LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXXII, Issue 2767, 26 August 1931, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A new issue of postal notes in 39 denominations, ranging from Is to £l, including notes for every whole shilling and whole shilling and sixpence, will be available on September Ist.

The assistance of the Associated Chambers of Commerce is to be sought by the Pukekohe Chamber, in urging the Government to reduce the private letter box fee from £1 10s to £l. A remit on the subject is to be placed before the annual conference in Wellington in October.

The funeral of the late Mr S. J. Laughlin, which took’ place at Paeroa yesterday afternoon, was well attended by Netherton and Paeroa residents and by representatives of the local bodies and institutions with which he had been connected. x The ceremony was conducted by the Rev. J. Lowden.

The wettest place iri New Zealand last year, according to the Government Meteorologist, was the Hostel at Milford Sound, where 214.90 inches of rain were recorded. Alexandra, Otago, had the least rain of any place in New Zealand, the year’s total being but ten inches.

Referring at the annual meeting of the Manutahi Dairy Company recently to the question of butterfat supplied, Mr S. C. Tonks said that the average per supplying shareholder for the year would work out at about 30,000 lbs. He questioned if this could be exceeded by any factory in Australasia,

Rainfall totals for the year 1930 are shown in the latest issue cf the New Zealand Gazette as being 42.97 inches on 184 ddys at Paeroa. 34.81 inches on 161 days at Kopuarahi (Mr G. H. White’s gauge), 37.72 inches on 146 days at the Lands Office, Kere"peehi, and 65.02 inches on 165 days at Waihi.

The altitude of Paeroa (Public Works Department Office) is shown in a statement published by the Government Meteorological Department as being 27 feet. The Lands Department’s Office at Kerepeehi is shown as 40 feet, and the Waihi Borough Engineer’s Office as 340 feet.

Revenue for outward freight s collected at the Paeroa railway station for the last financial year is given in the annual statement as £11,005, made up of ordinary passengers, £3,994; season tickets, £94; parcels, luggage and mails, £1,934; goods, £10,942; and miscellaneous, £5l. Paeroa’s total is almost equal to that of Thames and Waihi combined or Te Aroha and Waihi combined.

A steady increase in the sales of Australian and other Empire produce in the United Kingdom is recorded in the annual report of the Empire Marketing Board just published. “The growing habit of buying from within the Empire has attained an impetus in the United Kingdom,” states the i eport, “which even the world wide economic depression has been powerless to retard.”

' Thames Valley primary school footballers were beaten by three to nil by the Auckland Central team in the first matches of the Northern Roller Mills tourney at Hamilton yesterday. Other results were: Hamilton, 8, beat Morrinsville, 3; Auckland South, 40, beat Cambridge. 0; South Auckland. 9, beat Auckland North, 0; Lower Waikato, 6, beat Waipa, 5.

According to the annual Railways Statement, released by the Minister of Railways last afternoon, the number of passenger outward journeys credited to .Paeroa was 25,746, of which 1,177 were first class and 24,569 were second class. The totals for other stations in round thousands are Thames 11, Waihi 10, Tauranga 20, Taneatua 15, Rotorua 25, Matamata 18, Morrinsville 20, Hamilton 59, Pukekohe 22, and Frankton Junction 96.

The number of cattle and calves railed from Paeroa last year, according to the. annual railway statement released yesterday afternoon was 23,077, which is more than the total from any other station in New Zealand, with the exception of Normanby (32,541), Morrinsville (29,832), Eltham (26,450), and Matamata (24,566). These five stations account for about one fifth of the total cattle and calves railed in the North Island, and total over 50 per cent, more than the total for the whole of the South Island. Pigs are included with, sheep, so Paeroa’s total of 19,878 is well down in the list. Hair Beginning to recede? Time to use Brice’s Special Regenerator, 5/6, and Circassian Cream, 2/-. — C. . N. O’Loughlin, Hairdresser.* Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure For Children’s Hacking Cough

The applications for the position of inspector to the Hauraki Plains County close to-day. Goods brought to Paeroa bv the railway last financial year totalled 14,714 tons and 11,213 tons were forwarded from Paeroa. This excludes live stock and timber, of which 1,142 superficial feet were railed out and 5,764 superficial feet were recei .’ed. At the Magistrate’s Court, Thames, on Friday, fines of 10s and costs were imposed on Joseph Henry Sarjant, of Netherton, for driving a tractor on the Pipiroa Road without a light and on Niko Ruatoto. for not having his motor lorry equipped with two independent brakes. Sarjant was delayed on his journey till after darkness had fallen and the Maori had overtaken and collided with him. “An option to purchase is the most valuable thing you can have. It is so valuable that nobody but a lunatic gives one,” said Mr Justice Blair in the Wanganui Supreme Court during the hearing of a case'concerning , a leasehold farm. It bound one party, and did not bind the other, he said. One man only could profit, and not lose; the other could not iirofit. The three main divisions in education—primary, technical and secondary—were likened to the three famous characters in “The- Merchant of Venice,” by J. Stewart, M.A., principal of Marlborough College, in a recent speech. Antonio, representing primary education, the hero of, the educational play; technical education was Bassanio, the spendthrift, while secondary was the Shylock or the piece, the villain of the play. here am I representing the villairTof the educational play!” exclaimed Mr Stewart, amid laughter. ' X An example of the unconscious humour of the Maori is afforded by the following letter received this week by a Paeroa settler, who had to shoot a horse which was on his property for the reason that it had a broken leg. . The letter was as follows: “Kindly, if you please, paid the sum of 15 pounds for my dear lovely ponney that I here is dead with out me seened. Dear Dave, we are in a pad hearted and pad times for the lovely ponnis the only horse and the pest hors that we goted from my mare and in the ’ place.” ■ x The Borough of Thames, which has a population of 4,700 odd and a public debt of £316,000 odd, has over £15,000 of outstanding rates, only having been able to collect about 75 per cent, in the-past three years. The recent revaluation of the land in the Borough reduced the total by almost one quarter and thus in an endeavour to meet its commitments the Borough Council has had to increase the rates from Is 7 17-40 d to 3s Jd in the & on the unimproved valuation. With such an increase it is obvious that many less ratepayers will be able to ■ pay, so that it is difficult to say what -• the result will be. As the result of a . visit to Wellington by the Mayor to place the financial position before the Government.and the heads of interested financial institutions, an auditor is J now examining the position. .Because of scarcity of fefcd, numbers of stock are to be seen grazing on the roadside in various parts of the Wairarapa , The matter 3vas mentioned at a recent meeting of the Masterton County Council, and again at the last meeting of the Featherston County Council, when it was stated that a well-known settler of the Lower Valley had over 3,000 sheep on the roads in different parts of the county. This farmer had been threatened with impounding proceedings, and wrote to ■ the meeting asking- under what section of the Impounding Act he was liable, seeing that the sheep' were being driven three miles a day. It was alleged that special men had been employed to keep the sheep moving with the evident intention of securing cheap grazing. Returns of the quantities of lime used in New Zealand for the year ended March 31st last show a decrease of 10 per cent., compared with the previous year. In the South Island the decrease amounts to over 20 per cent., but the quantity used in the North Island—which is considerably less than that in the South Island—shows a fairly substantial increase, amounting to 20 per cent., thus ■ reducing the total decrease for the Dominion. During the past year, 154,293 tons of lime were delivered at officered railway stations' compared with 171,530 tons similarly handled in the previous year. In the . South Island 81,615 tons were delivered, compared with 111,063 tons the previous year, and in the North Island 72,678 tons, compared with 60,467 tons. Hair falling at temples? Apply Brice’s Special Regenerator, 5/6, and Circassian Cream.—Obtainable C. N. O’Loughlin, Hairdresser.*