King Country Chronicle Saturday, March 11, 1922. THE NEW COUNTY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XVII, Issue 1647, 11 March 1922, Page 4

King Country Chronicle Saturday, March 11, 1922. THE NEW COUNTY.

The Waikato and King Country

Counties’ Act is set down to operate

from April 1, 1922 —a date which, it

is to be hoped, has no significance in

this case. On that date, according

to the Act, both counties of Wai-

tomo and Awakino are abolished and

their councils dissolved. Strange to say, no provision has been made to

carry on until the new council is

elected. The rolls have to be prepared and other matters in connec-

tion with the election arranged, and it will probably be the end of May before the new council assumes office.

Under these circumstances, an Order-

in-Council will be necessary to vali-

date any business transacted in the

interim by the respective councils

In some respects, it seems like a

needless expense to have an election at all. The Act provides that the maximum number of members in a

council shall be twelve, and as Awa-

kino has six and Waitomo also has six, now that three ridings have been ap-

propriated for the new county, there

are exactly twelve remaining. Had

there been more than twelve ridings in the two counties, an election would have been unavoidable, but in this

instance the fact that exactly twelve

remain seems to have been overlooked

in the rush to get the measure

through the House. So far as the adjustments among the three counties are concerned, if an agreement

is not reached within two months,

provision is made in the Act for the

appointment of “the Controller and Auditor-General, or such other person as the Governor-General appoints” to hold an enquiry/ and adjudicate on the matters in dispute. In such event, the award of the adjudicator is final, and is as enforceable as a

judgment of the Supreme Court. It

is to be hoped that there will be no occasion for such an appeal, but as

there are several matters over which

contention may very easily arise, it is just as well that there is a means at hand to reach finality.

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

There will be a sitting of the Magistrate’s Court on' Tuesday next.

There will be a meeting of the Borough Council on Monday evening.

A Fiji cod weighing 2021 b was on exhibition in an Auckland fish shop last week.

Three teams of Te Kuiti bowlers journeyed to Te Awamutu this morning to make an effort to regain the Challenge Cup.

A meeting of the Chamber of Commerce will be held on Tuesday, when Mi A. F. Howarth will speak on Town Tenure.

Owing to the breaking of a casting on the engine cylinder there has been a stoppage of work at the Te Kuiti Lime Works since Thursday. A new casting is expected to arrive to-day.

A message from the Chief Postmaster at Hamilton states that the formal opening of the new post office at Aria will take place next Wednesday, and that Mr W. T. Jennings, M.P., will perform the ceremony.

The name of L. Jacob was omitted in the list supplied to the Chronicle of successful candidates from the local High School for the Senior Free Place examination, which was published in last issue.

The Railway Department draw attention in the advertising columns of this issue to an advertisement in connection with the train arrangements for the Ngaruawahia Regatta, on Friday next.

Wild pigs are reported to be fairly abundant in the Tahatika district, and recently s\ settler had a dog badly mauled about by attentions From a huge boar. There are few pastimes as exhilarating as pighunting, and several local sportsmen have secured a good haul.

As the result of the dance held last Thursday the High School funds will benefit to the amount of £lO 4s 2d. Of this, part will go towards the printing of the school magazine, and with the balance it is proposed to begin a reference library at the school.

Writing to the manager of the Farmers’ Trading Co. (Mr H. L. Tempest) a settler in the Mokauiti ■'district says that owing to a telephone not having been installed at his place, although promised over two years ago, he has had to ride over 300 miles during the last six weeks to see a child of his that took ill whilst on a visit to a neighbour.

Three burly men clad in tights stood on a raised plank outside a tent at the Aria Sports yesterday, and invited all-comers to box or wrestle. The spokesman, a raucousvoiced husky, said that each man was a champion in his own line. One was champion of Canada, the other of Australia, and so on. “Gor blime,” said one of the crowd who evidently believed all he had heard, “and after that ’e asks us mugs to take ’ini on. ’E must think we’re chumps.”

“I have a very great pleasure awaiting me when I return to America,” said Bishop Locke to a Standard reporter at Palmerston North. ‘I shall open in Los Angeles—my home town —a new church, which will be the largest Methodist church in the world. It will cost thousands of dollars and will seat 3200 people. This church will be a monument to the Christian faith, since it will be elaborately decorated by New York artisans, and a 50,000-dollar organ will be installed.”

.Charles W. Paddock, University of Southern California sprint king, who broke the world’s record for the 220yard dash last summer, explains how he managed to become the “speediest man on the face of the earth.” “There is no secret to it,” he says. “My success is attributed to good condition and a powerful leg drive. I run with my legs ahead of me, not behind, as most men do. To develop a strong drive and a perfect stride I always try to keep my feet and legs in front of me. Too many runners make the mistake of throwing their bodies forward. The faster they try to go, the more they tilt themselves, and consequently they lose their driving power.”

Sheepfarmers and drovers throughout Marlborough are only too painfully aware of the losses which are usually incurred among sheep being driven through the tutu belt in the Conway country, on the road -to Christchurch, and a hint for drovers which was given to an Express representative will be of value. Recently a mob of 1635 sheep were taken through the “poison belt” with a loss of only six. The drover in charge, on observing the first spasms in a sheep, thrust a pointed stick down its nostrils and held it up till it bled freely at the nose. The sheep was then rolled on the ground, and would get up well and fit. If taken in time, this remedy proved efficacious in every case.

It is stated that a youth who was before the Magistrate’s Court at Palmerston North recently is a clever female impersonator. Whilst awaiting sentence he often sang in a high falsetto voice, much to the amusement of the police. It is related that on one occasion he successfully impersonated a female domestic servant ir. a private household for about a week. He has been convicted of stealing female attire. Among the articles with which he was charged with unlawfully obtaining were a powder puff and a box of highlyscented face powder. Recently he spoke on the telephone at Redding to a shopkeeper in a convincing female voice, which,' it is said, he can assume at will.

There are terrible wars sometimes among animals in a state of nature as well as among men in the state called civilisation. A ship steaming the other day along the West Coast of Africa ran through a battle-field covered with blood, and with the bodies of numberless combatants, dead or dying. A British Commissioner in the Gold Coast Colony, Captain Poole, has described the scene. The sea was for .miles blood-red; it took over an hour to get through the battle area. On the surface were some hundreds of whales, “all of them having suffered in the struggle. Some were just able to move slowly along; few, if any, could move quickly.” Whether the whales had been fighting among themselves, or whether they had been attacked by sword-fish, could not be discovered, for certain. The crew of the ship supposed that sword-fish had been at work. These could inflict terrible wounds in the flesh of the whales, and the unfortunate whales would have no weapons to oppose to the blades of their quick-moving adversaries. Captain Poole said it was thought on board that the expanse of sea red with blood must mean that many more whales than were visible had perished. No one in the ship had seen, or ever heard of anything approaching such a spectacle.