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Southland Times, Issue 19502, 17 March 1925, Page 6

The body of Frederick Hamilton was found in the Auckland harbour on Sunday, fully dressed, says a Press Association telegram. There were no marks of violence. He was a single man aged 29, and was admitted to the Auckland Hospital on February 8 suffering from blood poisoning. He disappeared from the institution on Thursday and left a letter saying that his life was a misery and that he intended to commit suicida.

The Government Meteorologist last evening wired the following weather forecast from Wellington:—Present indications are for moderate to strong south-easterlies, northwards of Kawhia and East Cape, and variable breezes with westerlies prevailing elsewhere. The weather will be squally at times in the southermost districts, but will be fair to cloudy generally, with scattered showers probable on the western coast.

A Press Association telegram states that Labour has now decided to nominate a candidate for the Mayoralty of Christchurch.

A fire on the Cashmere Hills on Sunday, started apparently by picnickers, swept an area of 50 acres, damaging 30,000 young pine trees and blackwoods owned by the City Council, says a Christchurch telegram.

In connection with the visit of the celebrated Newcastle Steel Works Band to Invercargill this week, his Worship the Mayor has expressed his willingness to welcome Mr Baile and the members of the Band at the Council Chambers on Friday next at 11 a.m.

A farm of 192 acres suitable for grazing and mixed farming and situated 44 miles from Balfour railway station and school was submitted to public auction yesterday at the Lands Office, Invercargill, and sold at the upset price of £lOOO to Mr Andrew Harton McCaldon, of Balfour. The Defence Department’s new and up-to-date rifle range on the reclaimed land at Otatara is now practically completed, and the targets, for which the authorities have been waiting, are now to hand. Owing to the present regulations forbidding training, it is unlikely that the range will be in use before June.

Owing to the closing of the Auckland Telephone exchange in favour of an automatic system, the girls employed at that centre will be transferred to other exchanges. There will doubtless be several changes in the local exchange, and in anticipation of this, only temporary employees have been engaged in the past months.

As the result of the bursting of a pipe at Maraia Butter Factory on Saturday afternoon, states a Murchison telegram, Joyce Wadsworth, aged three and a-half years, daughter of the factory manager, was overwhelmed with ammonia. The sufferer received medical attention, and was brought to the hospital, but succumbed last night.

The Southland Education Board has decided to circularise every child in the province who is at present in one of the Standard classes in reference to the organising of home tuition and study. The work of distributing these circulars is no light one, and over 10,000 copies will leave the local Education Offices before every child has been communicated with.

Returns at the local Labour Department for the week ending March 14 show that 12 labourers, a farm labourer, a butcher, a farm manager, a clerk, two ploughmen, and a motor mechanic are at present awaiting employment. This return shows a slightly larger number out of employment at the present time, despite the fact that during the week 13 labourers were placed in employment.

At a conference of officers of local bodies held yesterday at Stratford to consider the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act, it was decided to urge the Government to revert to the form of number plate laid down in the 1908 Act, and to subdivide the numbers in highway districts and indicate payment of registration by an attached tag, to be changed annually instead of by annual changing of the number plate.

Why his motor caravan should be charged the same license fee as a bus, an Auckland visitor who was camping at the motorists’ camping ground at the Viaduct did not see (states the King Country Chronicle). He thought it unjust, pointing out that his caravan was built upon a car chassis, and the body, being sheet steel on a very Light frame, the vehicle was a good deal lighter than a limousine car. Also, it seemed clear that a bus was a vehicle which carried passengers for hire and profit, while his caravan was a private car. It appears that it was hustled into the books under the description of a bus simply because caravans were not specified on the schedule.

‘With all this talk about the tarred macadam roads, the horse-driven vehicle sems to have been entirely overlooked,’’ said a Napier master carrier to a reporter.“ There are still plenty of horse-driven vehicles in use, and it’s woe-betide the poor horse if tarred macadam roads become universal,” he continued. “There are many cases on record of how horses have been unable to haul heavy loads over tarred surfaces on w r et or frosty days, and a tarred gradient downwards presents a deadly menace to a horse attached to a heavy load, as it has nothing to grip its feet on to check the downward plunge of the load behind it.”

A fire early on Sunday morning gutted two shops in Market street, Blenheim, occupied by O. P. Bastings (chemist) and F. Patchett (tailor and mercer), reports the Press Association. The building, a twostorey wooden structure owned by W’. Carr, was completely gutted. Insurance: Buildings, £400; Bastings, £B5O on stock and fittings in the London and Lancashire, Standard, and Royal; Patchett, £650. H. A. Drawbridge’s boot emporium and workshop on the top floor was completely destroyed, and an adjoining retail shop and stock drenched with water. Drawbridge was insured for £l5OO in the Phoenix and Sun Offices. The Brigade effected good work in preventing the spread of the fire.

The Sir James Clark Ross, the mother ship of the Norwegian whaling expedition, returned to Port Chalmers on Sunday from the Land of the Midnight Sun, via Stewart Island. An interesting feature of the expedition was the fact that the small whalechaser Starr 11. is the vessel that has penetrated the furthest south of any ship that has entered the Antarctic Circle. She was despatched on February 20 in search of an inlet where the mother ship might shelter, and during this piece of exploration work she sailed for three days along the Great Ice Barrier and penetrated further south than any other ship. The coldest snap experienced by the whalers, reports a Press Association telegram, was when the thermometer touched 36 degrees below zero.

A well-attended meeting of the Waikiwi Bowling Club was held last evening to arrange matters in connection with the proposed carnival. The President, Mr J. McNeil, occupied the chair. Stall-holders were appointed and stalls allotted, while a strong executive committee composed of the heads of stalls, was appointed. It was further arranged that a systematic canvass for subscriptions be undertaken. Messrs W. Peterson and T. Buxton were appointed to wait on mercantile firms, and Messrs C. Wilson and T. Jones undertook to canvass the butchers. Heads of stalls were given a free hand to canvass generally. It was announced that a number of young ladies had undertaken to take part in a spectacular march.

“During the past few days 1 have been able to see something of your Southland province,” declared Mr H. E. Holland, M.P., at the Victoria Hall last evening, “and I must confess that never in my previous visits has it been my privilege to see outside of Invercargill, but what I have seen during my short visit to the rural districts on this occasion, has been a revelation to me, and I think I can say the same for Mr J. Munro, who is accompanying me on my tour. Your province seems to me to have some of the richest land New Zealand possesses, and I think that your land, just viewing it superficially of course, is as rich as that in any other part of the Dominion, not excluding Taranaki. This part of the country alone,“ he continued, “could carry an immense population which, however, would have to be settled on small holdings. As a matter of fact, the same thing applies to all other parts of New Zealand, which I believe could easily carry 10,090,000 people without any trouble at all, providing we had a proper organisation of agriculture and industry.”

“Perhaps you don’t know anything in Southland about mortgages,” said the Leader of the Labour Party, Mr H. E. Holland, M.P for Buller, in his political address at the Victoria Hall last evening. “Oh yes we do,” replied a voice from the body of the Hall. Some very heavy showers of rain fell in Gore on Saturday and Sunday, a total of half an inch being recorded. The Mataura River was between one and two feet above normal on Sunday afternoon. The weather conditions generally have been wintry, and the Hokonuis bore a snowcap o» Sunday morning.

Prior to the close of his political address last evening, Mr H. E. Holland, M.P., said he hoped that the Labour Party would be able to select a candidate for each of the Southland seats at the forthcoming election, which, he said, might be much earlier than many people expected, though he personally thought that the present Parliament would remain in office for the full term.

According to an Auckland Association message, Mr E. A. Shrimpton, Chief Telegraph Engineer, fully expects that by the end of this year telephonic communication will be established between the North and South Islands. Auckland will be able to call any town as far south as Invercargill. The service will be open day and night, and modern equipment is being provided to ensure excellent audibility.

The Taumarunui Press records a sensation in that town on a recent afternoon. A well-known resident rode his horse up the main street in real cowboy fashion, and when he arrived opposite the shop of a prominent sport he resolved to make some purchases. He promptly turned the equine in towards the door and rode right inside the shop. The occupants were much surprised at this “Wild West” style of doing business. Accounts were paid and purchases made, and the resident then alighted from his horse and ordered it outside the shop. A little later he thought that his wandering horse might be up to some mischief, so he sent his dog after it. Rider, horse and dog then disappeared from the scene, and business reassumed its normal progress.

The Fire Brigade received a call at about 11.30 o’clock last night from the Tramway’s alarm box, to a fire in a very old wooden residence on a section adjacent to Dunlop’s blacksmith’s shop, at the comer of Leet and Leven streets, Apparently the fire originated in one of the back rooms, and by the time the Brigade arrived had worked its way up under the eaves. The dry nature of the timber caused the fire to spread very rapidly, and the Brigade was faced with an almost hopeless task. Portions of the walls and of the roofing iron had to be removed in order to enable the Brigade to reach the fire with the hose. Eventually the outbreak was got under control, but the building was considerably damaged by fire and water. Until a fortnight ago the house was owned by Mr T. McCurdy, who sold it to P. H. Vickery, Ltd, whose intention it was to pull down the house and erect a motor garage on it and adjoining sections. For many years the house was occupied by Mr J. W. Bain, a very old and prominent resident of the town.

“It costs a lot for a farmer to put up a shed nowadays,” was the remark of a King Country farmer the other day. “When that parts of the country was getting settled by the white people there was a good deal of Maori labour available, and with some rough timber, a few nails, and some roofing iron, a good shed could be put up for very little, and would last for years and years. People often forgot that the Maori is a born house-builder. There can be seen on some of the old farms the substantial whares he built with wood which he hewed out of some well-dried tree with just an ordinary axe. Now there are carpenters who have to have everything at hand before they will start a job, and they obey certain rules which makes the building of a shed a most expensive item. A very poor shed can be put up for £5O these days, yet the Maori of a past decade would have put up one equally roomy and substantial out of rough timber for a five-pound note. Now that the settlers are getting in supplies of coal for the winter, because wood has become too costly, Maori labour for building coal sheds is in big demand, because he puts up a suitable building at a small cost, and goes away with a smile when the boss tells him he has made a good job. The Maori is a most agreeable workman.”

Attention is drawn to the sale of purebred Friesians and Romney Marsh sheep being offered to-morrow (Wednesday), on account of Mr R. O. King, of Dipton. The Friesians are a particularly well-bred lot, and a splendid opportunity presents itself for the fanning community to purchase without reserve some of the finest cattle of the breed. The sale is being held at the farm, near Dipton, commencing at 12 noon, and as Mr King is giving up fanning everything is for absolute unreserved sale by auction. The Romney sheep are also a particularly fine lot, and comprise 26 flock rams, 85 stud ewes and 60 lambs. These sheep are practically pure Castlerock blood, and are famous for their splendid constitution and quality of wool. Catalogues giving full particulars can be obtained at the sale or from the auctioneers, Messrs Wright, Stephenson and Co., Ltd. (Advt.)

A special show of the new season’s goods is being made at Thomson and Beattie’s from Wednesday to Saturday of this week. A walk through “The Exhibition” will be an education in the newest of the new. Everyone is invited to see this display of every-day goods and novelty lines from all parts of the world.— (Advt.)

The best preparation in the world for restoring and beautifying the hair is Dr. Wilson’s Hair Regenerator. It is not a dye, and never fails to reetore the hair to its natural colour and beauty. It is a scientific compound, which beneficially effects the roots of the hair, when the hair falls out or turns grey. Directions for use will be found on each bottle. Priced at 4/- at LEWIS’S, Ltd.— (Advt.) Just landed direct from the makers a beautiful selection of English Electro-Plate and Silver goods suitable for wedding presents. Teapots, Teasets, Entre Dishes, Bread Boards, SerViette rings, Tea spoons, etc. Remember these are brought direct from the makers, and are sold at very reasonable price. Pay a visit. T. M. RANKIN, Jeweller, Tay Street.—Advt. Superior Beverage—Far-Famed Rava Tea. The most popular beverage in Southland. The tea is choice, good liquor, nice flavour. Price only 2/10 per lb, reduced to 2/8 per lb in 51b and 101 b packets at BAXTER’S. (Advt.) WORRYING OVER REMOVING? Removing, no doubt, is a trouble, but you can minimise the bother by employing us. Our expert hands will take down, pack, move and deliver your things in the quickest way and in the best possible manner. You don’t have to worry over possible injuries if we do the work. The New Zealand Express Company, Limited. Offices in all chief towns.— (Advt.). “BIG TREE” MOTOR SPIRIT stands for quicker starting and more power with less carbon deposit. Try it on your next run. All garages.—Advt. A BOY ACTOR. Master Sullivan, of the Vanbrugh-Bouci-caul Company entirely lost his voice early in the Wellington Season. His mother writes that a gargle with Fluenzol was wonderfully successful.— (Advt.) “MY LUNGS CROWED LIKE CHANTIG LEERS,” —Shakespeare. Ordinary lung and bronchial complaints often lead to more serious maladies. At the first sign of a cold take Baxter’s Lung Preserver. This sterling remedy is soothing and penetrative—means quick riddance to coughs, colds and ’flu, and affords lasting relief.

As a building-up tonic “Baxter’s” is unrivalled. Enriches the blood, fortifies the system against prevalent maladies.

You can obtain a generous-sized bottle for 2/6 at any chemist or store; or, better still, get the family size at 4/(L