LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 11 October 1928, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL

An additional £4OOO was voted by the House of Representatives on Monday for expenditure in connection witli the grave of the late Mr. Massey at Point Halswell. This sum is to be devoted to the beautification of the access to the area in the vicinity. According to a return presented to Parliament the total amount of! tyre tax collected at North Island and South Island ports from January 1, 1922, to March 31 last was £1,053,629. Of that sum the North Island collected £726,536 and the South £317,093. The amounts to the credit of the North Island and South Island accounts for the Main Highways Fund at March 31, 1927, were respectively £317,823 anl £324,920. The figures for March 31, 192'8, are not available, but it is not anticipated the amounts or proportions to that date will vary to any great extent from the 1927 figures. “It does not pay to regard any Parliamentary scat as safe,” remarked Mr. R. E. Beckett at Mr. W. S. Glenn’s meeting at Marton last week, and he supported his statement with a striking illustration. When Sir William Fox was member for Rangitikei, he said, and Mr. John Ballance, member for Wanganui, both regarded their seats as safe. So much so that Mr. Ballance went to Marton to assist the Libera! candidate (Mr. W. Stevens) and Sir William went to Wanganui to assist Mr. W. Watt, the Conservative nominee. “Strangely enough,” concluded Mr. Beckett, “the supposedly sure seats were lost, and both Mr. Stevens and Mr. Watt were returned.”

So far there are no official figures available as to the actual number of opossums taken in the Wellington Acclimatisation Society’s district during the season just closed, but those with some knowledge of the position believe the yield to be approximately 60,090 skins (states the Dominion), If this is true it establishes not only a new record for the Wellington district, but one for any opossum district in the Dominion. As the highest price paid for skins this season was 23s (from the Waikaremoana district), it might be fair to average the price of the skins taken in the Wellington district (which are of good quality) at about 10s, so that the yield for the season must have approximated some £30,000. In confirmation of the widening use of the aeroplane and the increasing interest taken by business men in civil aviation, the Evening Standard (London) recently quoted an interview with a eity man who had acquired a twoseater Moth airplane, and who predicted a very great growth in the flying habit. “A small airplane is no more expensive than a motor-car to buy;” he said, “and much cheaper to run. It is very easy to operate, and a machine with slotted folding wings can be stored in an ordinary garage. Good landing places are plentiful in most parts of the country, and for the business man who wants to get away for the weekend a small airplane seems to me the very thing. You can get down to North Devon in about two hours by airplane.”

Lecturing at a meeting of the Philosophical Institute iu Christchurch, Dr. F. W. Hilgendorf said that grass-breed-ing experiments at Lincoln College were confined to ryegrass, cocksfoot and red clover, beca-.se they were imported plants and were most easily introduced when an improvement in pasture was desired. Wheat, oats and barley were self-fertilised, but the grasses were thought to he cross-fertilised, and so breeding had always been looked upon as a matter of great difficulty. Elaborate experiments at Lincoln, however, had resulted in devising a method of securing self-fertilisation. This consisted of planting the grasses in the middle of crops of wheat and oats. The lecturer showed a number of slides demonstrating the great differences existing in cocksfoots and ryegrasses. These showed that some strains produced three or four times as much feed as others.

A foretaste of the welcome that awaits him from Scots throughout New Zealand was experienced by Lord Lovat in the Auckland Town Hall on Monday. As he was leaving the City Council chamber a voice flung a greeting in Gaelic, and Lord Lovat, who promptly replied in the same tongue, found himself in a laughing group of four or five people, all of whom had come from some part of his great Highland estates. The Gaelic had come from Mr. John Gardiner, a thirty years’ resident in New Zealand, who had been brought up in the village of Beuly, two miles from Beaufort Castle, Lord Lovat’s seat near Inverness, and who well remembered him as a young man. Others in the group were two veteran Presbyterian ministers, the Revs. William Macdonald and J. D. McKenzie. The warmth of the greetings on both sides wholly disproved the common notion that the Scots are a dour people. In his speech Lord Lovat had expressed his pleasure “at again meeting an old Scots friend, Sir George Fowlds.” There is something about a well-dressed man that instantly commands, respect and attention. Have you conside: :d this aspect of your social and business career? Now then is your opportunity to secure one of Besley’s smart Made-to-your-meas-ure Suits at a special discount of £1 ofl each suit.

Residents of Albert Road are reminded that Mr. W. J. Polson will deliver an address in the Albert Road School on Saturday evening, at 7.30 p.m. A small farmlet of 5 acres, with good buildings, is advertised- for sale on a £5O deposit, by W. H. and A. McGarry, Eltham.

The best of values are to be found at The Hustlers- Low prices convey nothing, but when quality is specified the Real Value is conveyed in low price. All the newest dress fabrics in smartly distinctive colours and designs are now being shown at prices that will command a speedy clearance. The Hustlers, Devon Street. There are a few money-savers to be procured at The Palatine, New Plymouth. Men’s holeproof working trousers, 8/11; men’s gaberdine riding breeches, 19/6; men’s black Italian cloth shirts, 6/6; men’s English saddle tweed, 10/6; men’s all-wool cardigan jackets, grey and heather, 8/11; men’s felt hats, latest shapes and colours, 9/6; men’s flannels, trousers, the newest fashionable shades, from 10/6; men’s khaki gaberdine trousers, 13/9; men’s canvas coats, 34/9; men’s odd tweed coats, 17/9; men’s double breasted serge suits, 82/6; men’s pyjamas, 6/11. These bargains are to be procured only at W. H. Broome’s, The Palatine, Devon Street, New Plymouth.

When next in town, no doubt you will miss Messrs. C. C. Ward, Ltd., old premises in Devon Street. This very old shopping centre has been demobilised to allow the contractors to complete our new building. Our busines is still being carried on in the rear of the old shop, i ith an entrance in Devon Street, through the Arcade, or in Currie Street.

The erieket practice wickets in Puk©kura Park will, it is understood, be available for use next Monday, providing the weather keeps fine enough. A collision occurred between two motor-cars at the intersection of Eliot and Courtenay Streets, New Plymouth, yesterday. Although both cars were severely damaged, the occupants escaped without injury. Speaking at the Waitara Borough Council meeting last night, Cr. J. Hine expressed the opinion that the signs as required under the motor regulations would soon be dropped as they were not meeting with general approval, motorists finding it difficult to understand them. A deer was the cause of an unusual motor accident on the Blenheim-Nelson road near the Pelorus Bridge last week. Masters Basil and Leslie Bryant, accompanied by Mrs. Peter Anderson, Rai Valley, were driving along the road in a car when a large deer suddenly bounded out of the bush in front of the car. The animal made its appearance so unexpectedly that the car could not be pulled up in time to avert a collision. The deer was struck and bowled over and the car, passing over its body, overturned. The car was somewhat damaged, but its occupants escaped practically unhurt. Mr. J. Bown’s sons, who happened on the scene in their car, rendered assistance to the party and conveyed them home. The deer made Its escape, leaving a fair amount of skin and hair behind, and the indications were that it had been badly hurt. A party went out next morning to try and locate it with the object of putting it out of it misery, but no trace of the animal could be found. “I still maintain that the greatest primary industry in New Zealand is the married man with a large family,” declared Mr. L. A. Abraham at Auckland on Saturday. The sally was greeted with laughter, but Mr. Abraham repeated his statement. Population, he said, was a first essential to any country, and large families of the right type were the first need of New Zealand. “You may think I am joking when I describe the married man with a large family as a primary industry,” he added, “but I mean every word of it.’ ’

An interesting incident during the Lady Eva’s recent trip to- Mokau was that when near th® beach there she picked up a big anchor of old style, to which was attached a considerable length of cable. Investigation among the Maoris elicited the information that no one had recollection of any ship having anchored at th® spot where the anchor was found. It would be interesting to know under what circumstances the old voyager had to slip her cable. The anchor and cable are at the Whangarei Harbour Board’s jetty.

The operations of the New Plymouth Beautifying Society on Saturday next will be centred on Fort. Niger, not on Baines Terrace. A contingent of frontiersmen and some members of the Rotary Club have promised to assist. Mr. V/. J. Polson will deliver an address in the Pembroke Hall To-morrow night at 7.30 p.m.