LOCAL AND GENERAL

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 16 September 1926, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

■Entries for the -calf-rearing and rootgrowing competitions, conducted under auspices of the South Taranaki Boys and' -Girl's 1 ’ Agricultural Clubs, close on Saturday next. In this issue the Hawera Borough Council call tenders for partitions and fittings at abattoirs, also for swing doors at Borough l Chambers.

Advice lias been received that the Rarawa is bar-bound at Onehunga today, and is due to sail 'at 1 p.m. on Friday. She will then leave New Plymouth on Saturday at the usual time, 8 p.m. )

The longest tube railway in the world hhs been opened, extending from Edgeware (Middlesex) to Morden (Surrey,), England, a distance of ?-l£ miles. The fare is ninepence. This eases the traffic problem for 2,500,000 Londoners. Six new stations have been created. The extension cost £3,500,000. The habit of. some motorists of throwing empty benzine tins on to theside of the roadway was \remarked upon bv a Wellington motorist visiting Wanganui (says the Chronicle). Many tins, he said 1 , despite the increasing number of Bowser pumps in this part of the island, were to be seen littered along tlie road right up the coast, and the number was particularly noticeable between Wangaohu and Wanganui.

A canoe 80 years old is- -at present having its sides renewed at the Wanganui, River Trust’s workshop and another, equally ancient, is on the slip awaiting the installation of an engine, says an exchange,. , The -first craft usually has its headquarters at the houseboat ,-and the second at Banana. Despite their age, these old canoes are very valuable for river work. Their length enables them to. run strongly against the current. But the motive power, as a. VVanganui paper remarks, a gasolene engine, is vastly different from the rhythmic paddles of the old days. Relics of the old Rutland Stockade always commanded interest, remarks a Wanganui journal. Recently the old mess table; was announced to be an tlie possession of Mr. J. Downer, of Mosstown, and now the key to. the o'td! building, long demolished, has come to light. The possessor is Mr. N. Campbell, of Brunswick, to whom the key was given by the late Mr. W.\ Armstrong, a "W*an i .lockasraii/tL. -Xt. riis a massive piece of work, eight- inches long, and hardly a type te fit the conventional key-ring or .purse.

Although it is stated authoritatively that the Petone lock-up fatality on Saturday is the first, time inn New Zealand that- a prisoner has met his death by strangling in such a manner, a. police official told a Post reporter that it was- quite a common practice for men placed in l the' cells to get their heads through the observation windows ■in the doors. Ho recalled a case, at Invercargill many years ago when' a prisoner, - who was tall enough to rea ch the window without support, pushed 1 his lie-ad through, hut was uniaibSe to extric’ate it. A considerable. _ time elapsed before the warders, by dint of much pushing and pulling, were able to release him.

By bringing them into direct _ touch with London twice daily, wireless promises to revolutionise at -least eight, and probably more, of the leading provincial daily newspapers in New South. Wales (reports the Australian correspondent of the Otago Daily Times), It wiili’ be easily the most .important move: in the history of provincial journalism in AnstraliSa. That ,the scheme will be. a success is ail-most beyond question, for it has at the back of it no less a. figure in the country press than Mr T. M. Shakespleiare, M.L.C., , who is establishing the first daily newspaper at the Federal Capital. The proposal is to install Morse wireless receiving machines, by mie-ans of which it. will be possible to tune in, not only to Sydney, but to the big British and American station's that send out news. The man- in the country will be as well supplied with news, on the spot, as the city nun.

INSURANCE MAN TALKS,

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The world wants new devices. The simplest idea may mean riches for the inventor, as lias happened in hundreds of cases. If you have one, our expert advice and .protection are essential. — Henry Hughes Ltd. (Directors: W. E. Hughes and J. T. Hunter, Regd. Patent Attorneys), 137 Featherston St, Wellington. —Advt.

Out of 350 men who originally were members of the Hawke’s Bay Colonial Defence Force, formed during the Maori war, only three aTe now known to be alive (according to the Manawatu Evening Standard). , They are Major F. W. Gascoigne, Trooper W. Y. Dennett (Hastings), and Trooper H. Halley (Clive). The late Lieut. Hir.t7.el, of Palmerston North, was one of the original members of this force.

In our advertising columns an announcement by the New Zealand Meat Producers ’ Board draws attention to its scheme for delivering Christmas presents of prime New Zealand lamb to any address in the United Kingdom for the sum of £1 11s per carcase. The popularity and merit of this scheme, which has now been in existence several years, is so well known as to rentier further comment almost unnecessary. As an advertising medium it lias been responsible for introducing prime New Zealand lamb into thousands of homes in the Old Country where it had never been heard of before.

Tlie north-bound mail train on Tuesday evening arrived in Hawera fifteen minutes late. Upon passing the Ball road crossing half a. dozen cows were observed on the lino. As is usually the case with cattle, they set off directly ahead of the, engine. The train crew did all in their power to head the beasts. For a mile and a _ lva.lf the cows trotted ahead. The engine driver stopped the engine and descended with the stoker to drive, th animals backwards. Thy refused, however, to. face that monster which had chased them for the last- mile or two, and nothing remained but to- chase them up with bursts of steam and. keep them ahead of the cow-catcher until a. wide space in the fencing was reached, and the panting animals plunged to one side and allowed the delayed train to proceed -at its normal speed. , A oiood storv of a, Maori’s first ride in. a train was told at a meeting of returned soldiers (says the latest issue Of the New Zealand Railways Maga_zine). It happened at the Auckland end of the line, and the Maori entered the train with much trepidation, especially as the carriage was near the engine, which was blowing off steam. He was not at all happy a's the train accelerated speed, and as it dashed into a tunnel ail sorts of weird! mutterings were heard proceeding from- the corner where he sat. Just as suddenly the train dashed once more into daylight, evidently to the great astonishment of the Maori, who looked', round with an amazed expression on his face, and remarked. “Py gorry, to-morrow! v

In relating Ills tale of woe to the Manawatu River Commission, the owner of a 60-acre farm in the Lockwood district said hie had been vei*y hard hit by the last flood, which! was the worst be had experienced. In his 1 six years’ residence he had been flooded three times, and on the last occasion the water was six feet deep round the , house, reaching,to the fire box of the kitchen range. He added that he had! lost four out of his five -sows, and that l the survivor was found in a bed in the house. How it found .its way to that haven- was a mystery. A.remarkably fine piece of work was performed by ' a railway plate-laying gang at Frankton Junction in connection with the improvements and enlargement of the railway station (Neb - Zealand Herald). It was necessary to put in a new “scissors” crossing, ISO feet in lengthy and weighing 50- tons, right on the main line at the north end of the station. Immediately the Auckland slow passenger train left at 2.30 p.m. a gang of 30 men cut the main .line, lifted, the. rails and sleepers to one side and levelled the spot. Skids were then put across and, with the aid of a crane, the new crossing was pulled 1 into place. Soon it was coupled up, and in 50 minutes from start to finish the main line was ready for service once again.

A certain builder at Kilbirnie find® himself in an awkward position as a result of his action in proceeding with the erection of a dwelling without, first obtaining from the City Council a building permit, for, though he has defied the by-law insisting upon that permit the council has now presented a poser to him by refusing to allow the house to be connected up with the water and drainage services (says the Wellington Evening Post). Councillor Luclde, chairman of the by-laws committee, informed the council that once or twice previously builders had defiedthe by-laws and erected buildings when no permits were granted, at a cost of a £5 fine imposed by a magistrate. The council, however, hadi this other weapon of* refusing connections with city services, and just what would be done in this case finally was not yet decided. In other centres builders had been ordered to pull such completed premises down again. ”‘