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LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Cyclists who make a practice of carrying an electric torch at night instead of a bicycle lamp will be interested to learn that a torch is not a light within the meaning of the by-law. The point was made clear in the New Plymouth court yesterday morning by Hr. A. M. Mowlam, S.M. He stated that a light must be fixed to the’ bicycle in such a way that a bright white light would always be visible.

A somewhat interesting point in connection with a judgment summons was mentioned in a case at Hawera (relates the Hawera Star). His Worship said that a debtor had no right to be paying off old debts voluntarily and neglecting an order of the court in another debt. But he added that if a man was pressed to nay any debts the fact of a judgment summons would be accepted as a reasonable excuse for not paying them.

Ratana, the Maori faith-healer, will probably make a visit to New Plymouth shortly. A New Plymouth Maori, who spent five days at Ratana’s settlement last week, says five thousand natives were present on one occasion during his visit, there being a continuous stream inwards and outwards. Four trains stop at the station nearly every day and all are said to bring large numbers of Maoris seeking a cure for various ailments. It is Ratana’s plan to extend his work to the pakehas: hence he proposes making a tour of the Dominion, including Taranaki. Definite advice of the .date of his visit to New Plymouth is expected this week. The way of the motor-speeder is likely to be made more difficult in New Plymouth in future. “I want to make it as public as possible,” said Mr. A. M. Mowlem, S.M., in the court yesterday, “that if the infliction of fines will do it, I hope to make people realise that it will not pay them to use the roads at other than a reasonable speed. I intend to stop ‘speeding,’ if £.s.d. will do it.” Mr. Mowlem also enlarged his warning to include drivers of vehicles and riders of bicycle and motor-cycles who use the road at night without lights. What may be termed a semi-successful attempt to float off the Waitangi was made at Patea last week, says the Press. Steam was got up and the vessel was being hauled out to sea when the eyebolt through which the cable passed snapped off and the vessel swung around, the cable carrying away the rigging and stanchions as if they were made of brown paper, and afterwards threatened to carry away the deckhouse. As a consequence there was nothing left but to cut the cable, which was done, and the vessel, which had been hauled about 30 yards from where she had been lying, drifted back to her bed, where she now lies broadside on to the sea.

Mr. Fenton Macpherson, formerly foreign editor of the London Daily Mail, paid high tribute to the New Zealand Press when speaking before Wellington business men on Wednesday. “Well informed, admirably edited, wonderfully put together,” he called it, and said that he had studied it with great interest and profit. Like Lord Northcliffe, he was struck by the great number of newspapers which he had seen in the Dominion. “Every town of any size has its daily newspaper, morning or evening, and everybody reads them!” He had seen working men on their way tb toil and each and everyone had a copy of the morning paper under his arm. He did not know whether this was because the New Zealand working man had more time for reading than his English brother. (Laughter.) He admitted, following on a hint by Mr. J. Myers, that British papers had not been well served with New Zealand news in the past; but that was all over now. The people here appeared to have a thirst for news; they advertised, too, with a rapidity and to an extent which he found admirable.

A story of one devoted mother among the many that exist is given by an Auckland exchange as follows:—A widow whose young son was the main support of the family, and earned 25/- per week, came before one of the Auckland relief committees recently and asked that she be temporarily assisted so that she could take her boy away from his present job and put him at other work for which he was specially adapted and which he liked, but which would only yield 10/- per week for a start. The boy is a fine, intelligent lad, and may rise to the top of his profession in a few years. The request was immediately granted. The mother was praised for her forethought and told that any temporary sacrifice which she made was in the best interests of all concerned. Men skilled in the trades and professions are valuable assets to the life of the community and benefit the Dominion as a whole, while blind alley occupations are getting to be the curse of our industrial life. It may be mentioned that the mother did not ask for the actual difference in cash in regard to the sacrifice she was making in the difference in her son’s wages; it was only a small sum she asked for to tide her over an acute stage in the life of the family. An enjoyable evening was spent in the ‘Westown Hall on Saturday night, when another of the series of euchre parties in aid of the church building fund was held. Ten tables were occupied, the ladies’ prize being won by Mrs. F. Styles after a play-off with Mrs. W. G. Anstis, and the gentlemen’s prize by Mr. B. Booker. At the conclusion a dainty supper was dispensed. The Farmers’ Co-op. will hold a sale on account of Mr. H. Thrush on his farm at. | Lowgarth on Monday, 18th inst. Full j particulars will be found in our auction ‘ advertisements.

’ It is common knowledge that Mrs. Asquith inspired E. F. Benson to write “Dodo,” so it wouldn’t surprise me (says a London writer) to learn that Mrs. Asquith’s stepdaughter, Lady Bonham Carter, inspired A. S. M. Hutchinson to write “This Freedom.” At any rate, Lady Bonham Carter has very decided opinions about mothers and careers. She is a brilliant speaker, and knows an M.P.’s job inside out, and yet for the sake of her young children she refused to stand for Parliament. The laziest women on earth must be those of Asir, the almost unknown country beyond the Red Sea, writes Mrs. Rosita Forbes, who has just returned from visiting them. “The women are in an extremely primitive state,” she said, “and never come out of the house except to be married or buried. When I asked them how they amused themselves, they replied ‘We don’t. For us there is no work.’ I said I quiite understood, but would like to know what they did when they were tired of eating and drinking. One pretty girl looked up and said brightly, ‘We jit.’ ”

A farmer wrote to the editor of an agricultural paper asking for a method of ridding his orchard of the grasshopper plague. In the same mail the editor received a request for advice from an anxious mother about her baby twins, who were having a hard time teething. The editor’s stenographer mixed the replies, with the result that the farmer received the following: “Wrap flannel cloths around their throats. Rub their gums with castor oil and massage their stomachs twice a day.” The anxious mother received this startling advice: “Cover with dry straw. Soak thoroughly with coal oil and apply a match! The little pests vzill soon stop bothering you.” A new menace confronts Melbourne (writes a correspondent of a Sydney pspei l ). It is regarded by many as a greater danger than escaping electricity, which threatens to melt many buildings. A species of fungus now appears to be doing its utmost to rot the timber structures. Demonstrations of its ravages were given at a city building recently. The building was renovated only a few years ago. The floors now show signs of decay, and it was found that a very considerable portion of the basement and ceilings had been affected. Some of the wood when the boards were lifted could be crumpled with the fingers. The species of fungus which causes dry rot is known as Melvenes lachyrmans. Its growth is rapid, and once it starts the whole building is quickly affected. The real significance of the extermination of Von Spee’s squadron in the engagement off the Falkland Islands was explained by Sir Thomas Mackenzie in a lecture in Auckland last week (states the Post’s Auckland correspondent). He said that in giving evidence before the Commission of which he was a member, Lord Fisher mentioned that when Admiral Craddock’s ships were sunk he demanded two fast cruisers for use against the German marauders, and although the Admiralty objected that no such vessels could be snared for at least a month, he was able, with the assistance of Mr. Winston Churchill, to despatch the Invincible and Indomitable that night. Within ten minutes of their arrival at Falklands these vessels engaged the Germans and despatched them. Lord Fisher then explained that there were 6000 time-expired German soldiers residing in Argentine, and it was the intention of the German authorities that the islands should be converted into a second Gibraltar and from this point a deadly attack was to be made on British commerce and troopships.

“If advertising will bring more people to church, that is the thing we want. After all, that is the main thing, and it does not matter if we advertise one special church; what we want is ‘Come to church,’ and the idea is to get the people to church first of all. I say emphatically that churches should advertise; they do it in America.”—Mr. Percy Cogger, on “Advertising” at the Wellington Y.M.C.A. The bright monthly publication “Aussie” (New Zealand edition) is to hand for June 15th, aid will no dou£»t find favor with an increasing number of readers. The magazine is a real tonic for the present dull wintry weather, being brimful of humorous cuts, short stories, etc. The “8.K.” Bookshop, New Plymouth, is making a special window display of Aussie. Buyers of boys’ sport suits should not miss the wonderful bargains in Kaiapoi tweed suits offering at the Melbourne’s great June sale. These suits were bought direct from the mill at a tremendous reduction enabling us to sell to the public at a saving almost equal to 50 per cent. Note the sale prices: sizes 3 to 6 28/6, sizes 7 to 12 33/6, sizes 13 to 16 38/6. In our advertising columns will be found the receiving dates for pigs by the N.Z. Meat Packing and Bacon Co. This month will practically close the present season. The N.Z. Loan and Mercantile Agendy Co., Ltd., wish to draw clients’ attention to their Te Wera sale, which they ( are holding in their Te Wera yards on Friday, 15th June, at 1 p.m. Full particulars on page 8 of this issue. At Korito on Monday next Newton King, Ltd. are conducting two clearing sales, particulars of which are advertised in auction columns. Both herds have been farmed on high country, so the sales should be of particular interest to persons who are desirous of purchasing cows to farm on warmer and heavier pastures.

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19230615.2.23

Bibliographic details

Taranaki Daily News, 15 June 1923, Page 4

Word Count
1,917

LOCAL AND GENERAL. Taranaki Daily News, 15 June 1923, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL. Taranaki Daily News, 15 June 1923, Page 4