of the enbankment formation works on the lower reaches of the Waihou River,- between Til ame s and Paeroa, the Publis Works Department has procured a 12in. suction dredge, which wi].] be used to supplement the work of the lOin. dredge already in operation. The mechanism lias lately been assembled in the district, and mounted on its pontoon, and ’the dredge is expected to be at work- in the coming month. It will be employed in the completion of the river-bank protection works between Puke and Hikutaia. Hereabouts ! the wall is to be raised to some Bft. above the ordinary level of the banks, and it is expected that the pumping of silt out of the bed of the river, and its deposit upon the adjacent lands, will b e carried on t° r the next two or three years.

The Taranaki Herald tells a very graphic story of the experiences of two ouiig pig hunters bushed in the rough hill country lying between the Ma.iigonui Stream and the coast to the north of Awalcino, on one of the stormiest nights experienced in that district. Thursday of last week was extremely wet and no work could be done in the camp, so the two young fellows decided on pig shooting to pass the time. They were very successful, and ere long had an old boa r to their credit. However, their next quarry was move wary and led them a merry chase until nightfall. It was not until then that they realized that they were lost, and instead of seeking shelter as they might have done, they wandeied about for several hours. At about eight o’clock they entered a clearing, hut were still as far from knowledge of their where-; abouts as ever. No doubt the scene of the lightning playing on the crags and precipices around them was very grand, but they were in no mood to appreciate tie beauties of nature. One of them,' a Maori lad, became unnerved and covered his, bead with his coat to shut out the brilliant lightning, and as each flash grew brighter he thrust his head the further into the fern. It was no enviable position that thev were in. Morning came at lastand they presently found their way to the canip,' where anxiety had been felt at their failure to return, and though a search . was instigated, nothing could be done. It was a night, the memory of which they would carry for ninny a year to come.-

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In order to teach children neatness and to make lessons as enjoyable- as Ksible a cardboard doll’s house has n constructed at the Main School, and the classes’ routine work of paper work is confined to the manufacture, m stiff paper, of chairs, picture frames, and other articles of furniture (says the Timaru Post). All classes are competing, and the spirit of emulation is fostered by only the best of furniture being placed in the house, thei dravvipg room” holding premier position. The headmaster expressed himself qs being very pleased with the work of the children, saying that, it showed considerable (‘are and skill. . The novel use to which red handkerchiefs were nut by a resourceful cardriver, probably ‘saved a theatrieaL company which played in Goie on Tuesday night several hours’ extreme discomfort (says the Southland limes). After appearing at Balclutha the night before the company left by car for Gore, but, owing to a particularly heavy fog the driver found it difficult to proceed with any certainty. H© therefore hit upon the novel idea of placing red handkerchiefs over the headlights,'the result being that the light was concentrated immediately on the road in front of the car. But for this device, the driver stated that he could not have continued the journey until, the fog had lifted, as white lights would not penetrate through it.

The explosion of a detonator at Whangarei with which he. was : pppurently playing in a workshop, resulted in a seven-vear-oLd boy, Henry Webster,- son of Mr. W. G. Webster, suffering injuries which necessitated; the taking off of his right hand and lower portion of the arm. ; The boy stood the oneration well, passing a fairly good night. His eyes were affectejd by the discharge, - but IFI k VHhjpugh.t that permanent injury will not result.

Sir Trevor Dawson forecasts that, if a satisfactory internal combustion engine can be devised, the great airliner, now being built by Vickers, at Hendon, in Yorkshire, to the order of the - British Government, will enable Englishmen to make week-end visits to the United States, the westward journey requiring two days only and the eastward trip (owing to the favouring winds) even less. ; This vessel will • have to undergo very exacting trials, including a flight to India with only one stop at Egypt. The company desires, indeed, that the flight shall be made without any stop at all, so great is their faith in the vessel’s powers'. The “radius” of the airship will be 24,000—halt round the world —without replenishment- of fuel