LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 13 November 1926, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Hawera Municipal hand will give a programme of music in High Street (weather permitting) between seven and eight o’clock this evening. The Manaia Municipal Brass Band will render a programme in the rotunda this evening, commencing at 7.30 p m sharp. The new Auckland headquarters ef the Plunket- Society, costing an all £6450, was opened yesterday by Lady Alice Fergus,son. The Minister of Health, the Hon. J. A. Young, was also present. There was a thunderstorm and heavy rain fell in the district yesterday (states a Hastings message). The drenching was welcomed by farmers and business men alike. Large hailstones fell in some localities', injuring apple and pea cions to an extent not at present known. The fourth outbreak of lire at Te Aroha in two weeks occurred at 2 o’clock yesterday morning, when a fire in an unoccupied room in the Grand Hotel was discovered before serious damage was done. The fires have been under suspicious circumstances, and there is a good deal of alarm among local property-owners.

Further serious defects became manifest in the Man awn tu Gorge line yesterday. which point to the probability of long delay in reopening and the possibility of the section from Ashlmrst to Woodville having to be abandoned for an alternative route.

To-morrow special services w’l lie held in the Salvation Army Hall, led by Staff Captain Charker, who was in charge of the 'ocal corps in 1009. The staff captain since then ha-si risen in the Army and to-day is the secretary of the Central North Division.

A thunderstorm marred people’s day at the show at Christchurch yesterday, heavy rain continuing throughout the afternoon, with occasional showers of hail. A sum of £IO,OOO was collected in Sydney on Armistice Day by the sale of poppies. The result was announced by wireless last night Irom station 2BL, Sydney. A most enthusiastic reception to the visiting Wanganui Male Choir, on Tuesday evening next, is assured. The local secretary reports that the boo Icing to date is the heaviest the society has experienced, and patrons who have not yet- secured .seats are advised to make early application, as the box plan is rapidly filling up. Explosives were used in attempt to force an entry into the Greenlane Post Office at Auckland early yesterday morning. The front door and a iso the back were attacked, but in each ease without success. The front door was badlv shattered near the lock, but did not yield. Two heavy detonators were heard by resident#; in the vicinity, who thought it must be a late Guy Fawkes celebration, and the real cause was not discovered until about seven o’clock. The explosive used was one of the gelatine variety.

The large consignment of Merino rams from the Boonoke flock of F. b. Fa 1 kiner and Sons, Ltd., New South Wales, was offered by auction at Addington yesterday and realised 2119 guineas. The highest prices for special stud rams were paid, by W. D. Fernie (Wanganui), who purchased one at 400 guineas, one at 200 and one at 130 guineas. Other prices ranged from ten to 90 guineas. Jn addition to the 38 stud .rams, 59 flock rams were sold ia,t prices ranging from seven to thirteen guineas. At the Arbitration Court, at Greymouth, Frank Rockford was awarded £195 and costs in a compensation claim for an accident to his leg against tire K.K. Sawmilling Company. George Thompson was non-suited in a claim for compensation for injuries to bis foot against O’Neill and Newman, sawmillers. A claim for dependency compensation against Armstrong and Fryberg, sawmillers, was brought by the trustees in the'estate of Joseph Hanrahan, who was accidently killed, a... was -settled by the parties. Because a few of these men who toil week-days and Sundays, lughdays and holidays; in the backblocks, come into town when the job is over and promptly engage in the fierce and generally sudden pastime of ‘ blowing the check,” all such workers are cupposed to have formed that habit. That is well wide of the mark, and in any case there are other ways cf emptying one’s pocket- of the earnings of six months’ long toil. An Evening Post reporter on Saturday evening struck up an acquaintance with a bush worker, and learned from him that this year he was going- to take; a real holiday, bv getting a job in We]lington, and was not going r o pack up with his three working mates to hurry away to far parts of the world. Five years ago, he said, he and his mates hit upon the idea of “blowing their checks” on travelling, and each year had carried out.the idea by trips to America, Scotland, England and Spain, returning again to the bush and the seven-day,s-a-week toil to finance another trip. During the conversation South America wa§ mentioned. The bush man admitted they had not been there, and this year, anyhow, he wa-s not going—a- holiday was what he was after this time, a good steady job in town.

There are 186 registered Catholic schools in the Dominion, with an attendance of 20,582 children, states the annual report of the Wellington Catholic Education Board: It- costs the Government £l2 Is per student per annum to educate a child in the primary schools of the State. -On that- basis if the number of children attending the Catholic schools (20,582) were educated in the State schools, it would cost the Government £248,185 per annum. The cost per head of the population of the Dominion for the State system of education worked out at £2 14s 3d. On this basis, it was contended Catholics are contributing £545,278 per annum for which they receive practically nothing in return, but are forced to provide their own system of education which would cost the Government £248,185 to provide. ‘ ‘ Murders, crimes of all sorts, divorces and baseball are the topics which fill the American daily newspapers, which are great bulky things, full of coloured supplements, and green with baseball and sporting news,” said Mr J. B. Harcourt, president of the Wellington Racing Club, who returned recently from a visit to America. Of news of tho world there was little, and as for New Zealand—“ Well, we simply don’t exist,” said Mr Harcourt. An exchange reports Mr Harcourt as saying that accustomed as New Zealanders were to a high standard of journalism, it w r as very tiring to read the American productions,, in which divorces and society scandals were set out in big type on the front pages. News which New Zealanders regarded as first-class was hidden away on obscure pages, in tiny print, which was extremely difficult to read. The 'Aimee McPherson incident concerning her alleged abduction, was “featured” in long columns, interest reaching fever heat -when the kidnapping story was exploded, while whole pages were devoted daily to the life stories of the American prize fighters, Gene Tunney and .Tack Dempsey.

An unusual use of wireless was-made by members of the staff of the Brisbane Hospital, Queensland, who at a recent meeting were puzzled over certain suggestion of the American College of Surgeons as to staff organisation, and they broadcasted, a question to Dr. M. T. MacEacliern, Director of Hospital Activities. American College of Surgeons, Chicago. The message was picked up by an amateur tadio operator in Clarksburg, Pennsylvania, and forwarded to Chicago, where Dr. MacEachern received and; answered it, and the reply was sent back thousands of miles across land and sea. The Brisbane physicians wanted to know what limitations there should he to a staff membership and how staff applications and appointments should be made. Dr. MapEachern’s answer# referred to suggestions of the college that there be no limitation to the number of physicians allowed to practice in a hospital, but that training, ethical standing and willingness to work and to abide by the rules and regulations -should be the guiding points. Applications for staff appointments. the college suggested, should be made to the • liosnitnl board, whose members should make appointments on the advice and -recommendation,<f of the staff.

Entries for the Egmont A. and P. Show close with the secretary, Mr M. C. Crighton, at nine o’clock this evening. The completion. of the telephone line which will connect seven subscribers at Pukengahu with the Stratford telephone exchange, is being held up pending the arrival of poles. These should be here in the near future, and it is anticipated that the line will be in. operation before Christmas, states the Stratford Post. Motorists xvil l . be interested to learn that an inquiry from the secretary of the South Taranaki Automobile Association yesterday in regard to the road through Mercer to Auckland,* 1 <ought a prompt reply that a short st retch* on the road at Mercer was covered rd a depth of 134 inches, and that the * river was falling slowly. The message concluded that there; was “no trouble. The largest butter churn in New Zealand and, some people sav the largest in the world, has recently been installed in the Te Puke factory, of the Bay of Plenty Co-operative .Dairy Association. The new churn is a huge piece of mechanism, which turns out ,46001 b of butter in a single churning, enough to fill 82 boxes. The machine in the Dominion which has the next largestcapacity can turn out about- 40 boxes. The new machine does the \vorl* ol three ordinary machines in one churning, and the operation takes approximately the same time.

The Hawera. company of cadets will undertake a route march on Tuesday night. The rank and file are exhibiting interest- in this digression from their usual training. The parade will leave the drill hall at- 7 p.m., preceded by an advance guard. Second Lieut. J. W. Bolton will have charge of the advance guard, and Lieut. R. R. Henderson of the main body. The operation will be under the supervision of the company commander. A minor tactical operation will be carried out in the vicinity of the rifle range, after which' the cadets will consume their rations and return, at about- 10 p.m., to the drill hall.

At the Stratford Court, Colin Leighton, recently an auctioneer of Stratford, was committed for trial to the next.sitting of the Supreme Court in New* Plymouth on fourteen charges of failing to account fox, and omitting to pay overy moneys received in the course of his business. On two further charges *• of failing to keep a trust- account and one of fraudulently omitting to pay, within seven days "of demand, £3 19s sd, being the balance of the proceeds of 32 cases of apples sold by auction, accused was dealt with summarily. Whem the evidence for the prosecution had been heard on these charges, the cases were adjourned sine die. The defence will call no evidence, but- will confine itself to argument. Bail as formerly was allowed. —News. Rev. J. J. North, who will be here in the Presbyterian Hall on Monday evening is well known throughout New Zealand a-s the editor of the New Zealand Baptist and the late Minister of the Oxford Terrace Church, Christchurch. A keen student of history and general literature and a vigorous writer, -he has drawn from his recent tour of India, Europe and the United Kingdom the impressions which form the subject of his travel talks. Benares, the city of Trampled Flowers, a Protestant in Rome, an anti-gambler in Monte Carlo, * and a- New Zealander on London Bridge will be the titles of his talks on Monday next. Musical items will also bo given.

In the Supreme Court at Perth an action was begun in whieh a boarding- ~ house keeper at Fremantle sued the Curator of Intestate Estates for £194 for board and . lodgings supplied to David Mallows. The evidence revealed that, although Mallows picked up odds-and-ends in gutters, and took doles from working men, he was sufficiently affluent to have lived comfortably to the end of his days. This discovery was. not made until after his death. It was stated that he had about £4OO in a savings bank account, which had not been operated on Tor some years, and giltedged securities, chiefly war bonds. Behind a skirting board a constable * found scrip for nine shares in the Commercial Bank and a deposit receipt from the Western Australian Bank for £7OO. Mallows lived in ,a room which contained a bed and chair, while the few clothes he possessed were so filthy that they were ordered to be burned. « A message from Eden to the Sydney Morning Herald recently stated that a humpback whale and her calf, driven into Twofold Bay by killers, were ob- *•< served in the harbour under fierce at- _ * tack by their pursuers. The killers attacked incessantly, driving the whale round the bay, and on two occasions, right to the mouth of the Kiah River, inside which is the whaling station. In the afternoon the conflict centred in Snug Cove, the whales -and killers fighting close alongside the wharf, and among the small boats anchored nearby. The wharf was crowded with tour- * . ists, who had one of the best views ever obtained at close quarters- of ■ . whales being attacked by killers, and observed the ferocity and sagacity of the far-famed killer-whales. The killers were unable to effect a kill, and the whales, though fiercely beset, beat off all attacks, and, forcing their wav outwards, escaped under cover of night tlirougn the heads.