LOCAL AND GENERAL

Hawera Star, Volume LI, 25 August 1931, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Since the school holidays commenced on Friday of last week and with cheap excursion fares available to travellers there has been a marked increase in the number of passengers carried daily by the southbound Taranaki express train. The Hawera station yesterday and also to-day presented a busy scene both with arriving and departing passengers. “We have the Unemployment Board, and the more’s the pity,” remarked Mr. G. Maginnes at Monday’s meeting of the Christchurch Unemployment Committee. “Do you say that advisedly?” asked Mr. J. W. Beanland. “Yes,” replied Mr. Maginnes. “I have never believed in the board. To my way of thinking the board should have consisted of the Minister for Labour, the Minister for Lands and the Minister for Public Works. They have got the jobs, and are responsible to Parliament and to the people. The board is a buffer between us and the Government, and I have never believed in the principle of delegating authority.” The Hawera Debating Society held a mock dairy conference last evening, when “remits” both grave and gay were debated. Most of the “progressive” measures, from “milk-grad-ing” to a proposal that “cowsheds should be placed on wheels,” were lost on the voices, but the supporters of the remits appeared to enjoy themselves thoroughly, despite their failure to impress the conference. Arrangements were made to hold a debate between teams next meeting night. A sub-committee was appointed to organise the teams and select a subject. Mr. P. O. Veale is to be asked to act as judge. The Hawera Unemployed Relief Committee found it impossible this week to give the three-day unemployed men their full number of days’ work owing to the limited sum available for distribution, and the three-day men received 2b days’ work, but the four-day men will receive their full quota. The allocation made by the Unemployment Board at Wellington was £259, and n request was made on behalf of the committee by Mr. H. G. Dickie, M.P., for the full amount required (£302) to give each man his full quota of work according to classification. The Hon. S. G. Smith (chairman of the board) advised, however, that £259' was the maximum amount that could be allowed. The allocation of work in Hawera has been made as follows: Hawera. County Council 74, Hospital Board 8, Borough Council 26, Turu-turu-Mokai 32, Manutahi School Committee 1, Te Roti School Committee 2, and Normanby Town Board 13. A consignment of eggs from poultry of a valued strain was recently sent Horn the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, to the Massey Agricultural College at Palmerston North. The eggs were obtained by a member of the staff of Massey College who was visiting Canada. He packed them in the ordinary manner and they were placed in cool storage, at a temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit during the voyage. Twenty-four eggs proved fertile, and 20 strong chicks arrived at the end of the period of incubation at Massey College. It is believed that these ‘ are the first eggs which have produced chicks after so long a sea voyage, and the quality of the .stock; will be observed with interest. Eggs that are three weeks or older have been known to hatch, but it is seldom that the experiment of sending them on a long sea voyage has been tried. The shark’s tooth found in the papa rock some weeks ago at Whakamara was forwarded by the secretary of the Hawera Acclimatisation Society to the Auckland Museum for identification. The tooth has now been returned with, a letter from the conchologist and palaeontologist of the museum and institute. In it, the writer says the tooth is that of the great white shark, Careharodon Nondeletu, whose habitat ranges from the 'Mediterranean to Australia. ’" Ho adds that fossil occurrences of this shark are quite numerous and records extend back to the Eocene period. The presence of the fossil sharks in the locality 12 miles from the sea is easily-explained when one realises that practically the whole of the Taranaki Province and the country towards Wanganui once formed the ocean bed at depths varying from shallow water to 100 fathoms. The uplift of this part of New Zealand probably occurred during the late Pliocene times, coinciding with the formation of the Egmon.t cone. The edge of the strata from where your specimen was taken is Lower Pliocene.

An agreement to purchase up to 5,000,000 gallons of crude oil at 5d per gallon from the Blenheim Oil Well t Reclamation Company, Ltd., New Plymouth, was signed yesterday on 'behalf of a company which proposes to distil benzine from the oil and place it upon the local market. The new company, which is at present undergoing preliminary organisation prior to registration, intends to erect a small refinery at Moturoa. The erection of the refinery is not expected to take long, and the trustees of the company hope to commence refining operations not later than October 1. It is stated that the plant should be capable of dealing with 1200 to 1500 gallons a day.