LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 14 January 1932, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

For being found drunk in Brougham Street a first offender was fined ss. in the Magistrate’s Court at New Plymouth yesterday. But he also had. to pay Is., the cost of his car hire to the police station.

That there is nothing in the world of the same class of gardens to equal Pu'kekura Park is the opinion of a muchtravelled man who visited New Plymouth yesterday. He has visited practically every corner of the world. The park is at its 'best at present, j

Up until last night there was no sign of the body of -Steve Schufeer, a Swiss hotel porter, who is thought to have been drowned at the Opunake beach on Tuesday afternoon. Under the direction of Constable Clouston a thorough search of the beach and the coast a anile each way was conducted yesterday, the first patrols setting out at daybreak. The search will be continued to-day. Summer returned to Taranaki yesterday with renewed vigour. The fierce heat was responsible for the tar on the surface of the main road between New Plymouth and Hawera melting in many places. Even on the higher levels at Tariki and Waipuku, in places where the tar-sealed surface had been recently top-dressed with gravel, the “bleeding” was very noticeable. There seems little doubt that eels are responsible for the mortality of ducklings at Pukekura Park. A duck was recently swimming with a brood of six young. One of the ducklings disappeared after a flight commotion. After an interval another duckling disappeared under the water, much to the agitation of the mother. The black-feathered redbeaked Muscovy duck was more wary. With its one duckling it had perched on a willow stump in the lake, apparently for safety.

The boys at the ‘Toe H camp at the Waiwakaiho show grounds spent part of yesterday exploring the sandhills near the Waiwakaiho River.. The camp’s medical officer, Dr. W. J. Reid, and Mrs. Reid were guests at the camp dinner last night, and afterwards Mr. A. Andrews gave a picture show for the campers. During the past few days parents and others interested in the movement have visited the camp and taken donations of food and other things. Between 2.30 and 5 p.m. on Sunday the camp will be thrown open to the public to whom, upou request, members of Toe H will explain the objects of the movement.

“Canterbury could be made a dairying country,” said Mr. R. W. Winter, addressing three hundred farmers at Waimate on Saturday. “There are 600,•000 cows in Auckland. If we put 100,000 into Canterbury the north would begin to regard us as a competitor in the trade and they would let us grow out wheat as we wished. It would be a strong argument and we would be making money at the same time.” An Akaroa resident returning from Christchurch on Sunday evening had an unenviable experience in the vicinity of Little River. He had stopped his car to render assistance to a motor-cyclist whose machine had broken down, when his car was suddenly surrounded by a huge swarm of mosquitoes. It was necessary to switch off the car lights and the two men proceeded cautiously along the road to avoid receiving further bites from the insects. Photographers awaiting “Wizard” Smith’s speed performances on the Ninety Mile Beach had to put business before the helping hand on Saturday when a motor-truck was caught by the tide. A wave deluged the truck and stopped its engine. A number of photographers jumped from another vehicle to give assistance. The professional sense suddenly dominated some of those who were rushing to help. They stopped and for a few seconds the rescue hung fire while shutters snapped. The truck was dragged to dry sand before any harm was done. In this island the ragwort wave has been moving southwards during several seasons, says the Wellington Post, and is becoming more and more in evidence in the Hutt Valley, as well as in the Wairarapa and the Manawatu. Not so many years ago the Hutt Valley would have had to be searched to find a ragwort, but in the last four years there has been a rapid advance, the evidence of which calls forth a warning from a northern observer who has seen the heavy damage done in districts where the weed was in early stages neglected. “Another instance of the conflict between law and common sense,” was the comment made by the deputy-Mayor of Kiocarton (Mr. W. Machin) on a “tag” attached to the borough’s statement of accounts setting out that there was no authority in law for the road roller and truck redemption account. Mr. Machin explained that this account was the only way of providing a sinking fund against the time when the loan fell due, and it was a pity that the council should have the Auditor-General putting a “tag” on the balance-sheet year after year because it had done the prudent thing. "A sprat to catch a mackerel” is considered a good proposition economically, but a mackerel to catch a sprat (or even lesser fish) is not so sound. A striking example of the unsound proposition is provided in connection with the unemployment emergency tax. A Christchurch resident, says the Press, discovered that he was liable for Id in respect of income other than wages or salary, and duly forwarded the amount; postage being 2d. In due course the Income Tax Department acknowledged receipt, involving another 2d in postage. When Clarence 'St. J. Mayer was called in the New 'Plymouth Police Court yesterday on a charge of failing to give way to motor-traffic on his right at the intersection of Brougham and Powderham Streets, and with approaching the intersection at more than 15 miles an hour, there was no answer. “I am rather surprised,” said the borough inspector (Mr. R. Day), “because Mr. Mayer made it quite plain to me that he was going to fight the matter most strenuously.” One of the solicitors in Court said he understood the case was going to be defended. Mayer had consulted him before the vacation on the matter but had not seen him since. The Court decided .to take the unusual course of adjourning the hearing for a fortnight. ‘Nelson is apparently the envy of the rest of the Dominion at the present time,” said a Nelson resident who is visiting Christchurch, to a reporter, “because it seems to be the place that has been least affected by the depression. But, so far as the farmers of the province are concerned, it is mainly attributable to one fact —that the banks have not regarded fruitgrowing very favourably, and consequently few advances have been made to the growers, who have had to worry along with what little money they could scrape together. Now that other people are feeling this lack of bank advances, Nelson is almost on its feet and intends to stay there.”

The spectacle of a Minister of the Crown extracting teeth was witnessed, at the Port Waikato children’s camp on Monday, when a call was made upon the professional aid. of the Minister of Health, the Hon. J. A. Young, who was visiting the camp in his official capacity. One of the girls at the camp was suffering from severe toothache, and while such troubles come now only in a general way within Mr. Young’s sphere as a Minister, they were once within his particular province as a practising dentist. The girl was quickly relieved of her suffering, a deft extraction by Mr. Young, accomplished with his fingers, removing the offending tooth. Signs of exceptional powers of resistance to fire have been shown by many trees growing in Napier, says the Telegraph. A number, though scorched and blackened by the blaze on February 3, have thrown out new shoots, and give every indication of returning to their normal condition. Perhaps the most striking example so far has been the palm growing on the Bank of New Zealandte property at the corner of Hastings Street and Browning Street. This hardy tree is rivalled, however, by two willows growing near the footpaths of Dickens Street. One of these was reduced to little more than a stunw. Emulating the fine new building near it, the tree has been transformed from a blackened log into a bower of green. Its growth, has been little short of phenomenal, and it gives every indication of quickly resuming the proportions of a fully-grown tree. A fig tree in Tennyson Street is another notable example.

Officers from the Native Lands Department recently visited I oxton for the purpose of inspecting the progress made by the natives concerned in bringing into cultivation the area cf land across the river, known as Matakarapa. Although nothing much can be seen from the town -side, says the Foxton correspondent of the Standard, a good deal of work has been carried out and it is hoped that in the near future the area, or a portion of it, will be stocked with a dairy herd. A big. burn of swamp rubbish was made on Friday and cleared a considerable area. The land is particularly suitable for dairying and comprises high land as well as swamp areas, which will winter a large number of stock.

Special purchases and offerings in the following lines are creating unusual interest at the Melbourne Ltd. Famous “Gold Star” and “Prima Donna” art silk and silk hose, 5/11, value now 3/11 pair; ladies’ and children’s bathing costumes, a very large parcel, now half-price. Art silk underwear in a wonderful variety, many lace-trimmed, all now half-price. * See windows for special bargain displays.

To-morrow at 1.30 p.m. 2000 boxes of the Dominion’s choicest fruit will be sold at Webster Bras.’, roams. A great variety will be sulbmitted, and the quality promises to fee excellent.

The committee of the Urenui Beach Improvement Society recently paid a visit of inspection 'to the lifesaving reel provided by the Taranaki Centre of the Royal Life-Saving Society. The reel was found in good order and the committee denies any rumours that it had been tampered with. The Temuka Leader, which was first published in 1877, and has since continued as a tri-weekly paper, is to cease publication at the end of February. Ihe first owner of the paper was Mr. J. Ivess, who was succeeded by Mr. Utting in 1878. In 1881 it was sold to the Hon. J. M. Twomey, M.L.C., who controlled it for many years, retiring in 1912. Boys, as well as girls, are 'Being trained in housework in England, and youths of 15 or so, whose only outlet was once work in the mines, are now making good as parlourmaids. It sounds rantastic, but the thing is part of a scheme for placing unemployed girls and boys that has been launched with great success by Mrs. Cuthbert Medium, of Durham.

At a meeting of the Hawke’s Bay A. and P. Society, Mr. J. Livingstone stated that he recently saw a large gadfly, and while on the wing it was carrying a humble bee. The humble bee, -he said, was brought to New Zealand to propagate clover crops, and he feared that the future outlook would be disastrous if the humble bees were to be destroyed in such a manner.

The new low fares on the railway between Wellington and Masterton have proved decidedly popular. It was only last spring that they were introduced, but already over 5000 more passengers have been carried by train in this area than in the corresponding period of the previous year. In view of the increased traffic, the demand for Sunday trains at the same low fares has now been complied with. For some years wheat has been grown in the Okato district with distinct success, and gradually the practice is spreading down the coast. Last year Andrews Brothers planted an area of 140 acres in wheat in various patches from Okato to Punigarehu which, it is understood, averaged 44 bushels per acre.’ This year they have sown a similar area. In addition, farmers on the Lower Kahui Road at Rahotu have a total of over 60 acres in wheat, Messrs. T. Willcox and A. Cameron, each having nearly 25 acres, while Mr. S. Small has 16 acres. This is the first occasion that wheat has been grown in the Rahotu district, and from the present appearance of the crops now in full ear, they should prove very successful. Those familiar with wheat consider that should dry weather continue until harvest time, in about three weeks, the yield should average at least 45 bushels.

There are still numbers of children in the Hawke’s Bay district who are suffering various physical and mental disabilities arising out of the earthquake of last year. Shortly after the calamity many of the refugee children were taken to Auckland and accommodated on Motuihi Island, where the Auckland Community Sunshine Association tended to their needs and helped them to spend a healthy and happy holiday under medical and nursing supervision. The association is now endeavouring to secure the use of the island for a further period, so that some of those children who still can be regarded as earthquake sufferers may be taken from Napier to receive the health-giving benefits of a prolonged sojourn on the island. Should the plan eventuate it will be necessary to establish a temporary school in order that the children’s education may proceed simultaneously with their medical treatment. The Rev. W. T. Hopper, who conducted several missions along the coast last year, is spending a short holiday in Taranaki. On Friday evening Mr. Hooper will conduct a healing service in the Rahotu Methodist Church.