LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 19 April 1922, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

» , A rather alarming experience was J the lot of a little girl in Wainiate, says the Advertiser. She was eating one of the seasonable confections known as [ "Easter eggs," when she suddenly was j unable to swallow, and felt something : sharp sticking in her throat. The child's ' parents were unable to dislodge the ob- ' struction, and a visit was hurriedly • paid to a medical man, who discovered tha.t the cause of the trouble was a short piece of very fine wire, which had ' by some means or another found its wav < j into the chocolate "egg." " i Tfife statement was published jn theWellington press that no picttiy§ liOu&es' are to shotf pictures oil Ailisac Day, the commemoration of which has been "Sun- ' dayised" under the provisions of last , session's legislation. Some question, • ; however, has been raised on the subject, j and the mayor, to whom the matter wa«. ] referred, said the borough authorities I had looked into the subject, and they : could see nothing in tb_« Act to prohibit the picture houses opening. Telegraphic 5 inquiry made by the New Zealand Pic-; < ture Supplies Company elicited the fol-' 1 lowing reply: "Internal Affairs Depart- ]* ment states that no official notice has' < been published in the Gazette, but it jg' ' &\\ gSence to show on Anzac Day " "j < j * " •■•'■■ - "'' J , I England's decision to advance a credit i of £2,000,000 has already had a magic | effect in Austria. It is as if the whole country feels the friendly hand out-: stretched to snatch it from the abyss of j financial collapse. The value of the crown is steadily improving, and is now less than 30,000 to the pound, as against 40,000 before the news arrived. - One remarkable result is that the State em. ployees have withdrawn their ultimatum for increased pay in the hope that the credit will lead to a reduction in the , cost of living. Sir William Goode, for. merly chairman of the Austrian section for reparations, is there, unofficially, conducting the final negotiations. The question of securities is as yet undecided, but it is understood that the proposal to pledge the State collection of Gobelins is still in the foreground. ! Those who were at Newtown Paris [ late on Saturday afternoon witnessed an unusual sight (says the Dominion;. i Two Hocks of birds, each consisting ot some hundreds of starlings, were seen circling in the,air above the trees at the southern end of the park. Attached to each flock was a pigeon, and it appeared to the onlookers that the starlings were determined to destroy the pigeons. At one moment a pigeon would be at the head of the flying birds, at another right in the middle of the flock. The efforts of the pigeons to get away from i the starlings led to some interesting | manoeuvres. Though often very close , '• together, the two flocks never mingled, j j and were often one above the other. The pigeons did not appear to have sense enough to nose dive into the trees below, but kept on flying round and round, with the starlings in pursuit. A great function in Eltham this year will be the Tennis Club ball, which the committee intend to make the best ever held, the event of the season. , The music will be provided by Renwick's well-known and popular orchestra, and the Eltham Pipe Band will assist. Floor and supper will be both in good hands. Everyone intending to go will be assured of a particularly good and interesting evening. The appointments will all be of the best | Notice is given that the annual public meeting of the Awatuna Public Hall will be held on Saturday, April 29, at 8 p.m. A special invitation is given to all interested in the progress i and development of the district and in matters pertaining to the hall. See Outred's Im.- of new and np-to-j date costumes at specially reduced | j prices for ten days only, tweed cos- ; ' tumes from 65/-, navy costumes from 70/-, new range of millinery just to i , hand. Ready-to-wears from 2576. — i Advt. 1 START EACH DAT ! by sniffing up or gargling half-a-tea- i j spoonful of that sterling specific, i Fluenzol, which dears away catarrhal \ ! obstruction and invigorates the membraneous lining of the nose and throat and the voogjl chords. Special instrue- '- 1 tions for cmldren. Inuist on pre-war prices at 1/6 anß 2/6.—Adrt.

Seventy Red Feds are \o be t&to off V the Melbourne Trades Hall organisaon to tour New Zealand prior to the eneral election this year. This (says | iie Dunedin Star) i s no t a street imour. j The executive of the P. and T. Associ- i tion of New Zealand is to meet in Wellington to-day to consider what teps shall be taken in regard to affilia- ; ion with the Alliance of Labour in iew of the Government's action. "After every slump there comes a )oom," said Mr J. Graham at the anmal meeting of the Builders' and Contractors' Association in Christchurch the Christehureh correspondent of the Dunedin Star). The speaker ,vas optimistic about the future of the ;rade in New Zealand, stating that an indication of this was afforded in Auckland, where one drapery firm was ipending hundreds of thousands of pounds in extensions. "Not a swagger did I see, except a veil-dressed man carrying a handbag, luring the whole of my tour of the West Coast. I was told that tramps >vere rarely seen in Westland, the majority of those on the move in quest >f work being of the well-set-up type of man, who is looking for emplyoment I md can afford to put on a good appearmce," said Mr. A. J. Graham to a Standard reporter at Palmerston North. It is stated that a reef of silver ore has been discovered in the face of & bill fronting the road in the Ngahape i settlement (Wairarapa). Tests have been made, establishing the identity of the metal, but it has yet to be ascertained whether it exists in paying quantities. A settler who was shown a piece of ore j stated to an Age reporter that it shows j very distinct traces of silver. The owner of the property is a Maori. High wages are occasionally earned ay men employed at contracting worii in the mines of the Nightcaps district, as is shown by the fact that a man and tils son for eleven days' work recently received no less than £81, and during ihe past twelve months had averaged £6 a day. Another miner a week ago Irew a. cheque for £50, representing two week's employment. Some might i>e inclined to doubt the accuracy of these figures, but they were supplied to a representative of the Southland News by one who is in a postion to speak with authority. These are, of course, exceptional cases, adds the News. While flying over Mount Vesuvius on a flight from Naples to Rome, a British airman, Mr. Alan J. Cpbham, piloting a De Haviland machine, approached the edge of the crater.. He "ventured too close, and was caught in a sudden upward swirl of sulphur vapour, which hurled his machine 1000 feet higher into the air in five seconds —a vertical speed of over 130 miles an hour. The aeroplane rocked violently to and fro, and Mr. Cobham was almost suffocated by the sulphur fumes. It was only by opening his engine full out that he was able to escape into the purer and more stable atmosphere. A correspondent writes to the Palmerston Times: My telephone is one of the busiest, and ought, perhaps, to be charged upon the toll system. For thirty days, with my stock of patience and a stop watch, I averaged up the time required to get "number please" from the local exchange and the long distance toll department. When men or boys are on duty it is 40 seconds, and that seems like t\vo minutes to a busy man. With girls, on duty—and they are all girls, bless their young hearts—the average is 12 seconds, without variations for tea. Boys, and men must be put to some job for which the Master designed them." A wind storm la§t Wednesday was felt at its full strength on the Canterbury Plains (states the Lyltelton Times). The organiser of the Canterbury Progress League (Mr, P^ R. Climie) had an unenviable experience motoring through the Rakaia Gorge on his' way to Christchurch from Mayfield. He encountered a terrific hurricane, for which he cannot remember a parallel in the twelve years olsrhis motoring experience. The gale was so vio]ent in the gorge that the car was completely enveloped in a cloud of fine shingle and dust driven at a furious rate. The whole fabric of the motor hood was completely torn away, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that Mr. Climie kept the gar under control. In the House of Commons (writes the London correspondent of the Otago Daily Times) "Mr Lambert enquired of the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the £29,500,000 paid by Germany in respect of the cost of the British Army of Occupation had been encashed by the Exchequer, and, including that amount, what was the approximate sterling value of the German payments in cash and in kind as against the estimated cost of the occupation of £53,----906,000; and whether such German reparation payments had injured British trade. Sir Eobert Home replied that the £29,000,000 had been paid into the exchequer. Owing to variations in the rates of exchange between the dates at which expenditure on the British Army of Occupation had been incurred and those at which repayment had been made by Germany, it was not possible to answer the second part of the question by giving sterling figures. Moreover, all figures were at present subject to revision and dependent on decisions still to be taken by the Reparation Commission, and Inter-Allied agreements still to be finally settled. The gold mark figures were: The estimated cost of the British Army of Occupation up to January 31, 1922, 1,007,000.000 gold marks. Receipts of all kinds from Germany, whether finally allocated to the British Empire or not, less Spa coal advances, amounted to about 970,000,----000 gold marks. The gold mark equivalent of £2,639,500 had been paid out by the Treasury to Canada, Australia and New Zealand in settlement of that part of the British Empire's claim for Army of Occupation which was incurred in respect of Canadian, Australian and New Zealand troops. No .reparation payments have been made by Germany to this country. Sheeting and towels at bargain prices. Single bed unbleached Herringbone sheeting 2/6, 80in ditto 3/6; 80in strong white twill sheeting 3/11, 4/6, 4/11; heavy Herringbone twill white sheeting 4/11. This is great value. White Turkish towels, slightly soiled, at greatly reduced prices. Size 22 x '37, usually 2/3, soiled price 1/6; size ?6 x 46, usually 3/11, soiled price 2/3- nursery white flannelettes 1/4H and 1/6 At the Busy Draper's. J. C. Grllet— Advt. THE CAUSE OF CONSTIPATION. Ihe most common cause of constipation is a lack of exercise to kee_p the muscles of the bowels active. That is why constipation is often brought on by too frequent use of purgatives. They act violently, performing the work of the bowels for them, and so weaken them that they will not act without assistance. Chamberlain's Tablets will relieve constipation because instead of doing the work of the bowels they gently stimulate them to voluntary action. Their frequent use will not injure the most delicate person. Sold evervivhere.—Advt. m} I!^*] 0, **■&&? removes rheumatism. 3/6 Jtira 4/6. —Advt. For influenza take Woods' Great Pen?ernaint Cure. —Advt.

Next-Sunday at 11 o'clock Mass at Manaia> Archbishop Redwood, of Wellington, will perform the rite of confirmation, A large number of young people are to be confirmed. The following nominations have, beea received for the Eltham School Committee: Messrs I. J. Brkiger, H. Bunn W S. Heyes, W, Nswson, W, O'Neill, J, H, Sheat and H. L, Smith. Seven gentlemen have thus been nominated for the nine seats on the committee. Two others were received, but did not come to hand natal the hour appointed for the closing of nominations. The- chairman (Hey. J. G. Castle) has submitted these to the Taranaki Education Board, with a st-a4eipe«t cowc-erning their receipt and asking for the BoaivTs advice. The Labonr Premier of New ■ South "Wales (Mr Dooley) got even recently with a persistent interject©!- who had been troublhag him at two or three suecesive meetings. He liad been speaking for over an hour on this occasion, and at intervals the same rather squeaky voice kept drawling:: "Hay, Jim, what about so-and-so?" with monotonous regularity an-d little to the point. In response to a final and bitter • thrust from his tormentor, the Premier gave a little cough, and looked straight before him, said: "I am quite willing to confess my past sins. Once upon a time I committed a horrible deed — the audience stirred in their seats—l I killed a poor goat. I was only a small boy then, but I can still remember the hiding I got from my father. And I remember him warning me that the ghost of that goat would one day come back to haunt .me!" Here his voice trembled, as, looking direct at his interrupter, he concluded: "And that prophecy has undoubtedly come true to-night!" An interesting story was told to an ; Otago Daily Times' reporter by Mr J. McAlevy, chief steward on the A. and A. Line steamer City of Hankow, which was in port recently. Mr McAlevy, who was taken prisoner by Captain yon Muller, of the raider Emden, when he , was serving in a similar capacity on , the Clan Matheson in September, 1914, said that just previous to the time the Clan Matheson was sunk the German cruiser had captured two Italian, one Greek and six British steamers. The Italian steamers were released on ac- ■ count of Italy's neutrality at that time, but the Greek steamer Pontoporrus was seized, as she was carrying i contraband. Five of the British steam- ( ers were sunk by the Emden, 'but the ■ Kabinga was saved, as the captain had his wife on board, and Captain Muller would not sink-the ship, as there was a lady on the vessel. He said to her: "This ship is my property, to do Avhat I like with, and I now present her to you as a gift to be henceforth your own private property. As far as the former owners are concerned the ship is at the bottom of the sea." He gave her a. letter to that effect so that she could prove her right to claim the ship as her own property, and he also had 'notices posted in four different parts of the Kabinga. The sequel to the mciii dent was when Captain Muller was a j prisoner in England in 1918, when the I wife of the .Kabinga's captain claimed | the ship as her own private property ' presented to her by the German cap- | tain. The Bucknall Line, which owned • the vessel, contested the claim, and the | case was taken to the Admiralty Court. j Captain Muller was called-as a'witness, j and, upon his substantiating the lady's I claim, the Kabinga was awarded to her. The former owners subsequently bought.it from her for £50,000. It is interesting to note that on his capture Captain yon Muller had his sword returned to him by the British in recognition of his chivalry. He is believed to be the oiily German officer who was j thus honoured in the late war, I The ''futility of the city man as 1 compared with the country-bred girl was demonstrated by an incident in Auckland a few days ago. A. horse harI nessed to a tradesman's cart stumbled j and fell, pitching the driver over its , head on to the hard roadway. The man ; was a little stunned, and before he j could recover himself the horse had in • a general way commenced to smash things up as it lay on the ground ( struggling to free itself. With commendable pluck a smartly-dressed young woman grasped the situation, and, getting hold of the horse's head and sitting on it, gave instructions to a few nervous men who had gathered how to free the horse from its predicament. Sometimes (states the Auckland Star) a movement from the prone horse scat- , tered them quickly, much to her disgust. She asked one young fellow to sit on the horse's head and she would soon free the harness. "I wouldn't sit on its head for a fiver," said the young fellow. By this time the driver had come to himself, and the horse was soon got free. "Thank you, Miss," he said, "you are worth six of those city chaps." "Oh, I learnt to do that on my father's farm," she said, as she passed on, telling the young driver to bathe the horse's injuries with plenty of hot water, and to put embrocation on the injured knee. Severe reductions have been made in the price of sheet-glass abroad, consequently the market here is expected to fall in sympathy with the foreign quotations, which will mean a further cheapening of the costs of*=house-build- | ing. In Melbourne the price-lists j issued on March 13 were much lower ! than earlier lists, and since then there : has been a further reduction of 10 per j cent. Belgium supplies the greater part of the glass used in Australasia, and the decline in values is probably due to the remarkable recovery made by the Belgian glass industry since the armistice. Most of the plants were either destroyed or removed during the war, but rehabilitation has been carried on with such zeal that practically all plants are now capable of equalling pre-war production. In the early part of 1920 the industry profited by exceptionally favourable conditions, and the syndicate of plate-glass manufacturers was then booked so far ahead with orders that no further accounts were accepted. During the first nine months of last year, however, production was curtailed to some extent in order to maintain prices. It is stated that the window-glass trade has probably been less affected than the other branches, the output nearly equalling the highest record of 1913. In the latter year Belgium exported 40,599,441 kilos (the kilo equals 2.21b) of plate-glass; 207,182,901 kilos of window-glass, 9,577,251 kilos of bottles, flasks, demijohns, and ordinary glassware, 31,422,287 kilos of goblets, and 5,067,785 kilos of marble glass, plaques, slabs, and tiles, the total value being, 104,701,754 francs. j Mr Good, manager of the New Zealand Clothing Factory, Hawera, has returned from a visit to Dunedin, bringing back all the newest in ladies' and gents' boots and shoes, including ladies' evening shoes, also the new faced pillar box red black suede shoes. Call and see our new goods at. the New Zealand Clothing Factory.—Advt. Call and inspect the complete range of brass, reed, and other instruments, li'asy terms of paymont can be arranged. —The Bristol Piano Co.. Ltd.. Wellington. M. J. Brooke.*, North Island Manager. Local Representatives: P. T. Donnelly and C 0.." Stationers.—Advt.