LOCAL AND GENERAL.

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

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Building permits fox- a total expenditure of £‘33o were issued in Hawera during June. The Hawera Borough Council last night adopted a recommendation by the general committee to the effect that no action be taken at present with regard to the suggesed scraping of the water main. During June the following stock was slaughtered at the Hawera borough abattoir: Three bullocks, 114 cows, 74 heifers. 389 sheep, 14 lambs, 28 calves and 106 pigs. .Three cows, four sheep and six pigs were condemned. Fees and rents totalled £124 19s lid, the fees being £1 4s 3d more than in June, 1924. During the two very heavy frosts last week golfers on the local links had the unusual experience of playing at one green practically on ice. The surface was frozen hard at the first hole and the ball bumped along as though on a. hard road. In some places under the shade of trees the frost, did not thaw during the day. When the delegates from hospital boards were in Auckland at the Dominion conference of the Hospitals Association, the Auckland members went out of their way to show hospitality to visiting delegates. That they succeeded amply is proved by the Hawera Board’s appreciation expressed at its ordinary meeting yesterday. A letter embodying this acknowledgment was sent to the Auckland Board.

A reminder i, s given of the grand Hibernian hall at Manaia to-ln'orrow evening, when the proceeds will be devoted to the new Convent School building fund. Music, floor and supper will be of tlie best and wiK ensure a good evening.

The footballers of Oeo are bolding a dance to-morrow (Wednesday) evenings The hon. secretary (Mr. J. Colder) and his committee are leaving nothing undone to ensure a .successful and enjoyable evening. A large attendance is expected.

William Jensen, a married man, was working on the Tahiti at Wellington last night, when a sling of hides fell on him. He sustained a broken leg. A Sydney message states that the Italian aviator De Pinedo left for Brisbane, but after travelling 50 miles developed engine trouble and returned. He will resum© his flight to-day. On four charges of having incurred debts without reasonable expectation of paying them, Alfred Eaton Mailman, grocer, was yesterday, at Wellington, committed trial. For the 11 months to the end of June the season’s grading of dairy produce at New Zealand ports amounted to 69,861 tons of butter and 69,809 tons of cheese, as against 61,213 tons of butter and 72,810 tons of cheese for the corresponding 11 months of the previous season. On butter this represented an increase of 14.1 per cent, and on cheese a decrease of 5.4 per cent. Calculated on a butter-fat basis, the increase in total production wqs 7.1 per cent. Additional particulars of the shooting affray at Albury (N.S.W.), in which Daniel Murray was shot and his son arrested on a charge of murder, show that Murray, who has been separated for years from his wife, arrived at Albury from Sydney on the morning of the tragedy. During the day with his son he visited several hotels, and they were apparently on most friendly terms. Later an old standing dispute on family matters was revived, and while it was progressing the son went to an outhouse and got a shotgun, which he discharged as the men were approaching each other, the father being fatally shot in the neck. Illicit gold dealing was alleged in the Warden’s Court at Greymouith in a charge by the Mines Department against Patrick J. O’Donnell, hotel manager, of Waiuta. It was alleged that O’Donnell bad dealings in gold with mythical Chinese, and he was charged "with making a falsa statement in the gold dealer’s book at the Bank of New South Wales at Greymouth on December 16 that gold bought by the bank was sold on behalf of Hip Wan and Ah Gow and was obtained at Waiuta, Defendant pleladed not guilty. Defendant was fined £5 on each of two charges* of failing t-o keep a proper record and £SO on each of two charges of making a false statement in the gold dealers’ book, with costs.

A fire at S. B. Harris .Limited’® boot factory in Melbourne caused damage estimated at £6OOO. Shortly after the brigade arrived, a concrete parapet of the building collapsed, falling on three firemen. F. Holness (31) was killed instantaneously, and Albert McHenry and Herbert Gill were injured and sent to hospital. Holness is the first member of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade who lias been killed while fighting a fire in Melbourne. Two other firemen narrowly escaped the falling wall. Messrs. J. Rentone and E. A. Earp, of Auckland, are jn Whakatane investigating the cause of honey poisoning in the district. Many cases have occurred since the district was first settled, but no deaths have occurred, except amongst natives, when medicaL help was not available. The area affected is very limited, most cases being within a radius of 20 miles. Various cas.es have been brought forward by local observers, but all have been exploded by scientific investigation, and after thirty years of local investigation, the cause of honey poisoning remains a profound mystery.' Nearly every case occurred through the eating of bush lioney. The Government Department is now considering the avisability of making a thorough investigation by a trained botanist. When a person has eaten honey that has been poisoned, there are no evil effects till about five hours after, when the patient falls down in violent convulsions, which last several hours, the effects usually working off after a few days.

A subject o" considerable importance bo county councils which have within, their area large, undeveloped blocks of native land, is that of the settlement and rating of these lands. A large conference of delegates and county councils at Hamilton discussed the matters. It was stated that one ot the great obstacles of the settlement iof native lands was the attitude adopted by the Native Hand Department, which looked upton any individual who endeavoured to purchase or lease these lands as a speculator out to fleece the natives. The Judges of the Native Land Court were very dictatorial in their attitude, and seemed to be guided by no law on these matters at all. It was decided to urge the Government to set up a Royal Commission to go into the whole question of settlement of native land and the collection of native rates with a view to simplifying the present procedure. Mr G. S. Lynde, the recently appointed chief mechanical engineer of the Railway Department, has designed a new sleeping car, the building of which has now commenced. It has 10 transverse compartments totally enclosed, giving absolute privacy. Two bf the compartments contain double berths and the remainder single berths. Each compartment has a lavatory basin with hot and cold water, etc., also an electric fan, electric bunk light, ventilators and extractors. The compartments will also be fitted with comfortable beds. The interior will be panelled in polished mahogany and cedar. The ceiling will be white and picked out with suitable mouldings. The whole of the interior fittings are of oxidised silver. Rubber flooring will be provided in the lavatories, and wash and hand basins with hot and cold water are provided. The lavatory conveniences of these cars will be equal to that of the latest sleeping cars built in England. Special attention has been paid to the springs and bogies to ensure the utmost comfort to passengers. To-night the Farmers’ Union of Mangatoki a>e holding a social and dance to enable members to foregather. The committee and secretary (Mr. J. P. Marx) have made excellent arrangements. They expect to see a large attendance of members and friomls.

We direct attention to an. advertisement inserted to-day by Mr. H. A. Brunette, jeweller, who is disposing of hie stock at an enormous discount. Those in want of gold necklets, pendants, lockets, charms, etc., should lose no time in purchasing now and securing the bargains offering. Bargains like the following are still to be obtained at the Melbourne’s Great Mid-Winter Reduction Rale: Men’s Pennine cloth working shirts, C/ll; men’s odd sac coats in dark tweeds, 19/G; men’s grey and mixture tweed sports coats, 25/-; men’s colonial all-wool flannel unders, C/C; men’s best, quality Ilorrockses’ pyjamas, 15/6; good quality “Cosy” flannelette pyjamas, 12/C. —Advt. NORMAL ACTIVITY. Chamberlain’s Tablets are an ideal preparation to use in any case where a free movement, of the bowels is required. Their action on the liver is not merely temporary. They stimulate that organ to normal activity and accomplish this without any pain or disi to the patient.—Advt.

Tho province of Orissa received most abnormal rains, and the river Mahanad rose and devastated villages. Thousands are homeless, and it js feared many lives have been lost (states a Calcutta message). “I’d like to refuse admittance to boys of the sneak thief age,” wrote the librarian (Miss M. F. Newland) in reporting to the Hawera Borough Council last evening on the theft from the library table, of a number of “Chums.” The Borne correspondent of the Daily Mail says women aristocrats are collaborating with the Vatican in a campaign for reform of the immodesty of dress, opposing short skirts and sleeves, low necks, bobbing, shingling and smoking, and urging the abandonment of Parisian fashions in favour of a style Italian genius will evolve. The Taranaki (New Zealand) Oilfievds Ltd. has issued t-h© following report Tarata: Drilled to 24-55 feet; now in dark grey shale; 10-inch case to 2414 feet; running free. Moturoa : The gas is mudded olf and we are now stringing up the tools ready for resumption of drilling; everything is in good shape. Mr Jim Spence was driving over Burke ’s Hill towards Mangatoki on Saturday evening, when he noticed that his car was veering towards the left, so he gave the wheel a sharp turn to the right, at _ which the car went over* the** bank into some fern. Neither Mr or Mrs Spence were injured, but the windscreen of tlie car was smashed and the front axle bent. Cr. Walkley w.as la,at evening appointed to fill the vacancies on the council committees caused by the resignation of Or. Burdekin. Cr. Walkley is .therefore a member of the finance, park., and reserves, abattoir, band and Greater Hawera committees. He will act as chairman on the finance and Greater Hawera, committees.

The establishment of New Plymouth, ais a fueling station, lor oil-burning stelamers and also as a distribution centre for motor spirit in bulk by means of tank lorries and railway waggons was brought nearer last night, when the Borough Council gave its consent to the British Imperial Oil Company (N.Z.), Ltd. to put down a pipe line from the Newton King wharf along the Breakwater Bead to Ngamotu Boad, where the company proposes to erect- tanks. —News. At the Oddfellows’ Hall, Manaia, on Thursday evening next, Mr. P. O’Dea, M.A., LtL.B., will give a public illustrated astronomical lecture under the auspices of the W.E.A. upon the subject : ‘ ‘The U niverse: Its structure and our place in it.” There will be no charge for admission, but a. collection will be taken to defray expenses. The monthly meeting of the El.thla.in branch of the Plunket Society was held last week, Mrs. Haw ken presiding. The nurse reported visiting 42 homes and attending 71 adults and 84 babies at the rooms. Accounts for £lB 7s 2d were passed for payment a,nd a donation of £2 2s from Mrs. Hardwick Smith was acknowledged.