LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLIII, Issue XLIII, 3 January 1924, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

J&ill-ittg tthe year 1923 there were eight'fives-in Hawera, the brigade on all ro'ec'aSi6*tis carrying out their work smartly -and'with efficiency. The value "<of "the 'buildings and contents concerned was £14,035, and the amount of idama;ge 'done has been set down at sfil'4S9:.fßs 6d.

! A;good story is told concerning the of poles on a hydro transmission - line not 100 miles from Ekettahsana. A party was erecting poles ' for tihe Government on contract, and - half and Sundays did not appear in the programme. One Sunday ithe.qgang commenced work on a certain property, the owner of which was -strong on Sabbath observance. He appeared on the scene and registered a mild protest, which was entirely ineffective. The work was cosiSiiinaied. Seeing this the farmer had recenrse to aa>.'.more pointed argument. He rounded up a rogue Hereford bull and turned it into the paddock where the men were engaged. There was no more work "that day; the persuasive power »of "the animal being quite sufficient.

Something in the nature of a sensa- : tion is reported to have been caused at the last meeting of the Marlborough; Progressive League, when the chairman j (Mr R. F. Coulter) proposed a bold scheme for the prosecution of file South I Island Main Trunk railway (Picton to| Bluff), the essence of it being tihat :the* ratepayers of the various districts asi far south as Cheviot should :agree to! allow themselves to be rated to make; up half of any deficiency of interest on ■ the cost of construction of the line !for j . the first five yeairs. It was stated that! the Government had made only one j . objection to the completion di theSouf h' Island Main Trunk line, that "the line| would not pay." Further considera-j tion of the scheme was deferred till; next meeting. '

iThe presidency of a society is .a,post! Ito be coveted, according to the .holderi! iof. that office in the Ashburton Poultry, I .Pigeon, and Canary Society (Mr. G.i Dundy), remarks th© Guardian. Ini .replying to his election as president,; he stated that it gave him great j pleasure to act in that capacity. There; was q\iite an amount of kudos attached! to at, he continued. When he sdsited' Dunedin or Christchurch bird fanciers "took .their hats off" to him. He was not introduced as "This is Bundy tie' bakai;," but "This gentleman is the president of the Asnburton Poultry, Pigeojo,, .and Canary Society—how d'ye! do?" .After further mention of iheworship ..the office brought, Mr. Bundy ■ concluded by saying he had told the "members of it, so that one of them could take iit from him. Two of the largest md most fashionable city hoifils have been fined for selling after hoi«\s. This shows that even the police wiil turn (says the .Sydney correspondent of the Melbourne -Age). Anyone whose takes him into .the busy hauntp of men after dark ku#ws that there is no difficulty about getting drinks in Sydney if yoii know ike peaces, and thai knowing them involves nothing like .encyclopaedic information. Indeed, the ease with which lit eaaa b* done is i;ega^ded by some as one of .Sydney's attractions. There is an old stwy that in .earlier times the one hotelkeeper who was opposite the office of aji eminently staid and sober newspaper, pleaded, whe» reused of ignoring the Law with iregard to, hours of selling, that he had to keep #pen because the gentlemen of the -"needed refreshment,--having to work all njjfht. But nowadays a licensee—of certain hotels—would scorn that excuse as a superfluous subterfuge.

The holiday pilgrimage to the West j Coast shows no sign of abating, says the Grey Star, and a large number of passengers arrived from Christchurch on Saturday, eight carriages being fully occupied, lt was found necessary to place three additional cars on the train before leaving Christchurch. Several passengers stated that the Railway Department was apparently exhibiting very little organising capacity in connection with the traffic. It is necessary to ie§6i'Ve seats two or thre© days before departure, ow"n".£ to the great demand for accommodation, but nevertheless the Department dees not provide any further cars on th© train until the last moment, thereby increasing the rush and confusion. On' Saturday morning heavy rain was falling, and the long wait for th© extra cars, which were not forthcoming until after the south express left, was particularly un. pleasant, especially for women and children

The following vessels should be within wireless communication this evening : —Auckland : Kaiwarra, Canadian Cruiser and East Australia. Chatham Islands: Rotorua, Port Elliott, Ruahine. Suffolk. Australiand, and Westmoreland. Wellington: Maori, Wahine, Ngaio, Mararoa, Hurunui, Kurow, Kaimanawa, Royal City. Mahia. Athenic, Trefujm's, Kent, Middlesex, Port Victor, ' Moeraki, Tahiti, Maunganui, Omana, Rotorua. Messages for Sir J. C.Ross should be addressed: "Radio, Awarna."

New Year specials in the showroom: Ladies' zephyr and foulard frocks from 9/11; large cream straw hats, 11/6; children's zephyr frocks. 3/3; ladies' beach rush hats. 2/11; bathing costumes from 5/6; children's bathing costumes, 2/11; ladies' C.B. sport corsets, 5/11; clastic corsets, 18/6; front lacing corsets, 9/11.—At Gillett's, the Value Giver.—Advt.

Business in Eltharj during the holiiay season appear." to have been up to the average^ volume, and tradesmen -eem to be satisfied (says the Argus). An Oam^ra builder says a good five'Qomed house could now be erected for »bout ££§0. Two or fc-hree j-ears ago the s,asne building would have cost over ftIOOO. 3^K?ther slips occurred at the cliffs at SSLai Iwi beach yesterday, and some of, the boulders that came down were tona in weight. There is no doubt about the extremely dangerous state of the cliffs, which at places are a veritable death trap. —Chronicle.-To-morrow evening,- at the Opera House, the second Wanganui wqol sale of this season will take place. The wool under offer is hardly as bright or as light in condition as that of the November sale, but the clip on the whole seems to be finer in quality in comparison with that sold in January, 1923. The catalogue comprises 22,500 bales. Brokers anticipate that the recent high prices wili be well maintained throughout the sale. Tbe testimony of a white fox terrier was the most important given in a case at the Hythe (England) Petty Sessions, when a. local hotel-keeper, the owner of the doe, was charged with cruel conduct towards it. After«,evidence had eben given the dog was brought into Court, and immediately it was released from its leash it bounded up to its master and tried to lick his face. I Teh Bench at once dismissed the case. "Trusts have been the ruin of the building trade in England," Mr A. Rawson told a Mail reporter im the course of an interview at Ashburton. "There is a trust in control of each of the different building materials, and as soon as the Government gives a subsidy it is absorbed by increased prices. As a result private enterprise in building has been killed, and practically all the house-building is clone by the municipalities. They have put up such jerry-built bouses as would never have been allowed in normal times." Our Mokoia correspondent, referring . to th© fatal accident at Gonville, where, father and child were killed hj falling rock from the cliffs, writes a word of warning in regard to the same danger at th© Tongahoe beach.. If more care is not observed by visitors to this spot, he predicts a serious accident, as people, in spite of warnings, go under a big overhanging cLiff from wbich the papa rock is frequently falling. There is an ever-present danger of a large fall of rock, and those who visit the spot should take w.arning by the Gonville occurrence and keep away from tbe foot of .the cliffs. A review of the farming districts Aro.und Ashburton indicates that the recent storm was one of th© worst exeprienced in the past five or six yeairs. i Ti© gale played .havoc .with oats, and ; arrived most inopportunely, as the ma- ! jority of the oat .crops .ar© ripe, and ; .many were in stodk. During the height | of the wind the standing oats were | threshing agait*it each other like flails, ( scatering the .grain .on .the ground like . confetti, while sTieaves raced across the: ; paddocks. Grass seed suffered similar- • ly, standing stocks being disastrously i stripped. The reapers 'chose- between j two evils and kept ..going. Where • .crops fortunately are -still'unripe they | will escape serious loss, except deterioration in quality through bruising. The i alternation of drought, .reviving rains, ( and hurricane makes it difficult to keep j pace with the changing prospects of j tlie grain harvest. The wheat harvest j is expected to be ihe earliest on rei cord, and will probably take nlace at i the middle of January. | When th© Cunningham Bequest Win- \ ter Gardens are completed Christ- ; church will ha?© two hue gardens for : the cultivation of exodac plants. The first was given by Mrs. Annie Townsend, and although it is a : splendid gar- ; den Christchurch has long been in want of another winter garden wMeh would do justice to the domain. Mr. C. A. Sk 9 un"in £ham *"""""*** de a bequest to the • Chrisicb&rch Domains Board so that a further garden could be built. The work was soon put in hand, but delays have occurred in finishing it. Fori some montifes the contractors could i»ot proceed., -as .they were waiting for tiie iron girders for the roof to eom<& to hand. At a accent meeting of the Domains Board it was resolved that thes builders should be instructed to have the building completed during January. The Cunningham Gardens will be considerably larger th 3.11 Mrs Townsend's bequest gardens. The building will be a substantial construction of ferroconcrete and it will bfc lofty and roomy _ A suburban resident tost some of the important extras of his Christmas cheer last week in a manner that reminds us that it is not always the country cousin who suffers from gentlemen of light finger and nimble wit, remairks the Auckland Star. He was shopping m town, and found it necessary to use a suit case for the convenient carria"© of many and varied parcels. At one stage of the day,, after most of the tamily seasonable requirements had been carefully selected and bagged, he bad to go round a corner to return the compliment of a Christmas greeting and set the suit case down in a business establishment in Queen Street during his absence of two minutes. It vanished completely in that period of time, and the only consolation he had lett was that it did not contain a gold wnstlet watch he had iust purchased, and had slipped it'into his pocket until he: could find time to pack it into the bag of surprises. "If he would only post back to the Mangere golfhouse the several dozen golf balls I had m the bag, I WO uld not worry so TZtC re f ma*ed the victim to a sympathetic friend. -He can't do much Sd „n°ui^ 1,s *and the rest is a faidy :