LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 8 July 1929, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Shareholders of the Tarurutangi Dairy Company at their annual meeting on Saturday evening showed their sympathy with the earthquake sufferers in a practical manner by voting £5 5s to the relief fund.

A badly sprained left ankle was sustained by A. Collins, full-back for Stratford, in the Rugby match at Waitara on Saturday. A doctor was called to attend him and it is thought probable that he may not be able to play for the rest of the season.'

A memorial service for the late General Bramwell Booth was held in the New Plymouth Salvation Army Citadel last night, when an appropriate address was given by Ensign Hutchins. The Ensign spoke also of her work in India and the great progress the Army was making there. A Te Kuiti motorist had an experience tho other day which evidenced the severity of the King Country frosts. When he went to his garage he discovered that the water in a jug used to fill the radiator was still frozen into a solid block of ice.

A severe shaking but apparently no serious injuries, was sustained by two men in Devon Street, New Plymouth, on Saturday, when a light motor truck belonging to the New Plymouth Borough Council overturned. The driver of the truck made a sudden swerve to avoid a motor-car, driven by a woman, which suddenly shot out from a side street, and the truck capsized. Several broken ribs and injuries to the shoulder were sustained by an elderly man named T. Neighbour.as the result of a collision between a motorcycle and a car at the bottom of Standish Hill, New Plymouth, on Saturday night. T. Neighbour junr. was riding the motor-cycle with his father as a pillion passenger. The car was driven by Frank Frost, Omata.

Concussion followed a kick on the head received by A. Lewis, a Tukapa third grade player, who took part in the match with Old Boys at the New Plymouth racecourse on Saturday. He was rendered unconscious and was removed to the hospital. His condition last night was reported to be satisfactory. Showing how faithful was the workmanship in the new factory and how solidly it was built, Mr. A. Street remarked at the annual meeting of the Tarurutangi Co-op. Dairy Company on Saturday night that he was present at the factory on the day of the earthquake. “Though the whole world was rocking,” he said, “nothing in the factory was out of place, showing that the builder had made a solid job.” A beautiful little greenstone adze, found in the civic square excavation, has been presented to the Auckland Museum by Mr. H. E. Vaile (states the New Zealand Herald). It is interesting because it bears deep grooves on both sides, showing that an earpendant or other small ornament was being cut from it by the laborious process which the ancient Maori had to use. The adze was discovered 30ft below the modern level of Queen Street, in what had once been the bed of the Ligar Canal.

A coincidence occurred to two residents of Paraparaumu, who are visiting Sydney. They went into the State theatre to pass an hour in the afternoon, and just as they were leaving the words, “Beautiful New Zealand,” were flashed upon the screen. They promptly sat down again, and were rewarded by seeing fine views of Kapiti, and the dis- 1 trict between Paremata, Paekakariki, Paraparaumu, and their own home with its trees and gardens. Of course their excitement was great. Mention is made by the writer of the great beauty of the theatre curtain, which is of darkest green velvet, with enormous hollyhocks embroidered on it, outlined with silver sequins, while on the other side is an exquisite spray of carnations, not so large, but beautifully represented. They felt that the place is almost too magnificent, and that the ornamentation is in danger of being oppressive—no rest to the eye anywhere—but still very fine indeed.

Objection to the “talkies” on the ground that they threatened to adversely affect the purity of the English spoken in New Zealand was raised by the Hon. G. M. Thomson (Otago) in the Legislative Council last Friday. He said the enormous amount of film rubbish that was being foisted upon the people of this part of the world was not desirable. Educational films were always good, but the majority of them were not educational, and the “love” films that came out were a discredit to the community. “We have to watch with great care what we get in the way of the talking film,” continued Mr. Thomson. “I believe that, taking it all round, the English spoken in New Zealand is as pure as in any part of the Empire. Today Australia is becoming to a certain extent Americanised. American talk is to some extent an outrageous thing. It Is certainly not English, but goes by the name of it. I hope that the censorship that is exercised on films will be also exercised very carefully on the talking film, so that we will not have foisted upon us a language that is not of our Mother Country.” The post office advises that the mails which left Auckland bn June 4 per the Niagara via Vancouver arrived in London on July &.

An attempt was made last evening by 2YB New Plymouth to re-broadcast SSW Chelmsford, England, direct. The reception from SSW was very poor. Later an attempt was made to rebroadcast SSW through 2ME Australia, but the service had concluded.

Ten pupils of the Canterbury Aero Club were in the air on Tuesday, which was a good day for flying. The most advanced ones have about six hours’ further instruction in the air to undergo before they can qualify for a pilot’s certificate, but the club hopes to turn out its first qualified pilot about the end of this month.

The idea of the opossum being a carnivorous animal is scouted by Mr. D. Hope, curator to the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society. The animal is very fond of fruit, berries and other forms of vegetable life, he says, but he has never known it eat flesh. He does not think that charges of its destroying native bird life can be (sustained.

While being operated on for appendicitis four weeks ago, Roy Williams, aged four years, of Lithgow, New South Wales, moved suddenly, and the surgeon’s needle broke off. Its progress down the boy’s thigh was watched by X-ray, and last week, when it neared tho skin, it was removed. Tho piece was about an inch in length.

The Thornton rose bowl, a first and a special prize for the best English Brown Leghorn, and a first, a special and a cup for the best bird in the utility Brown Leghorn section were secured by the New Plymouth poultry breeder, Mr. Walter Jones, at the Hastings winter show.

One of the principals in an Appeal Court case heard in Wellington was a mental defective whose state of mind at the time he parted with several large sums of money was commented upon by Mr. IL H. Cornish. Counsel said he had been informed by a doctor that the man was suffering from delusions similar to those found in Id-fashioned Presbyterians. Mr. Justice Herdman (dryly): “The old-fashioned Presbyterian was not in the habit of making gifts of £100.”

Sixty cases of infectious diseases, comprising scarlet fever, diphtheria, influenza and pneumonia, were reported in the Taranaki health district for the month of June —18 more than during the same period last year. The figures, followed by those for June, 1928, and the total for the year to date, were: Scarlet fever 22, 27, 168; diphtheria, 12, 5, 35; influenza, 5,0, 9; pneumonia, 16, 10, 70. Diphtheria is increasing, but this is more or less a seasonal rise, June and July being usually the peak months, according to the health inspector, Dr. R. J. Meeredy. For the last six years diphtheria has been decreasing, and it is possible that the incidence of this disease may take an upward trend. Pneumonia and pneumonic influenza have also increc ed, and in the first week of July have shown increases on June. July and August are usually the maximum months for this, disease. A considerable amount of mild influenza has been reported from the schools, in some of which it has assumed epidemic proportions. A large number have been affected by it, but the type is apparently not severe and mostly of the respiratory type.