LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LIII, Issue LIII, 6 April 1908, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The net amount paid to the credit of. the Hawera Band Fund, as the ri result, ( of tb,e recent social and dance, was £6. A working bee from the Hawera Hockey Club spent Saturday afternoon 1 in preparing the ground for the. Boafion.. Hockey practices will commence immediately. , The Deputy Official Asignee has accepted the tender of Mr Stewart for the stock in the «ytate of G. F. L." Loiter, fruiterer, of Hawera, Mff Stewart has been managing <the business for* the creditors. Mr J. Campfcell, of Hawera, left by the express train on Saturday evening for New Plymouth, en route for Auckland. Mr Campbell has booked his passage to Lofidoii, and leaves the Dominion in the coursd of a few days on an extended holiday in the Old World. The tennis match Bawera'vi Batea did not take place on* Saturday afternoon owing to the latter being -unable to send a team owing to the absence of some of its members and other causes. The local season will continue as long as the weather remains fine and the courts are in condition for' play. The old practice of "sweating gold ceins ia said to be rife in Sydney at the present time. The Chief Secretary has had the matter brought under his notice, and he has determined to take action with the view of stopping the nefarious practice. A reward of £100 is to be offered for the apprehension and conviction of any offender. Instances of the practice came to light a few days ago in Chfistchurch.

"Two peopie in every thousand are buried alive." This startling es|jniatef, furnished to (the Legislature of 'Maesa-^ chuM>tss, has inspired a Bill proving th&b^ fecal. ,boori^^pf., health jsjbftljf^giri futnre|.apjplys tan j $eets of all pwJ^;.T^r^v-ta-b<KJdecaa^i^ for the purpos^i of ascertaining if death has aotually taken place.

The committee appointed by the Hawera County Council to deal with tenders met on Saturday. A. Muller's tender at 68 3d was accepted for! 1600 cubic yards gravel on Glover roacLi .-No/tenders were received for 300 cubic yards metal on Tawhiti road^ ,th^,, matter was left with .riding members and Engineer. The matter of accepting tenders lor gravel on Tempsky and Okaiawa to' Inaha roads was left with the Engineer and' Cr Murdoch and the Engineer respectively. With regard ta>t\e- ?caw of • a deaf mute resident of New ' South Wales, who reoently came to New Zealand to a s&uatiom. as a slaughterman at the weekly wage of £5, and was refused admittance into the Dominion, the Australasian Deaf and Dumb Association has sent a communication to the New Zealand' Government protesting against the provision of the law which penalises shipping .. companies for landing deaf passengers. The letter states that 'Vsrujch a law only have been brought into existence through lack of knowledge as to the true condition and capabilities of tHe " deaf and dumb."

The Taranaki -erald; says : — Regret . is expressed by many peopje that :r Taranaki's Anniversary Day should. he allowed 'to pass by without some celebration. In earlier days March 31st used to be the red-letter day of the year, when the clans foregathered, generally on the racecourse (horse racing was leas of a serious business in those days and more of a picnic), in, memory of the occasion of the landing of the pilgrim fathers and mothers of the settlement. Now, however, the day. is passed over almost without notice, the Government Buildings, the banks, and the schools alone . making holiday, and' they probably scarcely give a thought to its occasion. Mr W. A. Coflis suggests to us tbub Anniversary Day might be made a special Children's Day, and be marked by a gigantic picnic for the juveniles, ofao year et New Plymouth, another year at Hawera, Stratford, or wherevitf'tKs* local people' were inclined to undertake the f organisation, and so become a truly provincial function. ' A ' Pearson*! Pepi«-cfelor • rsinores that frightful pain io UM <+m%. Is. 2i 6d, 4c. ' fi

The Hawke'.s Bay Dairy Co. have reduced the price oi batter by Id "per lb. The improvement in t'e milk supply has warranted this step.

According bo the Dunedan Star it v the intention of master bakers to approach the Arbitration Court with a view of being released from the union rate of wages on account of the "cutting" that is taking place. The present "cutting" prices they say mean a serious loss to all etngaged in the bakery business. • : A new grader for potatoes and onions has been tried in Melbourne. It operates m much the same manner as that which reqeiived the Government award last year. The potatoes axe forked on to an elevator, by which they are lifted to the top of "*he machine. Here they are tipped on to a carriage of ropes and rollers, and in their passage over this the grading process is performed, ,the-4-übers be- - ing automatically BoijtafL $pgto| three sazee. It is claimed that 'from 20 to 25 bags, per hoxtr ,cm r T^-jstaiie4-Aw tine apparatue, which' retjujirtjs awasdant«, one to work it by' handle and the other to feed it. In- .the opjaicair-eif ,the Government expert *',ifria^^f gave very satisfactory results. One of thej«>ld^ «e|tlers ill tUefFeild- - ing district,_and^^r©Hiine^.Snßn, a rather mournful chord in a conversation with a Feildlng Stair irepfafeart^&Vft. He sand that owing to the ifajl priw of wool the growers who got £500 last year wouJdygat*. only -«£^6o, r this j year. Twelve months f^go' PS ; wdjswd his lambs' wool, of which be clipped 10001b, at Is' per lb", and the p"rice oow offering was 6£d. , The effect of this would be iUat' J 'farmeis' 'would have no money to «pend-'oin jl improvements this year, and ithis, of ' course,' -would mean less employimeritclouithe laboring elassea. The price of meat jnadi teen also reduced, making a further 'hole .in the .settlers'' profits. The only item which hod increased in vaiueywas butter, and this was counteracted, by -."the, *f act -that dairy farmers had had a shockingly Bad season, "Altogether," concluded the settler, '"I think. ,we,jCan.<expejG.tc;hard times this year." A /Mimb'er^ b'f 'residents from Hawera, Patea, and Waverley have chartered the steamer Mana -for a trip to the Pelorus* Sdundfi l ht rj Easter. So far the following Haweca 'reeidonte intend making the - itripi.MessrA- Hirst, W. Adamson, Budge, Webster, Quin, Arthur, Barley, Gibson, and C. Goodson. Altogether there will >be ./(between-: 30' aaad 35 passengers. The party ; „pjttrpoeo l leaving Patea on Thursl IUgHi l at.. f lo(>ip.m., reaching Port ,JJa.rdy jon^ Friday morning. They will visit Reville and other bays $n 'the Sounds. Croselles will be. - visited on .Saturday .ftf^erfloon, and after .sailing through hlae French Pass and viewing Pelorus "Sound the' excursionists will leave, for, Patea,' reaching that port at midday on Tuesday. There is expected to be plenty of good fishing and' duck shooting, and the trip should be enjoyatyel-. "~ :>■'> A Bluff correspondent of the Southland Times writes that his attention hat just been drawn to the fact that Tasmanian timber, tho. Huon pine, can be landed at the Bkff at 4s a hundred cheaper than New Zealand kauri. If anything, the former is. a, .superior timber for duration. The is thai £he New Zealand artic T e sis -getting shutout of its own market .by' the foreign import. Many people, are under the impression that, the only pause of the pipi not being so popular in New Zealand as the clam is in America is that no one "has beggL^ enterprising enough to place it on tner market The Star states that. a bunedin ■ lady was successful recently in producing from pipie an "oyster" soup, which delighted the diners r at her hotol, T but< she had to 'give up ''MrtKor' experiments for the lack of t a supply, i<n al ntost "unlimited l quairtitiek' ' around the ' entrance of Otago hafbor.^When \dredge 222 wae'ireoentty "si^emKg ' tfie Ww channcd. near the Kaik, she ci|t through a pathetically Boli^KSk^of Saient'Preinoving humdlreds of t«n» daily. .Apart,-, from their edible v^fue to be worth £6 a ton delivered, at chemical wo^ks im-IhiSieaiijUW'^y 7 ' -" • ' ."A : /most absurd serie%£of,,ineap- jokes ha-te been practised! during this week ' sqj^5 qj^ a widfcw lady \& NprtVPar|tcfn f^|ys the r '- r -Sydney-°'6wlf' Telegraph). •o*l Monday, last a hansom . cab drove lip to^-dobr^afid itfe Bt &iver said, "J have called to take the bride to Wesley Chimjh^ilionsdHle"'^?^:'' "Wha;t bride?'' askedi the widow. "Mrs Pratt her name is," was the reply. "That is .my name, but I am not going to be married," the lady replied. No fewer than 15 more hansoms drove up afterwards •in " succession. On Tuesday ' the game was Presumed. An ambulance waggon arrived, and the driver demanded 1 the,.boj^,!of}lsp«j»'.peiiß«n ll 'who was sqid to be very Bfck- i» the . house. Notwithstanding thai by thjs time it had been thought well to wport the matter to the police, and official enquiries were in consequence^ being made, ojir "^ednesdayT sMis^ra|t| ifas simply besieged wiwi' callers,- who 'became an object of entertainment to all the neighbors. Four motor cars and two dragß arrived, and their drivers all said they had been sent _to..take -the— widow out pleasuring. Two nurses in uniform also called separately to "see her through the serious illness she was supposed to be suffering fax>m. A opal firm sent around a ponderous droy with t^o' tons of coal that Mrs Pratt had not ordered..

Mr Hellaby, of the produce department of Dalgety and Co.,\Londo!n; is at present in the district. He is travelling all through the Dominion, making enquiries and observing the conditions of each district he visits. In company with Mr Foyster he has motored to many of the Taranaki factories. With tEe fertility of Taranaki he Has been, much impressed, finding it hard to believe that a drought was experienced so recently. This is hi* first visit to New Zealand, and he is keenly interested in the country. He thinks prospects for the butter market are good, but cheese is a produce of so variable a tendency that he does not hazard an opinion. After he hae-"d^ne" the North Island he will visit all the dairying centres of t 1 c South' before leaving on his return to the Old Country. . ,',",.

The proprietor of the Universal Cloth Cleaner and the Piano Polish has arranged with Messrs Bennett and Button, ironmongers, to act as his agents for the dietnot. The preparations were tested by Messrs Clements Bros, and found very satisfactory.} this firm hold a large stock of both preparations, and are making* 'a fine window display.

Mewrs lic'Oruer, Bone *Bd> Co., importers, have, an, advertisement to-day with reference to blankets.

We bm iafomed that Mr H. W. Sut: ton has definitely decided: to stand for , the Hawera Mayoralty at the election this month. The friends of Mr Geo. Dyer, of Regent sheet, Hawera, will regret to hear of fats demise, which took place on Sunday. Deceased, who was unmarried, was a oative of Queen's County, Inland. * nd had been resident in New Zealand for many years, and was well known "between ' Hawera ' and ' Warigamu. The funeral will take place to-morrow at 2 p.m. The Hawera Mounted Rifles leave here <on April 16 to take part in Easter manoeuvres of the Wellington Battalion. The Agricultural Department is. .satis-. £Ed that it took a wise step when it purchased Angora goate in South " Australia for breeding purposes in the Dominu)<n. The, jarrivata luhaiyf; '.n>ult4plied ia a wonderful manner^ large .number of ' ■&*. .goats, We been., sold^ to p . settlers, in vai»TiB i pa^M^,cpim%,an^are ; ««>vM lul iiivaluiit>^ in bating 'down 'the iocdous- 'taJeatf'ana v shrubs. - The •for Angoraa-is greater thin- the supply;' A purebred Angora male .«oat is -Worth: Irom 15 to 20 guineas. Some time ago ihe Department :plaoed [forty or fifty ■common goats in an. enclosure in the Pelorus' Valley, r bri^r nod , blackberry/- and & has. been' 'found -|hat -they eat- the bashes with zest. An effort ifi now being made to secure a larger area iri order/ to^fortterjdieinoflßtrate the • usefulness 'of 'the amiinals in clearing land ,«f useless. Vegetation. :< • - ' • A witnesß io thfei fanm laborers'' dispute' ww ' being. ,l*»r4 a^/ihw»tofottch went to'iome pains to>ho J w,jKhe. ) u|ele^B of. the town-l)red boy oonipared ;witn ...the | -country boy at larmwork. He said the boy faoin tow 6: whiT had attended o pruntey J achooi; i; and haa'been J **tolp£ea off" at^ a high school, would be a wry great loss to the farmer, while the boy brought up in the country Wad invaluable. To keep « boy at school until he was 17 or 18 and then 1 fiend' hiih' ! to a 'fawn was simply to ruin him. r'lr 'I think,"* adefed the wiioees, "that we are a little wrong in out education system. 'I Would' like 1 a ! boy when be has passed the sffthjStandard,, instead 'of going into'town to lose twd years, to bo intdr ttie "country,', where he will be 'Sractibaily • a*Ma^ ll| a a feciiiucal CscbooL The "town ; iboy"lbaes liny aniount of tune in the morning, when he could be picking up. hints on the farm. If he could he on the farm between 'sevfen aoJne o'clock m the morning, and then go to a high fichool near »at hand, ' it would be all 'Messrs! James and GTHlman ore advertising far* aale the lease, of 124 . acres^ rituated' »t 'WhakaWara."' A -rieminder is given of the clearing, sale di^'resiaenoeiof Mr A. Cl AikinBdn^i toibe 1 . oMfl^iWritovniorTOw' afternoon at 12.30, Messrs Barmby and Cole. ..!/.■ '"!• ■•• '•