NEWS ITEMS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16360, 7 June 1927, Page 2

NEWS ITEMS

Superintendent Williams, of the Wanganui City Fire Brigade, considers that the Wanganui Harbor Board s new tug would be a very valuable adjunct in the event of a big fire in the business area, or if a main should burst. * J water from the river could be pumped well up the Avenue to the brigades engine. Amongst the passengers by the Corinthic. which arrived at Wellington from London, via Southampton, were Mesas. W. Irons and W. C. Motion, members of the New Zealand Dairy 1 loduce Board. Both have been located in London for some time m connection wit the board’s agency in that city. Whjm approached by a reporter on ,e , iect of the controversy regarding the &X operations, neither gentleman had anything to say on the matter. A recent visitor to the Waikato district has returned to Hastings m the established conviction that the peopt m Hawke's Bay have nothing to complain of in their roads. After his experience of the Waikato roadways, especially tne back roads, he came to the conclusion that the public ways in Hawke s nay were like billiard tables. Why, ho said, “a friend or mine, driving his own car from Hamilton to JMatamatn, received such a bumping that, being flung against the side of his conveyance be sustained a fracture of some of his rilis. New Zealand was in for an el a of falling prices. Economists agreed that the return to the gold standard must mean this. Consequently revenue Horn New Zealand farms must continue to fall unless production was increased. There were already evidences of it, and the speaker quoted the quantities o production, of butter, cheese, meat and wool over a period of years to show that in spite of the enormous expenditure of the Government there bad been no improvement m any of them. M ■ W. J. Pol sen, Dominion president oi the Farmers’ Union, speaking a Harvera. f . . According to a Sydney paper living at Canberra will not be cheap. Dm Federal Commission recently increased the weekly tariff at the Hotel Canberra from £5 to £7, the daily tariff Horn £1 to £1 Bs 6d, the tariff for a private suite from £1 10s extra a week o £5 10s extra, the charge for dinner from 5s to 6s, and for luncheon from 3s to 4s. The tariff at the Hotel Kurrajong is now- £5 a week, instead of £4 6s The annual cost of living at the Hotel. Canberra for a man and wife is now £728, and if private dressing-rooms and bathrooms are required the annual charge will be £9lO. One day recently, much to the surprise of Sumner residents, a motor-boa* was seen endeavoring to cross the bar on its way to Lyttelton. After several lucky escapes, just beyond the beacon, the motor power evidently faded to make anv headway against the incoming tide, and the. crew- made a lucky turn round and reached Sumner pier- A number of members of the lifeboat brigade had witnessed the adventuie, and were not slow to tell the crew, one of whom was an invalid, their opinion of the attempt- At the time a dangerously heavy break was curung over the bar * and experts state that the boa would not have lived five minutes in it.

Some time ago representations were made to the Highways Board by the Awatere County Council for a deviation of Redwood Pass, on the mam road south of Blenheim. Tim board had engineering surveys made to discover the most economical means of improving the bad portion of the Pass. As the resu t, lour proposals were put forward, and tne board had adopted number two of them. The proposal is to adhere to the existing road, via Redwood Pass, with the except ion-of a badlv aligned port ion over toe actual Pass. This section is to be eliminated by the i'ofiriation of a deviation of one mile and 29 chains in length, estimated to cost £14,800. The board is intimating to- local bodies concerned that it will contribute £2 to £1 toward, the cost.

When returning to Thames from Paeroa by car, Mr. M. C. McLeod, district health inspector, met with an accident on the Thames road, north of the Ohinemuri Jockey Club's property. In attempting to get back on to the crown of the road after passing another car, Mr. McLeod’s car skidded in the soft rubble and fell into the drain alongside the road. Mr. McLeod was rendered unconscious and remained in the wrecked car for some time. When he had sufficiently recovered he left the car and walked nearly three miles in heavy rain to Nurse Jarrett’s residence in Seymour street, Paeroa, where lie lapsed into unconsciousness. Medical assistance was summoned and it was found that Mr. .McLeod was suffering from concussion and bruises. „

“ This is a comparatively cleau country as yet,” declared the Hon. O. J. Hawken when addressing the lloyal Agricultural Society in Wellington. No precautions, he said, were too great to prevent the introduction of such a disease as that of foot and mouth disease. It may be unfortunate for those wanting to import stud, stock, but he believed that the farmers would back him up. The embargo would be lifted as soon as possible. He said that he believed that the time was coming when we would have to prohibit the introduction of fruit, plants, and soils, that is if we wished to keep the country free from pests of all descriptions. In spite, of what some people said, New Zealand was comparatively free when one considered the ravages done in other countries.

The life of a Government analyst is not all pleasure, in fact it has more trials than the average man’s, as Him New South Wales Government analyst, Dr. Cooksey, discovered the other day, when an enthusiastic individual dashed up to liis office holding out a very offensive, sticky-looking substance on a piece of sacking, and imploring the doctor to assure him it was that valuable product of the whale, ambergris, used in the manufacture of expensive perfumes. The ambergris delusion ie becoming a habit among amateur beachcombers after big storms. Not infrequently strange lumps of had fat or disintegrating blubber ore submitted to Dr. Cooksey, m the hope that they wiil turn out to be this rare product. Die specimen had a soft, elastic feel, and a dreadful smell like decayed glue, To the mol tification of the finder, it was definitely pronounced to be not ambergris, but possibly decayed Dutch cheese.

"rouble lias oneo more overtaken (lie old dredge C.D.K., which for a few weeks has been engaged in reclaiming 7 lio 28 acre block ia Napier lying just off th(' Tanulale road and on. the southern .side of the railway line, reports tlie H.B. Herald. The dredge now lies in about lift, of water, having sunk at her moorings sometime during .Sunday night. Appearances point to the dredge having been interfered with,, and it is known that boys were playing on the dredge on Sunday afternoon. The Napier Fire Brigade's Dennis engine was requisitioned in an effort to raise the sunken dredge, but although she pumped at the rate of 500 to 600 gallons a minute, her full capacity, for a period of seven hours, she made little impression. Another five inch pump has been procured and this will act in eon junction with the fire engine.