Local and General

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 2 March 1935, Page 4

Local and General

- The members of the Kiwi Rebekah Lodge , entertained friends at a, flag 500 card party held m Sco Hall on Thursday evening. Those at the winning table were Mrs Miss Mellow, Messrs Keys and Saltei . Miss Mellow also won the special points prize.

Surprise is expressed by Mr Hermann Loewi, an English visitor to Christchurch, at the lack of a lGie 1 tion schemes. He had noticed on the West Coast, he said, that little piovision was made for the replanting of areas worked by the sawmills. It seemed strange to him that no provisions were made for the future b 5 afforestation schemes. The P l( f en veneration might not get, the benefit of them,” he' added, “but it does seem neglect.”

In regard to deer culling in the Tararua range, the head ranger (Mr P. W. Willson) of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society, reported to the parent body that he had arranged for a party to cull deer during the last Christmas and New Year holiday. “A party of five,” he said, “went into the Waingawa and stayed out for eight days on the high country. Seven deer were seen and five destroyed. Three deer were destroyed in the Akatarawa and two at the Hutt river forks.

Commendation of the good conduct of the Hawera Highland Pipe Rand on parades was expressed by the president, Mr. C. H. Bowman at the annual meeting last night. On New Year’s Eve, however, a Hawera businessman had expressed the opinion to him that the band “would be drunk by midnight.” He had been hurt by that statement, said Mr. Bowman, in asking the Press to note his remarks. The rules of the band made it definitely clear that no liquor could be brought on parade, or even into the bandroom. There had been one or two expulsions, in the past for this reason, but the band now reflected the greatest credit when on parade or at competitions. Enough to make a Chief J ust rce laugh was a slip made before Sir Michael Myers by a witness m the Wellington Supreme Court this week. Witness was telling in narrative form the story of a ship held up for repairs. At one stage counsel lost his drift and asked: “Well, where are you now?” “In the dock, sir,” witness replied. Quickly he amended his position to “in the floating dock.”

The opinion that the Hawera Highland Pipe Band was entitled to a greater subsidy than it was receiving from the Hawera Borough Council was expressed by Mr W. G. Simpson, a vice-president, at the annual meeting last night. The band was undoaotedly filling a useful service in the town, said Mr Simpson, and was worthy oi greater support than the £lO d was now receiving. At present the band > finances were in a healthy state, but it coulct not be said that this would always be the case, or that the good position was the result of l ist year s activities^ only. The question of an application for increased subsidy was left to the executive for cihvussion.

Speaking at a meeting of the Dairy Farmers’ Union in Palmerston North on Thursday, one member said that a buyer had the day previous offered him 5Jd a pound for his pigs. Inquiry in the shops revealed that bacon by the side was selling at a shilling a pound. Best rashers were selling at Is sd, but he did not think any part of the pig was selling retail as low as 5Jd a pound. The time was long overdue when the producer should command a bigger share of the retaiU price. The gap between 54d and Is was too great. Moreover, the price of meals was altogether too high and left no working margin to speak of. During the hot and sunshiny weather lately experienced in Dunedin, the minimum of clothing was,, worn, but since the breaking of the drought elimatio conditions have called for heavier apparel. Imagine the surprise oi citizens who on Sunday afternoon last were confronted with the spectacle ol an entirely nude person promenading the main street of a southern portion of this city. He seemed quite unconcerned at the interest and amusement which his appearance created. A companion, however, seemed to regard this state of undress as not quite in order, and endeavoured to lead the naked one to where clothing was available, and the last seen by passers-by were the two proceeding hand in hand homeward, where not only covering, but, doubtless, chastisement also would be given out to this three-year-old pioneer of gymnosophy. High praise tempered with a little criticism was given to New Zealand and the New Zealand people by two American ladies, INjrs M. "V. S. Owens and Miss Ellen M. Van Slyke, of Kingston, New York, in an interview in Christchurch. “You have more variety of scenery than any country I know,” Mrs Owens said. “America has more comforts for the traveller, but you have the scenery, and it is simply wonderful what a great deal one can see in a short space of time.” Both ladies were warm in their praises of the New Zealand girls. They said that the New Zealand girls were as pretty and as stylish as any they had met in other countries. One drawback from c'he point of view of the tourist, however, one remarked, was that some ot the hotels still lacked little things tjiat made travel through the country comfof'abjp. She thought that the number of flies to bp iflupd ip the dining rooms of somp of the hotels was perfectly atrocious, and at one place iri the North Island she had told the proprietor of the hotel just what she thought about the matter, The accommodation also left much to be desired in the smaller places, but that, no doubt, would bo improved as time went on. In spite of these little irritations, however, she declared that she would he able to look back on her holiday in New Zealftind u ith tne greatest of pleasure.

In connection with the Hawera Operatic Society’s pantomime production members will meet at the Opera House on Monday evening, when rehearsals will he arranged,

The Manaia -Municipal Band, under Conductor J. A. G. Cosgrove, will render a programme in the Rotunda this evening at t .30 o' cloclc. Assistance was given to 37 families in the Normanby, Okaiawa and Hnwera districts this morning by the distribution of rations to the unemployed. The following commodities were parcelled up and distributed: Tea 18lb, sugar 1601 b, flour 2341 b, rice 451 b, oatmeal 451 b, butter 381 b, bread 81 loaves.

v great deal can be learned of a country by a study of its Press, and it many people could see two Chinese illustrated journals, copies of which have recently been received in Auckland they would change tlieir ideas about modern China. The journals are' admirable specimens of commercial art, lay-out and general design Planting in China has made great strides in the last few years, and today there are Chinese journals that compare favourably with their contemporaries in the Western world. Illus- ] trations in the journals show ns that in the China of to-day fresh air exeicise backless bathing costumes and bronzed sun worshippers are almost as familiar as in the Western world. Movie actresses, too, have their share of publicity, and some of the Eastern screen stars are extremely beautiful. Pictures of Hitler reviewing his Nazis Mussolini and a Fascist parade, and British warships at manoeuvres indicate that the educated Chinese are kept in touch with international developments. Colour printing seems also to have been studied with outstanding success, the covers on both papers being beautiful specimens of lithographic craftsmanship. Although the “front” covers are on the back, and the journal has to be read, back to front, they are most interesting examples of' the advance of a civilised

nation. . An Aucklander who lias visited the Auckland Island says that any expedition which goes there in search of lost treasure of the ship General Grant must expect to meet very great d J' culties. He was one of a paitj uho reached one of the beaches by means of a rope, and they then made then wav to the cave where the ship was lost. -Shingle had roiled up on the coast, was always piling up, and that reason any wreck would soon be covered. On the west coast of the island there were traces of othei' wrecks of sailing ships which hac. occulted many years ago. A bullet fired in the Mesopotamia campaign disabled a soldier s le . ankle. He was pensioned out of the army and given work on a Government farm. A little time agd a gun carried bv his companion went off accidental!} ind the charge so badly injured t) soldier’s left leg that it had to be amputated. He was then informed thai his pension would he stopped because it had been payment for a niaime ankle, and he no longer had the ankle. Die lawyers .saw he has n° redress although he would have been better off financially if the leg had been amputated in Mesopotamia, and it was no fault of his that it was not; (b) it it had been amputated then he comd not have been shot mit latei; (c) and if he had not been disabled on war service he might never have been ui front of an explosive gun on a Government farm. The incident occurred in India, but it does not seem to- be certain whether its subject is an Indian soldier, under the Government of India, or a British victim of the pension authorities in London. An unusual occurrence was noted by Mr E. M. Monckton, Ngatapa, on Sunday evening, wdien a pair of bats flew' over his homestead for about half an hour. The bats came from a bush reserve nearby, where some years ago a small colony was known to exist. It is a considerable time since any Oi the household !&w signs of the colony, however, and the reappearance of the animals was therefore noted with keen interest. It is believed that they are of the long-tailed variety, a species native to New Zealand, and now' becoming comparatively rare throughout the Horn inion. The pair seen by Mr Monckton hovered over the homestead during the whole of the period in which they were observed, and apparently were engaged in hunting moths, the swiftness of their darting flight ■ being a revelation.