LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 5 September 1932, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The primary schools in Taranaki will reopen after the vacation this morning. The secondary schools will not open until next week.

The T&maranui Dairy Company used to sell its buttermilk for about £l's per annum. Now, Mr. N. W. Hastings told a meeting of farmers at Hawera on Friday, it has its own pig farm, showing a profit of over £3OO a year.

Flying the Moth aeroplane ZK-ABE, the property of the Wairarapa Aero Club, Mr. McLaren arrived at the New Plymouth aerodrome at Bell Block at 12.15 p.m. yesterday after a flight of 2£ hours from Auckland. After luncheon he resumed his journey to Masterton.

Conversion to their own use of a motor-cycle at Stratford on Thursday was charged against Albert William Box and William Hector Forbes at Now Plymouth on Saturday morning. They were remanded till Wfednesddy. The cycle is the property of Domihion Motors Ltd. and is valued at £3O. The men were arrested by Constable O’Neill at New Plymouth.

The Saturday night socials organised by the Central Home and School Association, New Plymouth, are becoming increasingly popular. On Saturday there were about 80 couples present and a most enjoyable time was spent. Splendid music was provided by the Troubadours, and the home-made supper provided by the ladies’ committee was excellent. Mr. J. O. Turner was master of ceremonies.

An Australian gum tree in the grounds of Government House, Auckland, bears testimony to the unusual severity of the frosts experienced this winter. All its leaves are withered and it bears every appearance of having been killed.

“The best thing to have is a bad back,” said Mr. Justice Frazer, speaking jocularly in the Arbitration Court at Auckland on Friday, referring to injuries that give rise to claims lor compensation. “It is the hardest thing to detect whether you have it or not,” he added.

An invitation was extended to the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, and the Minister of Education, the Hon. R. Masters, and party to attend a Rugby match at Eden Park, Auckland, on Saturday. It was exactly 40 years to the day since Mr. Forties played at half-back for Canterbury against Auckland at Potter’s Paddock.

Advances for butter and cheese to be made during September show considerable increases when compared with, those paid during August. For finest butter lOd will be paid and for first grade 9|d. The advance for cheese is sd. Last month 9d was advanced for finest butter and 4Jd for cheese. This month’s advances represent London prices of 98s per cwt. for butter and slightly over 5-s 6d for cheese.

“If the Valuation Department still keeps to fictitious values of land it is doing the country the worst disservice possible,” said counsel for a farmer whose objection to the Governments estimate of the unimproved value of his property was heard before the Christchurch Assessment Court. Counsel said that the country would not rehabilitate itself so long as fictitious values were maintained.

A motion to frame a by-law for the muzzling or leashing of Alsatian dogs while in the streets was defeated by the Gisborne Borough Council last week. The matter had been brought up previously by Cr. H. H. De Costa, and at the meeting a fortnight earlier it had been decided to secure the viewpoint of the local organisation, of Alsatian fanciers. After the reading of letters from the fanciers the motion was lost on the voices. The fact that Dalmatians and Yugoslavs have a strong tendency to neurasthenia was frequently referred to during the hearing of & compensation claim m the Arbitration Court at Auckland on Friday. The claimant was a Yugo-Slav and Mr. Justice Frazer was the first to comment on the fact that in the court a experience Yugo-Slavs seemed to be more neurasthenic than .English people. This was afterwards confirmed by medical witnesses, among whom Dr.. K. S. Macky remarked that Dalmatians were “tremendously neurasthenic” as a race.

■Low prices continue in the Dunedin, butchers’ shops, says the Dunedin Star. Legs of mutton, selling four or five years ago at lOd per lb, can now be bought for about 3d per lb, and other joints are correspondingly cheap. One leading butcher notes the queer experience that customers are easier to please when prices are up. With goods of all sorts at prices that everyone can afford the whole shop is at the service of the poorest, and some of them take a while to decide between this and that.

Amateur gardeners who try all sorts Of methods to .protect their peas from marauding birds learned a new method at the meeting of the Canterbury Horticultural Society on Thursday evening. During question time, after :i lecture on “Seed Growing,” by Mr. A. K. Wilson, a member revealed that before planting his peas he soaked them in kerosene for twenty-four hours. He said that the birds refused to touch them, they appeared to come up quicker, and the germinating qualities were not interfered with.

When the hearing of & civil action in the Magistrate’s Court at Christchurch concluded on Thursday afternoon, two solicitors, three witnesses, and a' reporter were concerned at finding that their hats, which they had IMt hanging in the court lobby, had been removed by a thief who had had the daring to carry his operations into the “Halls of Justice.” Perhaps it was with an eye to future developments that the thief refrained from taking the hat of the magistrate, this being the only one that he left hanging on its peg. The jury panel summoned in connection with evil cases set down for hearing at the Hamilton Supreme Court this week became exhausted through the free exercise of counsel’s right to challenge when a case was called late on. Thursday afternoon. One juryman was wanted. The doors were locked, and the bystanders were ordered to come forward and serve. It was found that all these people were interested in the case, and Mr. S. W. Tftllis, tho Court messenger, was called oii to fill the vacant seat. He was "not challenged and the case proceeded.

An addition announcing the possibility of restriction of return to New Zealand by any person visiting a Communist country has been made to the New Zealand passport forms. The addition reads; “Warning.-—Any ’ person visiting any country or place which is under any Communist form of government may be refused permission to land in New Zealand within three years after leaving such country or place.” Otherwise, the forms are unchanged. The operation of the new regulation would presumably depend on the nature of a persori's activities while in the Communist country or place. An amazing story of heroism on board the French submarine iPromethee, which sank with over 60 men on board off Cherbourg, was revealed recently. The vice-admiral in command at Cherbourg issued a special order praising the heroism of two seamen who were on deck when the accident occurred and the commander ordered “Close the hatches! All hands below!” The water was already pouring in, but the men dragged the hatches to, thus enclosing themselves in a living tomb with -their comrades. Four hatches were closed as the ship plunged, but the fifth stuck and water poured in. An ascent of Mount Egmont from the northern house was made in 5| hours yesterday morning by Messrs. Roy Sole, 8. McCann and N. Lobb. There was a strong wind at the summit. They were able to indulge in glissading. Other climbers went to the Hen and Chickens for ski-ing. Snow commenced to fall at North Egmont on Friday night and continued till Saturday morning, when about two inches lay about the hostel. The weather yesterday morning was ideal and yesterday afternoon the sky clouded over only once or twice. There was still a little snow on the track yesterday, but not sufficient to cause inconvenience to motorists.

According to a resident of an Auckland suburb which is largely frequented by street vendors of fish, fruit and vegetables, or buyers of bottles, the severe competition of recent months, has brought about a greater originality in the calls employed by the salesmen. During the past week, says the Herald, Ponsonby streets have been somewhat enlivened- by a cry of “Cauli’, cauli’, cauli, cauliflower,” delivered with considerable enthusiasm by a vendor of vegetables, and not unlike the deeper intonations of a Maori haka. Auckland has yet to hear, however, the chant of bottle purchasers in Sydney streets, running in this fashion, “Ha, ha, ha, do you hear me say? Any rags, any bones, any bottles today?”

“It is to be regretted that in some quarters a town versus country feeling exists,” said the Hon. E. A. Ransom at Palmerston North on Wednesday. X recognise that the town is dependent on the country, and the country on the town. We cannot dissociate town and country, just as much as we cannot dissociate capital and labour.” An instance of a district resident going out of his way to provide a job of work for some unemployed man occurred during the last few days, states the Waikato Independent. The resident advertised inviting tenders for a price per 1000 bundles of rushes. Not one inquiry resulted. It would scarcely seem that there was a shortage of work in the Cambridge district. At the foot of the Huntsbury. Hill, Canterbury, is the largest brick kiln in New Zealand, says the Sun. It is capable of holding a quarter of a million bricks at once, but, with business in the brick industry anything but brisk at the moment, the kiln’s capacity is hardly a boasting matter. It is 18 months since any clay was excavated from the hillside, while the 230,000 bricks in the kiln at the present time are likely to reman there for a few months yet.

An involuntary train journey to Otahuhu was experienced by two women on Friday afternoon, when they were carried from Auckland station by. the express. They had been in a carriage seeing some friends off and only realised too late that the express was on the move. Special arrangements were made to stop the train at Otahuhu, where they got off. Normally,, the first stop of. the afternoon express is at Pukekohe if it is required. '“There is tremendous State rivalry tn Australia. About 513,000,000 has been spent on Canberra, and it is difficult to see where it will all lead to,” said Mr. B. G. Holland, at a luncheon tendered to him by the Christchurch Citizens’ Association on his return from Australia, where he managed the New Zealand hockey team. “While such expenditure must have its advantages, it can be carried too far. Sydney is forever talking about its ‘three ours’—‘our harbour, our .bridge, and our Bradman,’ and its people say that the only good thing that comes out of Melbourne is the train to Sydney I” The rare spectacle of a motor-car, driverless, careering backwards in circles attracted a griod deal of attention in Dee Street, states the Invercargill News. The owner had left the car by the kerbside near the post office. When he returned, he went to the front of the, car and swung the starting handle. Tne engine roared and the car, which by some mischance had been left with reverse gear engaged, set off at a headlong pace. The front wheels had been left turned at an angle and the vehicle swung round in a circle with the owner in pursuit. Four times it circled with increasing speed in the middle of the street. .Then the owner was successful in leaping on to the running board, and he managed to stop it. By great good fortune there was a. lull n the traffic at the time.