Local and General

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 12 September 1935, Page 4

Local and General

Summer Time will come into operation at 2 a.m., New Zealand Mear. Time, on Sunday, September 29, when c-locks should be advanced 30 minutes. A record that may be unique in New Zealand cricket umpiring is held by Mr W. Toomath, who last evening retired from the position of chairman oi committees of the Wellington Cricket Umpires’ Association. In the last 32 years he has missed only one playing Saturday, and on that day he was ill in bed. Once he umpired cricket for 21 consecutive days. He has umpired every style of cricket, English and Australian, teams, Plunket Shield and Hawke Cup, grade and Boy Scout cricket.

Mr Hooker, local secretary of the Trinity College of Music, London, has received advice that Mr Watson, the special elocution examiner for this year, will arrive in Hawera on Tuesday evening, duct the elocution examinations on the following morning, Wednesday, October 9. Definite dates for the music examinations have not yet been decided upon.

Following upon the mishap at Halcombe when the home of Mi* and Mrs Cowdrey was shattered by an explosion of gelignite placed to warm in the kitchen oven and all members of the family were so seriously injured that tlie.v had to be sent to hospital, residents of the district organised a relief fund. From this £l7O ;17s 7d has been raised. In addition there has been an offer to supply the'labour to rebuild the house.

With a flow of some three or four gallons a minutes, a rusty iron pipe constitutes a miniature spa at New Plymouth. At least one New Plymouth man who bathed regularly in the little pool below the bore mouth for a season swears by the medicinal properties of the water and dubs it a “destroyer of rheumatism.” Just how far the artesian water is thrust up through the skin of the earth no one knows exactly, but it is known that the pipe is the casing of an oil bore sunk more than 30 years ago by Mr W. 11. McLean, a New Zealander prominent in the searches for the “greasy gold” instituted throughout the province in the early years of this century.

A hen that has recently given every indication of becoming a perfectly normal roostef is attracting considerable interest among Stratford poultrymen. The bird is at present in the transition stage, being a rooster in every’respect but its tail, which is still that of a lien. The fowl, a White Leghorn now in its third year, had until recently been regarded as perfectly normal, and was a good layer. The first indication of any change was noticed by its owner, Mr J. C. Allen, Stratford, who remarked to his daughter on the peculiar looking rooster in the yard. She told him there was no rooster there, but investigation showed that the one-time hen bore a remarkable resemblance to a rooster, and since then the change has become more pronounced.

The reconstruction of the Hawfee s Bay register, which was destroyed in the fire following the earthquake in February, 1931* ,v is proceeding steadily, according to the annual report of the Land Transfer and Deeds Department laid on tue 'table of both Houses in Wellington yesterday. Good progress has been made in examining, checking, indexing and collating geoeraily the information available, continues the report. Considerable delay to the work, with the prospects of re* sultant loss to property-owners, is caused by the failure of property-own-ers to move in the matter of reconstructing their titles, and through their r.oglcet to answer repeated inquiries by the registrar. More co-op-eration in this direction would facilitate the. work and enable it to be brought to an earlier conclusion. HUNTINGTON’S. ’Phone 211& Springtime brings with it a great urge t,o emerge from winter cosiness to enjoy the bright new things around us, and our latest arrivals in- pretty frocks, blouses, coats, costumes, neckwear, stockings and the most fascinating dress materials portray most clever thought in the very newest fashions. Our window aal inside displays await your inspection. Advt.

Several cases of tke voracious habits of the fresh-wafer eel were recently reported to the council of the Auckland Acclimatisation Society. At the hatchery on the Little Waipa River a large number of trout ova had been xrlaeed in a specially-constructed pool in the stream. All these disappeared, and a native* eel trap was set, with tiie result that two eels, both nearly sft. long and 12in. in girth, were caught. In another case eight troui: were watched spawning with six large eels swimming round. As soon as the eggs had been laid the eels burrowed in the gravel and promptly devoured the freshly-laid eggs. Commenting on the suggestion sometimes made that the herbal remedies used by the Maoris should be tried by Europeans. Mr D. Macdonald Wilson pointed out in a lecture to the Wellington Tin Hat Club last night that internal medicine was nor used by the old Maoris, because it would be useless according to their ideas of the cause of ills, which was that they were due to ovil spirits. After their contact with Europeans, however, they were reported to have rushed the latter's medicines, the most nauseous ol which they regarded as the most efficacious, thinking tlfat the very nastiness would frighten out the evil spirits. The oldtime Maori when sick was left to himself and the priest. The natives’ former external remedies, however, often had a good scientific basis. Last year they were stealing cars in the States at the rate of one every seven minutes. One authority says that the racket has mounted to a 50,-C09,0C0-a-year business. Specialists form the cogs of a smooth-running motor-theft gang. The “spotter” or “Under” spends his time picking out cars to be “lifted,” studying the habits of tlieir owners, and choosing the best time for the theft. The “getaway man” does the actual stealing. ‘Another, a “grease ball,” “scrambles the cars,” altering the number plates, and changing the wheels and even the bodies before they are offered for sale. In addition, there is a “paper man,” an expert forger who prepares the fake bills of sale and the false registration certificates.

“To see returned soldiers cast aside on the scrap heap is unchristian and blasphemy,” said the Rev. Walter Averill in his address at the Auckland citizens’ indignation meeting called to protest against the failure of the Government to solve the unemployment problem.- “There is one thing we must stand for in this age of plenty and that is economic security. I know when the reports of this meet, ing get to Wellington the Government will say, ‘We heartily agree, but where is the money to come from?’ If the Government says the money cannot be got, then it is the duty of the people, through t.he representatives they elect, to take control of the money system and provide what is wanted.”

What, in the opinion of seafaring men, is the severest winter experienced on the New Zealand coast for many years, is that which is now drawing to a close. So far as the west coast of the North Island is concerned, westerly gales have predominated, and at least one coastal skipper, - who has traded on this coast for over 20 years, remarked the other day that with the exception of the winter of 1917, lie has never known such a severe period of storms and high winds. Southerlies of the “old man” variety have also been frequent, and since the beginning of winter shipping has been constantly affected by adverse weather conditions. One coastal vessel trading into Wanganui has had the windows of her wheelhouse smashed In by big seas on at least two occasions during the past three months. Tho day was grey and dismal, the southerly wind was bitterly cold, and one of the early trams from Lyall Bay, Wellington, to town was a minute or two late. A small party. of city-bound workers was endeavouring fcrj shelter from the wind behind a fence running at right angles to the beach road. Gazing dejectedly at sea, they were amazed to see two middleaged men, clad in extraordinarily short summer “shorts,” suddenly emerge from one of the dressing sheds oa the beach. The two hardly souls strolfecl almost leisurely clown'to the water’s edge and, without hesitating, breasted the large white-crested waves. “Gee, they’re tough,” muttered one of the snugly-clad city workers. The others silently assented, and drawing their overcoats more tightly around them they stepped on to the road to board the tram which had almost drawn to a stop.