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Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 4, 4 December 1931, Page 6

A mild frost was recorded in Hamilton on Wednesday morning.

In a school forestry competition held in the Wellington education district, the Ballance School obtained third plaoe with 90 marks. An unusual experience befel a Wellington motorist whose car on Wednesday was extensively used for conveying electors to the polls. On examining one of his tyres which had been punctured he found that it had picked up a live cartridge. Referring to recent reports from Wellington that considerable dpmage had been done at Paraparaumu by a midnight prowler, the Otaki correspondent states that from investigations made it appears that the reports are greatly exaggerated. A nest of eight katipo spiders with a dozen eggs, each containing three or four dozen katipos in embryo, was discovered in the .garden of a private house at North Beach, Christchurch, on Monday, by Mr E. C. Larsen. Two of the spiders were captured alive and taken by Mr Larsen to a chemist’s shop in the city, where they were placed in a bottle of spirit. From 11.30 a.m. to 11.50 a.m. yesterday, in perfect weather, all Wellington witnessed an interesting solar spectacle —a halo round the sun. This halo took the form of a dun-coloured cloud, through which the rays of the sun penetrated with a lessened strength, giving the impression of filtered sunshine. The great dark halo round the sun is said to be caused by the light clouds which are passing over the sun being composed, in part at all events, of minute particles of Reporting on business transacted in committee at this week’s meeting of the Auckland Education Board, the chairman Mr A. Burns, said that it had been’ decided to give three months’ notice of dismissal to a number of married women teachers. Originally the positions of 132 married women teachers had been under review and this number had been reduced, after investigation of the circumstances, to 52. Of the 52 who in the opinion of the board should be dismissed under the authority of the recent Finance Act, vseveral had tendered their resignations and the remainder would now be served with notices of dismissal.

Political predictions are notoriously unreliable, and the National Government’s victory in Great Britain on October 27 was so overwhelming that few publicists had the audacity to predict it. Nevertheless, one political writer in London was remarkably accurate in his forecast. Yvriting' on October 20, he said: ‘‘l see no reason why 400 Tories should not be returned. Will not Messrs MacDonald, Snowden and Thomas draw after them a baker’s dozen of National Socialists? And cannot the Liberals who follow Sir John Simon, and those who follow Sir Herbert Samuel be counted on for another 50? A couple of motor coaches will hold the Labour Socialists in the New Parliament.” On election day there were returned 470 Conservatives, 13 National Labour, 65 National Liberals, and five Independents. The Labour members number 51, and others in the Opposition 11,

The Hamilton Borough Council is erecting new municipal buildings at a cost of £IO,OOO. Attached to this afternoon’s express from Napier were two carriages containing wool buyers returning south for the Napier sale.

November was a particularly dry month in Napier, the total rainfall being only 0.18 inches. It was the driest November since 1928.

A stalk of prairie grass much longer than the usual three or four feet was exhibited the other day in New Plymouth. The stalk, which was only one of a patch, was seven feet six inches high. *

The number of aeroplanes to be present at the pageant to-morrow afternoon has now been increased to 17. This is a much greater number than have ever before assembled in Palmerston North.

An offer to write out a cheque for £IOOO if it could be proved that lie had broken one pledge was made by Hr A. J. Stallworthy, Coalition candidate for Eden, at his concluding meeting on Tuesday evening. Fire completely destroyed Dyer’s Hall, one of the oldest buildings in Panmure, Auckland, last evening. The outbreak, which is believed to have been caused by smouldering scrub, occurred shortly before nine o’clock, the hall being unoccupied at the time.

Commenting on the display of cut blooms at yesterday’s flower show at Ashhurst, the judge, Mr C. D. Hepburn, of Palmertson North, stated that, no matter what the season was like, Ashhurst district always appeared to be capable of producing splendid geraniums.

Mr John McWatters, of Tararu, Thames, who celebrated his 95th birthday this week, is stated to be the last survivor of the Thames battery amalgamators, a class of experts in quartz treatment who figured largely up to 40 years ago, but for whose skill there is now no demand.

A quantity of timber, believed to be the remains of a forest buried ages ago, was unearthed by a machine-dig-ger which was being used in connection with sewer excavation at Sackville Street, New Plymouth. This timber is well preserved and of small dimensions at the depth reached. When dried it burnt with a strong sulphurous smell. “It will be news to you to hear that Hon. Downie Stewart and I went to the same Sunday school, where we were taught by his father, Hon. Downie Stewart,” said Mr J. W. McMillan when addressing electors at Inglewood. “That is where Mr Stewart and I learnt our finance (Laughter). You can’t beat a Scotch-Presbyterian institution for teaching you sound finance.”

“It might be a wild dream, but in the future I would like to see town children taken into the country for their education instead of seeing the country children brought into the town,” said Mr F. Gawith, a defeated Reform candidate for Stratford, at Opunake. The country was the natural element of children, he said, and immediately a town child could get into a paddock it ran about for sheer joy. This year the customary prizegiving ceremony in connection with the Palmerston North Technical School will be replaced by a presentation of certificates only in the Empire nail on Monday afternoon. The practice of procuring a speaker from another centre also will not.be followed. The economic conditions at present prevailing have dictated the course being followed in eliminating the prizes and limiting the extent of the ceremony. The school will break up on Tuesday afternoon. A member of the native race was given permission to ask a question at a political meeting in Whangarei. “If it only takes 14 bullocks to haul a log out of a gully,” he queried, “why cannot the affairs of the country be righted by a team of as many men?” (Laughter.) The candidate presumed that the questioner advocated a reduction in the number of Parliamentarians, a view which, after travelling the length' and breadth of Marsden, an electorate which was not as large as many others, he said he could not agree with. Two bell boys on the Matson steamer Sierra, which arrived at Auckland from Sydney the other day, are making the trip in order to earn money to allow them to complete their college education. When they are not on duty, ,they occupy their time in “swatting.” An older member of the crew of the ship remembers that a lad who years ago made several trips as a bell boy on a steamer so that he might be able to finish his college course in San Francisco is now a vice-president of one of the biggest steel corporations in the world.

The fact that in the public service it is well-nigh universally recognised that employees of the State are obliged to refrain from taking active part in politics, compels commendation, states the Public Service Journal. “The mental discipline thus enforced,” says the journal, “may not infrequently be severe to a public servant of strong convictions, particularly when he is smarting under a sense of the treatment of a Government which is facing the electors. Nevertheless, he derives compensation in more ways than one. He is preserved, for instance, from the uneasiness and unrest which permeates services under political control in other lands, where ‘colour’ is sometimes the prime qualification for appointment, promotion —and dismissal.”

There are signs of a diminution in the plague of grass grub beetles in the Manawaru and Gordon districts, near Te Arolia, but the ravages of the pests have extended to almost every farm in the neighbourhood. For the past month farmers have had an anxious time. At night, when the beetles do their scouting for food, they alight on the trees in swarms, and any cattle in their path become very frightened, racing round the paddocks in an alarming manner. The presence of such enormous swarms indicates an even greater danger from both the grub and the beetle next year, when the eggs deposited in the soil have hatched. It is feared that unless some effort is made to check them, the insects will prove a menace to the dairying industry. Although she_will never go to sea again—for the very good reason that most of her engines have been removed —H.M.S. Philomel, the training ship of the New Zealand Division, has a proud record of service. The standard 3 ass of the warship is among the its at the naval base at Devonport, and visitors are informed that her record is as followslß94, Bohenie Creek Expedition ; 1896 ; Bombardment of Zanzibar ; 1897, Benin Expedition; 189919Q0, South African Naval Brigade; 1914, transferred to the New Zealand Brigade ; 1914, Capture of Samoa; 191418, convoy of troops to Europe during the Great War. Classed as a light cruiser, with 16 guns, the Philomel (2575 tons) was launched at Devonport, England, in 1890. Among the men of the Navy she is familiarly referred to as “old fighting Pliilly.” Incidentally she is the fifth British warship of her name.

For the traveller, or a sick friend, No. 52 Lavender is a delightful gift. Packed ill dainty flasks and bottles (glass stopper or sprinkler tops). Prices 2s 6d to 18s 6d. All chemists. —Advb,