LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 10 February 1923, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ragwort, spreading picturesquely over the hill sides,, was quite a feature or some or the country tnrough which the power-scheme, inspection party travelled on Thursday (says the Argus/. Sixty years last Wednesday the tragedy, of the wreck of HIS Orpheus occurred on Manukau bar" when Commodare Burnett and 7SO members of the corvette's company were drowned. There still resides in Auckland Mr George Ellis, who was engmeer of the first boat sent onl tiom Onehunga to render assistance. The Wongawonga, which was near at hand, succeeded m saving 75 of the crew The disaster w« due To Jhe Orpheus, taking the wrong channel to cross the bar on her run across from - Sydney to Onehunga. I The secretary of the Invercargill' Returned Soldiers' Association, com.menting upon the imemployment probS?tJ + wS°?£ hland Times not^ +at +l ? he ? resent indication^ pomted to the position being just as acute during the coming winter as it was last. At present, he said, there were numbers o f returned soldiers seeking employment, but this wa s difficult to find. Some of those who had been placed by the association were occupying positions which were only temporary. . When the wool and threshing seasons were over many men would be thrown out of work, and un less some scheme for employing them during the winter months could be found, position would be worse than it was last winter, when returned soldiers were employed on various works about the town. «,After service at the Methodist L-hurch to-morrow night, Mr. John Ways, of Christchurch, will play several selections on the organ. The anthem, "If Ye. Love Me" will be rendered during the service. , Particulars of train arrangements ' and issue of holiday excursion tickets in connection with Taranaki races at New Plymouth on 15th and 17th February are advertised in this issue.

If fine Hawera Citizens' Band will play a programme of music at King Edward Park to-morrow afternoon. j Taranaki is to be well represented at the Toronto exhibition by samples of handwork done by Taranaki primary school students. These samples include raft'a work, poi pois by Maori children, and books containing collections of ferns and native shrubs. ! .Replying to Manaia Town Board's application for extended telephone service, the Chief Postmaster, New Plymouth, advises that arrangements are being made to open the Manaia telephone exchange on Sundays and holidays from 9 to 10 a.m. and "from 5 to 0 p.n>. This arrangement is to be brought kito force as from February 11. j "After forty years of close acquaintance I have found that work is kind to its friends aoid hard to its enemies. It pays the fellow who dislikes it his exact wages, and they are generally pretty small, but is gives the man who shines up to it a fair deal, and throws in a heap of fun and satisfaction for good measure." —A self-made merchant's letter to his son. ,The Waverley public school picnic was held on Wednesday in line weather. All sorts of vehicles from farm waggons to motor lorries assembled at the school and transported the children, parents and committee to Mr Middleton's property, where an enjoyable day was spent. Everybody worked with 'a will to make the day a memorable one for the children, and one aiid all enjoyed themselves to the full. One of the latest trouble-saving devices is a clock that 'winds itself automatically. The clock is placed above a ttoor, and the winding apparatus is connected with the door by means of a Bowden wire cable. Every time the door is opened or shut the "wire putls a small lever, which moves the winder of the clock. A special device prevents the clock from being overwound, and it is claimed that if the door is ~; > w :e d only three times a day the clock will receive enough winding to prevent it from stopping. Trooper Clutha Mackenzie. ex-M.P , I formerly of the Wellington Mounted j Rifles, mounted on the black marc Be.-s (presented by Ma.sterton in 1914 and used by Colonel Powels in Egypt, Palestine, France, Belgium, and "fciigland, and one of the three main body horses brought back to New Zealand in 1.920), will serve as the New Zealand model for a monument, to be erected at the point where the Suez Canal enters the Mediterranean, to the Australian and New Zealand mounted men who saw service in Egypt and Palestine. A magmlicent site has been given by the Port Baid authorities, and the central figures are to be two trooners, one of the Australian Light Horse and the other oi the New Zealand Mounted Eifles, look- "!« over the canal and the Sinai desert. At the last Wanganui River Trusl meeting Mr. Gregor McGregor told his experience with blackberry. He cvi 300 acres of scrub and blackberry ai Mohiki. It was 20 feet high. For i couple of years all. went well, but ther the blackberry sent out shoots whicl grew 25 to 30 feet in a season. Mr. McGregor said he had done the worsi he could have done. He had merely pruned the blackberry. The land was as oad now as it ever was. Blackberry, he said, was ineradicable. The best that could be done with it was tc keep it cut down every year Th< bla< kherry pest had cost New Zealanc millions of pounds, and would cost many millions more. The Witness states that a prolonged electric disturbance hung over Manaia all day on Ihursday, reaching its maximum at about 4 p.m. The sun in the early morning had the appearance of slimmg through a curtain of smoke and the heat grew intense as the day wore on. Drenching rain fell when the storm broke, accompanied by continual electrical discharges! One of these was ot a violent character, finding its point °l attraction at the cable box in front of the Waimate Hotel, and travelling along the wires to the telephone swithboards at the Post Office. Here the operators were temporarily blinded by a. blaze of bght, and made a hurried exit fortunately, no damage was done to the instruments, although it is said the electric fluid has marked the marble swithboard i.n the telephone operators' room. | The success that has attended the •working of the Rimu dredge at Hokitika has aroused the residents to a, •sense of the possibilities of the o-old-rmning industry in their immediate locality (says the Inangahua Times), and a_^ prospecting association has been tormed with the view of exploring the district for the discovery of other i leads of the precious metal. This association having been strongly supported by citizens, has now under consideration the most important one of locality to be prospected, and worE is to be started immediately. , The newly-elected meeting house of Church of Christ in Wilson Street Hawera, is to be officially opened tomorrow. The services throughout will pc oi a special nature and the meetiro-j ings are to be addressed by Missioned >.orman G Noble. A"month's mission Has been planned for and will start to-! morrow Mr. Noble, who is a forcefjJL sp?, a.£f r \ s advertised to speak on iiie tfible, ' ih connection with which 11 T& chart ™aPs- The minister! of the church, Mr. Will Page, will act! as song leader during the mission, a! fifteen minutes' song service prior to the sermon being conducted by him each evening. The public are heartily invited to attend. - I — . i