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Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18551, 10 November 1934, Page 4

Otoko, the historic pohutukaua on the coast between Te Arnroa and East Cape, famed for being the earliest to bloom, is already displaying scarlet blotches m its foliage, writes the Herald s hast (. ape* correspondent.

It, is a common practice for cyclists on the lvtiiti wharf road past the freezing works to ride on the footpath to avoid the rough surface of the road at that point, and yesterday an accident occurred which d'emonstrated the danger of this practice. A pedestrian, Mr. L. Gray, was knocked down at 5 p.m, by a cyclist who was riding on the footpath past the works, and received painful though not serious injuries. Mr. Gray was momentarily stunned, and was dazed for some time after the aceideill; he received a deep cut on the forehead and' abrasions on the face, which necessitated attention.

Mr. William Sneddon has been appointed general manager of the A.M.P. Society in succession to Mr. A. 0. ITollinwnrlh, who has retired. A passenger on the motor-ship VVaiwera who is making .the trip from Bluff to Gisborne and Wellington is Mr. Frederick St. John manager of the Invercargill branch of Messrs. Dalgety and Company. Mr. Loughnan was at one time attached to the staff of the company's Gisborne branch. He left here in '1904.

Drowning claims a heavy toll on life in New Zealand' each year. To illustarte the risk, Mr. D. Saunders, educational officer to the Auckland Swimming Centre, stated that, on examining official statistics, lie had found that deaths due to drowning numbered 1457 during the past 10 years. At a special meeting of the Gisborne Unemployed Workers’ Movement, held on Thursday evening and presided over by Mr. 11. Waugh, the following resolution was recorded : "That this committee condemns the action of the Gisborne Borough Council in not recommending to the Unemployment Board to place on sustenance the 100 relief workers the council has refused to accept on No. 5 scheme, because it is having to pay them for the essential work they have been performing, as requested by this organisation."

The information sought by a correspondent "Enquirer” respecting the destruction of the Makauri bush by fire is supplied by Mrs. Hills, of Patutalii. The fire, she.' states, occurred in 1875. It started in the Ormond Valley and swept over the hills to Makauri. The date of the first old settlers’ picnic, she states, was March 24, 1898. It was held iri Mr. Evven Cameron’s paddock at Bushfnere, the promoters being the late Mr. Matthew Hall, of Matawhoro, and the late Messrs. Robert and James Atkins, of Patutalii. The subsequent picnics were held in the Patutahi Domain. incidentally it may be added that Mrs. Hills celebrated the fiftyeighth anniversary of her arrival at Gisborne yesterday.

Writing to the Waia.pu County Council, in a letter received at the last .meeting of that body, a Waiapu Valley settler sought compensation for land taken for tin l purposes of a road to Bangitukia, part of which was constructed through his properly. The writer added a request that one of his neighbors be asked to remove a fence which blocked the, new road on the boundary of his property. The council’s engineer, Mr. A. K. Gilmour, stated that ample opportunity had been given for the removal of fences from the road, and that the man whose tardiness was complained of in the letter had already been warned officially of his obligation in this respect. The council directed that the engineer should inspect the locality, and if necessary cut the fence in respect of which the complaint had been received. The clerk was also instructed to inform the owner of the fence regarding the council's proposals. On Wednesday evening the Gisborne branch of the W.E.A. held its last meeting! for the 1934 session at St. Winifred's schoolroom. There was an attendance o! 2D, who devoted the evening to a summary of the course "What is Western Civilisation?” The writer of the lecture suggested in the words of Professor MacMan ay that “education is the one instrument we possess for controlling human nature and for changing it.'’ If we failed to adjust ourselves to modern conditions the only alternative would he the horrors of revolution. It. was agreed that the lecture on art and the series on Fascism, Nazism and Communism had provoked most discussion. The blind rest riot ion of liberty under these systems ;oulcl most likely'make life less tolerable than it. is to-day. The meeting closed with votes of thanks to the writer of the lectures for his fairness in dealing with controversial topics,, to Mr,, and Mrs. Vorrier .Tones, and to the secretary.;

Of the first six places on the roster of membership in the New Zealand Upturned Soldiers’ Association, tour are held by South island centres, Dunedin and Christchurch being second and third on the list, and Invercargill and South Canterbury fifth and sixth. The four centres mentioned possess well over two-thirds of the total South Island membership, ns a matter of fact, and it is not at all unlikely that as the financial year pro grosses, there will be substantial changes in the order. The Gisborne association stood seventh on llio rosier at, September 30, with only 368 financial members officially recorded at association headquarters at Wellington, but since that return was made, the number of district members has advanced to nearly 600, and it is confidently expected that at the close, of the year, last year's record total of over 1 POO will bo approached. Auckland has the best, figures to date, the September 30 total of the northern association being 2331.

Former oarsmen of the Gisborne blowing Club now resident in Auckland, who may not be able to attend the diamond jubilee reunion which takes place on November 23, have a prospect of efi,joying a celebration of their own. It has been proposed by one of their number that a reunion should be held in the northern city on the same date, in order that exmembers of the club domiciled there and in neighboring districts may get together; and falling in with this suggestion, the club committee has for warded a list of 2.1 Aucklanders who may be interested in the idea. Mr. A. H. Miller, a well-known former oarsman and club representative, has undertaken to make preliminary arrangements for the northern gathering. Interest in the Gisborne club’s din mornl jubilee is not confined to those who formerly look part in the club’s activities, for already communications have been received from a number of sister-clubs, conveying congratulations and good wishes for future success.