LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 23 September 1931, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Among the felicitous telegrams received last night by the New Plymouth Operatic Society, which played “A Country Girl,” was one from Mr. Alf. Gray, Hawera, who took the part of Barry in New Plymouth in 1913. “I can’t treat the owner of a ear as a man without means,” said Mr. E. D. Mosley, S.M., in the Christchurch court. “It is only a very small one, sir,” said defendant. “No, not even if it is a small one,” said the magistrate. In response to the intimation from the Unemployment Board that applications would be received from single men for 26 vacancies in the Wanganui unemployment camp, it is understood the secretary of the North Taranaki Unemployment Committee had received only one application up to yesterday morning. A piece of singular good fortune befell a resident of Napier, now living at Hastings, who lost his home in the earthquake. Recently in opening an oyster, one of a sack from the north which he was sharing with some friends, he discovered two blackish objects in it, and on polishing these turned out to be large and lustrous pearls. Among the contents of a load of rubbish that arrived at the Christchurch City destructor the other day was £lO9, encased in an old cigarette tin. But the woman who threw away that money was lucky; she discovered her loss before it was too late, followed up the truck to the destructor, and got her money back. “Have we any old boots ?” asked a New Plymouth resident, coming from the front door, where he had been speaking to an unemployed man. “No, all given away,” said his wife. He went away and came back again. “Have we any old clothes?” he asked. “No, none left,” said his wife. He went away again, and came back a little later in his shirt. “Where’s your coat?” asked his wife. “I gave it to the man,” he said. “Where’s your waistcoat, then?” she asked. “Oh, he said, T threw that in. too.” When an aeroplane flew over Wanganui recently during a height-guessing competition a young man determined to work out the result by trigonometry. With the assistance of his brother he constructed a rough quadrant, and judging the position of the machine in relation to the city streets, he took a sight. The distance from the observer to the street was the problem worked out. The experimenter realised that he had made a mistake somewhere, and did not know whether to add’or subtract one hundred from his result. He added, and the resulting figures were exactly 200 too much. Had he subtracted his figures would have been exact to a foot. A woman resident of Greytown had a most unpleasant experience with a huge rat last week. On leaving her house she saw a half-grown kitten being chased round the yard by the rodent. Going to the kitten’s assistance she succeeded in temporarily disabling the rat with a blow from a hammer. She then seized a fork and knelt to kill it. Tho first blow of the fork drew blood, but the animal sprang with teeth bared on to the woman’s chest. After beating the rat off, she rushed to a neighbour for assistance. The attack was renewed with a .22 rille, but it was not until four bullets had entered its body that the rat was finally killed. At the present time farmers are not taking many risks, and the life of every lamb is being saved if at all possible. When the storm broke in Canterbury last week a farmer in the Ashburton district was around from his bed, and, aided by the headlights of his car, drove his iioclc into more sheltered paddocks. The task in daylighf is difficult enough, especially where there are many newly-born lambs, but in spite of the storm and the daikness he was successful in saving a, large number which otherwise would have perished. At least 19 lambs were taken into the warmth of his house, where his wife had prepared a large fire, and all the animals, which were in a bad state on account of the cold, quickly recovered. The new arrivals were put out again with their mothers in the morning. At no great distance from the Rangitata railway station, South Canterbury, and below a terrace on the southern bank of the river, some stone adzes were found which were no doubt left there by Maoris. They have blades of not more than two inches in breadth, and show marks where no doubt they were bound to their respective handles. They are, Bays the Christchurch Press, of a hard, dark rock, somewhat different from the basaltic rock found on the Geraldine Downs; but they had evidently been chipped and ground to a fine cutting edge. In the same locality a number of Maori ovens have been found and in one was a stone, shaped something like an old-fashioned life-preserv-er, and as chips and pieces of bones were also found, it is suggested that the heavy stone was used for breaking bones in order to get the marrow. Some of the bones were so large as to suggest that they were remnants of a cannibal feast. There are other indications that the Maoris were at least visitors to the country between the Rangitata and the Or&ri rivers, for not long ago a mere was ploughed up at Belfield. Writing to Mr. J. R. Cruickshank, New Plymouth, from London, on August 14, a well-known city man makes the following interesting comments,-on the political situation: “At this writing things are very unsettled here. All business is nervous. Fear begins to stalk abroad. There is some talk of a National Government. Baldwin came back from the Continent last night to hold pow-wow with MacDonald. Will they arise 1 to the occasion ? I haven’t any faith m I any of them. They have between them let the country go to pot for the last 13 years. It stretches my credulity too much to expect them to change now. Notwithstanding which views, I ain only too w-ell aware that the unexpected may happen almost any time. What an opportunity? Cut down the dole and other unnecessaty expenses to the tune of £109,009,000, put on an all-round 10 per cent import tariff, except upon stuff from the Empire, change our motor-car taxation so that our manufacturers can make the same kind of car for this country that is required abroad, reduce income tax by the amount received from the import tax, and a few other sensible things, and just see how things would hum iu>the old country. Delighted to learn of your brighter hopes. The suspension of the war debts ought to help the Dominions very considerably. I ■ am wondering if they will ever be resumed ! ”