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Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 182, 3 July 1936, Page 8

For the year ended A fall 30 last, 40,578 gross of crown seals for bottles were imported into New Zealand from overseas, according to a statement made in the Arbitration Court yesterday in Wellington. Frost fish, delicate-tasting denizens of coastal waters, have been unusually plentiful in Auckland this year, and this week, following a good catch near Tauranga, they were being retailed in Auckland at the exceptionally low price of 4d a Jb. Frost fish are sometimes found on the beaches after high tides at full moon. An indication that the New Zealand Farmers’ Union had seriously undertaken the task of finding a satisfactory agreement about the wages to be paid to farm workers was given by a member of the Dominion executive of the union, Mr W. W. Mulholland, in Christchurch. At the same time, Mr Mulholland made it clear that tlie industry was not thought capable of bearing wages to the level offered by the Public Works Department. Twenty years ago this week there was begun one of tho most important engagements of the Great War, the Battle of the Somme, which was launched on July 1, 1910. That was a tragic day for British arffis, but a day that virtually turned tho tide that led in the end to the Allied victory. The flower of British manhood assaulted the German Army at the zenith of its confidence on a front which had been fortified for about two years. The great attack was almost a complete failure, experience and knowledge triumphing over unskilful courage. Nearly 60,000 of tlie best and bravest of the nation fell, and over 20,000 were killed.

Aii pel weighing 2711>. ivas caught in a ditch leading oft" Whiritoa Lake, on No. 1 Lino, near Wanganui, this week. Advice has been received that there has been a good fia.ll of snow at the Tongariro National Park. Week-end conditions should be excellent for skiing. It was decided at a meeting of the executive of the Waikato Winter Show Association that next year's fixture should extend over five days instead of eight. The Minister of Defence has approved of plans for the construction of a, new reinforced concrete training wharf at the Devonport Naval Base, at an estimated costs of £18,750.

An aged Maori woman, said to be 106, Mis Ruilii Waddy, has died at her home at Puatai, Whangara. Mrs Waddy, who had been married three times, outlived her three husbands and also six of her eight children. A dead whale, lloating right in the track of shipping, was signted at 1) o’clock yesterday morning off the Honeycomb Hocks lighthouse between Castlcpoint and Cape Palliser, by tho steamer Wainui, which arrived at Wellington from Gisborne in the afternoon.

Expenditure on new buildings in the Auckland city area during the first six months of this year was more than double that in the same period. lasi year. The total for the half-year was £419,241, as against £202,399 for the first half of 1935 and £260,673 for the first six months of 1934.

According to a statement made in Wellington yesterday by the Prime Minister (lit. Hon. M. J. Savage), the Government are considering plans to restore the 1931 wage level to employees who are not at present under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, or any other industrial legislation. Only three times in the last 50 years has less rain fallen in Auckland in June than in the past month, when the aggregate" fall was only 2.88 inches, whereas in June last year the fall of 6.90 inches was the highest for eight years. A record low June rainfall was experienced in 1891, and in 1913, when only 1.47 inches fell. The annual estimates of the No. 5 District Highways Council provide for the elimination of a number of level crossings in Hawke’s Bay, including the crossing near Tahoraite siding, in the Dannevirke County, estimated to cost £6000; and the crossing on Great-ford-Woodville main highway, 1 i miles west of Woodville, £7OOO.

The annual 'conference of the Royal Agricultural Society concluded yesteiday in Wellington. The conference carried a remit from the Manawatu A. and P. Association urging that representations be made to the Government for tho restoration of the annual grant to the societj-. The grant has been withheld for several years.

Missing from his home since June 14, Thomas O Connell, aged 14, ot Ohakuue, is believed to have travelled to Auckland. His absence is causing his parents, -Mr and Mrs M. O’Connell, considerable anxiety. When the boy left his home he was wearing a grey school helmet, a black .overcoat, working trousers on top of grey shorts, and school stockings and boots, and was ruling a practically new cycle. Experiments are being made in South Africa, as in New Zealand, with railcars, according to Mr F. Looker, a retired member of the Union’s railway staff, who is now visiting Palmerston North. He termed them “Diesel coaches” and said that several had been built and were being tested. The officials of the railways were very wideawake to possible improvements and any such developments were being fully investigated. Mr P. S. Larcomb, secretary of the Palmerston North 50,00 Club writes: The Napier Thirty Thousand Club as a goodwill gesture to the Palmerston North 50,000 Club has arranged for the appearnce in the Opera House on Saturday night of the ■‘Frivolity Minstrels,” a company of 28 with an orchestra of 12. Having seen the programme to be presented may I commend the entertainment to citizens P Everyone, young and old, should make a point of being in attendance. A capacity house would show appreciation of the Napier club’s friendly gesture. Astonishment at the . number of wooden houses in New Zealand was expressed by Mr F. Looker, of Johannesburg, who is visiting Palmerston North, in an interview with a “Standard” reporter to-day. Mr Looker said that in the Union of South Africa a wooden house was considered a rather tumble-down “shack” —winch practically all of them were. The municipalities were eliminating the wooden houses as quickly as they could and permits were not given to build in wood or boarding. Brick was extensively used as a building material for homes.

The highest speed attained by a regular train on the South Airman railways (which have the same gauge as those ill New Zealand) was 70 miles an hour, said Air E. Looker,. a retired railway official from the Union, whentalking with a reporter to-day. That speed was reached on a section of the Ciapetown-Johannesbu r g trip, the total of 956 miles taking 28 hours. Obtaining an adequate supply of water at convenient points presented some difficulty in South Africa and numbers of stoppages were required, for the engines to replenish their supply from overhead tanks.

The domestic quarters of Andrew’s and the Masonic Hotels at Dannevirke were visited by some unauthorised person early on Wednesday evening, presumably during the dinner hour. In Andrew’s Hotel a waitress had £4 in notes and 10s in silver taken from a purse in her room, and another waitress lost three shillings. A barman at the Masonic Hotel lost a valuable watch and chain, and a chet had a watch chain, on which were attached a medal and a piece of jewellery, removed from his room. A bedroom in the downstairs portion of the Criterion private hotel was also entered. The police have the matter m hand.