LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 9 November 1932, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Th© Waitara Borough. Council decided last night it was unable to contribute to the expens© of the celebrations in connection with the opening of the Stratford-Main Trunk railway. The azaleas in Pukekura Park have recently been flowering profusely. Referring to the dell below the racecourse at the meeting of the board last night; Mr. V. C. Davies commended the superintendent '(Mr. T. Horton) for the remarkable display of flowers he had obtained. Favourable comments had beep mad© by many visitors, including horticultural experts, said Mr. Davies. The hatchery in Pukekura Park, together with tile .pipe-line from the main entrance to the hatchery, has been given to th© park board by the Taranaki Acclimatisation Society free of cost. The board last night accepted the gift with thanks. The society expressed appreciation of the board’s assistance and friendly co-operation during th© period the society used the hatchery. When the stockman was drafting cattle at Ranana recently, Mr. T. R. Takarangi’s horse was charged by a bull. The rider was thrown to th© ground add was injured by the charging animal. He was brought dowin the river by boat and conveyed to the Wanganui Public Hospital. Mr. Takarangi is the son of Mr. M. K. Takarangi, Karioi, and has been a farm cadet for the last five years at Ratana. Th© increase in the Taranaki Hospital Board’s levy .on the 'borough of Waitara from £2B 16s 8d to £34 16s 8d per month was viewed with concern by members of th© Waitara Borough Council last night. “I thought these costs were being cut down,” said a councillor, but the Mayor, Mr. J. Hine, said the calle on the hospital board were very great, especially in view of the assistance that had to be given to unemployed at present. ‘‘lt’s a thankless job being a member of the Taranaki Hospital Board,” he added. A feature of Pukekura Park during recent months had been the flowering Japanese cherries and rhododendrons, reported th© superintendent to the Park Board last night. Speaking of the gully running eastward from the horseshoe bend in the sportsground, Mr. V. C. Davies said it was the finest position for the cultivation of rhododendrons he had seen in Taranaki, for it possessed the necessary advantages of partial shade, drainage and good land. Mr. F. Parker endorsed Mr. Davies’ . qpLuicuj, j

By a proclamation gazetted on Thursday, five blocks of land, aggregating 2300 acres, are taken for the purpose of the Stratford-Main Trunk railway (Heao section) and for road diversion.

, “If business were always as good as It has been with us during the last month, I should be quite satisfied,” said an Invercargill jeweller a few days ago. He added that business had been dull for a time but had shown a wonderful improvement latterly. The Government is shaping its plans to end the session not later than Tuesday, December 30, says the Dominion. That will mean that Parliament has exactly six weeks to complete the session’s programme. The main bills have already been enumerated, and, unless unexpectedly good progress is made, there will not be much time to deal with minor matters.

Civilised man let oS his fireworks and produced imitation meteors on November 5. The heavens, however, are scheduled to produoe the real thing in the way of meteors a little later in the month, between the 12th and the 20th. To see these Leonid meteors, as they are called, may mean early-morning rising, but enthusiasts for such things will not mind that. These famous meteors are connected with Temple’s comet, which was discovered in 1806, and astronomical observers will be on the lookout for the possible return of this celestial wanderer, although it may have disintegrated by this time.

Of a total of 506 boys placed in employment during the campaign conducted by the Christchurch Boys* Employment Committe during September, only 41 have reported to the bureau that they are out of work again. “The result of the campaign has been far more successful than was ever hoped for,” said the honorary organiser, Mr. H. P. Donald, in making the report. He said that all the boys provided with employment had been circularised and so far as was known all except the 4?1 who had reported that they were out of work were still in employment.

“If the Government does not intend to carry through its obligations with regard to superannuation, then we intend to ask to be liberated from further payments to the fund, and allowed to arrange matters for ourselves,” said Mr. J. H. McKenzie, general secretary of the New Zealand Post and Telegraph Employees’ Association, speaking in Wanganui on Saturday evening at the annual re-union of the Vv anganul branch. Mr. McKenzie said that the association had a very attractive offer from an insurance firm, and would undertake a superannuation, system for the members. The association was “standing pat” on that as it were in the meantime, said Mr. McKenzie.

For the past eighteen months a handsome cock pheasant which has roamed round West Lyttelton, making its home mainly in the domain and its surroundings, had attracted much attention. The bird had become a pet with many of the residents, who were always eager to Invite its friendship by giving it a liberal supply of food. On Saturday someone was out early to stalk the pheasant. At. 6.15 a.m. a shot was heard and a man was seen to pick up the dead bird. Considerable feeling was expressed against the shooter when it became known that the pheasant had been killed.

A local resident (says the Cambridge Independent) and his two friends had a long, trying pull on Sunday last week, when an accident occurred to their outboard motor at the top of Arapuni Lake. All went well on the outward journey, but just at the end of the 25-mile trip the propeller struck a rock near the edge of the lake and broke into several pieces. Realising the fact that they were far from home, the party set out on the heartbreaking return trip, and it can be appreciated that it was a very tired crew that rowed the small boat hick to the landing.

Notices warning members of the congregations against thieves have been posted in several Christchurch churches, as a result of thefts that have occurred while worshippers hav© actually been at the altar rail receiving Communion. All the evidence points to the thief being a woman. On three occasions during th© past two years large sums of money have been stolen from members of th© congregations of various churches, with whom this woman pretends to be a fellowj- worshipper. The latest thbft occurred on Sunday week at St. Luke’s Church. A Parishioner arrived at the church for the. 8 a.m. Communion service, and was joined by another woman, who had just ridden up on a bicycle. Both sat down in th© same pew. Th© first woman went to th© altar rail, naturally leaving ‘her purse behind on the seat. .Iks other woman remained behind kneeling, but when th© communicant returned, her companion and the purs© containing £l3 were both missing. Somewhat similar thefts have, been experienced at St. Andrew’s Church, Nbw Plymouth.

Remarkable results are reported to have followed the first round of vitits paid by the four special inspectors engaged by the Unemployed Board to check the payments of the wage tax which employers of labour are required to make. The task of the inspectors will be to cover th© area of the Auckland province and their plan is to take & district and call upon employers. It it is found that th© wag© tax stamps ■have not been attached to th© wag© sheet arid cancelled th© employer is warned to make up the deficiency , and a further vidit is promised. It is apparent that the inspectors are going to phy for themselves, for not only has one of these men been responsible for the payment of over £lOO in tax that had been withheld but there has been a run on post offices where the. special tax stamps ar© on sale, and m some cates the local stock of stamps has been completely sold out. The inspectors w not follow any set itinerary but will make their visit to chosen localities without warning.

A humorous story, told at the reunion of th© Otago and Southland Association at Greymouth, had an ending even more effective than the story justified. The narrator was Mr. J. Ray, and the story concerned an old miner and his dog, the scene being Otago in the. pioneer days. The old man died, but his friends decided that it was better that his dog should die also, rather than live in loneliness. Dynamite was a new arrival in those days, and it was resolved to use the explosive as a quick means ot ending the dog’s life. A small tin was prepared and hung around the. dogs neck, after which the fuse was ignited and the “execution party” made themselves scarce. The dog had his own ideas, however, and promptly followed the party with the “bbmfo” tied to his neck, and th© fuse hissing. Seeing the dog chasing them, the men made for shelter, negotiating a fence on their way, and waited for the worst. Meanwhile the dog reached the fence, the string round its neck broke, and the tin of dynamite was left behind, unknown to the men. While the narrator described how they were waiting for the explosion to blow the dog and themselves up, the required touch of realism was forthcoming—there was an explosion in the borough council yards.

An increase of 23 per cent, in the dairy production of the Auckland province is shown for the first three months of the current season, as compared with the same period m the 193'1-32 season. The returns for September show that the Auckland output, on a butter-fat basis, increased by 22 per cent, in comparison with the output in September, 1931. A total, of 130,440 cwt of butter was .received into grading store, together with 23,876 cwt of chees. This represents approximately 13,160,0001 b of butter-fat, compared with 10,822,0001 b produced in September, 1931. The figures for the three months, July, August, and September in 1932 and 1931 are 21,579,000 lb and 17,594,0001 b respectively, an increase of 23 per cent.

The Nelson Acclimatisation Society is continuing to liberate rainbow, and brown trout fry in various rivers m its district. Already 25,000 brown trout have been liberated in the Wairoa River and 30,000 in the lower reaches of the Maitai. An additional 26,000 will be taken to the south and north branches of the Maitai; and 10,000 rainbow and 15,000 brown trout will be placed in the Riwaka River. The rivers Lee, Roding (Aniseed Valley), Wangamoa and the Happy Valley stream will be attended to later. When the rainbow fry at present in the hatcheries are. liberated 120,000 will have been distributed throughout the district this season. It is expected that half a million fry will be liberated before the season closes. The pack-horse is still being used by settlers in the Mangapoike area for the transport of their requirements as a result of the road blockage by earthquake slips (reports the Poverty Bay Herald). It is“now nearly seven weeks since the September disturbance, and there were sb many slips on the Paparatu section and beyond that a total clearance of the road was a slow process. Seven miles of rood have yet to be cleared before the first of the Wairoa county settlers is given relief from the present conditions. This work ia being pushed on as a matter or urgency in view of the necessity of carting the wool out. New Zealand men and women who are trying to make their name in the literary world in London have opportunities equal to those of anybody else, in the opinion of Miss Ngaio Marsh, who (says the Press) has returned to Christchurch after five years m London and elsewhere. In fact, if one was known as a New Zealander, publishers and literary agents were inclined to give one all the assistance possible, as they understood the isolation and loneliness of one’s position. Miss Marsh, herself has a novel in the hands of a publisher and she said that she was treated, very fairly and with the utmost consideration The impression, that z graduates from Oxford and Cambridge commanded more attention than others on the literary market was merely colonial prejudice. “My committee conveys sincere thanks to the president and members of the South Taranaki Automobile Aseociation and to all others who so generously placed at our disposal the necessary motor-cars to transport the Parliamentary party and the large number of other visitors to the Stratford Plateau on the occasion of the official opening yesterday,’ states; the chairman of the East Committee of the Eginont National Park Board, Mr. J. C Robins, in a letter to the News. We also thank the South Taranaki Association and the Taranaki Automobile Association for placing at our disposal their respective service officers who so ably assisted in controlling the traffic, added Mr. Robins. . “The splendid response of car-owners was the subject ot much favourable comment from our many distinguished visitors.”