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Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 169, 16 June 1927, Page 6

The total number of motor vehicles registered in Now Zealand lip to the end ol May is 166,079 of which 102,657 are in the North Island and 63,422 in the South Island. The price-fixing of oranges exported to New Zealand has been definitely abandoned' by the natives of the Cook Islands (states a Press Association telegram). This is evidenced by tire announcement that the steamer Waipahi left Rarotonga on Tuesday with a full cargo of 17,000 cases of oranges for Auckland.

At the annual meeting of the Canterbury Patriotic Fund Trustees yesterday it was decided that the Government be asked to take into considers! ion the advisability of restricting or prohibiting the capitalisation of soldiers’ pensions. It was stated that in many cases the Pensions Department had capitalised pensions, and that this had been to the detriment of the ex-soldiers concerned.

Scarle.fc fever, fortunately of a milil type, is at present prevalent throughout Wellington city and suburbs. With tire object of obtaining synchronisation of terms and holidays for the various educational institutions a suggested scheme of dates for 1928 was placed before the Council of Education for consideration at the annual conference at Wellington. The schemo was recommended for approval provided Tlie bodies concerned are consulted. Dense clouds spoiled a good view of the eclipse of the moon being obtained in Palmerston North last evening, although there were'occasions, both prior to and after the period of totality, when fitful • glimpses could lie seen of the satellite partially obscured by the earth’s shadow. There were a few thrilling moments in Queen Street,. Auckland, yesterday when a two-horso team, drawing a timber wagon, bolted down the crowded thoroughfare at high speed. The animals got out of control at Victoria Street, and were not pulled up till Customs Street was reached, despite the efforts of the driver. Fortunately vehicles and pedestrians managed to evade tire runaways, and the . wild career of the horses was not attended with serious results. When the case, Donald David Wilson, veterinary surgeon, of Hamilton, versus Montague Mailing, bank manager, of Hamilton, an action for £6OO for alleged slander, was called in the Hamilton Supreme Court on Tuesday, counsel for plaintiff asked leave to withdraw the case (states a Press Association telegram). Defendant’s solicitor opposed the withdrawal, as defendant still denied the slander. Plaintiff therefore consented to judgment with costs amounting to £23 2s. Arising out of a fatal accident at Hamilton on March 15, which resulted in the death of Alice Myra Morris, aged 19 years, and the subsequent trial and acquittal of a lorry-driver named Edward Miller Rouse, deceased’s father, William L. Morris, sued George Jamieson, lorry owner, in the Supreme Court at- Hamilton for £SOO compensation. Defendant paid £359 12s into court, which plaintiff accepted as a full settlement of the claim.—Press Association. The toll of winter among the aged is always heavy, even in Auckland’s milder clime (states an exchange). Many people live to a great age in the north, and the number who have reached the stage of the “sere and yercow leaf” is swelled by southerners, who retire to Auckland to spend their declining years. One morning this week in the Auckland Herald there were death notices of eight people who had passed the allotted span of three score years and ten. They included two nonagenarians and four octogenarians. Their united ages totalled 666 years, an average of 83 years each. In order to ensure that country school service is shared more evenly than at present amongst the members of the teaching staffs, the Council of Education has asked the Minister to tako action to ensure that all teachers will give adequate service in country schools by providing that an education board may not appoint an applicant to fill a permanent position in an urban or suburban school unless the applicant has rendered adequate country service or the senior inspector recommends that no other applicant is «uitable to fill the vacancy. It was stated that the action of some teachers in avoiding country service altogether made it necessary that an undue share of this service be performed by the rest. The object of the resolution was to obtain an improved distribution of country service amongst the whole staff.