LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 16 May 1930, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Jumps of 18 feet in length and a speed of 30 miles an hour had been the tested records of Australian kangaroos, said the Rev. G. S. Cook, in his lecture upon Australia last night. With a drink bill of £35,000,000 and gambling totalling £22,000,000 per annum, it seems to some of us that Australia has still some avenues of retrenchment to be explored,” said the Rev. G. S. Cook at the St. Aubyn’s Hall, New Plymouth, last night. “It does not require great imagination to visualise New Plymouth, the nearest New Zealand port to Australia, as the greatest sea and airport of the Dominion in 100 years time,” said the Rev. G. S. Cook, in his lecture upon Australia last night. Geographically and for other reasons New' Plymouth was fhe t natural gateway to the Commonwealth from New Zealand.

During the trial Rugby match at Stratford yesterday J. Walter, the wellknown Stratford, Taranaki and All Black forward, received a compound fracture of the little finger of the right hand. He at once received medical attention and it is expected that he will be able to take his place in the Taranaki team against the British, but this will not be definitely known until Tuesday. Mr. J. Edwin, Motonui, was responsible for a good performance on Wednesday. Leaving home at b. 30 a.m. he competed at the King Country dog trials with his well-known dog Jed, annexing the long-head event from a field of 36 by scoring 48. out of a possible 50 points. He returned home the same evening, having to contend with fog practically all the way. Fred King, Awakino, was third and fourth in the same class with Don and Roy respectively. When fossil remains of the great Australian marsupial lion were discovered at Wellington (N.S.W.) often only head bones were found, said the Rev. G. S. Cook, at New Plymouth, last night. The explanation was that the Australia:. lion, a beast four times the size of an African lion, was a great bone crusher. Hence the jaw bone development w.»s enormous and became fossilised, while the softer bones decayed. It was not generally realised what valuable precious stones were to be found in Australia, said the Rev; G. S. Cook, when lecturing at New Plymouth last night. Pearls worth thousands of pounds had been recovered off the coast Western Australia. It was only in New South Wales that the valuable black opal was found, and Australian diamonds, though small, were the hardest known, and were therefore much sought after for drilling purposes. The durability of kauri timber which has been used in wharf construction at New Plymouth, was indicated yesterday by Captain W. Waller, the harbourmaster, who possesses a portion of a kauri beam removed from the Moturoa wharf during alterations. Although the wood has been exposed to the ravages of wind, rain and spray for at least 40 years it is as sound as when first erected. Captain Waller has had a number of paper-knives made from the wood, and some of these he yesterday presented to board members and to a Daily News representative.

In Japan the arrangement of flowers is an art in itself, said Kimura San, when responding to a welcome at New Plymouth last night. “We do not put one or two flowers in a vase am. declare it finished,” she said, “but employ whole ranches and build up the decoration until it resembles the tree itself. Heaven, earth and men are represented by special branches, and the arrangement generally occupies about two hours.” There were audible gasps from several ladies in the audience, and sighs of thankfulness that they were not .holding their next bridge party in Japan. How the ancient art of weaving was superseded in Japan by western factory methods and large-scale production, was mentioned by Yuki Kimura San in the course of a talk at New Plymouth last night. For 2000 years, she said, spinning had been done entirely by farmers’ wives and daughters until machinery was introduced comparatively recently. The rural folk could not hope to compete against western machinery and methods, and the farmers’ daughters and some of the wives drifted into the factories, gradually swelling the number of factory girls until the whole population of New Zealand was outnumbered by the factory girls of Japan.

“We never eat mutton,” said Yuki Kimura San, at the New Plymouth Y.W.C.A. concert last night. “In fact, our sheep are so rare that we keep them in the zoo. Until I arrived iq Australia I thought mutton very dear.” What may he regarded as an exceptionally good yield was this season obtained by Mr. J. S. Jaffray, of Otama, says the Southland Times. From three bags, of wheat sown on a small area Mr. Jaffray harvested 87 bags equal to approximately 90 bushels per acre. The same grower’s oat crop yielded approximately 100 bushels per acre.

A woman who appeared in the Magistrate’s Court at Wellington this week travelled from Christchurch to defend a claim for 13 0s 4d. “It will probably have cost you as much as that to corne to Wellington,” said the magistrate, Mr. T. B. McNeil, who adjourned the hearing in order to allow the woman to effect a settlement.

An amusing story against the banking profession was told by Mr. W. J. Holdsworth, of Auckland, addressing a combined gathering of business men and farmers held by the Hamilton Rotary Club. Mr. Holdsworth said an Auckland schoolboy had been asked by an inspector to give the definition of a bank, and he had replied: “A bank gives you an umbrella when the weather is fine and asks for it back as soon as it commences to rain.” (Laughter).

“What are your flpors like?” was a question asked Yuki Kimura San at the New Plymouth Y.W.C.A.. concert last night. The visitor from Japan explainer! that they had wooden boards “just like these,” .and stamped a moeassined foot on the staged “But we always have huge, thick mats, and see the boards only when cleaning. Each mat is 6ft. by 3ft., and the size of a room is quoted in terms of mats,< such as a 10-mat room or a 20-mat room. The children love to run on the bare boards while we are cleaning, she concluded, reflectively. Professor J. Shelley amused his audience at the conference of the Association of Psychology and Philosophy at Wellington when he told of a visit to a theatre in Manchester which had two sessions nightly. At the earlier one there were only half-a-dozen people in the stalls, and he never got a laugh, .while at % the later session, which he stayed to —after paying again—he heard the same jokes ae he had found so boring two hours earlier, and he laughed heartily at them, because the hall was crowded.

The difficulties of preserving metalled roads under the present conditione of motor traffic were discussed at a meeting of the’ Waipa County Council. Many of the roads in the county carry a very great deal of traffic, yet only a small mileage has been surfaced. It* was decided to prepare a remit for consideration at the annual conference of the Counties’ Association, unging that a definite speed limit be fixed/ such limit to be a Dominion one, and not merely local.

When the jury delivered its verdict on a case in the Supreme Court at Christchurch, the Crown Prosecutor intimated that he would require their services the next day. “I believe that the foreman has already served on several juries during the session,” remarked Mr. Justice >ldams. The foreman said that that was so.* “'Well, I’m afraid we will have to call you back to-morrow/’ hie Honour said. “The jury, is supposed to be one of the very important bulwarks of the liberty of the people, you know.” Owing to the heavy rains during October, November and December, and the dryness of the season that has followed, vegetables have 'been, and still are, says the Auckland Star, unusually plentiful. As evidence of the size of pumpkins, a Devonport resident is displaying in his shop window three enormous pumpkins, weighing 391 b., 591 b. and 60I'b. The largest is 2ft. in diameter. These pumpkins are not, as might be supposed, the result of heavy manuring or careful cultivation; they were self-sown, and unassisted..

The Southland Hospital Board has good rea'son to know that in Southland there is one man who is both extremely generous and extremely modest. Not long ago he eame into the board office and handed over-a £lOO note. Approximately £5O was to pay a patient s maintenance fees at the hospital. The balance was to be used by the board as it thought fit. A few months later the same man called at the office, handed over £2OO in notes, and said that he wished it to be used by the board in assisting those affected by unemployment. He declined absolutely to give his namev Not content with this, he came back to the office a fortnight ago and handed over another £2OO in notes, with the stipulation that his name be not disclosed. The money was again to be used in relieving those distressed by unemployment. That New Zealand is not very well known abroad is common knowledge. But what a citizen of Genoa thinks of this country, according, to a story told by Mr. H. E. Pacey in an address at Palmerston North the other day, could hardly be taken as a compliment. Mr. Pacey said that when in Genoa recently his daughter in the course of a conversation with an inhabitant, said she came from New Zealand. Her listener, however, knew all about New Zealand. “Oh yes!” he exclaimed in broken Eng-lish?-“I kojiw where that is. That’s where the black devils- come from!” The reputation for being a country of footballers seems to have created a peculiar impression on the Genoese.

To encourage the game of basketball and provide facilities for practice, the court at the New Plymouth Convent High School has been enlarged to full size. An innovation is the provision of two large floodlights, and the court now presents a busy scene every fine evening.

The New Plymouth Aero Club’s aeroplane will visit Rahotu on Wednesday, May 21, .when passenger flights and dcinonstratibns will be given. The visit is being made under the auspices of the Rahotu Bowling Club. The Mangorei Dairy Company directors yesterday decided to double’ the capacity of the factory, and let a contract for the alterations to J. B. -MacEwan and Co. The Tarata directors have also let a contract for a new factory with J. T. Julian and Son, the plant and fittings to be installed by J. B. MacEwan and Co.

The gigantic sale of Empire goods commences at the Melbourne this morning. The sale is an earnest endeavour to advance the cause of Empire trade and with the assistance of reduced prices on all Empire made goods it is ' anticipated that the British bargains offered will result in the practical realisation that to “buy British is to buy best.”