LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue LXVIII, 22 September 1914, Page 4

LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS

Patea Harbor Board held an important meeting yesterday, when the engineer's report on harbor improvements was laid before members. An account of it appears on page 3. Mr Norrie Syme, of Hawera, has an interesting story of his experiences on the Continent at the outbreak of war. It will be found on page 6. A fruitgrower is planting 10 acres of raspberries in .his o retard at Grey town this season. Altogether (says the Wairarapa Times) lie is putting in some 25,000 plants. Our own correspondent writes: In the Eitham Police Court, before Messrs W. J. Tristram and T. C. Stanners, J.P.s, Ernest Benjamin Keats was charged with disorderly conduct while drunk in Bridge street, and was convicted and fined 10s and 6s for damages which he did; in default, 48 hours' imprisonment. A prohibition order was issued against a man. ' During the hearing of a Maori civil case in the Hastings Court the interpreter said that the word "cousin" was one of the most difficult translations the Maori interpreter had to deal with, because there was no. difference in the native tongue between "cousin" and "relation." At a special meeting of the Patea Harbor Board held yesterday, Mr Sellar attended on behalaf of the Farmers' Freezing Company, and details in regard to the company's lease from the Board were discussed and a mutually satisfactory basis arrived at. The tender of Messrs Locker and Dickson for carting shingle was accepted at 5s per cubic yard. The chairman, Mr Death, ■ and the engineer were appointed a com- . mittee to open tenders for the supply of cement.

Mr. Sam Robinson, of Otaki, has (says the Times) invented an ingenious contrivance for the distribution of onion seed. So fine is the mechanism, and so well thought out, that one see-a can be dropped at intervals of three, six, or twelve inches. The machine will naturally save much waste, and do away with the tedious thinning-out-process, and be a boon to gardeners generally. Writing from Samoa, a member of the Expeditionary Force says: —"1 am not greatly taken with Samoa, althjugu it is a pretty place. It is. far too \.*,% and the flies «'-rd mosquitoes niiks life very unpleasant. The heat is license during the day and few people stir out, but after 5 p.m. a, c-iol Ireezegt'ii-'in ;\ springs up end -l>e people then «!u the grand prornenu!^. They are fine {seoplo, these Samoans; in fact I think -Jjey are easily the best of ihe co'ored laeos. The men are Vig unc! lineU forn ed, ii d the women possess good figures, as well as comely 'wi^es. Some of the girls are real beauties and have alu-ady impressed quite a '.lumber of our toys. I have been around to one of the villages a couple of evenings lately, and have had great _ fun dancing on the green with the girls to the banjo and mouth organ music. Everyone bathes several times a day here, and men, women, and children all go in together. The natives swim like fish, and are never happy unless in the water. They seem well contented with their occupations, and everywhere we are greeted with smiles and 'Talofa,' which means 'hello.' "