LOCAL AND GENERAL

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLIV, Issue XLIV, 23 January 1924, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Wanganui HarSour i Board has decided to vote £10 towards the Radium Fund now being raised %o insta! a /radium plant at Wellington.

The other side of life in th« musical world was conveyed in a letter received in Hawera from Miss Maida Hooker a few dafs ago. "A musical life is a most strenuous one, and is a big strain on one's nerves all the time" she said.

Th© Mayor of Wellington's appeal on behalf of the Radium Institute in the city cam© to Wanganui by wireless the other evening. Mr. Wright spoke fluently for 17 minutes. His every word was quit© distinct. He stated that £2,500 was required to comPletflr the appeal, and this "sum the Wellington Committee hoped to get by the end of th© present montbr.-^-Chron-icle.

A good rain commenced to fall early this morning, and up to 10.80 a.m. 88 points have been recorded at Tokaora. ■■• This fall represents 88 tons to the acre, and our Tokaora correspondent reports that pastures and crops will benefit greatly. No amount of ram at this stage, however, can restore what has beee lost by the lone drought. Since the flush of the seaton the milk supply has gone down about one-third. The rainfall registered at the Hawera Post Office between 9am yesterday and 9 a.m. to-day was 15 points, making a total of IJB inches to date for tne month.

Reference was made to the question of married teachers at the meeting of the Auckland Education Board on Wednesday, the following resolution being read from the Manurewa-School Committee .-—"This committee is of opinion that, except in exceptional circumstances, when a lady teacher is married it is m the best interests of the children that she should resign from the !w 1C?iI HheT .> we are of pinion that the Education Board should have a definite policy governing such cases " The board decided to refer the matter to the Department, with an endorsement in its favour.

Writing, .to uer parents from London under date of November 27, Miss Maida Hooker makes interesting comment bearing on the price of food commodities : v 'Meat here is a price. English meat w e never buy,, as it is sold from Is 5d to Is lOd alb. We always get imported, but even that is Is 2d alb-Week-ends our butcher sells special Priced beef at 9d alb—a wonderful bargain, unsurpassed elsewhere in London. Potatoes asre about Is 6d or, Is 9d a quarter, a cauliflower (for two people) 4d, cooking apples 4d and Sd a Va, eating apples Tip to lOd and Is alb, and cabbages from 2d up." j

The, protective duty of 5-16 d per lty , pa imported refttttd sugar will apply to imports from Australia as from March 1. The duty was imposed by Parliament last session, but the terms of the tariff agreement with the Commonwealth {required six months' notice to > be given in Australia. From time to time very large tcHs have been caught ia the streams j n this district, but among the largest must be reckoned an eel caught in the Tawhiti stream just above tb,e bacon factory by Messrs. C. Amos and H. Hart just before midnight last night. •Hie fish is 4ft Bin. long, 16 inches in girth, and weighs 231bs. The eel was one of six which were speared in the stream by the two fishermen, and would make short work of any trout which they came across. The big eel bent the spear during its struggles, and though the "water was shallow at the spot its capture was by no means easy, The eel,was brought by Mr. Amos to Messrs. Bennett and Button's, where a number of people viewed it with interest this morning. An unusual letter was received recently by a business man in Hawera,

who was requested to immediately deliver a piano at a country address some 20 odd miles from the iWn. No stipulations were made concerning the quality, make or price of the piano required, but a substantial cheque was enclosed, the writer stating that the balance would be paid on delivery. Though the client was quite unknown to the business man, he promptly delivered an instrument calculated to give satisfaction to the most exacting of buyers, and received the balance payable, the transfer being made with an entire absence of the lengthy inquiries, discussion and trials which usually take place prior to such a purchase. The vendor referred tti the «vent as quite- unique in a lengthy experience of the trade, adding, however, that every precaution had been taken to ensure that his customer would have no cause to regret the rapidity with which the business had been transatced.