LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 29 December 1926, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Stratford retailers report a very satisfactory Christmas shopping week. After the fall in the values of dairy produce a, little pessimism in regard to Christmas shopping was justified, but, to the surprise of all, the week proved exceptionally good for most of the retailers. —Post.

Both the Municipal Band and the Salivation Army Band have been enrolling during the past few day* ,on behalf of their respective organisations. Both report fairly satisfactory results. Another day will be given at NeW Year. The Seventh Day Avdentists of the North Island are holding their conference under camp at Lower Hutt. About 400 adults and 100 children are expected to be asembled. The conference will last until January 9. Several bottles of Communion wine were stolen from the sacristry of St. Paul’s Church, Symonds Street, Auckland, on Thursday morning (states the New Zealand Herald). An unsuccessful attempt had been made to open the safe. Many articles •of value, ineluding Communion, plate, were ’eft untouched.

Carrying over 300 tourists from England, Canada, and the United States, the 20,000-ton Cunard liner Carinthia arrived at Auckland from Port Moresby, New Guinea, on Sunday afternoon, on her second visit to New Zealand. They left for Rotorua by a special train on Monday, to return on Wednesday evening, when the Carinthia sails for Wellington. A party of 39 will motor from Rotorua to visit the Waitomo caves, joining the Limited at Waimarino to'rejoin the ship at Wellington Most of the passengers are Americans/ but there are twelve from England, besides a small band of Canadians.

The Forestry Department has just completed the exchange of two officers with the Forestry Commission of New South Wales. Messrs R. B. Steele and F J. Perrin, forest rangers, have gone from New Zealand to Australia for six months and Messrs S: F. Rust and W. H. Horne have come to New Zealand. The New Zealand officers are investigating the growing of hard woods and the Australians! are looking -into soft woods.

The fertiliser mixing shed at the Islington freezing works was gutted by fire at 10 o’clock on Sunday morning, with hundreds of tons of fertiliser in course of preparation. The Islington works brigade made a good save and had the fire well under control by the time an engine from the Christchurch station arrived. The fertiliser mixture i s subject to spontaneous combustion, and it is thought that this was the cause of the fire. A

When a steamer arrived unexpectedly at Terokohe, near Nelson, one day recently, and heralded her arrival by vigorous blasts on her whistle, it was little thought that the noise would be the indirect- cause of saving a man’s life. The whistling aroused a workman, who got up and went to the boat. During his absence a huge stone fell from the hill on to his tent, and buried the bed where he had been sleeping just before. “After a visit to many law courts in England, I am satisfied justice is being carried out with traditional dignitv and incorruptibility,” stated _ Mr J. Stanton, an Auckland city solicitor, who returned from a- tour abroad by the Rotorua. He added that both Bench and lawyers displayed efficient knowledge,, and the administration of justice was wonderful. It has just transpired that someone placed a. coupling hook across- the railwav line about 100 yards from the crossing in High Street, Dannevirke, before .the arrival of the South Schoo 1 excursion on its return from Aehhurst recently, savs the News. Fortunately, the engine threw the obstacle clear The- driver reported the occurrence to the stationmaster. Subsequently inquiries by the police- showed that two small boys were responsible, and they will probably have to explain their action before the magistrate at the next sitting of the Chidren’s Court in Dannevirke.

Residents on the Raftgitatau main highway, a. mile- or two in from TCai Iwi, received an unwelcome Christmas present on Friday evening, when a cloud-burst washed out a length of the road. About two- miles of the road isulfeied, the wash-out commencing some two miles from Kai Iwi, and an indication of the, severity of the downpour is given by the fact that a man who went eight miles to telephone the Waitotara. County -authorities took three hours on the journey. A stretch of road three-quarters of a mile long had the -metal completely washed -a,way. and telephonic communication with the Aim Abu Valley was disrupted. Temporary repairs have been made to the road, but- some £6OO will -have to ,be spent to restore it to- its former condition.

According to completed estimates of the season’s lambing by stock inspectors in the various districts, -the average percentages are slightly lower than usual, but. against this there was an increase of 230,000 breeding ewes, the total being 13,948,-252, the highest on record. It is estimated that the number of lambs for the Dominion is 11,794,699 and the average 84.57, the latter being a little below that of the last four years, -but constituting another record as to the number. In the North Island 7,500,000 ewes produced only 84.35 per cent, of lambs. In the South Island, 6,445,052 ewes produced 5,465,361 lambs, the highest on record, and the average of 84.79 per cent, is quite equal to the average of the four preceding years. An interesting souvenir of the early days in New Zealand, and particularly of the Maori wars, was brought to the Christchurch Sun office by its owner, Mrs Norman MacLeod. It was a beautiful tie ring, once owned by Von Tempsky, who led the Forest Rangers in the Waikato campaign -against- the Maoris. The ring L.s a fascinating antique, consist ing of seven tiny hut beautifully made cameos, joined together on a metal hand. Each cameo- is supposed to have represented a prayer—one lor each clay of the.- week. The seven cameos are of different colours, alternate red, white-, putty and black. The heads are exquisitely carved, and are evidently the work of an artist of repute. A letter was found with the ring, but unfortunately it has been lost. The- ring came into Mrs 'MacLeod’s possession through her father, the late -Mr D. Dong'as MacDonald, barrister, of Dunedin'. He obtained jt from a man who had found the ring on the old battlefield in the North Island.

' MEN’S SHOES. Men’s'- blank or brown walking shoes 25/-, 29/6; tennis shoes 4/6, 8/6; men’s Sunday boots, 29/6; working shooters, 19/6. ‘ At the N.Z. Clothing Factory, Hawera. —Ad v t.

Every pain has a cause. At the base of many is that foe of health and vitality—rheumatism. Don’t delay, use Rheumo at the first- symptoms. It quickly tones u.p the system, cleanses the blood and: drives out excess uric acid, the cause of most rheumatic complaints. 4/6 large bottle at all chemists. — 3OB

in recent years many of -the n'on telephone poles in, Upper Glutha wei< replaced by Australian grey gum saplings, and these poles were- also used in new lines then under constriction. Reports indicate that the lire ot tlie poles thus utilised will be-brief (states the Cromwell Argus), as near the surface, in iieavy soils, the timber has already decayed for fully an men in depth. This will mean a heavy loss to the department concerned, and ii it * s general in other districts will be a serious matter.

The registrations for the 1. re.s byte ri an Bible Class conference, at Wanganui have reached 728 already, and it is anticipated that at least about a thousand will register before the final total is reached. Yesterday morning between 200 and 300 young men and women arrived in Wanganui to attend the camp, coming from Auckland, Frankton Junction, and Taranaki. Further contingents appeared on the afternoon trains from Taranaki and Wellington.—Chronicle.

The various groups of holiday-mak-ers who responded to- the call of the beaches on Boxing Day included a happy bevy of nurses from the Hawera. Public Hospital, who made use oi a horse drawn lorry to proceed to the Qhawe seaside resort.' Showing complete independence, of male escort, the party elected a, competent driver from their number and, gaily bedecked for the occasion, the vehicle and its smiling freight provoked considerable diversion, together with admiring comment, as it appeared in Hawera’s main thoroughfare, while among many envious onlookers it aroused pleasant reminiscences of picnic conveyances prior to the extensive use of the motor. The reply given by the ‘Minister ot Agriculture (the Hon. O. J. Ha-wken) to the deputation of wheat-growers that waited on him at Ashburton recently and asked for an embargo on imported flour, or, in the alternative, an increase of 25s a ton in the duty, was discussed by the Mid-Canterbury executive of the Farmers’ Union on Friday afternoon. It was resolved that “The Government be advised that it is the opinion of the executive that the onus of proving that dumping is going on is on the Government and not on the farmers, as the Government, with its various departments, is in the position of getting information more readily and more accurately than any farming organisation can do.” The widespread indignation evoked by wliat is known as the threatened Main Roads Board filch (reports the Sydney correspondent of the Otago Daily Times), a proposal which was frustrated by the political crisis, can be understood when one realises what the motorists are paying by way of taxation into the main roads fund. Motorists of New South Wales are the most heavily taxed in the Commonwealth, according to the calculations of the National Roads and Motorists’ Association, which has taken into consideration the amount® paid on 27 different makes of cars. The average taxation in this State works out at £7 4s a year. Although the Main Roads Board has spent £1,700,000 during the last 16 months, it has practically only scratched the surface of the road problem in New South Wales. Nothing short of many millions will put the greater portion of the main roads of the State in first-class order. The thunderstorm which burst over Auckland city in the early hours of Christmas morning attained somewhat terrifying proportions at Rangitoto (says the Star). Campers on the island were awakened by a tremendous roll of thunder, which, one at least of them averred, shook the island from end to end. and from base to summit. Sheets of lightning, flaring up out of the inky darkness, outlined the mountain with startling clearness, and spraved the surrounding slopes with leaping tongues of flame. Campers sleeping out-of-doors in the shelter of lean-to’s and temporary shake-downs experienced a somewhat trying time of it 'when the rain started to pour down in torrents, but in most cases the practical disabilities of their situation were forgotten when the thunder and lightning had passed away. Altogether it was a unique night on the island, the isolation of its temporary inhabitants making the experience all the more spectacular and awe-inspiring. When in the Garribean Sea, in the course of her world cruise, the Citnard liner Oarinthia, which reached Auckland recently, encountered the hurricane which swept. Havana, causing the loss of many lives, and doing an enormous amount of damage. The Oarincliia, reports -a northern exchange, experienced an east-north-east gale early in the morning, and, at midday, with the wind increasing in force she hove to. At six,, o’clock in the evening the storm was at its height, the wind blowing at the rate of 90 miles an hour, but 4 hours' later conditions moderated, and the ship was able to resume her cruise. Throughout the storm the Oarinthia behaved splendidly, riding out the gale like a. duck. In fact, so well did she perform that not a single passenger was sick, .and even the ballroom dancing was not interrupted. Oddly enough. when the ship passed through the Panama Canal, and encountered the Pacific swell, a number of-the tourists were confined to their cabins.