LOCAL AND GENERAL

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXIV, Issue 3241, 11 December 1930, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The monthly meeting of the Waitomo Power Board will be held on Monday next.

A paragraph appearing in our last issue stated that each of the containers at the new petrol dump had a 24,000 gal. capacity; this should have been 12,000 gallons.

It is understood that there is considerable oil activity in the Awakino’ district (reports the Taranaki Daily News.) A geologist has been at work for some time and has, it is stated, discovered very promising indications in the district within a four-mile radius of Awakino township. Options have been acquired over a considerable area, and it is probable that boring operations may be commenced in the near future.

A new use for discarded oil from motor-cars, etc., has been discovered by a West Gore resident (states The Press.) Last year he pointed out one or two of the trees in his orchard with used oil,»and had excellent results in brighter foliage and better fruit from the trees. This year he has extended the experiment to include practically every apple tree in his garden, and has also included some rose bushes. The old oil has a very marked effect in the destruction of insect life.

When discussing with a Wellington Post representative New Zealand’s fruit problems, Mr. R. G. Hatton, the English fruit expert, who has. just concluded a tour of the Dominion fruit areas, remarked that he found the New Zealand Press better than the English in that lectures on technical subjects were more accurately reported. “Reporters in New Zealand seem to have a wider knowledge of such subjects,” he said, “and report what one says instead of providing the public with mutilated versions.”

Two examples pf cases in which circumstantial evidence was just as cogent as direct evidence wfere given recently by Mr. Justice Blair in the Supreme Court at Napier. “If you find a trout in your milk jug,” said His Honour, “you are fairly safe in assuming that there is something more than milk there, that there is water. That is purely circumstantial evidence. Take another case. If a man sees a cat take a canary and eat it, that is direct evidence. But the circumstantial evidence is just as strong if the man comes into a room, finds a cage empty, feathers lying around, and a cat wiping feathers off its whiskers —and no canary.”

The Maori song, “E Pari Ra,” which has been harmonised and arranged for the Wanganui Choral Society by Mr. Slater for its concert, has an interesting history. The words were written by Sir Apirana Ngata (says the Herald), and set to the melody of a well-known waltz. It was originally intended as a song of farewell to the Hawke’s Bay members of the Maori Pioneer Battalion, and as such was first rendered to a Hastings audience in the form of a tableau by a Red Cross nurse and a Maori soldier. It gained instant popularity in Hawke’s Bay, and has lately been broadcasted from 2YA by the Putiki concert party.

We are informed by Mr. T. F. Richards (says the Waikato Independent), that pn Friday a local resident walked into his shop, and handing him the sum of £5, requested that five parcels of groceries and tit-bits, each to the value of £l, be sent to five families in Cambridge, whose circumstances are low, but who are honest and thrifty, and deserving of the enjoyment of a little Christmas cheer. “When I am enjoying my Christmas, I,.want to feel that I have helped at least a few of my fellow citizens to feel happier at this joyous period ot the year,” said the local resident, as he prepared to leave the store. Needless to say the person responsible for this gracious action desires to remain anonymous. Although Mr. Richards would certainly not seek publicity, we know that the parcels that are being sent to the five deserving families, are each surprising Value for £l.