LOCAL AND GENERAL

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXIX, Issue 4747, 17 September 1935, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

During the evening sessions of the Daffodil Show on Thursday and Friday cornet selections will be given by the Lee brothers. Already interest is being taken in summer sports. Working bees are employed in bringing the local tennis courts in order, and quite a number of players have seized an opportunity to get their eye in preparatory to the opening of the season. A six-roomed house was completely destroyed by fire at Paemako on the 4th instant. The building was owned by Mr. J. McDonald and was occupied by Mr. and Mrs. H. P. Aldous. Both the latter were away at the time of the outbreak, and all their furniture, and also about £l2 in cash were consumed in the flames. The furniture was not insured, though the house was covered with the State Fire Office for £240. The fire is believed to have been caused by a defective chimney.

"The check on brakes and lights, which was due to commence on August 1, has been seriously interupted by the unfavourable weather over the whole of the Dominion, and consequently only a small proportion of the vehicles were tested," stated a letter received by the Makara County Council from the Commissioner of Transport. "It has also been suggested to me that a period of one month is not sufficient to permit a comprehensive check. In view of the foregoing it has been decided to extend .the period to the end of September. It is anticipated that this extension will permit of a greater number of vehicles being checked this year as compared with last year's total."

An interesting point was raised at the meeting of the Waitomo County Council when the Aria Dairy Company asked for a G class license to carry butter from Aria to Te Kuiti. It was pointed out that about 100,boxes of butter were available, and '7O made up the tons allowable at present. The G class license was for 5% tons. This maximum was allowable for the summer months, but this provision did not operate until November. The chairman did not think it would be wise to make special concessions, but he suggested that io begin the allowance of the extra ton in October might get over the difficulty of many carriers at a time when there was much carting to be done. The engineer said the allowance of the extra ton a month earlier should not have a detrimental effect on the roads. After a general discussion it was decided to write to the Main Highways Board asking if the maximum road classification could be raised from 4% tons to 5% tons as from October 1, instead of as from November 1, upon which date it was raised in former years.

The way New Zealanders went overseas and achieved success, without any notice being taken of them in their own country, was remarked on by Mr. 0. Gillespie, organiser of New Zealand Authors' Week, in an address at Auckland. One irritating complex in New Zealand was that when a New Zealander slipped away to the older countries and achieved, as he regularly did, a brilliant success, the comment in the Dominion was, "How on earth did he do it?" said Mr. Gillespie. New Zealand wanted a little more trans-Atlantic publicity on that sort of achievement, and the proper comment should be, "Of course, he succeeded. He was a New Zealander and we have scores of others who would do as well if they had a steamer ticket."

Commenting on the suggestion sometimes made that the herbal remedies used by the Maoris should be tried by Europeans, Dr. D. Macdonald Wilson pointed out in a lecture in Wellington on Wednesday night that internal medicine was not used by the old Maoris, because it would be useless according to their ideas of the cause of ills, which was that they were due to evil spirits. After their contact with Europeans, however, they were reported to have rushed the latters' medicines, the most nauseous of which they regarded as the most efficacious, thinking that the very nastiness would frighten out the evil spirit. The old-time Maori when sick was left to himself and the priest. The natives' former external remedies, however, often had a good scientific basis.