LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 14 February 1933, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

.Nearly 1000 signatures were received to the petition urging the Government to legalise the double totalisator, the telegraphing of bets and the publication of dividends, which was displayed at the Taranaki Jockey Club’s race meeting. A broken axle was the cause of the derailment of a New Plymouth tramcar at Strandon at about 4.40 p.m. yesterday. No damage was done and the damaged car was taken on to the workshop for repair. There was little interruption in the general service. A hat is a disadvantage to a motorcyclist when he is on his machine. The feeling of freedom that the uncovered forehead presented to the rusing air allows appears rapidily to be converting the motor-cyclist into a hatless being at all times. Of seventeen who came to a meeting of motor-cyclists at New Plymouth last night only one wore a hat. A quiet corner of a Fitzroy resident’s garden has been chosen by a Californian quail as her nesting place, and she is now engaged hatching her brood. Naturally she is the object of a great deal of interest on the part of the resident and his family, and she is fed each day. She is now as tame as an ordinary fowl and it is a matter for much speculation whether she will stay or depart for the open country when her young arrive.

A combined church parade of the Ist Battalion Taranaki Regiment and the Ist Battalion Wellington-West Coast Regiment, both of which are holding their annual camp at Waverley, was held on Sunday morning. The service was conducted by Chaplains Major G. H. Gavin (New Plymouth) and Major Sharp (Wellington). The bands of the regiments played the hymn music. A service at the Presbyterian Church, Waverley, was conducted by Chaplain Major J. D. McL. Wilson, New Plymouth.

The departure from the New Plymouth railway station yesterday morning of the English public schoolboys was a quiet leave-taking of their hosts and hostesses. The boys were well pleased with their visit to New Plymouth, notwithstanding its shortness and the unfavourable weather. Colonel N. Charters, who is -in charge of the party, was most appreciative of what had been done for the boys during their stay, and expressed thanks for the arrangements made and the hospitality extended to them. In view of an accident at a recent meeting held by the Stratford Motor Sports Club in which a rider suffered injury to the arm through its being caught in the chain of his machine in a spill, a suggestion that chain guards be compulsory was made at a meeting of Taranaki motor-cycle clubs at New Plymouth last night to consider the holding of a race meeting. It was decided that the meeting had not the power to make the use of chain guards compulsory, but in future competitors would be asked to use them for safety reasons.

The hot dry weather of the last month has brought a great deal of red spider into the apple orchards near Christchurch, a Papanui grower told a representative of the Christchurch Sun. The trees are being sprayed with a special oil mixture, but the spray is only effective when the spider is hatched—it does not kill the eggs. The apples are now swelling out and there is every indication of a good crop when the main picking starts early next month. A few early cookers and Worcesters have been picked and sold on the local markets.

Mr. T. Warnock has forwarded a cheque to the Wanganui City Council for a town clock, a condition being that the timepiece should be erected on his firm’s premises in Victoria Avenue. The dock will be a gift to the citizens of Wanganui, and is to remain on Mr. Warnock’s building so long, as the firm continues its existence. It was stated that the installation of a clock service for Wanganui on the lines agreed upon by the council would cost approximately £4OO. A sum of £260 had been collected by public subscription. Mr. Warnock’s generosity has now brought the matter to a very satisfactory point. Seven applications for exemption from service on the common jury were made at the opening of the Supreme Court at New Plymouth yesterday. All but one were granted.' One man was deaf and, being 64, was over the age limit. The proprietor of a “one-man” wood and coal business said it was difficult to obtain anyone to carry on in his absence. Similar explanations were accepted from a blacksmith and farrier, and a boot repairer. A carpenter said his work was connected with shipping. Work was, scarce, but that day he had work on. a ship at the port. The assistant manager of a drapery firm said he was in charge while the manager was at Wellington. They were in the middle of stock-taking. Mr. Justice Ostler granted exemption, though he said he did not think the man was really entitled to it. The remaining applicant was given exemption after to-morrow evening on the ground that as sole assistant in the manchester department of a drapery business he was required for a sale beginning on Wednesday. There is one man in Invercargill who, had the Australian cricket selectors been in Dee Street the other evening, would have secured a place for the fifth Test, says the Southland Times. From a motor car proceeding southwards a spare wheel suddenly bounded on to the street and in a series of bumps made for a large plate-glass window. Taxi-men tooted their horns to warn the driver of the car, but he, only too well aware of the occurrence and his helplessness, was rapidly calculating how much the window would cost him. Suddenly there loomed in front of the errant wheel a gallant figure who with heels together and arms outstretched waited to prevent the cover drive from reaching the boundary. The joy that will rise in the heart of Australians when Bradman makes the winning hit in the fourth Test will be n# greater than the joy the car driver felt al the sure fielding of the counting house clerk.

Speaking in Masterton last week Mr. Jack Percival, a member of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith’s party on the Tasman flight of the Southern Cross last month, said that as an outcome of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith’s consultation with meteorological authorities in this country, the prospects of flying the Southern Cross back across the Tasman were now bright. Since coming to this country the Southern Cross had put in about 80 flying hours, and had taken about 2000 New Zealanders aloft. As soon as possible after he returned to Australia, Sir Charles Kingsford Smith would gc to England to take over the agency for the Percival Seagull aeroplane and make another attempt on the England to Australia record. Sir Charles thought he could bring the time down to about eight days. The next big ocean flight probably would be from Capetown to Fremantle. At present there was no aeroplane fit to carry enough petrol for this long journey, but Sir Charles had plans, and while in England would examine all available machines to see if one could be found equal to the task. Taxes are like the plague, to be avoided, and the recently imposed Sales Tax is taxation in its most obnoxious form. Postponement of payment as far as drapery is concerned may be effected by purchasing household and dress requirements at Scanlan’s Ltd. while the firm’s sale is on. All new goods from now on must bear the increased exchange and Sales Tax.* z'

During the past few days increased thermal activity has been noticeable at Whakarewarewa, states the New Zealand Herald. Waikate geyser has played almost continuously, often throwing up showers of boiling water to a height of 40ft. The Papakura and the Waikorehihi geysers have also shown increased activity. The famous Pohutu geyser and the Prince of Wales Feathers are still inactive.

Laughter greeted Mr. David Jones’ announcement at a lecture at Christchurch that the New Zealand farmer was worse off than the Chinese. Mr. Jones was quoting from a graph of export prices prepared at Geneva by the League of Nations. The graph showed New Zealand’s export prices as the second lowest in the world, and below those of China. “I am glad to note that laughter. It shows where there is disbelief,” the speaker said. Parents who are in the habit of leaving babies in their cars while they are ■ shopping should take warning from an incident last week in Invercargill. Hearing most distressful cries from a car, a passer-by investigated. She found on opening a rear door of the car a baby lying head downwards between a suitcase and the side of the car. The child was »blue in the face, and in a short time would probably have died from suffocation. Presumably it had been left on the rear ■ seat and had fallen forward.

An Australian business firm, writing to a client in Gisborne, under date of January 31, states: “At the outset we would like to extend to you our earnest sympathy in the decision of the New Zealand Government to increase your exchange ; from 10 to 25 per cent, on English purchases. Having been through the bitter experience in Australia, we can fully appreciate what it means to have the extra impost, and also to realise how disconcerting it is in business having to reconstruct the whole of your prices.”

“Looking back on all matches that South Auckland has played in the Hawke Cup series,” writes a cricket correspondent in the Civic Conner*, Hamilton, “the match with Hawke’s Bay must take pride of place, and what a memorable fixture it was and what a great victory; Hawke’s Bay possessed the strongest side that came up to fight for the cup, with South Auckland the next strongest eleven. Poverty Bay must rank next and Nelson fourth, while Manawatu and Taranaki are liable to beat any minor association.”

When addressing his parishioners for the last time at a farewell gathering held in his honour, Canon W. S. Bean referred to the fact that the length of his ministry in the parish of Addington 40 years and seven months —was a record for the diocese of Christchurch. He also quoted statistics which must surely be almost a record for New Zealand. During his 40 years in Addington Canon Bean has carried out 2747 baptisms, performed 1104 marriage ceremonies and officiated at 1806 funerals. Gastric enteritis is fairly prevalent at New Brighton at the present time, says the Christchurch Sun, although the outbreak has not assumed the proportions of an epidemic. “Enteritis is a fairly common complaint at a seaside place in • the hot weather,” said a doctor, “and is not usually of a very serious nature. The present outbreak has nothing whatever to do with the influenza epidemic in England. A few children down here are suffering from summer sickness, but it, too, is a regular visitor in January and February.” As the result of Wednesday’s rain a slip has blocked the , Wanganui River Road at Pitangi, 17 to 18 miles from Wanganui. It is expected that the route will not be passable for three or four days. Mr. R. R. Dawson, engineer to the Wanganui County Council, stated on Wednesday night that a cloudburst had apparently affected the country in a line from the Wanganui River, out over the Aberfeldie Hill on the Parapara Road to Mangamahu. At the lastnamed place the water ran two to three feet deep across the road. The fall was much lighter nearer Karioi. He had been in communication with Mr. J. Kennedy, who reported that there seemed to be heavy rain in isolated localities some distance away, but nothing to speak of at the upper end of the Wangaehu Valley Road.

When people read about someone picking up “an old master” for a few chillings and sending it Home to Christie’s with the certain hope of getting a cheque for a fabulous sum, they began to look round their old family wall ornaments and wonder if they themselves have any unsuspected treasures. An Aucklander who has studied art for many years picked up an old picture the other day in a second-hand shop for quite a small sum (says the Auckland Star), and he is sufficiently sure that it is a Wouwermann that he intends sending it to London, where he has a friend who looks after art commissions for him. The Aucklander is fairly certain in his own mind that the picture is really by the old Dutchman who lived in 1620-68 and is one of the real “old masters.” Asked what he thought his find was worth, the Aucklander said it was not “one of those thousand pound pictures,” and he modestly put its value at, say, £4OO to £5OO. Even that would pay him handsomely, The sudden death of Mr. W. PerryTaylor at the Auckland Hospital recalls very vividly to' the oldest residents of early New Zealand the stirring events of Wanganui journalism, in which his grandfather, who was a friend of Sir George Grey when he was Governor of the country, was a leading figure. In 1865 there were three papers in Wanganui, the Chronicle, Herald, and Times, the last-named being the one edited by Mr. Perry-Taylor’s grandfather. The editor of the Chronicle was also named Taylor, but to distinguish the two the Times editor was named “the old horse, because he was a tireless writer, who wielded a vigorous, trenchant pen in exposing what he thought to be the abuses of the day. He had little time for the red tape of the military authorities, ana once, after some severe criticism of one of the regiments, the soldiers connected with it were so incensed that they marched down to the paper office, and, with stout long ropes and equipment used in military engineering, they nearly pulled the little office down into the street, and the editor had a narrow escape from serious injury.

A meeting to arrange the Okato annual picnic was held by the Farmers Union executive and the school committee on Thursday. It was decided to combine/as in previous years, February 23 being fixed for the function, which will be held in the domain. An invitation was extended to the master and pupils of the newly-established Pouakai school to join the picnic.

Scanlan’s Ltd. are offering many remarkable bargains in ladies’ sample underwear purchased at a big discount. No less than three complete ranges of manufacturers’ samples are comprised in the offering, consequently shoppers are assured of a wonderful selection to choose from.*

Why buy new clothes when the old ones can be renovated equal to new at the cost of a ‘few shillings? We have been dyeing and cleaning garments for over 20 years. Let us have your soiled or faded suits, costumes, dresses, etc., to renovate and you will be surprised at the result. We also renovate and reblock felt hats. Why not have yours done at J. K. Hawkins and Co., corner Devon and Liardet Street, New Pty* mouth. ’Phone 685. Mrs. Rudkin (Everybody’s) is our Stratford agent.