LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 18 June 1932, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

So high was the tide at New Plymouth yesterday that the sewerage pipes just below the railway bridge across the mouth of tho Henui Stream at East End were submerged by the SOIL*

“What bonus are you likely to get from your factory ” asked examining counsel of a judgment debtor at the Opunake Court yesterday. “That’s Icard to say; nobody knows what the bonus will be until the company pays,” replied the debtor.

Offensive actions have taken place recently at the new- St. Andrew’s Church, New Plymouth. Young creepers, planted in the punga fence on the church’s boundary in Powderham Street, have been torn out. Inside the church some of the offenders have stood in the gallery and tried to expectorate into the collection plates below. The church managers have placed the matter in the hands of the police.

The Taranaki Hunt will meet at the Motouni Hall this afternoon and not at the kennels as previously advertised.

“The London County Council is a believer in advertising, and spends £20,000 a year in publicity,” said Mr. E. H. Andrews in an address to the Town Planning Institute at Christchurch on Wednesday evening. On a farm near Blenheim 60 early lambs have already made their appearance. An abundance of grasp and the favourable weather are combining to keep them in excellent condition.

The person who gave an old coat to the New Plymouth Salvation Army for the benefit of someone in distress .Probably did not realise that lie was giving his gold ring as well, but when the clothing was being overhauled the ring was found in a pocket.

The earthquake on May 5 severely damaged the chimney in the dining block at the Napier Boys’ High School, and also strained all the water service connections, states the Telegraph. It was reported to the Napier Secondary Education Board on Wednesday that the rebuilding of the chimney and other necessary repairs had been carried out.

Evidence of the mildness of the season Is afforded in the fact that Australian wattle has been blooming for the past three weeks at Waitati, says a Dunedin paper. A business man of Dunedin, who owns a cottage that overlooks Blucskln Bay, brought into town an armful of sprays of blossom collected from a tree on his property.

“During the past year we have had numerous cases where we have had negotiations between mortgagee and mortgagor with a view to making arrangements by which the occupier or the land can be enabled to carry on, and this is the only case in my knowledge where an offer made by the mortgagor has been refused,” the representative of a large stock firm stated at a meeting or creditors in Christchurch on Thursday. To a joint telegram from the members for Oamaru, Waitaki, Timaru and Temuka, urging upon the Prime Minister the need for extreme caution in dealing with the suggested importation of Australian wheat and the probability that a careful inquiry would disclose a sufficiency of wheat in New Zealand, Mr. Forbes briefly replied as follows: “Your telegram regarding importation of wheat received. Representations will receive careful consideration of Government.”

There are not many farmers in the Dominion at present who are in a position to give much away. Recently a farmer in the Wanganui district was fortunate enough to have a legacy left him, and one of his first acts, on receiving the money, was to think of a tenant in a house he owned in the city, who was hard up against it. The tenant had paid his rent regularly until overtaken by adversity. The farmer paid a surprise visit the other day and made a present of the house and section to the tenant.

■ A suggestion that badges should be sold instead of poppies on Poppy Day so that the cost of the paper flowers could go towards the relief of distress received little support at the annual meeting of the Wellington Returned Soldiers’ Association. The president, Colonel H. E. Avery, said that the poppies were made by ex-service men, and whatever the outlay it was all given back to returned soldiers. “It is the sentiment of the poppy that attracts the public,” said Mr. R. W. Bothamlcy. Voices: “Hear! hear!” How the use of fertilisers and modern methods in farming have helped progressive districts in leaner years is shown by the returns of the Uruti Valley Dairy Company. In 1928 when butter-fat was worth Is 6d per lb suppliers received a total payment of £19,500. During the past season when only 11.76 d per lb was received for butterfat the total payment to the same number of suppliers was £18,500. The achievement was possible by the steady increase in production by 42 per cent, in the past four years. The development. of some fault at Puniho, due to the j boisterous weather, was the cause of the electric light being unsatisfactory in the Rahotu and Warea districts on Wednesday. Though the power board’s staff patrolled the lines all night they were unable to locate the fault until the morning. On Thursday evening lightning struck and shattered a cross-bar on a pole on the Main South Road near Opunake besides blowing out fuses in various places. That disorganised the service for a little while but repairs were quickly effected.

He was just able to keep out of debt in buying provisions on the £9 10s per month allowed him by a finance company, explained a judgment debtor in the Opunake Court yesterday. That did not allow for the purchase of any clothing for himself or the family, he added, so he did not know what would happen “when they got naked.” The unsatisfactory position created by financial arrangements whereby farmers became hopelessly tied up with one finance concern to the detriment of some creditors with whom they had incurred prior debts was commented on by the magistrate and counsel for the judgment creditor.

A somewhat alarming experience befell two men employed on Canaan Track relief works recently, writes a correspondent to the Nelson Mail. Having placed a piece of rata wood on their fire and retired for the night, they were rudely awakened by a loud report as if a gun had been fired in the camp. Upon investigating, sparks and embers were found scattered everywhere in the tent. In great haste the unfortunate two had to seize their blankets and shake off the smouldering embers which had already started to burn holes in them. It was learned afterwards that a man who had previously left the job with the hope of earning a living by cutting firewood to sell in the nearby township had placed detonators in several pieces of wood with the idea of preventing other mem in the camp from confiscating the wood for themselves.

“Admission by potato” is something unusual at a church service, but that is the plan of the New Plymouth Salvation Army this week-end. Receptacles will be placed at the doors to receive <nfts from worshippers, and the potatoes will be used for meals at “Welcome Lodge.”

Plyaing under the auspices of the North Taranaki Cards Association this week Tikorangi defeated Waitara by one o-ame and Brixton defeated Lepperton by 12 games. The works teams had a bye.

With his team of bantams at the Palmerston North Show, Mr. H. McNeill, New Plymouth won eleven first prizes and the following trophies: Cup for best game bantam male or female; cup for best clean-leggcd bantam other than game; cup feather-logged bantam; North Island championship for rose comb bantam and four specials.

Many children _ are looknig forward with eager anticipation to the .plain and fancy dress dance to be held in St. Mary’s Hall, New Plymouth, on Saturday next. The dance has been organised. by the members of the New PlyRed Cross Home Nursing Detachment, and many atractions are promised for the children. Prizes are to be given for the' most effective fancy costume (boys’ and girls’) made from sugar or flour bags,: and it is hoped that there will be many other fancy costumes as well. A short musical programme has been arranged for adults.

“How many of you know the man or woman who is teaching your children!” asked Mr. L. F. de Berry, headmaster ot the West Christchurch District High School, at a luncheon hour address to members of the Canterbury Advertising Club, “Would you allow a man or woman you did not know to drive your cars!” he asked. “No,” he said, in answering the question himself, “but you woukr allow them to teach your children, although a child is surely worth a whole wilderness of mtor-cars. The roll at the Central' School, New Plymouth, is gradually declining. On May 23, the commencement of the term, it was ’782, while at present it is 775. The average attendance is 721 and the average weekly roll 773.9. Reporting to the monthly meeting of the committee the headmaster (Mr. D. P. Evans) said that a drop below 720 in the average attendance would mean the loss of another permanent assistant. Families were moving to suburban areas or to the country. Owing to the prevalence of colds and minor ailments the attendance during the week preceding the meeting had shown a decided decrease. If a black cat crossing one’s path signifies good luck, Mr. Stevens, Premier of New South Wales, will have more than his share in politics. While ho was beiim sworn in as Premier a black cat seated itself on his car. One night during the recent election campaign, while lie 3 was driving from West Ashfield to a meeting at Waverley, a black cat raced across the path of his car. When he began to speak at Maroubra later in the evening another mounted the platform. It was placed on the table and remained there for some minutes. Then it jumped on the floor of the platform and sat there throughout the meeting. It is the intention of the Christchurch United Front Council to inform Australian -Labour organisations that the All Black Rugby team to tour Australia contains players who served as temporary constables in the recent disturbances in Christchurch. This course was decided upon at a meeting of the council on Monday evening, but it was also decided to suggest no line of action to the Australian bodies. The United Front Council, says the Press, comfprises representatives of trades unions, the Christchurch Socialist Party, the Communist Party, and other organisations.

Dairy company shares of a paid-up value of about £l2OO realised £3OO when they were sold at auction on Thursday at Hamilton under instructions from the official assignee in bankruptcy. Some of the shares had been in the hands of the assignee for up to eight years. The offering comprised 89 Morrinsville Dairy Company shares, 256 Cambridge Dairy Company, and 1135 butter, cheese, glaxo, and coal and timber shares issued by the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company, Limited. Some of the shares realised up to 50 per cent, of their paidup value, while others changed hands at less than 25 per cent, of their paidup value. The Cambridge and Morrinsville companies bought in their own shares.

The motor ship Port Gisborne, which left Port Chalmers a few days ago to continue her loading at Bluff, is probably the first vessel to visit this port with every A.B. a certificated navigator, says the Dunedin Star. The world depression and consequent curtailment of shipping activities is responsible for tlie unusual manning of this ship. Her able seamen are all young men, who have served their apprenticeship as midshipmen, and at the conclusion of the fourycar term have passed the qualifying Board of Trade examination as second officers. When trade recovers there will, of course, 'be an expansion of shipping activities which will absorb the young officers.

It might be expected that every possible traffic problem has been considered long ago, and rules of the road lain down lor every conceivable emergency, but counsel in the Supreme Court at Auckland on Thursday made a suggestion which Air. Justice Smith said might lead to a definite new ruling being given. The particular problem was that whten occurs on the Auckland side of the Penrose Bridge, where the Great South Road turns sharply over the bridge, and the little-used Station Street provides practically a continuation of the straight line of the main road. Counsel suggested that in such circumstances traffic from Auckland intending to go on into Station Street should be required to give way to traffic coming over the bridge to Auckland. Traffic intending to use the side road should give way to traffic on the main road. His Honour said the case might be an important one, and might set' a precedent for tho guidance of traffic in such circumstances.