LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 23 January 1926, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Members of the local Methodist choir are engaged in practising Maunder’s fine work “Olivet to Calvary,” and the day selected for it.s public .presentation is the Wednesday prior to Good Friday.

“One family in every three in the South Island has got a motor car; it looks as if the proportion will be one in two very shortly,” stated Mr F. W. Furkert, chairman of the Main Highways Board, in reply to a deputation of motorists at Christchurch. The level beach of Kai Iwi was a veritable fisherman’s paradise yesterday. The warm and comparatively tranquil water that lapped the shore, together with the shelter afforded by the cove, attracted thousands of flounders and soles to encroach on bathers preserves, and as a consequence some phenomenal catches of fish have been recorded.

Dr Malcolm MaeEaehern, the wellknown American authority on hospital administration, who has been inspecting Australian hospitals, will visit New Zealand at the invitation of the British Medical Association, and will report to the Government on New Zealand hospitals. He will arrive at Wellington on February 15, and will be in New Zealand for six weeks, during which he will survey our hospital system.

An echo of the recent strike of the British seamen, which disorganised the shipping in New Zealand waters for some weeks, was heard when the Arawa arrived at Auckland from England on Thursday morning with twenty-two of the volunteer crew aboard. The men have come back to New Zealand with unpleasant views of the treatment accorded! them. They were unanimous that if there, was another strike to-morrow not one of them would again volunteer.

Hamilton butchers are greatly dissatisfied with the action of the Hamilton Box-ough Council in fixing the annual license fee for butchers at £5. The Act allows the council to charge a reasonable fee, and an action is to he brought at the next session of the Supreme Court to test the reasonableness of a £5 fee. It is argued that the fee must be passed on to the public and will increase the cost of living. The Hamilton Master Butchers’ Association has been unable to discover any other instance in which the fee has been fixed at more than 10s.

The American tourist ship Carinthia moved into Fremantle harbour recently. Not long after the gangway had been lowered the visitors began to stream down the steps to the quay, and many of the onlookers indulged in what was intended ae good-natured banter, but which actually degenerated into insulting remarks, though not intended as such. Passengers had to run the gauntlet of criticism until the last person was ashore. Fortunately the tourists experienced a send-off which they will long remember. Between 2000 and 3000 people congregated on the quay, and the wharfside echoed with “eouees.”

While bathing in the Pohangina river two Ashhurst boys had an exciting experience. A large eel was seen among the locks at the bottom of the hole, and one of the bathers, armed with'a gaff, dived in and succeeded in jagging the monster, which immediately set up a great fight to get free. A terrific struggle ensued, and the eel, after actually towing one of the bathers down stream, wrenched itself off the gaff. Instead of escaping, however, it made a savage attack upon the amateur big game fisherman, who, despite having the wind up considerably, finally got it ashore. The eel provecf to be a good specimen of the “old man” variety, measuring 4 feet 11 inches in length and weighing 251 pounds.— Manawatu Daily Times.

The complaints' mad© by volunteers on the Arawa regarding bad treatment have caused surprise in Hawera, and some concern, 'because there were several iboy.s who left, here on board the Dorset, one of the steamers affected by the strike. Messages were received from them indicating no dissatisfaction with their treatment, and, in fact, it was .stated that they perfectly satisfied with the conditions. There was no suggestion of any complaint. Regarding the question of bath accommodation, a. local, resident, who has had some experience of the quarters given to men on the Home linens, .said that the volunteers would have to accept condition's as they were and that it would he practically impossible to alter accommodation and to Instal a series of bathrooms. But the conditions varied quite a lob and. while they might be bad in some of the old boats, they had been much improved on the steamers built recently. Following upon the receipt of full plans of the inferometer in use at the Mount Wilson Observatory in California, a New Zealand research grant of some £2OO lias been made in order to secure the same attachment for the 9in telescope purchased by the. Wellington City Council some 18 .months ago, and uow installed in a temporary structure at Kelburn (states the New Zealand Times). The function of this instrument, which consists of a delicate arrangement of mirrors attached to. a beam traversing the telescope at right angles, is to increase the area of light or field of vision, so that in the case of the 9im telescope the, area of light is increased to about 6ft. It has no relation to magnification, but simply enlarges the light area for observation purposes.

Substantial reductions will be the order of the day at Ilarrops’ Great End-of-Season Sale, which commences on Thursday, January 21, at 9 a.m. Thrifty shoppers will find that they have a wonderful opportunity to effect savings which cannot be found save at sale time.—Harrops Ltd. —Advt.

Tlie Hawera Municipal Band will play a programme of appropriate -musical items at Te Ngutu Domain to-mor-row afternoon, commencing at 2.30 o’clock. ~ , . Practieallv a!! the mail matter stolen from the van at the railway yards at Dunedin has been recovered by the police, and tlie theft has been traced to two boys, who will be charged at the Juvenile Court (says a Press Association message). Tlie results of the draw for shareholders of the Starr-Bowkett Building Society helct last night resulted in Mrs E". M. Hamilton drawing the lucky number in the First Group of £3OO. In the Second! Group two shares of £2OO were sold and fetched a premium of £l4B. Mr J. W. Yearbury was the buyer. The reconstruction of a path to the top of Paritutu has been decided upon by the New Plymouth Harbour Boar l. A wire rope and stanchions will make the path safe for the use of sightseers. The work will be done when the workmen can be spared from the harbour construction works.—Herald.

A movement is on foot for the formation of a company to construct a caual across the Waiuku Isthmus, to connect the Manukau Harbour and the Waikato River, and give water transport from Onelvunga to Hamilton and Cambridge, up tne Waikato, and to Pirongia up the Waipa. The tablets have now been placed on the Memorial gates at the entrance to Victoria Park, Stratford, and the scaffolding which has created so much discussion is in process of removal. The two central gates nave been erected and the small side gates should be in position very soon.—Post.

The Northern Company’s steamer Matangi, which was to .have sailed from Auckland for Tauranga on Tuesday, is still delayed. The seaman to whom objection was taken by the crew had been 'laid off at his own request. The crew, however, was Still three short, but the steamer was expected to get away tomorrow .

Waitomo Caves are steadily gaining in popularity, as they well deserve. The. installation of electric light has proved u great boon, enabling visitors to ippreeiate more fully the beauties ard wonders of these magnificent caves. Those wllo have visited the caves say that the installation of the new ligluing system has added wonderfully to their attraction. “We’ve travelled over four hundred miles of South Island roads since we commenced this tour, and we've been travelling fast, but we’ve not- once gone through the hood of the ear or broken a spring. A. few years ago we couldn't have said that,” declared Mr. F. W. Furkert, chairman of the Main Highways Board, replying to a. deputation at Christchurch. Smiles lit up several faces, for it has. been said : that the board travels fast in the true sense of the word.

The jubilee of the settlement of Inglewood, which was celebrated in the early days of last year, was concluded on Thursday with a picnic and sports gathering for children and the planting of a memorial totara tree by Mr Gordon Lawson, who was the first white boy born in Inglewood. When the general celebrations were planned provision was made for suitable recognition of the occasion for the children, but the unfortunate epidemic of infantile paralysis and the ban on the congregation of children by the Health Department necessitated the postponement of that part of the proceedings, and the deferred gathering took place on Thursday. The whole district observed a holiday for tlie occasion, and town and country people co-operated to give the children a ’thoroughly enjoyable time, and their efforts were an unqualified success. A proposal is on foot to sell the assets of the Wanganui Meat Freezing Company, Limited, or a substantial proportion of them, to. the New Zealand Refrigerating Company, Limited, which already, has the lmlay works at Wanganui. This information was given yesterday by a. shareholder in the Wanganui Meat Company to a- representative of the Chronicle. The shareholder stated that a special meeting of the Wanganui Meat Company had been nailed for February 3 next to consider the question of .selling. He understood that the company’s 1 directors had given an option to. the New Zealand Refrigerating Company, which was prepared to purchase the Oastieciiff freezing works on the terms laid down in the option. It would 'be for the shareholders in the Wanganui Company to decided whether they should stand by the action of the directors and so ensure a .sale, which would cover a large ■part of their property. At the price agreed upon, the .shareholder added, the members of the Wanganui Company would probably bo found to have madea very satisfactory deal. Mr. H. Valder, Hamilton, who recently published a memorandum on the crisis in British coal mining industry, has been invited by the leaders of the Labour Co-Partnership Association >i Great Britain, which is supporting the campaign to inculcate a new spirit in the industry, to give evidence before the Royal Commission on the coal industry. The association feels that their case will be strengthened considerably if it is possible for Mr.' Valder to give evidence. Mr. A’alder, who intends visiting England, has cabled to ascertain the latest date on which e-i----dence will be taken by the Royal Commission. *

The Commissioner of Taxes draws attention of taxpayers to the notification appearing in to-day’s issue that the due date of payment of the inCoine-tax is on Monday, the Sth day of February, 1926. Additional tax will accrue if the tax is not paid on or before Mare,a 1, 192(i. The demands will be posted from the office of the Commissioner of Taxes on or about January 31, 1926. Demands must be presented with ah' payments, and if a demand has not been received the Commissioner should be communicated with. The Railway Department advertises in this issue particulars of excursion fares in connection with the picnic and sports meeting at Waitara on 28th January. Have you sampled Wiese bargains at the Melbourne Sale yet? Ladies’ overalls, 4/6; beautiful crepe kimonos, 7/11; lovely longcloth Princess underskirts, 7/11; embroidered corsets, 3/11; lad'derproof art silk hose, 4/6; -white cotton bloomers, 1/6 pair; superb handkerchiefs, 2 for 9d; 40-ineh stout longcloth, 1/- yard; strong striped roller towelling, 9d yard.—Advt. Archimedes, the Greek philosopher, said: “Give me a fulcrum long enough and I shall lift the Universe.” Yet Archimedes could not stop a toothache. Magic Nervine cannot lift the niverse, but it can (and does) stop toothache. 1/6 everywhere, or post free on receipt of remittance, from the Barraclough Pty., Box 1247, Wellington. t " —269 Try “TAN-OIj,” the liquid polish. Gives fine surface to floors and furn? ture—smartens leather goods. East and economical.—Advt.

—= - ' In contending with the vagaries or care'ess correspondents, officials of the Post and Telegraph Department frequently have to exercise considerable ingenuity. Yesterday a Hawera resident received from the Old Country a letter addressed “Regent Street, New Zealand.” It says something for the Department that in spite of the vagueness of the address, the letter arrived at its correct destination alter Auek- \ land, Wellington and Hamilton had been tried.

“I might be so bold as to say that ! never hope to .see New Zealand overindustrialised,”. said Mr. A. F. Roberts (Commissioner at Wembley), speaking at the Dunedin Exhibition this week, in referring to tlie growth of the secondary industries. “I have just come from what used to be termed ‘the workshop of the world,’ and they are goiug through iso re troubles there. But the sterling quality of the Britisher will pull ' the country through, for Britain is sound at the bottom. ’

By special privilege, a Wanganui newspaperman, while on a visit to Ruta.na, w'as allowed' to see the miscellaneous collection of various articles deposited/ there. These have a special significance in connection the work of Ratana in inducing Maoris to forsake tohungaism and worship tlie One Creator. The articles include all manner of things, from medicine bottles up to meres and tikis, articles which the owners looked upon as possessing some particular charm, and which they were inclined to worship. Many of them are of great value anal _ are held in trust. In fact, so the collection that it would make the Maori curio portion of any_ Dominion museum appear very insignificant. A Maori was asked what would happen if any article in the collection, money for instance, was removed. The reply was that the thief would meet an untimely end, for the collection was “tapu.

It is generally admitted by fishermen having their central disposal market in Whangarei that the catches are exceeding the demand to such an extent that loads have to be restricted, owing to the chillers and smokehouses carrying up to their maximum capacity (says the New Zealand Times). This state of affairs at this season is by no means unique, but consumers naturally wonder why retail prices should remain as high as they are. Fresh fish remains at 6d a lb over the counter, and 9d and lOd per !b is still asked for smoked fish. Mullet is sold according to size up to as much as 2s despite the favourable reoorts of it.s presence in large numbers in the locality.' Inquiry among vendors elicited the information that people do not like buying fish that has been chilled. In a climate such, as that in the north this means of preservation is almost essential unless consumers buy on the waterfront as the launches gome in. One well-known vendor adopts this practice and hawks the night’s catch during the following day. Those intimately connected with the trade contend, however, that fish that have been in cool store for one day lose nothing in value.