LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 December 1926, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Prices of butter in New Plymouth have been advanced Id a pound. Creamery is now quoted at Is fid, separator, pats, at Is 3d and separator, lump, at Is 2d. What is claimed as a record in public works ttimteilhig-for New Zealand has been cstauHshed by the men working on the first - big tunnel beyond Tangarakau on the Stratford-Main Trunk railway, where 15 men, working three shifts a day, have dug and concrete finished as much as 96 feet in one month. The men are on the job all the time, five constituting each shift. They are all experienced. tiumellere, and the work is going forward with precision and rapidity. .. .. English public schoolboys have decided to form a club, with centre at Hamilton, open to all public schoolboys and men in the Waikato. Most of the boys who were present at the meeting are on farms in the Waikato district, having come to New Zealand under the English public schoolboys’ immigration scheme. The club is to be of a social, nature, one of the objects being for members to become acquainted with fellow-countrymen whom they might otherwise never meet. An amusing story of the habits of prisoners in one of the penal settlement's in England, is related by a prison chaplain. He states that though the prisoners are not allowed to talk to each other, they have discovered an ingenious way to "have a chat,” during the service in the prison chapel on Sunday. The conversations are carried on during the singing of some favourite hymn or psalm, and to the music of the Te Deuni, one hears “conversation” such as this: "Bill, what arc you in for?” and the answer comes back, to the setting of tlie next line: “Six months for stealing mutton.” During the past few years, the Methodist Church has provided a tea and social evening for the prisoners in H.M. Reformatory at New Plymouth on Christmas Eve, by permission of the Controller-General of Prisons. Last year the arrangements were made by ’ the Rev. T. H. Richards and Mr. C. E. Bellringer, M.P. This year the local Rotarians have accepted responsibility for the function, which the Rev. T. H. Richards is arranging on their behalf. He has received the necessary authority from tlie Controller-General, and it is hoped that several Rotarians will assist Mr. Richards to make the evening a successful one. The incident of the Maori woman at. Kaiwhaiki, reported by telegram from VI anganui, recalls a similar one which happened some years ago when the old hospital was situated on the river bank in that town. A Maori woman was brought from the same pah to the hospital, and was supposed to have died, nut she made it speedy recovery, and was taken back to the pah. Some little time later she again became very ill, and was supposed to have died on the way to the hospital. The Maoris were very alarmed about the vagaries of the woman, and hurriedly seeking out the man at the hospital whose duty it was to see that the head bodies were coffined, they said: “Napi, napi this time quick, in ease she come to life again.” The “napi, napi” was meant as an instruction to get the nails into the coffin as quickly as possible. The pipe band gives a recital at the East End Reserve on Sunday afternoon next in aid of the reserve fund. Messrs. Sturm, Phillips and Company, auctioneers, Stratford, will conduct their usual weekly sale to-morrow, commencing at 12.30 p.m.. with a special offering of Christmas poultry. Full particulars on auction page of this issue.

No tenders have been received for the erection of the proposed new hostel for the Tongariro National Park. The matter has been referred to the hoetel committee of the Board, and it is probable that a large modern house will bo erected before long. The Egmont Box Co.'s mill at Ohutu, near Taihape, has been closed down after running for 18 years. Several other mills in the districts north of Taihape are doing likewise, the contributing causes being the scarcity of workable bush and also the competition of imported timbers. “I would like to see all scholarships abolished,” said the Hon. Mark Cohen at a meeting of the Dunedin School Committees’ Association. “The socalled ‘dud’,” he continued, “generally runs rings round those who won scholarships, and I think the sooner we get rid of the present system the better .it will be.” "I think the Swiss are among the most cultured people ef the world,” remarked Mr. G. H. Bennett, of Palmerston North, when discoursing on his trip to England and the Continent. Switzerland was a wonderful country, with towns as elean as be had seen anywhere. and hotels which, for real comfort, were without equal. Tlie scenery reminded one of New Zealand, but the industry of the people was amazing. Women worked in the fields in the summer and enjoyed a world wide reputation for their embroidery. There one would sec a hundred farm houses where only one would exist in New Zealand.

According to a Press message the deficiency on the Christchurch trains for the half-year ended September 19 was £12,000. The chairman (Mr. W. J. Walter), however, expressed the hope that the deficiency would be more than made up during the remainder of the financial year. Nevertheless, if the revenue continues to fall and power and wages chargee to increase, there would, he said, be no alternative but to impose a property tax. Most of the financial difficulties of the board, he considered, were due to the increase in the use of private motor cars.

"It is not generally realised,” states the Railway Board, apropos of safety crossings, “how large is the number of level crossings which have to be negotiated by the drivers on the trunk express trains in the course of their day’s run.” Tlie crossings which express drivers on the North Island Main Trunk have to pass over are as follow: Wellington to Taihape 130, Taihape to Ohakune 31, Ohakune to Auckland 87; total 248 for three crews. The crossings in the South Island are: Christchurch to Glenavy 119, Glenavy to Waihola 160, Waihola to Invercargill 97; total 3>16 for three crews. Never, perhaps, in the history of Dunedin has there been such a display of wild enthusiasm ®e that of last Tuesday afternon (reports the Evening Star), when a huge crowd gathered in the streets to welcome home Mies Thelma McMillan, the beautiful Dunedin girl who had won the title of “Miss New Zealand” in the big beauty contest. The Mayor of the City (Mr. IL L. Tapley, M.P., 0.M.G.) made a speech of welcome on the station, and then the crowd sang lustily “For She's a Jolly Good Fellow.” The Mayor had confidently carolled the closing bars of the old song when someone in the crowd called out; “Give her a kiss, Mr. Tapley.” This His Worship did in fatherly fashion, with every sign of satisfaction, and he was envied by ali the young fellows in the crowd.

That truth is stranger that fiction is exemplified in the miraculous escape of Jean Patterson, the eight-year-old daughter of Mr. W. Patterson, postmaster at Murchison. When the big explosion occurred at the Dobson mine, the child was staying with her grandmother, Mrs. L. Thomson, whose house is about half a chain from the Dobson mine bathhouse, and in almost a direct line with the mouth of the mine. After the fatal explosion, Mrs. Thomson and the child took up their quarters with her son, Mr. J. W. Thomson, enginedriver at the Dobeon mine, whose house is situated on a hill close to the main entrance. Tlie explosions which occurred on Friday night caused considerable damage to Mr. Thomson’s house, one big stone crashing through the roof and grazing the bed in which the child was sleeping. The house vacated by the child and her grandmother was visited to-day by a. reporter. He found that the bedroom occupied there by little Jean Patterson had also suffered serious damage. A large stone had crashed through the ceiling, falling on the child’s bed. Alongside her doll at the foot of the bed iay another large stone. The ceiling boards through which the stones were hurled were shattered to atoms. Jean is now described by Dobson women as the little gill with the charmed life. Writing to a friend in Wellington, Mr. Leu McKenzie, an ex-member of the Wellington City Council, writes:—■ We are back in London for the New Zealand reception to Mr. Coates, which was a great sueces. Mr. Coates is making good here and has been invited te appear at the ‘London Rotary Club and the broadcasting station. He made a vr'ry favourable impression in his speech at the Guild Hall, which was broadcast everywhere and met with favourable comment. Broadcasting Is on a very large scale here, almost in every home throughout England. Sir James Parr has started well and New Zealanders pronounce him a success. He is already 'making some needed improvements in the office and the addition of some more New Zealanders to convey much sought after information would help considerably. Primary education in this country is much behind our own, and I was very disappointed at the business men’s meeting in Hastings the other night when I listened to their comments on the children leaving school. The schools are controlled by the borough councils, and there seems no unity- of curriculum like in our country, and they still teach the subjects of early Victoria and before it and lack the modern touch necessary for future business life. Technical education is not common, and great improvement is needed in this direction.

“I do not know that it is a crime to start business without capital. Ninetynine per cent, of the people who do start have little or no capital.” This wae the reply of tlie Official Assignee (Mr. S. Tansley) on Thursday (states the Wellington Poet), when a creditor in a bankrupt estate said that there had been too many bankruptcies caused by starting with little or no capital, and that it .was time to invoke the law. The Official Assignee suggested that often the root of (he trouble was the granting of too ifiueli credit.