LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 14 January 1931, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A, Taranaki dairyman recently sent two’bales of wool to the sales. He got his account sales at the same time as he received an account from his tailors for two suits of clothes. The two accounts just balanced. In previous years his two bales of wool netted him over £4O. Strict routine is observed on the Federal steamer Northumberland, at present _ at New Plymouth. The vessel is a training ship for cadets, several of whom were previously in the Royal Navy. Different from the usual observance of a mercantile vessel is the sounding, of a bugle when the ensign is furled at sunset. Evidence of the . depredations of eels among trout are not often secured, but an instance of the kind was met with one night during the holidays, when a Levin resident, fishing below the Ohau Bridge, landed an eel weighing 81b., which contained a lib. trout. The latter was whole, except for a part of the head. No liking for fancy pet dogs is harboured by some Inglewood councillors. Discussing a reduction in the registration fees for dogs, Mr. Larson said: “The full 10s. should be paid for all those mongrels running round the streets at night.” Mr. Spurdie: “Two pounds!” Mr. Grant: “And dogs in arms, five pounds!” A well-known Rugby footballer, William Rika, aged 35, was admitted to the Whangarei hospital suffering with his left eye, owing to an accidental scratch received a fortnight previously. The eye was removed on Sunday. For many seasons Rika was an outstanding forward. He first played representative football for Northern Wairoa and North Auckland. He also toured with the Maori team which visited England and France.

Kiwis still exist in fair numbers along the Wanganui River, according to Mr. I. H. Allen. He told a Chronicle reporter that they were heard often about his property.

A decision to include an oral examination on the, motor regulations, more particularly those relating to conduct on the road, parking and signalling, in the examination of applicants for motor drivers’ licenses, was reached at a recent meeting of the Auckland Suburban Traffic Inspectors’ Association.

After being in the undisputed possession of the Taranaki Lawn Tennis Association for about five seasons, a shield at present hanging on the walls of the New Plymouth - Tennis Club’s pavilion is to be -^ competed for towards the end of next month. The shield is a challenge trophy for competition between teams of men and women from the Auckland and Taranaki associations, but for a long period Auckland has not challenged for it. There is still £12,000 of Egmont county rates outstanding, £lBO having been received hist month. The council yesterday decided to take steps to collect all rates not paid for or arranged for by a certain date. Owing to the new valuation the rate notices were sent out later than usual, consequently the 10 per cent- penalty will not be imposed until later than usual.

Many of the articles which were posted as missing from the aeroplane Southern Cross Junior have -been returned, says the Christchurch Times. The West Coast people were merely looking after them till they could be returned to Mr. Guy Menzies. Included among the missing things were logs and other records of the flight. These have all been recovered, together with many parts from .the machine which were believed to have been souvenired. The number of motor-cars in New Zealand is now 121,681, of which 32,156 are in the four metropolitan centres and 89,525 in the provincial districts. There are therefore one car to 18 people in the large cities, and one to 12 in the provinces. There are also 8215 commercial vehicles in the cities and 20,064 in the provinces. These figures demonstrate how decentralised is the Dominion and how much greater is the wealth of the provinces.

Opinion was against the reduction of the Inglewood Borough Council employees’ wages at a meeting of the council last night. The standard of 14s. a day that the Government had laid down was the council’s standard, said Mr. F. Spurdie, and he did not think action should be taken until the Government gave a lead. Councillors generally considered that it would not be wise to pay council employees, say, 13s. a day, while “unemployed” were receiving 14s. A small fire, prpbably caused by a dropped match or cigarette butt, occurred on the Moturoa wharf last night. The smoke attracted the attention of a young man and he gave warning by smashing the glass of the alarm. In doing eo, however, he was unfortunate enough to cut his fingers on the broken glass. The incident ended fairly satisfactorily as the fire was suppressed by an extinguisher and the fingers were dressed by a Harbour Board employee.

Any practical housewife would have solved the unemployment problem better than the Government, remarked Mr. J. S. Tosland during a discussion at the meeting of the Egmont County Council yesterday. If she had 12 apples io divide among a household.of six she gave them two each, but if she had only nine, she gave them one and a half each. Mr. Shepherd interjected that she probably stewed them. Mr. Tosland said the Government appeared to be trying to hang on and give one lot of people the maximum while the rest had none. “In New Zealand I find that one cannot obtain reliable information regarding the state of the roads,” said an English motorist on a visit to Taranaki. “When you ask people in the north about a particular road they tell you that it is all right, yet when you pass over it you find it all wrong,” he continued. “Then they explain that it is infinitely better than it was a year or two ago. The fact is they judge the condition of a road differently from us in England, where all the roads are excellent.”

Charged with being idle and disorderly and with the theft of four files valued at ss. 4d., the property of some person unknown, three young men appeared at the New Plymouth Police Court yesterday before Mr. W. W. Thomson, JIP. On the application of the police the men were remanded in custody till to-mor-row, no request being made for bail. Sergeant McGregor stated the men came from Wanganui and had been in New Plymouth since January 6. They had been sleeping out in Octavius Place, and when arrested were found to be in the possession of a parcel of files which it was believed had been taken from a motor-car.

A rough voyage from Onehunga to New Plymouth was experienced by the motor vessel Hauturu, which arrived in port yesterday. The weather was moderate when the little ship crossed the Manukau Bar at six o’clock on Monday evening but the Hauturu had a hard struggle into the wind-swept seas and did not arrive at New Plymouth until nearly 2 o’clock yesterday afternoon. The voyage down the coast took nearly 20 hours, making the Vessel about five or six hours overdue. The rough weather outside also delayed the departure from New Plymouth, of the John which, being light ship, did not deem it advisable to sail until the weather had moderated.

A position that is considered by the Inglewood Borough Council to be of mutual benefit to the council as a borrower, and the Australian Mutual Provident Society as a lender, of capital, has arisen out of the present relative financial situations in Australia and New Zealand. In a circular letter received by the council last night the society wrote that in connection with loans to the council at present domiciled in Sydney, the society offered the council the option of paying future instalments of interest and principal in New Zealand instead of being required to remit the amounts to Sydney. Under normal exchange conditions between Australia and New Zealand it would probably be distinctly to the advantage of the council to pay in New Zealand and thus be subject to the incidence of local exchange rates only. If the council desired to take advantage of the option the altered arrangement would be final and wotild continue throughout the currency of the loan.

Not for many years have Taranaki pastures shown such a wealth of white clover as at present. Evidently the warm weather of the past month has been favourable for clover growth. A peculiar feature is the almost entire absence of honey bees, which usually gather a tremendous harvest from the white clover. Of late years bees have decreased considerably in Taranaki districts, prob-ably-by disease, and wet seasons. Another theory advanced is that the bees most in favour with apiarists are a stronger and fiercer species than used formerly. In bush' districts in Taranaki where it was possible up to three or four years ago to secure fairly large quantities of wild honey it is. rare to find a hive. It is stated that the fresh importation of bees systematically rob the honey of the wild species, leaving them to starve and die out. Bees play a very important part in the pollenisation of white clover blooms, and farmers in some localities have remarked on the scarcity of bees this year. Search over acres of pastures has failed to reveal even one bee at work honey -gathering.