LOCAL AND GENERAL.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XVIII, Issue 1858, 6 September 1923, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Te Kuiti Borough Council will, in future, meet at monthly intervals, instead of fortnightly as previously. Matters of a routine nature, such as applications for driving licences, etc., will be attended to by the Mayor and ■town clerk. The change is in the nature of an experiment, and will be tried for three months.

The ratepayers' poll on the proposal to borrow £6OOO, to be spent in improving the borough streets, will be taken on Tuesday, October 9.

The rainfall for the month of August is indicated by the gauge at the Bank of New Zealand to be 2.99 inches, compared with 7.39 inches for August, 1922. 39.21 inches have fallen for the year to date compared with 35.22 inches for the corresponding period last year.

During the month of August, 13 births were recorded in Te Kuiti. There were two deaths.

City clerks and other office workers are earning good wages as bricklayers in New York; they are being "ttajned at the Y.M.C.A., where classes are also held in plastering and other building operations.

Doomed was the fatted calf! A Fordell farmer had sold him to a butcher in a distant town (relates the Wanganui Chronicle) so one of the hands was deputed to lead him to the station, the only "packing" being an addressed label suspended from his neck. Two hours later the farmer was surprised to see his employee strolling casually back, the calf walking placidly behind him. "Here man!" shouted the angry farmer. "What on earth are you doing? That animal ought to have gone by train!" " 'Taint my fault," said the farm hand. "The brute's been an et up where he was goin'!"

F. A. Smuts-Kennedy, an* ex-Gis-borne publican, who was present at a meeting of his creditors at Wellington last week, said: "My hotel, the Gisborne, was essentially a 'squatter's' house," declared the bankrupt in his statement, "but Gisborne has never before experienced such depression as was the case when I took over. I read a statement of Mr Massey's in which he declared everything was going up, but the hotel turned out to be a veritable 'white elephant,' and things were not all they were made out to be."

When an auctioneer at a Wanganui sale announced that the next lot for disposal was a signboard (reports the Chronicle), bidding opened at 2s 6d, and an elderly lady, after running it up to 10s, found that she was the lucky purchaser. She paid the 10s, and sought her purchase, and that led to much in the way of protestations as she was under the impression that she had bought a sideboard.

To lose the sight of his right eye and then lose his house, together with its contents, including £250 in notes received from an insurance company by. way of compensation, is the misfortune that has befallen Mr Len. Wood, an old New Plymouth boy, who was burnt out at Awakino recently. He was struck in the eye by a flying ..» staple whilst fencing, and the loss of sight of that eye eventually resulted. Last week, as reported, the house in which he was living, together with his workmates, was burnt to the ground, and besides much valuable gear £250 in notes was destroyed, the money he had reecived in compensation for the ' loss of sight. ,£o

"Ther are just as many cull farmers as there are cull cows in the districts," states a critic of a. certain court the other day (relates ait exchange). : ;

We have to hold over several letters sent in, but these will appear on Saturday next.

Final arrangements are complete for life grand railway ball to be held in the Municipal Hall to-morrow evening. A feature will be the orchestra of four players.

An attractive display of produce and cakes at tempting prices is promised for the Rora Street stall tomorrow, when many novel guessing competitions will also take place.

A floral service is being held in the Methodist Church on Sunday evening. The subject of the address will be "The Message of Spring." Special anthems will be rendered by the choir.

A Press Association message announces that a five-roomed house at Takapuna, owned by Mr C. O. Platts, of the Valuation Department, and occupied by E. Gahagon, was completely destroyed by fire last night. The whole of the contents were lost.

Mr H. L. Tempest, secretary of the A. and P. Association, announces that the effort to enrol members is meeting with marked success. Mr W. J. Tappin, one of the canvassers, states that so far as his district is concerned he has not had a single refusal.

Word has been received by the Chamber of Commerce from the Hon. C. J. Parr, Minister of Education, that he hoped to be able to visit the district during the recess and meet members of the Chamber to discuss the matter of consolidated schools.

"Love will find a way." At the meeting of the West End School Committee (Palmerston North), the headmaster related how the teachers' room was proving popular among

couples of the town. He stated that

a young man was seen one evening a s entering a front window, and his lady friend wandered round to the back door, which was then opened by her swain. "There is a comfortable settee in the' teachers' room," added the speaker. .

At a meeting of the committee of the Boxing Association held last evening it was decided to proceed with the boxing classes immediately, with Messrs McPherson Bros, as the instructors, and hold two classes each week. A very suitable room has been secured, and the classes should be a great success. It is also proposed to hold a boxing tournament at the end of October or early in November.