LOCAL AND GENERAL

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3445, 19 March 1932, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

"Living amongst them for three years and a half, I found the Japanese the mildest people in the world," said Mr. J. A. Brailsford in the course of a lecture in Palmerston North the other night concerning the Far East.

The authority for the No. 5 district appointed under the Transport Licensing Act concluded its business at New Plymouth on Wednesday, and opened its sitting at Wanganui yesterday, while the final sitting this year connected, with the issue of licenses for passenger services will be at Te Kuiti on Wednesday next.

The Friendly Society Club have been compelled through insufficient nominations to abandon the whole of the chopping events for the Easter Saturday sports. The running and cycling events, however, have received splendid support, likewise the dancing and piping. The Club contemplates additional cycling events in place of chopping.

Summer time will end to-morrow morning, Sunday, March 20, at 2 o'clock, when ,-the clocks will be put back 30 minutes. There was some talk of summer time being extended over Easter as it was so early this year, but nothing has resulted. The loss of the half-hour in the evenings will be noticed a great deal for some days.

New Zealand is likely to suffer' a shortage of honey this year, as the season for beekeepers in Canterbury has been what one .of them described as "a hopeless failure," and it appears that production in the North Island has been below expectations, though not to such an extent as in Canterbury (states the Sun). The recent rain in this district came too late to provide an autumn honey flow, and the bees are beginning to lose strength. Very few beekeepers will be able to carry on through the winter and spring without feeding large quantities of sugar to their colonies. One man expects to have to use nine tons of sugar for this purpose.

A small number of bogus , halfcrowns are believed to be in circulation in Rotorua at present. One specimen, which was passed at a dance hall recently, has been impounded by the police, who are making inquiries regarding the matter. The coin held by the police is a fair imitation of the face of a half-crown, but is noticeably light in weight and burred in a manner which immediately places it under suspicion. The material used in the manufacture of the coin appears to be chiefly lead and the coin has the dull appearance of this metal.

"I do not want to use Canadian flour if I can possibly avoid it," remarked a Wanganui baker to a reporter, "for the reason that I am quite satisfied with the New Zealand flour. • Canadian flour has certain qualities to commend it from a hardening and drying point of view, but my experience is that my customers do not want dry bread. .As an experienced baker I will say without hesitation that New Zealand flour is the finest in the world, so why go to Canada for an article that you have in this country?"

In the north of Australia there is a great province of 520,000 square miles —the Northern Territory—that has only from 3000 to 4000 people. Flyers from Australia to England take off from Port Darwin, its chief town, and those from-England make there the first landing on Australian soil. It is good cattle country, and although it has yet to be fully explored, there are indications that it secrets supplies *• of gold, lead, silver, tantalite, wolfram, and other metals. Sportsmen occasionally visit the Territory to shoot buffalo, kangaroo, crocodiles, and birds. ThV Federal Government took over this vast estate from South Australia 20 years ago, and it is more inclined, as Government enterprise disappoints, to grant valuable concessions to private enterprise. Outside capital has a good opportunity, and it would be welcomed.

A cricket team from the Te Kuiti District «High School is playing a return match with the Otorohanga School at Otorohanga to-day.

The Hamill Shield matches to be played to-day are the last of the contest to be played this season. Old Boys A are one point ahead of Pio Pio, so that to-day's game will be the deciding factor in the winning of the shield.

The attention of our readers is directed to our advertising columns in to-day's issue wherein will be found particulars of train arrangements for the Easter Holidays. " Sport? at Te Kuiti on 26th and at Otorohanga on 28th March are events of local interest. It will be 'noted that the Auck-land-Wellington Daylight Limited expresses commence running on 22nd March and continue daily (Sunday, 27th March, excepted) until 29th March inclusive.

Some radical changes come with, startling suddenness, and the latest is a decree issued by the British Army. Council that, in. future, battalion cooks must go. on parade. All sorts of long-established precedents will have to go Ay the board. What the cooks will have to say will probably not be published, but is can be taken for granted that their comments will be both pointed and emphatic. The new order' 'states that "the personnel ernployed in the Quartermasters' stores" will also.go on parade, which proves beyond all doubt that this Army Council decree is of a revolutionary character. But, as some of the cooks are men of rather stout build, there will be some trouble for the platoon sergeants when the order is given: "Right Dress."

"I wonder if we do anything in this country without a 'comrmssion?'•" asked Mr. A. McLean at a meeting of the Southern Hawke's Bay provincial executive of the Farmers' Union when referring to the number of commissions recently appointed. Speaking of the commission set up under the Mortgagors Relief Act, the president (Mr. J. Livingston) remarked that although he was a member of a land board, he was of the opinion that the whole of this work could have been done by these boards. He was quite satisfied the commission need not have been appointed. He would have been in favour of the appointment of an honorary commission which have acted in an advisory capacity.

"People are finding it too expensive to be sick and have doctors attend them in. these times," said a woman qualified to express an opinion-; in Chris tchurch. "Doctors in-the city all complain that the little maladies which used to require their ministrations do not seem to need them now. The number of children with sickness has fallen," too. It appears that they get fewer pennies, and cannot afford to indulge in the sickly sweets which are their joy. This is the case with their parents also. Where a patient has to go to hospital, he or she would rather take a free. ambulance than pay for a taxi, as was the custom not so long ago. - Even with cheap taxi fares, they are not prepared for, or cannot go to that expense."

In Wellington city, it is stated by the municipal authorities, there are 800 motor cars which are parked in the streets all night because they have not got a roof to cover their heads. Their owners sleep in their warm beds, but leave their trusty cars out in the cold and wet, unsheltered, forlorn, all, all alone, and expect them there all safe in the morning, waiting for them. Naturally the civic authorities are now proposing to put a stop to this- casual way with cars, and are setting a limit to the all-night parking practice; it must cease, the owners must find garages for their vehicles. The car owner has become so accustomed to the idea the public streets are to do as he pleases with that the Council's decision has come as an- unpleasant shock, and he is asking how on earth is he to find accommodation.