LOCAL & GENERAL.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 80, 16 March 1934, Page 4

LOCAL & GENERAL.

An exceptionally large number of motor-cars is on board the New Zealand Shipping Company’s motor-liner Rangitane, which arrived at Auckland from London early yesterday. It is understood that she has one of the largest shipments of English cars brought to New Zealand on one vessel. To the face value of £48,000, a consignment of New Zealand threepenny pieces arrived in Auckland yesterday by the Rangitane. Of this amount £24,000 is for Auckland and the balance for Wellington. A further consignment m the first cycle is due towards the end of the month. Regret at the omission of the words “Dei Gratia” from the new Dominion coinage, was expressed by delegates at the conference of the Federation of New Zealand Justices’ Association. Mr. W. L. Kennedy (Taranaki) said he hoped the! omission was not a sign of the trend of modern thought. A remit stating that the omission of the words “Dei Gratia” was keenly displeasing to the Christian people of the Dominion, and urging that thd words be re-instated on the coinage as soon as possible, was adopted. Three passenger steamers will leave Auckland for Sydney next week. The Royal Mail liner Niagara will arrive from Vancouver on Monday and she will sail for Sydney the following evening. The Union Company’s intercolonial steamer Monowai, which is due from Sydney on Monday afternoon, will sail for Sydney and Melbourne next Thursday. The following day, Friday, the Matson liner Mariposa, will arrive from Los Angeles in the morning and will resume her voyage to Sydney and Melbourne later in the day. The broad application of a cricketing term was emphasised by a member of the Auckland City and Suburban Association when he drew attention to published reports in which players were stated to have been “given out.” This, he said, might mean caught, stumped or otherwise dismissed, and he was rather inclined to think that the scorers were not doing justice to the umpires in this matter. “Yes, but what about when a player really is given out?” dryly queried another memb'er. amidst a roar of laughter.

on the part of a taxitrouble on Manukau but a wide and swift £-®at had to be taken resulted labf leaping a small stone nail Wife "I 1 l’ r ‘“' 1 11L-! I ,i „ I roll I "I a b"U- ' - Ibe 7, . .> piisseil; , : •: ;i: .II I i" 1 . \ Tbe ,:l 1 . tn. la' a ■ - ■' ' >■ bee. l -' rl’ V rote I .in I ■■ Had ci.iil.l uni lu p':- - : . . over the wall. SWAup- b'-longing to Club and Hawke'.- Bas Aero Club, which a ill for compel it ion and at the forthcoming aero ! at Hastings on the 24th inst., jS at present on display at WesterHastings, where they are shown |Ks a special window feature in the show BKaae at the corner of Heretaunga and ißussell streets. Already the oups aroused considerable interest. The usual mid-week euchre tourney was held in the Trades Hall on Wednesday night, the results being as follow: Ladies, Mrs. Laredo and Mrs. C. Robertson (tie) 1; gentlemen, Mr. T. Robinson 1, Mr. W. Taylor 2, After supper the usual old-time dance was carried on, music being supplied by Mrs. Hearn’s Premier Orchestra, with extras by Mr. L. F. Tayler. Owing to the hall being engaged on Wednesday night next, the cards and dance will be held on Tuesday. A familiar sight to pedestrians passing the Bank of New Zealand in Victoria street, Hamilton, is a black cat, which on fine days indulges in a sunbath on a ledge some distance from the footpath. The other morning “pussy” was apparently too impatient to bother with her customary means of descent, and made a neat jump on to the shoulders of. a male pedestrian, who leapt into the air with surprise and shock. It was all done in the twinkling of an eye, and the flabbergasted passer-by turned round in time to see a black tail disappearing round the corner of a shop window. Attached to many Maori place names throughout New Zealand are quaint legends as to how those names originated. That relating to Taumarunui was of particular interest to members of the Wanganui Rivet Trust, who passed through there on a tour of inspection. “In “Old Whanganui” Mr. T. W. Downes states that Taumarunui was so called in the time of Pehi Turoa, about 200 years ago, when a great upriver chief named Pikikotuku was dying. He lay in the heat of a summer’s day, and asked that his people erect a tau-maru-maru (a screen) to shelter him. In response his followers put up a huge wall, but it was of little uso to the dying man, who departed to the spirit world with the word “Taumariniui” (a huge screen) on his lips. In memory of the incident the place was so named. A tally recently taken on the Great South road by patrols of the Auckland Automobile Association showed that of a total of 362 cars observed ,117 displayed glaring or dangerous lights, and that 11 cars had only one light burning. “It is important,” says the . A.A.’s latest bulletin, “that public attention should be directed to the need [or constant observation and adjustment of the lighting system of one’s ear. Modern invention and research have placed at th® disposal of motorists lighting devices which have made visibility at night, within a specified and sale distance, almost equal to that of daylight. Any driver who permits his motor lamps to project their beams at wrong angles to the plane or the direction in which he is travelling, or who has badly focused lights, or who continues to travel when one headlight has failed, commits a very serious breach of those safety rules so essential for his own protection, and for that of ; other road users, especially at the high , speed which the efficiency of modern w s has made common pejetiee.”

| The new State Theatre in Hastings, which is in course of erection for Amalgamated Theatres (N.Z.), Ltd., is one more stage nearer to completion, as at mid-day to-day the usual builders’ sign, an improvised flag, indicating that the roof had been completely laid, was seen flying from the top of the building. What might be termed as a horticultural phenomenon is growing in Mrs. E. A. Upson’s garden, Egmont Village. It is a sunflower plant, seven feet high, bearing 54 flower heads, the largest of which measures 14ins. in diameter. The other 53 heads average 64ins. across. Besides the flowers in bloom many more buds have still to open. Early this morning a young man named Cecil Laurent was admitted to the Napier Public Hospital with severe burns on both hands and forearms, the right side of his face, and chest. He is a bitumen .worker, and it is understood an accident occurred shortly after he began work at 8 o’clock. It is likely he will be an in-patient for a few days. A cricket team of junior grade players of Palmerston North is to visit Napier at Easter and play a match against a Napier eleven. The game wi |! take place at Nelson Park on Good Friday and Easter Saturday, the visitors returning to Palmerston North on the following Sunday. During their stay at Napier they will lodge at the motorists’ camp in George’s Drive. "If you do not develop the lunchclub habit only, but come along to these gatherings to study Rotary, and then to live it, you will be adding valuable weight to a movement that is growing in force throughout the world,” said Mr S. L. P. Free, S.M., of Masterton, during some brief remarks at to-day’s meeting of the Hastings Rotary Club. In a letter addressed to "the Parish Priest, Wanganui,” a relative whose address is 56 Broad street, Bloomfield, New Jersey, U.S.A., inquires for Edward Maguire, who was born at Waterford, Ireland, in 1852. He came to New Zealand at least 60 years ago, and is supposed to have lived in Wanganui. He has not corresponded with the relative for years, but the latter thinks he may be alive and will be glad of any information. To be strapped to the top of a power pole that snapped off at the base was the experience of an employee of the Thames Valley Power Board, Mr. A. Horne, while working on a service line on a farm near Morrinsvilie. Mr. Horne had mounted the pole to make an adjustment when, without warning, it snapped off and fell, bringing tho wires down with it. Fortunately tho end of the poll fell over a hollow spot m the ground, and Mr. Horne was unstrapped uninjured except for a shaking. Tho centre of the pole was found to have become rotten, although it appeared sound on the outside. Few people have any idea of the real speed of porpoises. Ordinarily tho gambolling fish are seen disporting themselves at a distance, but a launch party cruising near Oruapukapuka, Bay of Islands, recently, watched the actions of a school at close range for fullv half an hour. On several occasions four of the porpoises cut under the bow of the launch like a flash, resembling torpedoes that had just been fired. The porpoises appeared to enjoy the experience as much as the launch party, and seemed to take a pride in giving a very attractive display of diving and swift motion. An overwhelming proportion of the store sheep and cattle sold by auction in the Waikato this summer has been offered at Morrinsvilie saleyards after having been unloaded at Morrinville Junction railway station from trains arriving from the East Coast railway or from North Auckland. Stock auctioneers doubt whether there are more important general stack sales anywhere else in the North Island. The weekly sales at Westfl eld are more important only for fat stock, but Morrinsville is considered easily the best sale for fat and store sheep in the Waikato, and prices generally compare favourably with any other sale in the North Island. A comical incident in which the gatekeeper at one of the remoter gates at the show was one of the parties, and the holder of a lady’s ticket the other, occurred yesterday. As the woman and her husband approached, they could see on the face of the almost unpatronised gatekeeper a look of joyous anticipation of at last having some business to do. The woman presented her ticket and was about to pass on when she was completely taken aback by the gatekeeper’s remark: “I’m sorry, madam, but this is for the Autumn Show.” “Madam” herself was too taken by surprise to realise the sense of this Mad Hatter remark, and began to wonder whether she ought to argue the point or just pay up. The husband came to the rescue, however, and with exquisite tact put the gatekeeper at In* ease by remarking that so glorious a day would deceive anybody into believing that it was really’ the day of the Spring Show. Writing from Bridlington, Yorkshire, under date January 21, to friends in Wellington, an ex-Hawke’s Bay resident has the following to say in acknowledging receipt of New Zealand l lamb and butter forwarded to him for ■ Christmas:-—"We were delighted to receive the lamb; it was beautiful. I could taste Hawke’s Bay in it; the flavour was so familiar, aud it was great to see the ‘Whakat'u’ label on it. Many thanks also for the butter; we did enjoy it. No doubt New Zealand butter is the best brand that one can buy in Bridlington. We always have it, but I have been sold some awful stuff under a New Zealand label. I can’t stand Danish. But the butter that was forwarded to us from you was so different from the shop-bought stuff. I got a pound from 's n week or two ago, and wo could hardly use it for cooking; it was absolutely rank. I bet that butter never saw a New Zealand butter factory. I reckon it was Danish. New Zealand produce is extensively advertised here.”