LOCAL AND GENERAL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 1 December 1927, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The rainfall in Nelson for November totalled 4.34 inches against an average of 2.95 in. for the last 44 years. The highest monthly fall since 1883 is 9,17 in., in 1916, when 44.95 in. of rain were recorded, but only .3 fell in December of the same year. Hie driest November for the same period was in 1917, when .24in. fell. For the year to date 34-39 in. of rain -have been recorded.

Customs duties collected at Nelson for November, 1927, amounted to £4510 14s sd, as compared with £5741 3s for the same month last year. The amount of excise beer duty was £BBB Is 4d, as against £B7O 17s 6d for November, 1926. A start has been made on the electrification of the Christchurch-Lyttelton railway line, the first poles to carry the overhead wires having been placed in position. The work has commenced at Woolston, and the poles lie on either side of the track from Woolston to Heathcote. When this particular job is completed, the gang will work from Woolston to Christchurch. At Woolston a big shed of corrugated iron has been erected, facing a specially-constructed siding, and here the necessary materials are stacked’. The Assistant-Signal Engineer at headquarters at Wellington has in hand the supervision of the electricdl scheme.

A settler in the Morere district, on the East Coast, recently had a most unpleasant experience In an attempt to lull weeds he sprayed a portion of his land with sheepdipl little thinking that his milking cows would eat the grass from that part. However, this evidently was the case and not knowing that the cows had fed from sprayed weeds and grass the family Used the milk twice. By this time the poison had taken effect upon the cattle and one died. The baby in the home was also affected, but fortunately it soon recovered.

Fifteen bankruptcies were notified in last week’s issue of the New Zealand “Gazette.” Eleven of the number were in the North Island.

A philatelic rarity, a pair of the original 1855 issue of New Zealand Id stamps, has been brought to light by an Auckland collector, Mr A. Brodie, of Gillies Avenue, Epsom. Benny postage was not in vogue in the ’fifties, and the issue was intended for use only upon letters sent or received by members of the naval and military forces. Only 12,01X1 of the stamps were printed, and it is stated that about 16 are known to he now in existence. Mr Brodie obtained the pair of stamps at Tauranga. Single copies are catalogued in London at £3O to £6O, and the value of the pair is probably £l5O. If the envelope fiad been preserved with the stamps upon it, the value would have been still greater.

At the annual communication of the Masonic Grand Ixidge of New Zealand, says' u ChHgtchuroh Press tedegTam, the particulars given of the working of the \irkpatrick Masonic Institute at Nelson show that there are thirteen orphan girls in-residence there. The report of the Board of Governors emphasises the necessity for extending the buildings, in order to provide increased accommodation, and indicates its intention to make a general appeal at an early date for funds for the purpose. Six new lodges have been opened in the course of the present year, viz.. Lodge Mannia, Taranaki; Lodge Manchester, Feilding; Lodgo Nelson; Lodge Edendale, Southland ; Charles Fergusson Lodge, Wellington ; and Lodge Hamilton, Auckland. The Special War BeneVolent Fund, provided in the war years for the purpose of assisting in re-establishing themselves in occupations Freemasons who had suffered in the general calamity, has been called upon during the year for grants and loans to the extent of £984, says a Christchurch Press telegram, the ferring to the annual communication of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand. Substantial refunds are now being made by men who have received help from the fund by way of loan, the amount for the year being £l2Ol.

Under the Public Holidays Amendment Act, 1921, which was passed on 21st December, 1921, hotels are permitted to open on Monday, 26th December, and licenses to sell liquor at the race meetings which take place on that day will also bo gi'anted (states a Press Association telegram from Dunedin 1 ). There has been some doubt on the point;,'seeing that Christmas Day this'year falls on .'a-Sunday, and. ' that •the holiday will be observed on .the Monday. The doubt has arisen consequent on the decision in an appeal case, Dew v. Ryan, where it was held that where Christmas Day. falls on a Sunday and is by virtue: of the Public Holidays ■Act, 1910, observed on t‘he' : . next, slnicedding Monday, it is an offence under the provision of 1 sections 189 and 190 of. the Licensing Act, 1908, for a/licensee to sell intoxicating liquor in his licensed premises on! that Monday. Any misapprehension in the matter has been cleared away by it being pointed out that the Act of 1921 supersedes any of the provisions of previous Acts regarding the opening of hotels on the day in question.

What the awarding of an extra halfpenny an hour to a section of industrial workers means in the aggregate was strikingly illustrated by Mr. T. Bloodworth in addressing the Economic Society at Auckland on Monday evening on the question of industrial arbitration (reports the “New Zealand Herald”). Basing his calculations on a 44 hours week with 50 weeks in the working year, he said the granting of the extra halfpenny, spread over 10,000 workers,- would amount to £45,832 in a year. He observed, however, that that amount was not paid in a lump sum. The trader got the benefit of the extra Is lOd each worker earned in a week;

In future mixed bathing will be allowed in the Mount Eden Swimming Baths, as a result of a debision of the Mount Eden Borough Council on Monday evening, states the “New Zealand Herald.” The privilege will be permitted between 6 and 9 p.m. during December and January.

“A sheer hulk” is the present state of the old Tarawera which has been sold for breaking and is now having her fittings put ashore at Port Chalmers (states the “Otago Daily Times”). Everything saleable is being sold, and the partially-dismantled steamer will soon be merely an empty shell ready for sinking. Her past career of profitable usefulness included the interesting period when she was the popular picnic steamer conveying excursionists to the West.

Town clerk at the age of nearly 83 is a record which should entitle Mr A. Gerring, of Howick, to distinction in the realm of local body administration (says the “New Zealand Herald.”) Now, after being clerk to the Howick 'Town Board for 16 years, Mr Gerring has decided to resign and enter into retirement. The present year lias not dealt kindly with Mr Gerring. About nine months ago his residence in Uxbridge street was destroyed by fire, and a friend nhd companion, Mr E. 11. W. Dixon, lost his life. Since that time Mr Gerring has resided at the Marine Hotel, Howick, which was burned to the ground last week, Mr Gerring being a heavy loser. Mr Gerring was formerly a school teacher in the Thames district. Auckland has also produced another octogenarian clerk, whose record was even more notable than that of Mr Gerring. That was the late Mr W. Hogg, who retired last April, at the age of 87, from the position of clerk to the One Tree Hill Road Beard, after 31 years’ service.

Johnny Weka is the Poverty Bay Maori who amputated his own leg with a razor. It is said that now he is in hospital this remarkable man may recover. There is a record of self-am-putation by a small Australian boy, who, relatively, showed even as much pluck as Mr Weka (says the Auckland “Star.”) The boy was far from home tending rabbit traps. Sometimes a trapped rabbit will pull the trap down the burrow, and, of course, the rabbiter puts his hand down the opening to drag the trap and rabbit back. As he was doing this, a snake bit the hoy’s finger. The boy had with him a short and very blunt slasher for making pegs. He laid his finger against a tree and chopped the finger off, twisted some stringy bark tightly round the wrist, making a tourniquet to stop the blood flow, and walked'home six and a-half miles. Incredible as it seems the boy kept the knowledge of his bush surgery from his parents for two days. When later lie was asked why he did this he said: “Well, if I’d have told mum she wouldn’t have let me go to the football match on Saturday !” Concern is expressed by the Auckland Chamber of Commerce at the fact that a large number of children leaving school are unable to get employment, and in drawing attention to the position, urges parents and guardians in steady employment to arrange as far as possible.to prolong the school period until a more favourable situation emerges. The chamber is of the opinion that the present acute, position will have disappeared by the end 'of 1928. Specific information is being sought on the relation between “jobless” boys and girls and “boyless” and “girlless” jobs likely to bo available at the end of the present year.

'The Nelson Harmonic Society’s rendering of Handel’s “Messiah” will take place cm Saturday, 10th December, in the School of Music, not on Saturday next. Another shower of bargains to-morrow at- the 42nd Anniversary Sale at “The Auckland.” Read large advt. page 2.* The Loyal Nelson Lodge, Manchester Unity Order of Oddfellows, will hold a wind-up dance in the hall on Saturday next at 8 p.m., the proceeds to he in aid of the children’s Christmas tree fund. To-morrow will be another big bargain day at. “The Auckland.’ Read large advt. page 2 for details.* Emms Motor Service are advertising an afternoon service (in conjunction with Newman Bros., Ltd.) between Nelson and Takaka and vice versa. Passengers for Takaka can now leave Nelson at 4 p.m. and arrive in Takaka about 8 p.m.*

The most important anniversary of the month and the greatest festival of the Christian year is, oT course, Christmas Day, which this year falls on a Sunday. The Ist marks the signing of the Locarno peace pact in 1925, and the arrival of the N.Z. Expeditionary Force in Egypt in 1914; the 2nd the opening of the present St. Paul’s Cathedral in London in 1697. Robert L. Stevenson died on the 4th, 1894, and Wm. Thackeray died on the 24th, 1863. Gladstone was born on the £9th r 1809, and Rudyard. Kipling on the 30th, 1865. The 16th will be the anniversary of Canterbury. Anzac and Suvla -were evacuated on the 19th, 1915, and cm the 16th Amundsen readied the South Polo in 1911. Slavery was abolished in the United States of America on the 18th, 1862.

If the ghost of Mark Tapley happened along and wanted something to cheer him up, the best present to make to him would be a daily newspaper with the cablegrams undiluted, (says the Auckland “Star”). To an optimist other than Tapley the future has hard work to conjure up a grin. He might cheer himself iup a bit about,, the bright prospects of disarmament and the immediate possibility of war in Poland. He could get a radiant 'smile out of M. Jouvenal’s cheery talk about# the inevitability of war in 1935. That hopeful bird, Sir George Paish, eminent economist, says the world will be bankrupt in 1928, andJtyadeSvill break down. From London there is the hilarious declaration that some !of the largest millionaires are going ,to achieve industrial peace, and; at the top of the next column there is a black outlook in Melbourne, and the wate.rsiders will strike. Mark Tapley would read with elation the news that all Australasia, is saving the babies by science, and that Australian hospitals are far tod small to admit all the people bent, broken, or bruised by motor cars. He would confirm the opinion that business was going bung by rioting-that Henry Foi’d wd£ buying five million acres to grow rubber on, presumably to make motor car tyres for bankrupt business men. Then he would turn to, the devastating opinion of an Africander, who purveys the terrifying news that New Zealand All Blacks will find it difficult to beat the Springboks in the forthcoming tour. Is there no end to this sable pall?

Colonel Harry Whyte, D. 5.0., D.C.M. who has been promoted to the command of the Central Command, New Zealand, is an Auckland • boy who used to work in the Post Office. What is best remembered about the gallant officer, who. has distinguished himself in two wars (says a northern paper) is that he was the youngest recruit to the New Zealand First Contingent for the South African War, and as scared a boy as ever wore a ! pair of unaccustomed riding pants. He was frightened someone would .find his real age and keep him from going for a soldier! Harry belonged to the Auckland College Rifles, which corps one seems to remember was the first to wear khaki drill jackets. Anyway, it was from the sample Trooper Whyte, wore at Karori that the uniform of the First and subsequent Contingents was designed. Anybody who wore this uniform will remember that the jackets turned a brilliant yellow in the South Africa sun, and then gradually to a dirty white as easily decipherable as Slim Piet with the clever rifle as a red coat with a black background. Colonel Whyte won his D.C.M. in Africa, and was admitted to the D.S.O. after brilliant work in Gallipoli and Egypt. He was one of the few New Zealand officers married in Cairo.

To preserve “the.dew of their youth,” old people should have something to do (said the Rev. S. Lawry, who is seventyfour years of age, at a service for old people ir. the Oxford Terrace ‘Baptist Church, Christchurch). That something should be something useful, and the most useful tiring was to help others. Secondly, old people should have recreations. To preserve “the dew of their youth,” they should also make friends with young people. It was a great help to old people who wished to keep young to have young friends. It was good for the aged and the young to get together in intermingling friendship. Each was better for tile other’s presence. In his younger days people spoke of the waywardness and the wilfuJness of the youth of the times. Yet they were tlies controlling people of to-day. The young people about whom older people became so fearful wore the sons and daughters of men and women of a former generation. Older people had helped to make the young people whatever they were. It was desirable for old people to be kind and tolerant as well- as wise, remembering the faults and follies of their youth. Looking hack, old people saw many sunshiny days, although there wqre some storms and dark passages in life They should loqk for the bright sunset after the dark and stormy day. They should try to grow old gracefully, realising that old age was the ripest, richest- period of life. Wooden piles which have been embedded beneath the foundations of Messrs L. D.. Nathan and Company’s building in (Shorthand street, Auckland, for upward of 60 years are being extracted in a state of perfect preservation. The building has been demolished and the foundations of the South British Insurance Company’s building are now being prepared. Under portion of the outer walls of the old structure were rows of piles—totara, puriri and teatree, about a foot apart. On top was jarrah planking and then nine inches of concrete. The piles,; which were of no great length, rock here coming close to the' surface, were so completely sealed from the air fliat even their bark looks as fresh a.s that on log’s freshly cut. No decay whatever has taken place. Axe and saw marks remain.

Promising developments in connection with the Picton coal-field have been made recently', Mr T. Allport and party', who have been working at Shakspere Bay for a considerable time, having struck a good seam of bituminous coal, stated to be 30ft thick (says the “Express”). The sea!m was opened up hiy,means of an adit driven into the hillside to a depth of 40 or 50 feet and the coal seam itself had been followed for about 200 feet, with every indication of its continuing indefinitely'. Already some 60 tons of the coal has been sold in Picton for household purposes and, in addition, two promising looking stacks, ready for niarket, are to he seen at the mouth of the tunnel. The coal is of excellent quality, being hard and of high grade, suitable for both household and steam purposes. There is ample water at Shakspere Bay to enable ships to he loaded practically at the pit month. It is understood that arrangements are being made for the thorough prospecting of the property by means of the Mines Department's diamond drill and that a company will he formeu to exploit the field. If the new field realises anticipations, it will he of considerable importance, as it will he one of the few coal areas m the Dominion where shipping facilities will he easv. In addition, the location of the field almost in the geographical centre of the Dominion will lend the area additional importance. Read the large advt. on page 2. All about another hurst of bargains to-mor-row at “The Auckland’s” 42nd Anniversary' Sale.* The monthly shoot of the Riwaka Cun Club takes place on Saturday next.

Dance''hall etiquette was referred to in the Magistrate’s Court at Auckland when a young man, explaining the circumstances leading to his acquaintance with a girl, said, “I met her at a dance, but I was not introduced. You do no»t wait for introductions at dances nowadays.” “Times have changed considerably I was young,” marked the cross-examining counsel. “In my day we never asked a young lady for a dance until we were introduced.” “You would not get any dances now’, then,” said the witness.