TOWN EDITION

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 16185, 23 July 1923, Page 6

TOWN EDITION

Mr. Harold Gregson, the well-known Auckland organist, who lias been ioi sonic’time ini California, returned to Auckland by the Makura. R is understood, stated tlio Wliaka,tane Press, that Mr. W. G. Sherratt, of Gisborne, has resigned his position as a director of the East Coast Co-operative Freezing Works. “Wo know tihese roads at present are only fit, for- wagons and not motorears,” said Councillor McLean, at a meeting of the Woimarino County Council. “My road,” said Councillor Jensen, , “is pot fit for a. wagon. It is only'fit f for birds.” The borough of Whakatane was plunged in darkness last week, a breakdown having occurred in the machinery of the electric plant which necessitated the closing down of the works from 4 o’clock on Thursday morning. The service was switched on again on Thursday night. Mr. Alan Colman,'junior director, and Mr; J. Montrie, export manager, of Messrs J. and J. Colman, Ltd., London and Norwich, are at present in Wellington. They are making a world tour, which is now half-way towards completion. They have just arrived from Australia. Sixty or seventy tenders were received for the, supply of girders and ironwork tor Messrs Common, Shelton and Co.’s new buildings. The Gisborne HydroElectric and Engineering Company were the- successful tenders, ati a. price of ±l2llß. The supply contract is on© of the largest let in- Gisborne for a number of years. The most conscientious taxpayer that I have ever met,” said Mr. C. E. Howland, officer of the Income Tax Department, at Wanganui, “is a lady who sat ■ up till midnight in order to get her form filled in. She was not aware that she was entitled to any days of grace. Her return Was always prepared by March Sever© frosts have lieen responsible for tb© bursting of water pipes all over lb© town (says a. Reef ton contemporary), with the result that the plumbers have bean in, great request. The statement that a duck was found frozen to a sheet of iron takes a, lot of believing, but this ■was the cash the other morning, and hot water had to be resorted to to release the bird. “Tb© West'iughous© brake is easily th© greatest life-saving railway device” (writes Mr. J. K. Hickey in the Stratford' Post). It is safe to say that in l New Zealand alone it lias saved thousands of lives. This I know from my ;own personal experiences, and 1 venture to say that there are few engine-drivers who could not relate what might have happened but for a Westinghouse air brake. - ’

An early resident of Gisborne in the person of Mrs J. W. Wade, passed away this morning at the residence of her daughter, llutone Road. The deceased, who had been ailing for some time, was beloved by a wide circle of friends. She. leaven a grown-up family to whom much sympathy will be extended. The late Airs,. Wad© had keen a resident of New Zealand for about 60 years.

It was resolved at last week’s meeting of the Whakatane Harbor Board, on the motion of the chairman, that no claim should be made for salvage in respect to the engine and other articles recovered from the wrecked launch owned by the late Mr. McDonald, who recently lost his life at the bar. It was stated that the widow of the. deceased was in poor circumstances at Gisborne.

The secretary of the Gisborne Boxing Association received a radio message from tho purser of, the Alaranm to-day advising that James Flett was a passenger aboard the steamer for Auckland. Ho will thus arrive at Auckland on Tuesday morning, and this will enable him to come on to Gisborne by tire Arahurn, arriving hero on Wednesday. Mr. Chas. Peoples, of Auckland, has been communicated with, and will meet Flett on his amval on behalf of the Gisborne Association; Flett is matched with Heeney and the fight will take place on Thursday week.

Some interesting details of the work of tree planting by prison labor, was given by Mr. C\ E. Matthews, Con-troller-General of Prisons, when addressing the Wellington Justices of tho Peace Association. Air. Matthews stated that no fewer than 15.932 acres of pumice land had been planted bv prisoners, with a total of 40,000,000 trees. The estimated value of the labor for this work from 1901 to 1920 was .65,455. “And T do not think that I am the only person who considers that those plantations near Rotorua will he a tremendous asset to the State in tlio future,” he observed.

As an instance of the excellent work being done by the Cuwthron Institute in the matter of research into waste products, it was stated in the course of a deputation’s interview with the Prime Minister that Professor Easterfield had utilised the vegetable refuse from the flax industry by redistributing it on the flax fields, with beneficial results to ,the plants, anil he had been also experimenting with the green waste. Professor Easterfield is convinced that not only can he distil alcohol from the green residue of the mills, but that both in quantity and quality the now by-product would go far towards satisfying New Zealand’s needs in industrial alcohol. /

The depredations of rabbits, more particularly in the South Island than in the North, wore emphasised in the House of Representatives by Mr. G. W. Forbes (Hurunui), who urged that special investigation should bo made by experts into more efficient methods of ridding the country of the pests. The Depar men), of Agriculture advised tho use of pollard poison; this' was employed in some places, but seemed to result in little benefit. 'Hie rabbits, in fact, appeared, to bo thriving upon it. The Government, said Mr. Forbes, should do everything in its power to deal with the rabbit menace. One bad only to look at the agricultural returns from the Mouth Island to realise the damage being dbne.

Corvespondeiiee was received by thp L’annevirke Power‘Hoard last week from tho Public Works Department in reference to guarantee. Tim board’g engineers,, advised that they had again gone closely .into the question of power required for thy district. Thoi board's peak load would be determined by the milking load and if there were 300 dairy farms connected the' maximum demand would be 480 k.v.n. The. 1 number of farms in tho district milking 20 cows and over was 420 and in the) opinion of the engineers the hoard should secure 300 of these as consumers. Their definite* advice to the hoard was to guarantee 450 k.v.a. maximum demand. The eiiairma.ni said iti would bo advisable to defer signing up for the guarantee until the question of certain concessions which they, with , other boards, were seeking, was settled. It was decided to adopt the chairman’s suggestion to defer signing up for tho guarantee until after tho Power Boards’ Conference.