LOCAL & GENERAL

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 97, 7 April 1934, Page 6

LOCAL & GENERAL

A Maori girl named Margaret Barton, aged 19 years, died under an anaesthetic in a dentist's rooms at Ngnruawahia .yesterday.—Press Assn.

The motor vehicle registration figures for the Dominion for the mouths ol January and February showed an increase of 39 per cent, compared will: the corresponding period of last year.

The total marks for runner-up m the ladies’ elocutionary championship at Napier are now available, and reveal Miss Betty Alexander, of Napier, as runner-up to Miss G. Kerr, of Wellington.

The New Zealand. Shipping Company has received advice to the effect that the “Rangitiki”, which left Wellington for London on March 16, arrived at Balboa on April 3.

In connection with the report in the “Tribune” yesterday referring to the work being carried on in closing off the old channel of the Tutaekuri river at Powdrell’s Bend, the daily earnings of the teams should have been 29/-, and not 33/- as stated.

Next year marks the golden jubilee of the Hawke’s Bay Rugby Union, which is now passing through its 49th year. A committee, appointed some time ago, is devising ways and means of preparing suitable jubilee celebrations to take place next season.

The office of president of the Hawke’s Bay Rugby Union changed hands at the annual general meeting last evening, Mr R. M. Hewitt, of Hastings, being elected in place of Mr A. W. S. Longley, of Porangahau. When he was elected Mr. Hewitt said that he felt the honour of his election very much indeed, and he would do his best to uphold that honour and the dignity of the Hawke’s Bay Rugby Union.

A story after Mr. Bernard Shaw’s own heart is told of an old lady who attended the Owhango sports meeting at which the famous playwright was also present. A settler asked the old lady, who came from the backblocks, “Have you seen M:t. Bernard Shawl” She looked at the settler with some surprise and replied, “Who is Mr. Shaw ?' ’

The Auckland public’s reaction to the increase in milk prices has been to restrict consumption.. While it is difficult to ascertain precisely the extent of the decline, inquiries indicated that it amounts to at least 10 per cent. One estimate based on the consumption in a large residential area is that the average household hag reduced its daily purchase from IjJ pints to 1$ pints, a drop of over 14 per cent.

“The motor regulations have gone too far,” said Mr. A Stuart, M.P., at yesterday’s meeting of the Rangitikei County Council when the question of restricting certain areas and routes to certain transport services was being discussed. “Why should there not be free competition?” he asked with considerable emphasis. “Fair competition is the life of trade, yet in this business a monopolv is allowed in each district. It is wrong. It is not what a Britisher is accustomed to. Something must be done or these regulations will run mad.”

In replying to an official welcome upon the arrival of H.M.S.. Dunedin at New Plymouth, Rear-Admiral F. Burges-Watson said the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy was becoming more and more manned by New Zealanders, to the exclusion of Imperial men. “Slowly but surely the Division is becoming New Zealand in. personnel as well as in name.” he said. “In a few years I hope there will be no more Imperial men in the New Zealand Div ision. At present 59 per cent of the complement of the Dunedin and 75 per cent of the Diomede are New Zealanders. It is not that we want to do away with the Imperial representatives,” he continued. “In fact, we have found that the combination of New Zealanders and Imperial men has been a singularly happy one. The +wo are on the best of terms and the New Zealanders are afforded an opportunity of learning some of the broader aspects of the Navy.’’

Advice has been received by headquarters, of the Wellington Regiment that the War Office has granted permission for the band of the regiment to wear the full-dress uniform of its allied unit in England, the York and Lancaster Regiment.

Twenty-two new companies were registered in Auckland on the last two days prior to the Easter vacation, making a total of 85 for the year to date. There were eight registrations on one day and 14 on the other, a record for the office of the registrar of companies. The largest number of new ventures previously registered on any one day was five.

The usual euchre tourney run by the Hastings New Relief Workers’ Association last evening was another great success. The card winners were:— Ladies: Mrs. Laredo 1, Mrs. Symons 2; consolation Mrs. Cheers; Gents: Mr. Garvey 1, Mr. Pilcher 2; consolation Mr. Neil. Points prizes: Lady, Mrs. Laredo; gent, Mr. Garvey. Another points prize commences next Friday.

The absence of rain in the Whangerei district is causing anxiety to farmers. Before the fall of about half an inch at the beginning of last week rain had not been recorded for 24 days. Farmers who arg not fully stocked are not so seriously affected as they have spare paddocks to draw upon. Feed is so short, in some localities, however, that farmers are already using ensilage. The supply of milk is rapidly diminishing, and the falling off is said to be much greater than at this time last year.

A recent arrival in Sydney from London is Mr. H. Hymanson, a skin and fu r merchant, who told the Press that Australian opossum skins were superior to the skins which Australia herself imports. “It is amazing,’’ he said, “that the Australian Government does not establish an organisation to develop an opossum industry. The animals should bo bred in captivity. There is a market for every opossum skin Australia can produce. In New Zealand the wild opossum is already the basis of an important industry, and farming the animals has often been proposed.’’

Workmen engaged in excavating in Queen’s Park, Wanganui, unearthed a number of human bones which were buried only a few feet below the surface in the sand. There were at least the remains of eight or nine bodies, and, judging from the positions in which the heads were placed towards the rising sun, this was an old Maori burial ground, no doubt before Europeans came to Wanganui. Honeycomb marks in the bones indicated that they had been buried a very Jong time, and many crumpled when touched. One skull was that of a woman aged about 50 years. In this and other remains of jaw bones the teeth were in a perfect state of preservation. Experts identified the bones as those of Maoris.

As a result of the long spell of dry weather in the far north, swarms of grasshoppers are emerging from areas of dried-up swamp land and attacking gardens and plantations lying in their path, with devastating effect. At the Ngawha springs, near Kaikohe, a resident, who established a vegetable garden with great labour, had the mortification to discover one morning that grasshoppers in thair thousands had come out of the swamp nearby and ruined his graden. During the Easter holidays tourists were surprised to see on many northern roads armies of moving grasshoppers, with their line of march marked in many places by frails of dead where motor-cars had driven over the moving mass.

Since the appointment of Mr. R. H. Nesbitt, of Sydney, as Australian Trade Commissioner in New Zealand, the Federal Government has decided that the importance of hie office warrants the appointment of an assistant commissioner. Applications from officers of the Federal Public Service for appointment as assistant commissioner have been formally invited. The appointment will be for three years, and the officer selected will be stationed with Mr. Nesbitt in Wellington. He will be temporarily transferred at his present salary, but if receiving less than £624 a year will receive an allowance to increase his salary to that amount. Additional allowances to be paid will be £7B a year if the officer appointed is unmarried, and £156 a year if he is married, with a further allowance of £26 a year for each child.

“Colonel Bogey’’ writes;—The apt description of a hole in one as “The Great Golf Fluke” recalls an instance in which the lucky shot served to set up a world’s record for a putt. It is gravely recorded in the Badminton Book of Records, a recognised authority at Home, but the circumstances attending it are so extraordinary that many golfers refuse to acknowledge it as an authentic green shot. On the Royal St. George’s course, near Liverpool, a visiting player commented on the shortness of one of the holes, which was only 75 yards. “Why, I could putt it,” he said, and he took out his putter for the shot, which he holed out. The Badminton recorded that he had not only nominated the shot, but deliberately used a putter, therefore it was a proper- putt. Still, all the same

The slot telephone that only takes a penny may soon be eclipsed. In Australia, and particularly in country districts, the Post Office proposes to establish public slot telephones with a multi-coin attachment to receive pennies, sixpences, and shillings. By this means the user of the telephone service will receive not only telephone service but telegraph service, paying for it in sixpences and shillings. After an originating call has been made to the nearest telephone exchange, and after the ealler has made a request for trunk telephone or.telegraph service, the telephonist will establish the connection desired, and when the person called is in attendance, will request that the ealler should insert coins to the value of the call. A cup will be provided by which coins incorrectly inserted may bo returned to the caller. “If the new system is successful (says a Press notice) it will be extended.’’ This highlyeducated telephone slot system is ex- , peoted to inc-rewe telegraph business.