LOCAL & GENERAL

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVIII, Issue 53, 14 February 1928, Page 4

LOCAL & GENERAL

The Ulimaroa reached Sydney early this morning.

In the past six months 156 motor garages have been erected in Christchurch, according to the Christchurch City Council’s figures.

Nominations of candidates for the extra Hastings seat on the Napier Harbour Board close with the Town Clerk of Hastings (Mr Percy L Purser) at noon on the 22nd inst. (Wednesday week)

At a meeting of the Te Kuiti Library Committee it was reported that numerous subscribers had failed to return borrowed books, and in three instances, whore subscribers had left the town, it was decided to put these into the hands of the police.

Taranaki Oilfields report:—Waiapu No, 2 well: Depth 3215 feet in hard shale, inch diameter casing to 3194 feet Gisborne No. 1 well: Preparing test shut-off. Gisborne No 2 well: Good progress is beinjr made with the erection of the rig and the transport of casing.—Press Association.

Hastings ratepayers should note that the last day for the payment of borough rates without penalty is February 15• thereafter a 10 per cent penalty accrues. The same applies to Waipawa County rates. Napier rates unpaid by February 29 will be sued for without notice.

Twenty of Britain’s great names were recently bestowed upon the new electric locomotives placed in commission by the London Metropolitan railway. Indicative of humanity’s special regard for those who serve it without thought of self, is the fact, that Florence Nightingale’s name “led all the rest.”

The Wanganui City Council has decided that in future no Jrailding permits will be issued until the drainage (and gas if required) have been laid (states the Chronicle), and that wherever practicable all the services shall be laid in one cut, thereby reducing to a minimum the disturbance of street surfaces. Preliminary figures for the Census of 1926 show that persons born in New Zealand now form over threefourths of the population (exclusive of Maoris) of the Dominion. In more precise terms, the percentage of native born was 75.37. If Maoris be included, the New Zealand-born were recorded in the Census as 1,055,000, or 76.51 per cent. In connection with a recent London case where a man was acctised of being drunk in charge of a motor-car the police surgeon gave evidence of having applied a rather novel test of sobriety. He stated that he gave the accused man a football bladder to inflate with his breath. On examination the witness found that two litres of breath contained 1.5 milligramme of alcohol, showing that Bryant was 50 per cent, drunk. He only used that test to confirm his other tests for drunkenness. The Hon. O. J. Hawken, who is visiting fruit lands in the Nelson district, was waited on in regard to f.o.b. sales of export apples, which were favoured by the deputation. The Minister declined to express his personal opinion on the question, but said he would not interfere with the Fruit Control Board. The Minister promised that the Government guarantee would be extended to “good grade” apples exported, but the amount of the guarantee was not stated. A remarkable statement, which serves to illustrate the colossal ignorance of many people in regard to their own infirmities was made during the hearing of a compensation case before the Arbitration Court at Dunedin. Dr. Hall, eye specialist, mentioned in the course of his evidence, that it was quite common for patients who were totally blind in one eye to consult him without being previously aware of their defect. Mr. 11. E. Cameron, of Ben Avon, who was in Oamaru on Friday last, stated that during the last fortnight a series of severe earthquake shocks had been experienced in the Ben Avon district, which had caused a good deal of alarm to the settlers. Rocks had been sent tumbling down the sides of hills, houses had been shaken violently, and stock as well as the residents of the district had been terrified. The cause of the seismic phenomena was a mystery. Strangely enough the convulsion was confined to a limited area. The tendency of school children to sacrifice legibility for speed in handwriting was roundly condemned by a member of the Southland School Committees’ Association at the annual meeting last week (states the News). “The writing of some of the children now is shocking,” he remarked. “I never saw anything like it in my life. Some specimens I saw simply can’t be read.” One young lady he knew, wrote what she called a “fluent hand,” and it was absolutely undecipherable. “She is a High School girl, too,” he added. At a meeting of the directors of the Royal Humane Society in Christchurch it was decided to award the bronze medal to Patrick McCarthy, a young man residing at Bluff, who rescued Margaret Russell from drowning at Bluff on November 23rd. last. A certificate was awarded the nearest relative of Claude AldWyn Mulvaney, Auckland, who attempted to rescue Howard Bernard Loft, a lad of nine years, from drowning at Wanganui on January sth., 1928. An application for an award for Joseph Henry Anderson, Wanganui, was held over for furtliey information, action to be left with the president and secretary. A bronze medal was awarded John David E. Shaw, Christchurch, who rescued Morris Holmes from drowning at Redcliffs on May ,25th., 1927. The drought is not without its humorous aspects (remarks the Westport News). At Blackball, clothes lines were rigged up under the bridge on the Blackball Moonlight road which spans the Blackball Creek, the scene resembling a laundry establishment on an extensive scale. Women wore to be seen engaged at their wash-tubs on the banks of the creek, while their husbands and families carried supplies of kindling wood to the copper fires and assisted in banging out the week’s washing, the creek being also thronged with women and girls who were enjoying a dip in the cool water after their work was done. Similar scones wore witnessed in the Grey River near the Blackball railway bridge, where laundry operations were also in full swing.

The Hastings Borough Council clerical staff was kept busy to-day receiving payments of rates. To-mor-row will be the last day this year on which rates will be received without the added penalty of ten per cent. An order prohibiting the use of water from the city mains for other than domestic and industrial purposes was issued by the Auckland City Council yesterday. This places a ban on the use of watering cans in gardens. The city water supply is now getting low.

At the last meeting of the Wellington City Council it was decided to grant free tramway passes for life to ox-Mayors of the city of Wellington. Those entitled are:—Sir Francis Bell, Sir John Luke, M.P., the Hon. R. A. Wright, M.P., Messrs. A. De B. Brandon, C. M. Luke, T. M. Wilford M.P., D.' McLaren and C. J. B. Norwood.

The Christchurch City Council last night carried a resolution to take a poll on the proposal to raise £220,000 for road construction and improvement, the expenditure to spread over four years. The scheme covers part of a big proframme of road construction recommended by the city engineer in a report which he recently presented.

There is scarcely any need here in Hawke’s Bay to state that the “Boe” Griffiths whose name has appeared in telegraphed reports of criminal prosecutions and convictions in Auckland is not the well-known jockey, who is at present at his home in Hastings. The accused is believed to be a man of somewhat similar appearance who was for some little time going about Hastings under an entirely different name

There are prospects of trade in maize between New Zealand and Australia, according to Mr. H. J. Manson, Victorian Trade Commissioner, speaking at Gisborne on Saturday. Hfe was pleased with the fine crops he noticed on the road to Gisborne, and providing the price was Tight there should be a good market in Melbourne, where there was a glucose factory. During his tour he was making enquiries with the idea of fostering a trade in maize between New Zealand and Australia.— (P.B. “Herald.”)

“The police are in a most unfortunate position,” said Mr. R. W. Tate, S.M., in New Plymouth the other day during the hearing of a motor collision case. “When they bring up one party to a collision it fe contended they should have brought two, when they bring the two it is contended they should have brought one, and if there are any damages involved it is contended they should have brought neither party.” Two fishermen were in Camp Bay, Lyttelton Harbour, on Sunday afternoon, clad in bathing costumes ready to dive into the water when the third member of the party gave the word that he had hooked a shark. Thoughts of swimming, needless to say, were abandoned at once, and a fight with the shark began that lasted for threequarters of an hour before it was landed. A little later another of the same size was caught on the line after the boat had nearly been upset. The sharks were Bft. 6in. long, and measured 2ft. Sin. round the girth.

Poaching seems to be prevalent at present in the streams in Hawke’s Bay, but the rangers for the Hawke’s Bay Asslimatisation Society are keeping a close look out in the hope of catching some persons and making an example of them. Those who engage in such practices, and those also who are in the habit of exceeding their bug as allowed by law, would do well to remember that if they are caught a fine is not the only punishment—they are liable to lose the whole of their catch besides having their guns or fishing gear confiscated.

The attention ot the Hawke's Bay Acclimatisation Society was last night drawn to the fact that in and around Waipawa there were several parties engaged in catching inangas by means of scrim nets. The informant, Mr. G. S. Davenport, stressed how serious this was for the society as the rivers were thus being depleted of the natural food for trout. Some regulation to govern the matter he considered should be framed. Members agreed with that view and appointed a legal committee to go into the matter.

The conclusion of the most recent phase of litigation in the now celebrated Morgan—Wright case, in which the parties are certain of the beneficiaries of the will of the late E. G. Wright, and the Bank of New Zealand and other beneficiaries, was reached yesterday in Christchurch. The Bank of New Zealand sought final judgment for costs against Evo Ethel Roberts, one only of the parties in the recent action, in which the decision of the Court was in favour of the bank. Mr. A. F. Wright, for the bank, suggested £3OO as the amount that should be allowed, which would be below- the usual scale. His Honour allowed £l5O, without witnesses’ expenses.

The fact that opossums are becoming very numerous in the Whakararas, was made known to the members of the Hawke’s Bay Acclimatisation Society last night by Dr. F. N. Harvey. He added that he had been given to understand that they were being trapped by persons who were not licensed. Mr. A. T. Simmonds was of the opinion that the opossums were going to prove an even worse pest than the rabbits. He knew of an instance where they stripped a garden, skinned an apple tree and even went so far as to take a bunch of carrots from a porch of a residence. With that kind of thing going, on he did not wonder at people trapping them. The society decided to have enquiries made in regard to the issuing of licenses for the trapping of opossums. Public attention is directed to the meeting to be held in the Y.M.C.A buildings, Hastings, to-morrow (Wednesday) afternoon, at 3 o'clock, for the purpose of promoting a free kindergarten in Hastings, for children of from three to five years of age These free kindergartens are conducted under Government regulations, with Government subsidy, and they are absolutely free and secular. Such an institution in Hastings would prove not only u boon to the little ones themselves, but would be a blessing to tired mothers, who would be relieved of the responsibilities ol their care for many hours of the day, during which the children would he in wholesome, happy and recreative surroundings, expressing their developing emotions in healthful play. Parents and all interested i child welfare should be present to assist in this splendid community work, the beneficial results of which, under capable organisation, will be incalculable.

At the Hastings sitting of the Magistrate's Court to-morrow, Mr. J. G. L. Hewitt, S.M., will be called upon to deal with the following business:—Police. One charge of theft, three of being illegally on licensed premises, eight lightless bicycles after dark, two cycling on footpaths and three maintenance cases. The civil list consists of 53 cases, including nine judgment summonses and seven defended actions. Mr. J. D. Foster, 53 years of age, a member of the PonsSnby Swimming Club, was successful in swimming across the Auckland harbour on Sunday. He left Point Chevalier at midday, and expected to arrive at Devonport, a distance of about five miles, somewhere in the vicinity of four o’clock. However, he landed at Devonport beach at 3.15 p.m., and was given hearty cheers by the crowd of watchers.

The shipment of sheep to the South Island from Gisborne and the Coast is expected to proceed steadily for at least the present month. On Saturday the s.s. Pakv.ra took 1,000 sheep from Gisborne, and picks up 1,000 more from Waikokopu, for Lyttelton, this comprising the second shipment from Gisborne this season. Later it is expected that some will be sent to Timaru. So far approximattely 11,000 sheep have been booked to go to Lyttelton this month from Tokomaru Bay.—(P.B. “Herald.”)

That in Australia, New Zealand was becoming noted as a country from which many food delicacies came, was a remark made by Mr. H. J. Mason, Australian Trade Commissioner, who arrived in Gisborne on Saturday, says* the P.B. “Herald.” Among the New Zealand delicacies enjoyed in Australia were canned oysters, oyster paste, toheroas, whitebait' and tinned mullet, all of which were growing in popularity. It was mainly through his influence that toheroa was placed at the head of the menus of some of the best clubs and hotels in the Commonwealth.

Mr. Francis X. Bushman, the cinema star, who appeared in “Ben Hur,” announces that he has retired from the films and is returning to the legitimate stage because of the low level to which the cinema industry has fallen. “Films are on the down grade,” he said in New York, “and the producers must be held to blame. The real showmen of business who were its pioneers have gone, and in their place we now- have only buttonhole makers and clothes pressers to lead the industry.”

The proposed sanitation service and water supply for Westshore was before the Hawke’s Bay County Council when it was waited on by Dr. Mercer, Medical Officer of Health, and the position so far as the Board of Health Was concerned was explained. Mr. A. 11. Ferguson, county clerk, stated that the council had been requisitioned by the Board of Health to provide a sanitation service for Westshore, but the cost on top of the county, hospital and harbour rates was going to be a burden on the ratepayers. They could not carry the load. The point for the council to decide was whether it was going to carry out the requisition. The council decided to appeal against the requisition for the sanitation service, and to have everything in readiness to push on with the water service immediately authority is received.