LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 5 January 1929, Page 12

LOCAL AND GENERAL

While a young Christchurch woman was doing her Christmas shopping in one of the shops, a thief cut the leather straps of her bag, which was.hanging on her arm, and made off with it. It was only when the woman went to pay for her purchase that she discovered her loss.

“One thing very noticeable to me .was that the horse is coming into his own again on the farms and in the wheat belt both in the United States and Canada,” commented Dr. W. C. Ring, the Auckland, veterinarian, who returned by the Aorangi from a visit to America.

Large numbers of tourists have visited the Egrnont mountain houses during the holidays, and although the weather has not been favourable on some days, many parties have enjoyed climbs and excursions to the numerous beauty spots. Two very successful dances have recently been held at the northern hostel. Dairy produce prices ruling in London this week ace given as. follows in a cable received in New Plymouth yesterdav: New Zealand salted butter. 182 s to 184 s; unsalted, 1965; market steady. Kew Zealand cheese, white 955, coloured 995; market quiet. The Ruahine and Devon arrived Home during the week laden with dairy produce. It did not take long for the Tongaporutu camp site to grow in favour with motorists. Throughout ' the holidays there has been an average of twenty at the camp, many remaining for a week or more. It is understood a small committee has been formed, and it is expected that shortly improvements to the site will be carried out. The fact that the authorities at a southern mountain resort' charge lost parties for expenses, incurred, in searching was mentioned .by a guest at the North Egrnont hostel yesterday when diecussing the unfortunate experience of an Auckland climbing party the previous night. The narrator lent point to his story by .adding that he himself had had to write a cheque for £6O for the expenses of the parties that searched for him,

There are indications that at, least some of the four English nightingales brought to New Zealand a year ago by Mr. Angus Wilson, and released in a bush reserve in the Tamaki district, have survived. One of the birds was heard in the Blockhouse Bay Domain on New Year’s Day.

The annual report of the Department of Health states that patients’ payments have now become a not inconsiderable portion of hospital revenue, constituting 20 per cent, of the total revenue of hospital boards and departmental hospitals, and these payments have shown a very much greater proportionate increase than hospital expenditure.

A commencement with the metalling of Beach Street, Fitzroy, was made on Thursday morning preparatory to tarsealing. The footpath near the entrance to the Fitzroy Seaside Park is also receiving attention. When this is completed the park will have a good approach, and this will greatly enhance its already growing popularity. The Queen’s signature has saved a man from the scaffold, according to the London Daily News. Her Majesty’s signature w-as among those attached to a document granting a reprieve for the Burmese San Dwe, who had been sentenced to death for the murder of a fellow employee at the London Zoo. The Queen signed the document as a member of the Council of State.

Speaking of the treatment of small animals, Dr. W. C. Ring, the Auckland veterinarian, who has returned from a- trip abroad, said that the work had

been brought to a high state of perfection in the United States. No fetffcr than 10,000 dogs had been treated at' the Pennsylvania University Hospital last year. This class of work was much appreciated by the general public. While anchored off Kapiti Island the other day, a party of Palmerston North residents enjoying a holiday at Paraparaumu caught 12 large hapuka, in addition to other fish. In the stomach of the largest specimen of the former was a medium sized, penguin, which had been swallowed completely. Another contained several kahawai. The hapuka were in excellent condition. To meet the growing demand for slag the Taranaki merchants have arranged for the Shaw, Savill motor-ship Zealandic to leave Antwerp with a cargo of slag for New Plymouth alone. There is every reason to believe slag imports

through the port will eclipse all previous records, and another record will be r-egistered by the fact that this will be the first occasion on which a largo overseas vessel will discharge the whole of its cargo at New Plymouth. "At "the schoolboy age of experience, sport is the supreme character-builder,” said Mr. J. H. Murdoch, M.A., principal of Scots College, in his annual report (says an exchange). "It is the natural field of the sublimation of all those impulses that must be conquered in the struggle for manhood. Parents are. sometimes unwise in their attitude towards athletics. A healthy and athletic body is a great asset in life; and youthful over-emphasis on games is a passing

phase.” Thousands of moths, having the appearance of a large cloud yjere seen at Riverside the other evening (reports the Ashburton Guardian). An Ashburton motorist passing through the district about half-pa st seven said the moths extended over a distance of about' three fftiles above the road and' the surrounding paddocks. The moths appeared to be travelling towards the. ,sca. Several of them flew into the motor-car as it passed through their midst. They were each about an inch in length and white in colour.

All the members of the Opunake Harbour Board take a keen interest in the welfare of the port. That they are not imbued with any mercenary motives was strikingly shown last night, when amongst the accounts presented by the clerk for payment were amounts for expenses of members ranging from £l3 15s for the chairman to 16s for a recently appointed member. At once the mem-

bers stated they would not accept expenses, witlf the exception of one who facetiously remarked that his cheque could be deferred until the harbour was paying its way. Stewart Island possesses a rare animal, namely, a distinct species of bat that is apparently not found elsewhere.. The bat possesses a tail and evidently is the only bat to have one. In the extreme south of the island they had their home in a cave known by the fishermen as Bats’ Cave. The bats were there in great numbers, but recently it was reported that someone had lighted a big

fire in the cave and that the bats, had disappeared. They may have transferred to some other haven, but it is singular that this cave is the only place where the bats have beeir seen. While the Port 1 Denison was on route from Auckland to Gisborne and steaming out to the anchorage last' week, the police and an identifying member of the ship’s company combed likely places for ttvo missing ratings. When found they were in that happy state that they did not care which way the ship went or whether she sailed at all. They were conveyed to the waterfront and taken aboard in a launch. The pair behaved nicely till alongside the steamer, but when they saw the gangway they shied, like two-year-olds, first one and then the other taking a header over the side into the harbour. They then began a series of evolutions that were quite masterly, and they evaded recapture until one of the escorts picked up a boathook and gaffed the pair, one after the

other, and. landed them safely aboard. Generally speaking, hospital accountancy has reached a high level in New Zealand, and compares favourably with that of any other local bodies, states the annual report of the Department of Health. The necessity for board secretaries to be able to follow modern methods in the keeping of their accounts, and to prepare annual statements according to recognised accountancy principles, has resulted in a high general standard amongst these executive officers.

Australia House, London, receives strange letters, but few have occasioned more surprise than one which has just come in from a 16-year-old boy in Nvassaland, who, hearing of the readiness with which Australian sultanas and. raisins are being sold in England, has written asking Australia House to appoint him as cook. He writes: “I know all about cooking. I think 1 will set out to be a cook., I suppose you know the feeling when you arc put in a job you know will not take, you far. It is very difficult to get a job as a cook out here.”

The greatest variety of men’s suits is to be seen at The Palatine, New Plymouth. They have them from 45/-, but the suit they specially recommend is. the all-wocS 'worsted suit at 79/6. This was a special purchase, bought at a big discount and one usually priced at 110/-. There are all sizes and a variety of patterns and the newest shades. These suits eau only, .bo procured at W- H. Broome’s, The Palatine, Devon Street, Now Plymouth. .