LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 16 October 1931, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Some of the biggest ratas in the Dominion are to be found in the sheltered valleys of the Kaitake ranges. A party of climbers of the Park Board recently came across one giant that measured over 10ft, in diameter. Its age must be not less than 1000 years. Of the £17,277 9s. 2d. due for rates struck for the year by the Manawatu County Council, the sum of £4938 10s. sd. has been paid, leaving £12,348 9s. 9d. yet to be collected. “The collections so far this year are considerably less than the amount received over the same period of last year,” said the treasurer.

In the event of a national emergency or calamity in the nature of the Hawke’s Bay earthquake, the council of the Western Federated (N. 1. Flying Club decided last night that its machines, together with the services of the pilotinstructor and a selected pilot from each club, would be made immediately available for u?e. The machines and pilots in such a case would pass under the authority of the emergency organisation set up to control the situation.

The newly-formed Opunake cricket club wrote to the Tafanaki association’s annual meeting last night asking for advice regarding affiliation, and suggesting that the association might assist it with money for gear. The secretary Stated that the club had 20 players. “They are keen,” said one member. “They are so keen to get members,” said another, “that they are paying their subscriptions for them, and, moreover, they have a ‘Bradman’ bat.” The association decided to reply regretting that it could not assist the club’s funds.

The relieving stationmaster at Papakura advised the Papakura Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday evening that the Railways Board was considering running an extra workers’ train to Auckland. He understood the number of workers travelling by rail was increasing at every station between Papakura and Newmarket.

When active mining operations begin at Mount Burnett, states the Golden Bay Times, it is expected that the output will be 50 tons of coal a day, which figures eventually will be increased to JOO tons. The Collingwood County Council has agreed to assist the Mount Burnett enterprise to the extent of providing machinery at the wharf to facilitate the loading of coal.

Evidence of the revived interest iu prospecting for gold is afforded by the fact that during the past year no fewer than 400 miners’ rights have been issued by the Warden’s Court at Greymouth, the majority during the last few months of the year ended September 30. The number is a record for many years past. At the next sitting of the Warden’s Court no fewer than 32 applications for rights in connection with gold-mining are to come before the Warden. This number also constitutes a record not reached for the past six years.

Botanists have been puzzled over finding specimens of a rare tree, ascarina lucida, near isolated Maori pas about Mount Egmont. Specimens have been found near the old Kaitake, the Okaihu and Patua pas. Its original home is Stewart Island. The Maoris were wise in their generation. They knew the tree had considerable medicinal value, especially as a cure for a form of influenza which they were subjected to in the old, as well as the present, days, and they had young trees transported in canoes all the way from Stewart Island to Taranaki and other parts of the North Island, and planted near their pas. An Auckland bride on the way to her wedding was forced to seek refuge in a cafe from the gaze of curious Queen Street throngs at about five o’clock on Wednesday afternoon, when the motorcar in which she was travelling caught fire just about Wyndham Street, She was consequently late for the ceremony, states the'-'Herald. The back-firing of the engine set alight the front portion of the vehicle. The ear was immediately brought to a standstill and the bride ami two bridesmaids alighted A taxi was summoned, and then they drove to the church. About 1000 chickens were burned to death when the building in which they were housed in Mount Albert Road, adjacent to the Mount Roskill lire station, Auckland, caught on fire shortly after six o’clock on Wednesday morning. The structure had only been completed recently, and the owner’s son and an elder--ly man were sleeping in an outhouse near the chicken coop. The exploding of one of the half-dozen oil burners used to warm the building caused the fire. Over 100 chickens were killed in similar circumstances at a house in Epsom, Auckland, a few days earlier.

The question of the discontinuance of the supply of supplementary readers to schools was considered at a meeting of th© Wellington School Committees and Educational’ Federation, and it was decided to place on record the importance of continuing these supplies. Mr. Broad, Mr. A, Parlane, and Mr. A. J. Clark were appointed to wait on the Minister of Education with a view to impressing on him the necessity of continuing the annual grant of £l5O to the Wellington schools. The matter was also referred to the executive committee for consideration.

“How’s business?” inquired a reporter by way of conversation as he sat in a barber’s chair in New Plymouth yesterday. “So quiet that a ’possum entered the shop the other day and parked itself behind the counter without being noticed for quite a time,” was the unexpected reply. And it was no fairy tale, either, for further investigation elicited several assurances that it had actually happened. How an opossum ever even got as far as the doorway of a shop in the busiest part of Devon Street is a matter for conjecture. Where it came from, nobody seems to know, and. its quietness on being discovered lent weight to the theory that it was somebody’s pet ’possum having a day out.

At the annual meeting of the Taranaki head centre of the Royal Life Saving Society exception was taken by the president and by Mr. F. J. Eggleton to the allegations made by the Manawatu centre of slackness on the part of the Taranaki centre in connection with the forwarding of the returns for the Wigram Shield. The fact that Taranaki had won the shield showed that there had been no slackness. Taranaki’s letter had been forwarded in gooff time to the secretary of the. New Zealand council, care of the municipal baths, Christchurch, which was the only address printed on the council’s memorandum form. The Taranaki centre was not responsible for any delay in the delivery of the letter. Even adversity has its humours. One of the single men invited to call at the office of the Labour Department at New Plymouth yesterday iu connection with the effort to fill the local quota for the camp near Wanganui handed in for the secretary of the unemployment committee the following reply: “Mr. regrets that ho will be unable to accept your kind invitation to the party you are having on Thursday morning, as at that time he will be engaged on a parttime job which, although not very remunerative, interferes very considerably with his social activities.” Instead of a stamp, the corner of the envelope was embellished with a framed pen-drawing of a man poking out his tongue. And this imitation stamp bore the inscription “Postage saved.” A gorgeous sight may be beheld at Western Park just now. It is of the beautiful low-growing bank plant, Felicia Angustjfolia, a native of South ■Africa, which appears to be another of the many exotic plants which thrive better in this country than their own. Many 'of the plants are growing on the slope facing Morley Street, and, being of a prostrate habit, they have formed large clumps, three to four feet across, each plant having thousands of beautiful daisy-like blooms, which form a wonderful sight when in full sun. Morley Street is very attractive at present. Besides the bank at Western Park, the adjoining property owners have beautified their frontages, one bank in particular covering the whole width of the section, presenting a delightful display of the popular bank plant, Lithospernum Prostratum, a native of France, which at this time of the year is a mass of deep blue flowers. The postponed opening of the Pukekura Park Tennis Club will take place to-morrow. Members, friends and members of other clubs are invited to be present.

No one correctly estimated the number of peas in a bottle in the competition organised by the West End School Old Girls’ basketball team. The actual was 529, and the winner was Mrs. Hills.

The sun has not gone out of business and neither has the firm of J. K. Hawkins and Co.) Steam Dyers and Dry Cleaners. We are still renovating suits, costumes, dresses, coats, etc., equal to new. We also clean and re-block men’s felt hats and when necessary put on new edging and bands. We are the oldest firm of Dyers and Cleaners in New Plymouth. Our address is corner of Liardet Street and Devon Street. Telephone 685. Our Stratford agent is Mrs, Rudkin, “Everybody’s,” Broadway.

Some idea of the extent to which deerhide is being utilised for various kinds of leather work can be gained from the fact that one of the samples of dogcollar leather submitted to the Awatere County Council a few days ago was manufactured from the skin of a deer. The leather was beautifully soft and pliable, and yet exceptionally strong.

“What an absurd question,” remarked the opposing counsel when a judgment debtor was being examined at a sitting of the Gore Magistrate’s Court. Unheeding the remark, counsel for the judgment creditor asked the debtor if he smoked. Again counsel for the debtor interrupted by asking: “Do you breathe fresh air?” Even the magistrate smiled.

“Anyone possessing a niotor-car should not be entitled to relief,” remarked a member of the Ashburton Hospital Board. One man who was receiving relief attended a race meeting in his car, stated another member. The difficulty in securing full particulars from so many applicants was realised by the board, and it was decided that in future owners of motor-cars should not receive charitable aid.

A 17th century mahogany bed sold for £4O at a sale of antique furniture at Auckland on Wednesday. A similar sum was realised for an early Victorian wardrobe. About 100 articles were offered, an ormulu-mounted Louis writing table and a Louis chair being withdrawn after the bidding for both articles together had reached £3O. The pieces of furniture were from an old English collection. The Arbitration Court this week gave its opinion on an interpretation sought under the boot operativcis’ award. The question was: “Are female assistants who have not worked 20 days during the four weeks immediately preceding the King’s Birthday entitled to be paid wages for that day?” The court’s decision was that no reduction was permissible under the award, and the answer to the question was “Yes.”

“Money put to work will put men to work,” says the “New Zealand Draper.” “The minute we overcome our fear and inferiority complex, and start buying normally, the first battle will be won, and Letter times will follow soon. . . We are at the turning point—stagnant money put in motion now will pass along from hand to hand, paying bills and buying goods—giving men back their jobs. . . Money in circulation turns the wheels of progress.”

With so many bowling and tennis clubs opening, says the Sun, Saturday was a big day for the Mayor of Christchurch (Mr. D. G, Sullivan, M.P.). He had 15 engagements that afternoon. He made a great attempt to cover them all; he covered 70 miles in a car going from one engagement to another; but he bad to admit defeat. Only 12 of those 15 engagements could he keep, and he expressed the hope that those clubs that he was unable to reach would realise the position and forgive him.

The first sail-plane to be built in Auckland is now approaching completion and the two enthusiasts who have designed the craft expect, says the Herald, to have it ready to fly by Christmas. A sail-plane, which is an enlarged type of glider, .can take, advantage of upward currents of air. to gain altitude, whereas an ordinary, glider depends on the efficiency of its launching for its altitude, and loses height all the time it is in the air. With a sail-plane, however, it happens frequently that a landing can be made at a point much higher than that from which the machine was launched.