LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 25 January 1927, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tho following tenders have been accented for railway uniforms contracts for two years:—Stationmasters caps, C Hill and Sons, Wellington; guards , porters’, drivers and firemen s caps, floss and Glendining, Dunedin- shunters’ wideawake hats, Ross and Ginclining, Dunedin; stationmasters’ suits, V Lew. Ltd., Wellington; flus.se 11 cord coats. W. Strange and Co., Christchurch.

A very pleasant evening was provided for the inmates and staff ol the Salvation Army Boys’ Home at Eltliam last evening. A number of citizens assembled at the Home and joined in various games, and forms of amusement. A number of items were also rendered by the party to the delight ol •ill The function was arranged by the Mayoress, Mrs. I. J. Bridger, to whom the manager, Major Armstrong, expressed his thanks and appreciation for the exceedingly pleasant evening provided by the visitors. A syndicate of British sportsmen is trying to arrange a return bout between Gene Tunney and Jack Dempsey, the battle to be staged at Wembley stadium on Derby Day next June. ft is believed a large percentage of the enormous throng attending the races would attend such a bout in the evenin", and that the affair would be a financial' success. Tunney has intimated, according to the Daily Express, London, that he would consider such a bout, but that nothing less than a cold half-million dollars would tempt Mm. The new heavy-weight champion is held in high regard by the British sporting elements.

Seven special picnic excursions are scheduled on the district railways during the next three weeks. Of particular local importance are the Hawera Presbyterian and Methodist Sundav School special to Opunake on February 2, the Patea .school and trade association picnic special to Moturoa on February 9 and the Eftham school picnic special to Moturoa on February 17.

The development of the passion fruit industry in New Zealand was discussed at a meeting of the Auckland Council of the Fruit-Growers’ Federation. Mr F. House, the president, said the Minister of Agriculture had promised xo consider providing assistance, and there was every prospect of a flourisMng export trade being fostered. It was decided to ask the Government to send during the coming season a shipment of .200 cases of passion fruit to England, on the same basis as the guarantee for apples.

For 409 miles the west coast of the South Island stretches unbroken from Cape Farewell to Milford Sound. In all that length there is not one natural harbour worthy of the name to break its monotony—save only, perhaps, Jackson’s Bay, in the. far south. A dozen or more rivers with perilous entrances were all that . the pioneers of the ’sixties found, and each of these soon had its toll of disaster. To-day the visitor to the Coast finds the big river ports of 'Westport and Greymouth, with their fleets of colliers and timber ships, and the long streams of traffic' pouring in from the mines. These ports have only been built up by heavy expenditure, and their maintenance is unusually costly. The decision of the reception committee at Christchurch to hold a Tace meeting in the occasion of the Royal visit to that city has led to .a tangle. In regard to the arrangements, Mr George Gould, chairman of the Canterbury Jockey Club, states that the Minister of Internal Affairs assured him that- the club would be granted a totalisator permit for a. meeting on March 15. to which date the February meeting would be deferred. Mr Gould considers the reception committee should not go back on the arrangements with the club. However, the New Brighton Trotting Club is proceeding, with arrangements for a meeting at Addington on March 35, for which a license has horn granted. The matter wiV, probably be finalised at a meeting of the reception committee on '/Wednesday. A distinct curiosity—the result of an occurrence which must be regarded las most unusual—was unearthed last week by Mr. J. Linkhorn, of Hawera,. A heavy plank, din b. sin, of a white wood, which formed part of the packing of his new ovens, was put out to be used for fire wood, and when being chopped, there fell from, it a small pointed piece of brass, which, when rubbed up and examined, proved to be a. small bullet. It is ljins. long, shaped like :ai min/iature shell, going to. a noint and having a circular base. Round the centre of it is a. .slight groove. On. the base, which i<? flat, are the letters in capitals AYE over TT and below that, the figures 7.78. A measure proves this to bo its diameter in uiilimotros. rough!v Jin. The ovens were all British made and this ni/akes the nnpearance of .a bullet apparently of foreign manufacture all the more peculiar.

The Oainaru Beautifying Society is ,so impressed by the increasing disfigurement of the roads and the xu.al districts of North Otago by ■ dvertisements and hoardings that it )as decided to introduce a private Bill in Parliament to deal with the matter. The Hon. E. P. Lee. member for the district, lias agreed to take charge of the Bi.’l. which will he on 'he lines of existing English legislation, giving statutory powers to the county nidhorities to control or prohibit disfiguring advert Lements on country roads. A denutation from the society waited on the Bail wav Board last night and emphasised- onposition to the depaitmcnt’si nolicv in the wholesale erection rf hoardings, and asked that ern* in the course of erection in; the boron eh lia not uroceeded with. Mr Jones, chairman of the board, .-ep’ying, sug-o-ostvd that the erection of the hoarding in question would improve the ’ocn'it.v. He .said the board endea”*'nred f-> been its advertising within c.ecent limits, and where it interfered, with tV scenic beauty or amenities ol a place it w*ts nroh.ibited.