Driftwood

Northland Age, Volume 1, Issue 4, 30 October 1931, Page 2

Driftwood

Kauri gum exports for September were 358 tons valued at £14,264. The United Kingdom took 244 tons. There is a small but promising decrease in the number of unemployed registrations, from 50,930 to 60,737. “There is no better exercise than the Maori haka,” said the leader of a Maori concert party, who wants it introduced into schools. A small Maori girl picked up a piece of kauri gum weighing 611bs at Clevedon last week. It was shaped like a reclining dog. The* value of two fingers lost by a Wanganui slaughterman by his knife slipping was assessed by the Arbitration Court at £403 17/. Imports into Whangarei harbour dropped in September from 3763 tons to 2127 tons and exports from 13,009 tons to 5974 tons compared with last year. While the European population of the Dominion last year increased by 1.49 percent, the Maori increase was 1.78 percent, with a marked increase in girl babies. A patient at the Rotorua Sanitorium while taking a stroll in the grounds, stepped on to ground that crumbled beneath him, plunging his right foot into boiling water. The notes of the six banks operating in the Dominion have been made legal tender for a further period till January 10, 1935, unless a Reserve Bank is constituted before that date, which will take over the note issue. The Auckland Justices of the Peace Association has a membership of 654, mostly unemployed. “We could save the country £4OOO a year if it would allow J.P.s to preside on the Bench,” says the chairman. The first visitor to Pandora camp this season was the veteran, Mr. Charles Barwell, who cycled through from Auckland in five and a half days, and reported a fine trip with roads in good order. When an application for leave to establish a pork and bacon factory came before the One Tree Borough Council, the Mayor, a Jew, said, “I suppose on general principles I should oppose the whole thing.” But business being business, he didn’t. Speaking at the Auckland Anglican Synod, one country parson mentioned that he knew of a case where the family had not been off the farm for three months—they had not clothes respectable enough to allow them to mix with other folk. “It is quite refreshing to find that there are some parents who have a proper appreciation of the difficulties confronting the Government,” said the Minister of Education gratefully, explaining the reduction on the education grant.

During a.great gale at Dunedin last week the wind struck the Karitane baby hospital, and a sun-porch was blown away, while the roof of the hospital was lifted 50 feet and blown to the roadway 200 yards away. Wellington no longer holds the record for windiness. Petrol bowsers are the most noticable features of the roadside landscape nowadays, and according to the Department of Industries and Commerce there are 7654 pumps in use, and this means that there is at least one pump to every 29 motor vehicles in the country. Petrol cost 41 cents a gallon loaded on the tankers in America and its landed cost, with 6d duty added, is 10.27 d, but it costs more than that to distribute it to the consumer.

The Kaipara Hospital Board received ten tenders ranging from 16/9 to 12/6 per ton for the supply* of firewood. The 12/6 tender, from two Dalmatians, was accepted.

A service car driver travelling on the main Rotorua-Opotiki road recently overtook an adult kiwi with five kiwi chicks. He captured one of the chicks and has taken it to Gisborne to add to the collection of birds at the Botanical Gardens there.

Fish, especially mullet, has been very plentiful in Hokianga harbour lately, Mr. G. Harding, of Motukaraka, had an exceptionally large haul of mullet, near the island opposite Kohukohu recently. When his net was drawn up the count, ran into no less than 1500. The Commissioner of Taxes draws the attention of taxpayers to the notification appearing in today’s issue that the due date of payment of Land Tax for the current year is on Friday, the 6th day of November, 1931, and that the demands wil be posted on or about the 31st day of October.

The Waipa County Council, which pays £3OO yearly in insurance premiums, is consulting other South Auckland local bodies with a view to joint action in carrying their own risks. This policy, it is said, has proved very satisfactory to the Raglan County Council and other local bodies.

Service car drivers carry queer cargoes at times, but possibly the queerest parcel was handed over to a Thames-Mercury Bay driver the other day. It was a baby in an addressed hamper, entirely unattended, which

was duly delivered in good order and condition to its relatives at the end of the trip.

“Girls should take a firm and uncompromising stand against the modern evil of spotting whisky and sipping wine, and should refuse all intoxicating drink with the courage of their own convictions,” said the Rev. Father P. F. Crane, at the Roman Catholic Cathedral at Christchurch. “Above all, let them boycott every dance where drink is permitted or to which drink is carried. In such matters parents should be ever vigilant in the protection of their daughters.”

“During the last five years Great Britain has purchased £81,000,000 worth of goods more from New Zealand than the Dominion has from her,” said Mr. A. W. Hawley, a British manufacturers’ representative. “If the British workers are unable to get employment they will not be able to buy New Zealand butter and other produce. It should be understood that it is the workers who purchase New Zealand butter, the wealthier classes buying Danish butter because it is fresh.”

One of the passengers on the “Malolo,” on her last pleasure cruise, has been contributing some impressions of the trip to a New York journal. He was charmed with Maoriland, and makes special reference in one of his articles to New Zealand tobacco. “By the way, he says, “I was astonished to find such excellent tobacco on sale everywhere. It is New Zealand grown and manufactured, and is really splendid quality, one of its chief merits being that it is almost entirely free from nicotine, and therefore, I suppose, the purest and most wholesome tobacco the world produces. This is because the leaf is toasted, and that extracts the nicotine poison as if by magic. You can smoke this beautiful tobacco as freely as you please. It is quite safe.” The writer might have added that there are only four brands manufactured : Riverhead Gold, Navy Cut No. 3, Cavendish and Cut Plug No. 10. Of course there are imitations! This is the penalty every good thing has to pay for its popularity. 215