LOCAL AND GENERAL

Taranaki Daily News, 16 August 1933, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Mr. E. Lambert, Manaia, sustained a broken arm as the result of the engine of his car back-firing when he was cranking it. The Waikato football team which arrived at Eltham on Monday afternoon spent yesterday visiting Mount Egmont. The party was conveyed in cars by residents of Eltham. The Mayor, Mr. I. J. Bridger, formally welcomed the visiting team to the town.

“I want to thank you for the clear, concise and, I think,' fair way in which you have given your evidence,” said Mr. Justice Ostler as Cedric T. Gibson, a carpenter, was about to leave the witness box in the Supreme Court at New Plymouth yesterday. Gibson was the chief witness for the Crown on charges of theft of doors and window sashes.

Confirmations in the parish of St. Mary’s, New Plymouth, were continued last night, when 46 pupils of the Boys’ High School prepared by the Rev. R. Fordham Clarke were confirmed by the Rt. Rev. C. A. Cherrington, Bishop of Waikato, The service was fully choral, the school choir being in attendance. Misunderstanding over the age of children who could be treated at the dental clinic was reported to the Central school committee at New Plymouth last night by Mr. F. A. Coleman, chairman. On behalf of the clinic committee Mr. Coleman stated that children five years of age would not 'be accepted for treatment. The inmates of Rangiatea Old People’s Home at New Plymouth were always short of clothes, said Mr. S. Vickers at yesterday’s meeting of the Taranaki Hospital Board. The supplies of clothing, he said, had been considerably reduced through the activities of other relief organisations in the collection of old clothes.

Styling the two winning essays as gracefully written, economical in words and to the point, a Wellington newspaper has placed John Mercer, of the New Plymouth Boys’ High School, as the winner of its competition for the month. The essay was entitled “The Turi Memorial at Patea.” It is interesting to recall that last month’s winner was Dennis Allen, also a New Plymouth Boys’ High School pupil. A shield of puriri with silver mountings has been presented by Mr. A. L. Humphries, president of the Star Football Club, for annual competition between the fifth grade teams of the Star and Tukapa clubs at New Plymouth. For many years the senior and first junior teams have played annual matches.: for the Dan O'Brien Shield and the Carbine Shield. The first match for the fifth grade shield, which is to be known as the Humphries Shield, is to be played this season.

Kicking two field goals and three penalty goals, D. Thompson, the Taihape Rugby Sub-union full-back, was responsible for scoring the whole of the 17 points that enabled his team to draw with the Wanganui Sub-Union representatives on Saturday. It must be a New Zealand record for one player to score so many points for a representative team, all by kicking, and coincidentally to be the only player to score for his side. The Canterbury Rugby Union, knows how to look after itself when it wants to have the use of the radio, states the “New Zealand Radio Record.” Tucked away In a room at Lancaster Park was a radio, pouring out the description of the game between Canterbury and Wellington played in Wellington last Saturday. “The union should be grateful to Wellington for its broadcasting. Let us hope it will return the compliment next season,” the paragraph ends. The Canterbury Rugby Union will not allow matches played on Lancaster Park to be broadcast. Just at sunset to-morrow evening two very bright planets in the western sky will be seen almost in conjunction. They are Jupiter and Venus. They set in the western horizon soon after the sun, which is rather unfortunate from the point of view of observation. The president of the New Plymouth Astronomical Society (Dr. G. Home) mentioned last night that he had seen the two stars converge on a previous occasion. He was crossing the Forth Bridge at Edinburgh on his return from a football match with St. Andrew’s University on the evening of January 6, 1893, when he saw the stars appear to coalesce in the western sky.

Renewed efforts have been made to refloat the oil-engine vessel Kapui, which ran aground on a shell bank in the Mokau River on the afternoon of July 25. Attempts to refloat the vessel on the high tides immediately afterwards might have been successful but for the parting of the anchor rope, which resulted in the vessel being carried farther ashore to normal high-water mark. A party of men is jacking the vessel on to skids and it is hoped to be able to raise her sufficiently to skid her back to low-water level. Good progress has been made and tlie vessel has been raised three feet. It is anticipated that if these operations are not delayed by adverse weather it will be possible to refloat the Kapui in* the next day or two.

The law of supply and demand operates even in these days if given a chance, as is strikingly indicated in the work of the Auckland Boys’ Employment Committee. Early jn May the demand from farmer employers fell off, and had to be stimulated, with very gratifying results. To-day the position is reversed, but with the seasonal demand calling urgently for help with incoming herds there has been a lag in wages. There have been complaints in some quarters that boys are taking undue advantage of the position, but, on the other hand, it is contended that they are entitled to make a reasonable bargain. A call at the office of the committee confirmed the statement that nearly 150 farmers were seeking boys 2 and that these could not be found in sufficient numbers. At the same time, a perusal of the records showed that positions where the wages offered were 15s or more (for well-experi-enced boys) were quickly filled. In spite of difficulties, the committee continues to place approximately 20 boys weekly with farmers, but if lads were available these figures could easily be doubled.

An Auckland suburban resident was troubled by a large rat that nightly invaded the family rubbish tin and scat'ered the contents about the back porch. One evening last week he decided to put an end to the nuisance, and went into ambush with a pea-rifle ready loaded. Iftcr half an hour’s wait the rat popped the tip of its nose out from beneath the weather boards of the house, and the smell of a piece of toasted cheese soon nticed it into the open. Taking the best aim he could in the poor light, the householder pulled the trigger. There was a sharp report, but the rat scampered back to cover unhurt. Admitting tlie rat one up, the owner of the gtm next day decided to kill the pest in the more orthodox manner. He set a trap—one of the break-back variety. The same evening the trap went off, and the householder took a torch to investigate. The light showed the trap sprung, and a fully-grown hedgehog making a hearty meal off the cheese. The rat was two up. On the third night a brand new trap of the cage variety was left beside the dust bin, and the householder retired undecided whether he would drown the rat in the fish pond or in the washtub. In the morning a great commotion greeted the householder when he opened tlie back door, but it was not the rat that was responsible. The . cage contained seven friendly white-eyes, ci blight birds, which among them had emptied the trap of its cheese. Three up to the rat! ■