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Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6626, 13 August 1931, Page 6

Tho timber for the work of building a now docking on the Ashhurst bridge is now on the sceno and operations will eommonco almost immediately. The surfaco of the bridge is considered by motorists as being very bad and the knowledge that repairs are to bo effected will bo appreciated. The new Manawatu Gorgo bridgo is now in constant uso and five stone piers are all that remain of the old wooden structure, which was recently burnt after being partially demolished. Several workmen are still engaged in cloaring away material used during the constructional period.

A new process for making articles of tublo ware such as forks and spoons, iiaving tho appearance of real gold, and at loss than similar articles can be produced in electro-plated nickel silver, lias been discovered in Sheffield and the articles arc proving to be in steady demand, states a cable message. A familiar feature of race meetings at liicearton was absent on Tuesday. There was no band. Old racegoers were unable to recall a previous occasion when a Grand National mooting was conducted without a band. . The absence of a band, however, did not mean that there was no music. Loudspeakers were, placed in the grounds, and a gramophone and an amplifier did tho rest. But though there was music, most racegoers missed the band. Men scattered with a speed and nimblencss that would have done distinct credit to any All Black ilvo-cighth when a long-horned bullock escaped from tho race and careered about the deck of the Foxtou, loading 56 cattle, in Wanganui on Tuesday night for Lyttelton, states tho Chronicle. The animals wero being driven up a race, the gate of which being shut after each bullock. One beast escaped from tlie raco before tho door was closed, and gave about eight men on bourd several minutes’ vivid interest in life. Eventually, after half an hour of “freodom” on tho dock of the Foxton, the bullock was iassoued and successfully lowered into the hold with tho rest. “Child labour is used cxtensivoJy in Persia, in the manufacture of carpets, which arc entirely hand-made,” said the Bov. W. Wilson Cash at Christchurch, when relating his experiences in Persia, reports The Press. “Young girls arc signed on at the ago of eight for a period of live years, receiving Eld in. wages for tho wholo period. They work generally j-2 hours a day, sitting on a board suspended beside tho weaving frames. To prevent themselves from falling they liavo to double their legs under the hoard and the result ol maintaining this cramped position for long periods is that they become stunted and permanently deformed. At tho end of their fivo ycars v they are taken from tho looms and married, for it is considered shameful for a Persian woman to remain single.” A mishap which might have been attended by far more serious results occurred on a farm at Makirikiri a few days ago when frost was responsible for a power line falling across a paddock through which a line herd of Jersey cows was later driven to the milking shed. One animal touched the live wire and fell quivering to the ground, upon which the whole herd rushed up to see what had happenfed to their stricken comrade. In a few moments half a dozen cows were down it being impossible for the farmer to keep them off the danger line. However, He was a plucky and resourceful fellow and within two minutes had secured a pair of insulated pliers and had cut the lino, thereby saving the herd. One cow did not recover and as ill-luck would have it she was the pride of the farm, having an exceptionally line official record states the Chronicle.

The Hawera County contains one oi tho iinest known examples of Maori fortifications, admitted by military experts to be as good as any conceived oy European engineers. iNcar the side of tho Turuturu-Mokai redouut tim old pa of tho same name occupies a magnificent strategical position, anu tho restoration worn now far advaueeu shows how well the natives availed themselves of the natural advantages of the spot. Tho history of tile auciont walled pa called Turqturu-iUokai is shrouded in mystery, it is known, nowover, says an exchange, tlnit it is more than 13 generations old, and was captured from tho builders three centuries ago by the Ngati-Tupaca tribe. When military settlers occupied tho country in 1366-67, tiio Ngati-Tupuca went inland for a few nines, and lixed tiieir headquarters at PuKe-tai'ata. bincc then the ancient stronghold lias been deserted. Tno restoration of the ruins has been undertaken on a coinprenensivo scale by a committee appointed by the Hawera Borough and tno Hawera County Councils, unemployed labour has been used on a tasn that, when completed, will make Turuturu-Mokai one of the show spots of How Zealand.

Police handbills usually set tlie same price on a wanted man whether dead or alive. A well-known Botorua fanner has reason to regret that pedigree dairy stock arc not valued by tiio same standard (states an Auckland correspondent). Two cows wore sent from a larm in tho Waikato. One gave a yearly average of butterfat production around tho 5001 b mark, and tho other was a close follower. They went by train to Botorua, to be sent to a farm along the To Ngae road, and were duly met and started along their journey. Tho drover did not know the country well. Night cuino on, with tho cows only a couple of miles along their way, and lie turned them aside into a paddock for the night. Next morning tho cows were not to be seen. Inquiries were made at a large building standing nearby, the cows described minutely, and their glories extolled. The man iu charge iooned aghast. He said he had seen the animals, and they were even now iu another part of the building. They were. The building was the municipal abattoir, and the cows were hanging by tho hind legs from hooks in the ceiling. Later, the two animals, for which tlie owner had refused £-0 apiece when alive, were sold to a butcher for a little over £6.