LOCAL AND GENERAL

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXIX, Issue 4693, 14 May 1935, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

"This is the second round of the contest in the interpleader case with which you are familiar," said Mr. A. Paterson, in introducing the Keng Joe v. Paine case to Mr. H. Levien, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court yesterday. "Well, it is not rightly the second round, but probably the fifth," countered the Magistrate. "However, there does not appear to be a knockout as yet."

The effects of the paspalum grass disease are now evident in North Waikato as far as Ngarua. As in other parts, the sticky gum substance affects the seed stalks, and the effect on cattle eating the grass is that they stagger when walking, and there is a droooing of the hindquarters, which might indicate that they have been poisoned. As yet the disease is not of a far-reaching nature, but it is causing some concern, especially among landholders who have hitherto praised the virtues of paspalum, which in recent years has proved a splendid stand-by for dairy farmers in dry seasons.

The opinion that the lighting of Waitom Caves did not compare at all favourably with the arrangements at Jenolan Caves in Australia was expressed by members of a farmers' party who visited Waitomo recently. The majority of the members of this party visited Australia during the Centenary celebrations, when they inspected' the Jenolan Caves. It was pointed out that whereas at Jenolan all the lights in the caves were hidden and placed to the best advantage, at Waitomo they were fixed in brackets, while many of the lights were not suitably placed.

"It is unfortunate for the committee that teachers are compelled to to transfer from school to school for the purpose of gaining- promotion," states the annual report of the Newtown school committee, Wellington. "While the regulation which aims at transfer at the end of the school years is calculated to bring some slight relief, the committee considers that the frequent interchanging of staffs will not be remedied until provision is made for teachers to rise in the schools in which they are working. We have lost many valuable teachers owing to the nomadic conditions of the service. We cannot believe that the system is satisfactory to the teachers themselves, and the effect on the scholars is certainly not too good."

News that the start of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith's trans-Tasman jubilee air mail flight had been postponed till to-morrow morning was received at New Plymouth early last night by Mr. S. E.' Nielson, and members of the Airport Board were informed. The cable merely stated that'the weather report was that a depression was centred over the middle of the Tasman and that the flight would be made on Wednesday. Preparations are already complete at the New Plymouth aerodrome and will stand until the arrival of the fliers. No difficulty is expected in landing or taking off with mails from the newly graded portion of the ground, but it is thought inadvisable to run fully loaded machines on the new runway as filled portions may be a little soft and retard the take-off. Consequently on the return flight the two machines will pick up the mails at New Plymouth and proceed to Ninety Mile J3each for refuelling.