LOCAL & GENERAL

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXI, Issue 13, 29 December 1930, Page 4

LOCAL & GENERAL

The Alaunganui, from Auckland, arrived gt Sydney at 7 a.m. yesterday.—Press Association. The "Tribune” acknowledges with thunks calendars for 1931 from Ale Whannell and Spanjer, and Collett and Son, Dannevirke. On Christmas Evo the Mayor of Hastings (Mr G. F. Roach) paid out to men who had had no work for the previous fortnight, the sum of £64, at the rate of 27s tid for married men (30), and 17s 6d for single men (26). Mr G. Bell, Victoria street, Hastings writes:—“l wish to congratulate the P.O. staff for their zeal in the welfare of the public. A letter sent from the West Coast, December 18th, was wrongly addressed “Dunedin” instead of "Hastings.” 1 received it on the morning of December 27 which I consider is worthy of commendation. Kia Ora the I'pstman.”

A valuable hack, owned by a Havelock North resident, strayed on to the road on Christmas Day, and was later found in a cattle stop at the entrance to a private residence with two of its legs broken. A merciful bullet was used to end its agony.

The twenty-first annual show of the Waipukurau A. and P. Association is to bo held on the Waipukurau racecourse on Wednesday, January 14, 1931. Entries close on Wednesday. 1 > cember 31, at 8 p.m. Schedules u., available on application to the secretary, Mr G. Beg. Cook, ’phone 38 or P.O. box 69.

llotorua opened its Boxing Day programme of carnival week with 22 earthquake shocks. There was more noise than shake. No damage was done, and there was uot the slightest evidence of alarm. The occurrence was generally treated as a holiday entertainment.

The Dominion Group Herd-testing Federation now embraces 23 associations, and it is expected that before the end of the present season 27 will be in existence. The federation was formed in 1926 for the purpose of protecting the scheme, and to bring about uniformity in testing methods and in the marking of testeu cows.

A Press Association message from Gisborne states: For the sixth day in succession the maximum temperature exceeded 90 degrees, the peak of 98 being recorded at midday yesterday. Musterton reported 95.2 degrees yesterday. The official report for Hastings was 88 degrees but other reports state that up to 96 degrees were registered.

Applications for the position of caretaker for the Otaki Maori Racing Club were received by dozens during the past few days, says the Manawatu “Times,” and on Saturday nearly 180 applicants had applied. The club’s committee had a very difficult task and several hours elapsed before the number was reduced to three for the final decision.

"I am not questioning bankrupt’s statement, but my experience of the Bankruptcy Court is that a piano is a favourite wedding present,” remarked the Official Assignee (Mr J. H. Robertson) during his examination) of a bankrupt pastrycook at Christchurch recently. Bankrupt had said that the piano in his possession was his wife’s, given to her by him as a wedding present. Tho following matches are being arranged by Air M. AlacLeod, the seer, tary of the Hawke’s Bay Cricket Association: —On New year’s Day, next Thursday, a local team will play a representative team from Lskdale. Next Saturday, a return match will be played against 11.M.5. Laburnum. All those who are available to play in either match are asked to notify Mr AlacLeod not later than noon on Wednesday. The teams to be chosen by Stephenson and Cain to play on January 1 and 2 will bo announced . tomorrow.

Two hundred men have been put off from the Waitaki hydro-electric works according to a statement by the engineer-in-chief, Mr R. H. Packwood. He denied that report that drastic reductions had been made- He maintained that the 200 men had to be dispensed with because summer was the off season for the carrying on of the work. At the end of November there were 1200 men on the works; to-day the total is 1000. Mr Packwood states that many of the men left of their own accord to take up seasonal work, such as shearing and harvesting.

The Onga Onga Sports Club has been busy putting its very fine sports ground in order for its annual sports meeting on New Year’s Day, and everything will be in readiness in anticipation of a very large attendance. Lt is fully expected that the entries in the horse section, which close on the ground, and for which liberal prize money and splendid trophies are offered, will be very largo, and the sports promise to be in almost every section better than in any previous year. The handicaps for the running and cycling events appear elsewhere in this issue.

While old coins have been brought into tho limelight again, it is not very often that a pound note is seen among tho collections of enthusiastic coin collectors. But this was so when a collector in Winton showed a number of old coins to the Winton correspondent of the Southland ‘ * Times. ’ ’ The pound note was considered the most valuable of the collection, for it was the first one issued by the Union Bank of Australia in New Zealand. Much larger in size than the pound note of to-day, it was issued at Christchurch on March 1, 1859, and distinctly bears the number of one.

The Government fruit officials in Auckland are interested in a new strawberry which has been developed by Air A. Sands, of Point Chevalier. The berry is tho result of a cross of the well-known Captain Cook and Madame Melba varieties with the wild strawberry. Tests made show that it is blight-resisting, that the flavour is distinctive, that tho flesh is firm in texture, and that it has exceptional keeping qualities. The new berry is the result of several years of experimental work, and has been grown in a heavy clay soil. Samples of the berry have been sent to the Massey Agricultural College, Palmerston N.

Tales of Maori cooking methods in the hot springs district find ready acceptance by American newspapers, but the town of Pagosa Springs, in Colorado, claims that it can go "one better” than Rotoruu. The Citizens Bank building and the High School are to be heated in winter by water from a hot spring. It was necessary to sink a pipe nearly 400 feet to obtain sufficient pressure. The system is entirely satisfactory, and the only expense is due to the erosion of the pipes by tho mineral acids in the water. Repairs cost about £5O a year, but there is no coal bill and no wages cost. The winter temperature sometimes drops as low as 40 degrees below zero, so that school heating by ordinary methods,would bo a serious item of expense.