LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 29 January 1929, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A large shark created considerable excitement at the Oakura beach, on Sunday. Th© fish was quite unperturbed by the bathers, and swam idly around the beach in a few feet of water, displaying its dorsal fin and tail. At a meeting of the council of the Canterbury Automobile Association, the chairman, Mr. F. W. Freeman, stated that in highway matters the South Island was a decade behind the North Island. Last year £587,000 was spent in the- North Island, and only £125,000 in the South.

Vandalism has appeared at Pukekura Park. On Sunday a portion was torn from the base of the monument erected by officers of the Bank of New South Wales in memory of a brother officer who died during the Boer War. The granite of which the monument was made was not damaged.

Good progress is being made with the deviation of the road on the north side of Okato, and the re-erection of the Katikara bridge further up the river. The work was commenced only about a week ago, but already the excavations and foundations of the bridge are well under way. The contractors are Messrs, J. G. Julian and Son. A collection of paleonlithic and neolithic stone implements, dating back about 6009 years, has been presented to the Canterbury Museum by Mr. T. Weir, of Bristol, England. Another recent addition to the museum is a very fine fossil specimen of the pinna (horse mussel), from the Leader River, North Canterbury, presented by Mrs. McLaughlin, of Kekerangu.

The Calcutta cornsack boat, the Waiotapu, arrived at Lyttelton on Monday. She was just in time to meet the demand created by the harvest, as the latter has come on with a rush this last week (says the Christchurch Press). Tho late harvest is not altogether a misfortune in this respect, as it is certain otherwise that there would have been an early scarcity of sacks. Within the past few days'merchants have been bombarded with requests for the threshing of ryegrass and oats. At a meeting of the New Plymouth watersiders’ picnic committee at Moturoa yesterday morning, Mr. 3. Flood gave details of the financial position, and expressed appreciation of the support accorded by the public. The Parihaka String Band, their rangitira and the Maori girls were accorded a vote of thanks for their delightful programme of music and dancing. Mr. McKay endorsed the secretary’s words and said that the inconvenience of the rain was fully counteracted by the pleasure of the

Mr. J. Q. Brechin, of Pahiatua, who has been spending a few days in North Taranaki, was greatly struck by ths appearance of the pastures. He also expressed surprise at the quantity of ensilage that is being made this year. He remarked to a News representative that in his district the farmers did not make any ensilage.

Provided other swimming clubs concerned give their approval, it was decided by the committee of the New Plymouth Swimming Club last night to conduct the water-polo competition for the Dalgleish Cup on the “knock-out” principle, the rules used thus far having proved unsatisfactory. The hope was expressed that arrangements could be made for Stratford to play Fitzroy at Stratford to-morrow, and. for Inglewood to play Hawera at the next carnival to be held by the Hawera club. Noticing a bright glare in the sky, apparently above the Upper Waiteika Road, Mr. R. Furguson hurried, home on Saturday night to and his fiveroomed house in flames. ’ The place was temporarily unoccupied, as Mrs. Furguson and her two children were away on holiday and Mr. J. Furguson was in Opunake. The fire had obtained such a hold that, despite the efforts of neighbours, the house and its contents were completely destroyed. The outbreak occurred abc t 8.30 p.m. when Mr. R. Furguson was on his way to t 1 Te Kiri store.

While agreeing that it is necessary to be very jealous regarding the quality of our dairy produce, Mr. J. G. Brechin, speaking to a representative of the News, remarked that he considered, that there was no necessity to belittle the quality as had been done of late. He had recently had a letter from a friend in London which controls 48 shops, some of which are very large ones. The shops all handle New Zealand produce, and he spoke in enthusiastic terms regarding the quality of the produce. Mr. Brechin strongly advocated more scientific research in connnetion with the industry. ' Two life-saving teams from Taranaki will compete in the William Henry Memorial trophy competition for fourman surf teams, which will eventuate at Wellington on Tuesday next. The official Taranaki team will comprise S. Corkill (captain and manager), H. W. Brown, W. Toomey and G. H. Plumtree. The team will moto through to Wellington on Sunday. The Opunake club are alsc sending a team, and to defray expenses £22 was raised at a mart on Saturday. The Opunake team will be: G. Harrison W. E. Smith, A. Sinclair and W. E. McCallum, while Mr. J. N. Stephenson will go as manager.

Concern is felt in parts of Auckland district at th© appearance during the past few weeks of a blight or disease that is attacking shelter trees. The disease has some of the characteristics of fireblight and appears to be as virulent. Instances noted are not confined to any one group of trees but have occurred in several plantations, some of them separated by at least a mile. Trees which the blight has so far affected are gums, maerocarpas and pinus insignis. Fruit trees in the vicinity do not seem to have any trace of the blight. Three sharks were caught on a line at one time at the mouth of the Ashburton River during last week-end. The owner of the line had fixed.a float with a sail attached to the. end of the line, and at intervals, as the northerly wind carried the float out to sea, he attached small lines with hooks. Three sharks were caught at one haul, though oijp got clear just beyond the surf. A second, time the sailed float was put to sea, but this time a shark took the whole thing away, breaking the line. The sail was in sight for a long time, but was too far out for the southerly wind in the afternoon to bring it back to the -shore, - With a normal bed. capacity of 100, the accommodation at the New Plymouth Public Hospital has been most severely taxed during the past 10 days, when the average has been over 170 patients. The number actually reached ISI one day recently. These conditions of overcrowding are not due to epidemics, it is stated, the various types of sickness being fairly evenly distributed throughout the wards. The only reason, it seems, is that the district has 'outgrown the facilities available. For some time prospective patients have had to be refused admission, except when their cases were urgent. By Sunday night the position had eased somewhat, the number being treated having fallen to 167. Mr. H. Gordon Selfridge, a former resident of the United States and the founder of the famous London . emporium which bears his name, said .in a recent speech that the vast majority of his employees were British, and this accounted for the splendid loyalty of the staff. Visitors from the United States often wished that they could take back a few hundreds of these Britons. Englishmen, unfortunately, were poor self-advertisers, and it took an American Jew to tell in a book what Englishmen had done in the war—things which no English war author had ever told. Advertisement by means of printers’ ink was probably the most potent influence on. public opinion today. New York so advertised itself that Americans believed it was the biggest city in the world, but London was the greatest as well as the biggest, because it had far more of the men who counted. If we could give to America that charm and poise and repose of life in exchange for some of its hustle and. its wonderful efficiency of enthusiasm, and mix the two peoples together, nothing could hope to compete with the result.

The action which the new Parliament, will take in reference to daylight saving when it meets in June is already the subject of considerable speculation, both in regard to possible action on the part of the Government and the attitude of private members (says the Post). The “father” of summer-time in New Zealand, the Hon. T. K. Sidey, is now Leader of the Legislative Council and Attorney-General, but his new duties have not prevented him from taking a keen interest in his “baby.” Soon after his appointment Mr. Sidey circularised members of Parliament with a view to ascertaining their views on the subject —whether they favour the half-hour as at present or the full hour which was in operation in 1927-28. It is stated that if a Summer Time Bill is introduced next session it will be a Government measure, but the form it will take will depend largely on the nature of the replies received by Mr. Sidey. It is known that several members of the United (Party are opposed to the principle of daylight saving, or to the full hour at least, and for that reason the Bill will not be fought out on strictly party lines.

Attention is drawn to an amendment in the railway timetable for the Hawera Races. The return train conn’ ; with the Waitara branch at 7.36, and not 6.36 as previously announced.