LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 17 October 1930, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The fire in a house in Devon Street West yesterday afternoon ,was the cause bf one death. A canary, the family pet, was the only occupant of the house at the time of the outbreak. He was discovered dead in the bottom of hiS> cage and had evidently been suffocated by smoke. -

The municipal elections next year will take place on May 6 instead of in April, as has been the case in previous years. The alteration is provided for by the 1928 amendment to the Municipal Cmporatiohs Act, which requires that the elections .be held on the first Wednesday in May instead of the last Wednesday in April.

Owing to existing financial conditions the Education Department does not intend to issue this year an edition of “Careers,” a pamphlet on vocational guidance which has in recent years been distributed to schools. In ftotifying its decision to the Auckland Education .Board-the department stated that a lew copies of the issues of last year and the previous year, which were in stock, would be available for distribution on application. A suggestion that motor-cars used by doctors should be fitted with a special badge to distinguish them, so that allowances might be made for them being parked for longer than the time permitted when the new parking restrictions come into force next year, was discussed at a meeting of the council of the Auckland Automobile Association. Dr. J. H. Lawry said local medical men intended approaching the City Council on tiie matter and the association decided to support them.

Another difficulty to contend against now confronts the wool growers, says the Wellington Post. This is what is known as “canary yellow”—a colour resembling that of the yolk of an egg which makes its appearance in the fleece and which persists after scouring. Naturally its presence detracts from the appearance and value of the wool, - and growers and those engaged in the wool industry would like to see the last of it. Unfortunately, however, the cause is at present unknown, but research is to be made with a view to tracing the trouble to its origin, and steps are already being taken in this direction.

The red and cream Desoutter monoplane will arrive at Bell Block from Hawera this morning, being flown by Major G. A. C. Cowper, Hamilton. According to Flying Officer lan Keith Major Cowper will carry out flying while at New Plymouth.

Few boys arc keener 011 cricket than the girls who play the game at the grammar schools in Auckland, says the Star. 'Die boys may know a lot more about the game, and play it a good deal better, but in enthusiasm their sisters equal them. As early as eight o’clock every school morning girls can bo seen practising on the bumpy-looking pitch at the Epsom Grammar School. Balls are tossed down in the approved overarm style, and good efforts are made to meet them with a straight bat.

■A long-standing grievance of the Keporoa returned soldier settlers has been the valuation of their lands, says the Rotorua Chronicle. Recently they framed a petition asking for the readjustment of land values, and a deputation of 25 waited upon the Rotorua branch of the Returned Soldiers’ Association and asked it to support the request. The branch did so and the representations were successful. The revaluation will take place in glue course. That local anglers should not be required to pay the same fee as. visitors who desire to fish in Lakes Taupo and Rotorua was the view expressed by members of the Palmerston North Anglers’ Club. The chairman, Mr. C. A. Voss, said* that tourists were prepared to pay more than they were doing at present. If was decided that the parent body be asked to request the Government to increase the fee paid by tourists to £7 10s a month and that the waters be made available to New Zealand anglers without extra costs.

The fire in the old building opposite the Qonvent yesterday afternoon was responsible for hundreds of Central School children undertaking a long run from Liardet Street down Courtenay and Powderham streets to “get there in time ■to see it.” No sooner had the fire ball pealed its warning than small boys and girls began to stream down the hill ■past the News office. It is surprising where they all came from in such a short time. ,

The aeroplane seen over New Plymouth about 4.10 p.m. yesterday was one of the federation Moths flown by Flying Ofiicer lan Keith, who had just returned from Hawera. With him was Miss J. Winstone, Wanganui, who .js learning to fly. Miss Winstone piloted 1 tlie plane from Hawera until New Plymouth was reached, when Mr. Keith took over the controls and carried out some stunts over the sea. Training will be continued at Bell Block for the next week.

“They did not take it away at all. A man came and did something to it with a screw-driver,” said Mr. J. H. Burnet at a meeting of the trustees of the lYanganui Museum, when a letter was received from the power board stating that the meter at the museum had been removed, tested, and found correct. Mr. Burnet said that the present month’s bill was about half as much as that for the previous month. “About that screw-driver,” remarked one of the trustees facetiously, “We would like a recipe.”

The patients of the Waikato Hospital had a late breakfast, on Sunday, says the Waikato Times. After the usual early morning ablution and general bedmaking and tidying up they calmly awaited the arrival of the trolley with the/'breakfast aboard aneb the redoubtable Joe, porter, at the steering handle. Half-an-hour and theman hour elapsed with no sign of either Joe or the breakfast. A search party was despatched to look for the missing porter and discovered him in the act of rising from his cot. A hasty enquiry 4 and explanation followed. He had put Iris clock back half an hour instead of forward. Half an hour before one of the regular Tasman “liners” was leaving Sydney recently for a New Zealand port, the ship was cleared, passengers and also their friends being ordered ashore while the ship was searched by the police for criminals or stowaways, without success.. Asked if this was usual, a humorous steward said, “Yes, quite usual. They’re after runaway husbands and wives,” he added, with a twinkle in his eye. “Last trip from Auckland we had' two runaway couples. A chap came aboard with another man’s wife, and his wife came aboard, eloping with another man. Oh, yes, there was something doing.”

The plight of the dairy farmer at the present time was compared by Mr. H. M. Rushworth in the House of Representatives to a “motor-car trying to proceed along a boulder-strewn road.” "The carburettor is leaking, the petrol tank is leafting, and the tyres are burst,” he added. “This Bill (the Land Laws Amendment Bill) is trying to establish a. repairs shop.” A Reform member: “Who is driving the car?” Mr. Rushworth: “I don’t know who is driving it. I am trying to push it along.”

Mr. G. 1 F. Moore Is experimentingwith fern ias an aid to improvement in tlie health of stock, says the Wanganui Chronicle. ,He is firmly convinced that cattle eat it in the spring and early summer when there is a flush bi feed to prevent scouring. He has been testing his theory out by cutting off fronds and supplying them to stud Hereford?, and has had excellent results. ‘■The cattle are fond of a little of it,” he told a reporter. “They impatiently follow me when I am cutting the fronds elf and they eat just sufficient to be satisfied.” He added that he was seeking the assistance of the Department of Agriculture’s analytical section in the experiment.

“Wanganui is not much of a place to go to. New Plymouth is the better of the two places to visit.” This statement, says the Wanganui Herald, is attributed to ode of the officers in the Tourist Department, Auckland, by a Wanganui resident whose name is vouched for by a member of the Development League. A letter to the league from the. resident stated that while in Auckland he went to the Tourist Department’s office to reserve a seat on the Main Trunk express. While there he asked a clerk for pamphlets on Wanganui and New Plymouth. He was asked if he intended going to Wanganui, and replied in the negative, whereupon the clerk made the statement alreadj r referred to. The has decided to bring the matter before the notice of the Tourist Department. The motto of service cars in the way of baggage might well be ‘Nothing too large, nothing too small,” for rarely is anything refused, says the Napier Telegraph. The result is that service cars plying on the roads of Hawke’s Bay carry oddly assorted freight. One man may have "his luggage in a sack, another in a wardrobe trunk that has travelled the seven seas, it is all one to the service car driver; he ■packs all in together on the rack at the rear of his car. But the other morning a Napier driver founffi himself confronted with an unexpected problem. He was asked to carry a large cot. Although it seemed a hopeless proposition, he managed it by . tying the cot securely on to the back of the car, and set oil gaily for Gisborne, looking like a cross between a service car and a furniture van.

You will be requiring a smart summer coat and smart hat Chis summer. A word to the wise: Buy now at The Greater McGruer’s. New smart coats, 19/6, 27/6, 32/6. 39/6, 59/6. See our window to-day.