LOCAL AND GENERAL

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLI, Issue XLI, 14 February 1921, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A Dunedin message states that Agnes Elliott Hendry,- 19 years of age, was accidentally drowned while bathing at Tomahawk beach on Saturday afternoon.^ A heavy sea was running and the girl was carried into the breakers. She was seen to be floating in the water, and was got ashore with some diffictilty. First aid measures were adopted, but with no success. At the Eltham County Council meeting on Saturday, A. McWilliam drew attention to the fact that a eood many people were now using skeletonised number plates on their cars. Tnehe were not at all distinct from any distance, and furtlier. did not comply wn.n the County by-laws 'of the "general statute. To oomply with the by-law the registration number and initial fetters must be painted on a black background.

A Palmerston North resident, who has travelled abroad extensively, states that at Newport News the Americans demand £2 lys from each passenger on British boats who wishes to go ashore to view the town. This is in the nature of a poll-tax, and is resented very much by British travellers. He says that he expressed his opinion very freely to an American on "the subject, stating: "You Yankees come to New Zealand, the finest country on the face of God's earth, amass a lot of wealth, and take it away to the United States! You are admitted free di any tax, but immediately a Britisher lands in your country, he is 'rooked' to the fullest extent.

: A most extraordinary kind_of firearm was presented at the Napier Police Station for registration. It wasi in the form of a large pruning knife, curved " at one end and with two blades. Along the back of the knife was a barrel, a muzzle-loading apparatus, and in its time the weapon must have been quite a formidable one. The hammer and trigger folded into the centre of the knife* and without a close inspection it was impossible to class it as a firearm. ■!

There was a large attendance of the j public at the Park yesterday afternoon •, when the Hawera Citizen's Band submitted a well-selected programme. The new uniforms, which the members received a few days ago, are neatly made, though there is nothing showy about them;. The band's playing is improving very rapidly, ,and the tone and blend ; of the'instruments yesterday ■ were"very good. Mr jMcLeod, conductor of the' <New Plymouth Band, was present, and "assisted the band, playing second cornet. A collection was taken up in aid of the band's uniform fund. Indian mortality returns record the death in 1919 of 20,273 persons from Snakebite. The number shows a slight decrease on the ' previous year's total (22,600), and with the' exception of 1917 there has been a progressive decline since 1915. The number Of snakes killed in 1919 was 58,416, compared i with 59,495 in 1918.; London's streets, if placed end to end, would form a high road long enough to stretch across Europe from \ the North Cape to Constantinople; and her buildings, if placed shoulder to shoulder, would make a continuous row sufficiently long to link Lisbon with Moscow. Her property has anMnsurance value of nearly 1,200,000,000, representing a weight of gold which all the people of Warwickshire could not raise.from the ground. Mr Barry Pain has written a clever parody on Mis Asquith's autobiography. "Marge Askinforit" follows its original very closely in places. "In my own circle I have always been known as Marge. The name is,'l am informed, derived from " the Latin margo, meaning the* limit." And again, in lie chapter about >l the family, "I had not her beautiful lustrous eyes, but neither had she my wonderful cheek. She had not .my intelligence. Nor had she; my priceless gift for uttering an unimportant personal opinion as if it were the final verdict of .posterity., wijth the black can on." ' ■ '■ 1 An easier tone is/ reported in the rough chemical indent market. Caustic soda in lib to 71b tins is down $d per pound, and lump caustic soda is down £10 per ton. • There has been a drop in the price of carbonate of ammonia of about £12 per ton. Silicate of soda and calcium chloride show no changO. Boracic- acid and borax have declined by £6 per ton. Other lines remain fairly steady.

An application ot a unique nature was received from a returned soldier at a meeting of the Gisborne Citizens' Defence Committee. The applicant requested an advance to assist him in a time of need, as he^was saving money ' in order to get a divorce. He promised that, if he was successful in obtainingthe compensation he asked for in respect of the divorce, he would settle with.the committee at the earliest moment. It_ 7 was unanimously decided that the committee could not entertain the proposition, •-' i A statement has been issued by the Department k>f Industries and Com- | merce mV reply to a complaint in a I northern newspaper of unfair alloca-j tion of sugar. "The writer of the ar- j tide," says the Department, "assumes | that the Board of Trade has ample ] supplies of sugar to meet the normal de- | mand, whereas the position is that the j quantity refined iii New Zealand ii not sufficient for the Dominion's needs, and therefore supplies available have had to be allocated. The shortage is not peculiar to one township, but has been j general throughout the Dominion. In order to supply the. extra quantity, required* for jam-making, purposes, the board has cut dow vn supplies to nonessential industries and . increased the quantities to the utmost limits to merchants and grocers. The Government has been successful in securing an extra 1000 tons of refined sugar from Sydney/ and this quantity has enabled the Board of Trade to allocate add;tibnal supplies to the whole, of the North Island. If thero has been any unfairness in the distribution, then the Board bf Trade is . not responsible. Some Vgrocers may have given pre Terence to their customers for reasons unknown to the board, but tbis has had j the inevitable result of making other \ customers go short. Furthermore, no sugar is represented as being hoarded" by the board; it goes out from week ! to1 week as it is refined." So enormous is London's passenger traffic that every 24 hours 2,500,000, persons travel on her omnibuses, 1,300,000 in her underground trains alone, and 560,000 in her trams. Soi many, in fact, are her day V passen-I gers, that if they were formed into a columnyfour abreast* at intervals of a' yard, the head of the column would i be on the sea front at Brighton be-' fore the rear rank had left John o' j Groats. The remarkable achievement of a collie

dog came under the notice of the public the other day. Mr. Edwin Appleton, of Herbert, recently sold his farm. He had a collie dog named "Soottie," aged twelve years—one that he had raised frohi a pup. He dispatched "Scottie" by rail to Christchurch, in the meantime going on to Dunedin to transact some business there. Two day after the arrival of the collie at jNew .Brighton it disappeared. Mr. Apoleton was much concerned about the loss of his favourite dog, and after visiting the North Island he returned to Herbert on the off chance' that it might have turned up. When he arrived at the farm the dog was theire to greet him, and its joy was unbounded. From inquiries it would seem that "Scottie'» took ninety-four days to get back from New Brighton to Herbert-w, a distance of over 200 miles. He had

I to go right into the city of Christchurch ,to get on to the main south road, and it was necessary for him to swim four j rivers and numerous creeks to return.

The dog had never been north of Herbert previously. It shows the wonderful instinct of this breed. The Mayor of Wellington (Mr J. P. Luke) made it plain at Thursday's meeting of the City Counqil that the corporation was feeling the financial stringency (saysjjttii.^^ He said that the sW of-£B^^^ been raised afc 5J per cent (ten years) for the loan redemption loan, but they j had not been successful in raising many hundreds for the twenty years' works loan (£250,000) at 53 per cent, and he waa very much afraid they would not have much success unless the Government altered the conditions. Mr Luke warned the council on the way the overdraft was increasing. On account of the doubt as to whether the big loan can be floated, the date of the departure of Mr M. Cable for England is doubtful, as it is useless his going to tjie Old Country in connection with the tenders for the big ' electrical power plant (for the proposed new station at Evans Bay) if the money for the machinery cannot be raised for the present. Rheumo rapidly relieves Rheumatism. ' —Advt.

At the monthly meetimg of the Eltham County Council oh Saturday it waa brought before the notice of the Council that a motor car' had recently travelled, wijthout a tyre oh its off hind wheel, through the Eltham County, cutting the carpet of tbe Mountain and Boylan roads. Whether J actual damage had been caused was not yet known, but if the tar-seal should peal as a result the Council would consider - claming damages from the owner of the car. I "What do you want with that?"

queried the sergeant, as a visitor casually laid an innocent-looking walkingstick on the desk (states the Southland Times). "Register it," was the reply. "We don't register walking-sticks,'' said the officer. The visitor picked up the walking-stick, and, giving it a sharp turn, revealed to the astounded onlookers a breech, capable of taking a .410 cartridge. The curious arm was inspected with interest, and its owner said he still used it for rabbit-shooting. "The moral code of business in Invercargill is high," said Mr. J. Gilkison at a meeting of the Invercargill Chamber of Commerce. "It is a curious coincidence that the further north one travels* in Britain the higher the business code, while in New Zealand the further south one travels the same ascension is found. The business morality in the south of New Zealand is higher than elsewhere, and the business

menasmpß more lasting/ "How;many of you here have ever been counted out. It was quite an experience for me,'' said the Prince of . Wales in the course of his speech in London, in relating his Australian experiences. "At a wayside station in New South Wales one morning I was 'counted out' because I would not come out and see the crowd. I may say, in my own defence, that I was so soundly ! asleep that I didn't wake. When _ I ' returned to that town I had the satisfaction of being 'counted in' with equal vigor. ' The Governor-General and Lady Jellicoe visited Taupo on Saturday, and) received a great welcome from the Maoris, who danced a haka for them. His Excellency was presented with a • fine Maori mat and a patu. In a crick-' et match against a Ideal team, Lord Jellieoe's team made b'3 in the first imnings His Excellency scoring 22, and Captain Mundy," A.D.C., 20. Taupo's first innings realised 32, the total of the second innings being* 53. Lord Jelliicoe took one wicket for ten runs. ' The Governor-General's team had t two wickets down for 24 runs when stumps were drawn, and it won the match by eight wickets. A large overhead travelling crane of a special type -was recently built by_ a leading British firm for a British forge. It is capable of hoisting a load of 60 tons at eight feet per minute. When carried sideways the same load travels at 75 feet per minute; and,the whole crane moves —again with full load- —at

190 feet, per minute. .The suspended cage in which the operator works' is telescopic, and is capable of extending to within 'one foot of the ground. Its purpose is to- enable the operator to work the crane, from the position which gives the best view of the work in its various positions. Raising and lowering the cage is effected by a small electric, motor. Automatic arrangements are provided to put on the brakes. as soon as the motors stop, and also to prevent the crane being overloaded.