NEWS OF THE DAY

Taranaki Daily News, 31 March 1934, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

Three hundred and fifty dog licenses were issued at New Plymouth between January 1 and last Thursday, the final day for payment without penalty. For the same period in 1933, the figure was 345.

While working a sausage-making machine in the shop of his employer, Mr. A. P. Edwards, Mr. R. Penwarden, an Okato resident, received serious injuries to his left hand. One finger was severed and others so severely lacerated that it is possible another finger will be lost Mr. Penwarden was admitted to the New Plymouth hospital. In the course of a lecture to the Canterbury Mountaineering Club, Mr. H. F. Wright, in referring to the suggestion, made after a party was lost on Mount Ruapehu some time ago, that climbing parties should carry pigeons, said that most climbers would find a pigeon as cumbersome as a certain soldier did during the war. In one of the big pushes on the Somme visibility was so bad that pigeons were depended on to carry news back to the staff. The first pigeon to arrive back was taken into the orderly room, where a group of eager staff officers watched the untying of the message on the bird’s leg. Their feelings can well be imagined when the message was found to read: “I’m tired of carrying this bird !”

The hundreds of art union ticket buyers who immediately search for a number ending in seven will no doubt be thrilled to learn that in the recent Golden Chance art union not only did the first prize ticket end in a double seven, but also every ticket winning £5OO, £2OO, £lOO and £5O contained a seven in its digital make-up. All of which gives food for thought of other possibilities. An eager statistician discovered that out of the total 207 prizes there were just 93 containing a seven—ten more than the average of each figure in the prize-list. Nine tickets held double sevens, including the £2OOO winner; 11 tickets held two separated sevens, while only one, a £5 prize, contained three sevens. However, 22 tickets ended in seven—again slightly more than the average for all the figures.

The newest in winter coatings are showing now at Morey’s Ltd. These include plain cloths as well as the new diagonals, self-striped and Vandyked effects. All wool and reasonably priced, they are now on show, and some are advertised on page 18 of this issue.*

Among the fashionably dressed on the lawn at the Bay of Plenty racing meeting, held at Tauranga on Saturday, reports the Rotorua Post, was a Maori dressed in pyjamas of purple and gold with orange and lemon stripes with an old orange straw hat and tan boots to match.

A Wanganui resident who confesses to having passed the half-century mark started his annual vacation on Wednesday morning by cycling as far as Waitara, in the course of what he hopes will be a cycling tour of the North Island. As the distance is approximately 120 miles, and the cyclist did not leave Wanganui till after 9 a.m., his feat in reaching Waitara by 8 p.m. was distinctly creditable.

Reconstruction work near the 35-mile peg on the Parapara Road, where a big deviation has been made, is practically completed, reports the Wanganui Automobile Association. The new road is now in use and is stated to be in good order. Two lorries are engaged in metalling work, and the rough portion and pot holes adjacent to the reconstruction work and the camp have been metalled and conditions improved considerably. It is said by those who use the road that it is in better order now than it has been for some time. Reference to £40,000 collected by the Government in death duties from theCawthron Estate was made at a farewell to the Bishop of Nelson. “A great writer,” remarked the bishop, “recently addressing the Society of Authors in London, said: ‘I am going to retire, and, like the old people who used to make their wills before going on a journey, I bequeath you Mr. Wells.’ I am going on a journey, and I bequeath you the Government, because they owe us £40,009 which they took in death duties, and which you may get back some day—but ‘I ha’e ma doots.’”

Some good stories concerning the drought are to be heard in the Awatere district, Marlborough, where the settlers, whose indomitable spirit in the face of adversity is remarkable, are able to raise a laught out of their misfortunes, reports the Express. One yarn is well worth recording. It is stated that a stranger, passing through, remarked to a settler that the district appeared to be suffering from a pretty bad drought. “Drought!” exclaimed the “cocky.” “I should bally well say so! Why, we’ve got frogs here three years old that haven't learned to swim.” “The almost continuous loud rumblings in the hills and earth tremors experienced in the Collingwood (Nelson) district are really alarming until you become used to them,” said a Wanganui gold prospector who has just returned from there on a brief visit to his family. These tremors have not been so frequent since the last severe earthquake, but previously they could be felt day and night at short intervals, while the noise like loud thunder from the high hills was at times almost terrifying. “I think a subsidy is damnation,” said Mr. W. Howie at a meeting of the Wanganui branch of the Farmers’ Union. The speaker was referring to the suggested subsidy on butter. “Why should farmers be bolstered up to pay their debts at the expense of the consumer,” he declared. “We have been paying and are paying 2d more for bread than we need in order that 300 wheat farmers can carry on in the South Island. I never believe in aiding one section of the community more than another,” he concluded.

The King has consented to write an inscription in his own hand in the first of the 40 books of remembrance which are to be kept in the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance, and which will contain the names of 120,000 men and women of Victorian birth or domicile who served in the war. The book, which is a magnificent piece of handwork on vellum, is bound in Australian morocco, and is ready to be sent to the King. If it is not brought back by Prince George, it will reach Melbourne in time for the dedication of the shrine in November.

A Waipukurau business man received a shock this week when he heard a crash of broken glass and on investigation found a large Alsatian dog reposing in his window. The Alsatian had a slight difference of opinion with another dog of less regal patronage, and in jumping aside to avoid his opponent crashed through a plate-glass window. The dog was more scared than injured, while his opponent, startled by this unexpected development and probably scenting trouble, lost no time in deserting the scene of action.

Although Eass>r Sunday falls this year comparatively early it is interesting to note that the earliest date on which it can fall is March 22. \ The rarity of this occurrence can be judged from the fact that it will not happen in this century, and only happened once in each of the preceding four centuries. Almost as rare is Easter Day on March 23. This happened in 1913, and in 1940 and 1951 it wiU fall on March 24 and March 25 respectively. The latest date for Easter is April 25, and this will fall this century, in 1943. Actually Easter Day is the first Sunday after the full moon which happens on or next after, March 21.

Owing to reconstruction work near Dalvey Hill, the Bulls-Turakina Road is closed until further notice. The Wanganui Automobile Association advises that the best detour for motorists travelling from Wellington northward is to turn off the main road at Bulls and travel to Wanganui via Marton. There are a number of side roads between Bulls and the point where reconstruction work is in progress, but these are narrow and not advisable for through traffic. Some motorists who have preferred to take the by-roads have lost their bearings and have finished up back on the main road, and several cars have been stuck. Motorists travelling south must detour at Turakina and travel through Marton. The new deviation on the Wanganui-Raetihi Road is practically completed and is in good order. The whole road is now in better order than it has been for some time.

“Fifty-one” writes: In looking through your excellent supplement on “The Birth and Development of the Province of Taranaki,” I came across the following: “Half a mile south of the British headquarters at Waitara the Maoris erected two forts. An attempt to take these on June 27, 1860, ended disastrously. By neglect to send notice to Colonel Gold reinforcements were not sent from New Plymouth at a critical moment, and the British forces were driven back with heavy loss.” I may be mistaken, but I think the above disaster refers to Major Nelson and the 40th Regiment, and it was always understood that Colonel Gold got as far as the Waiongona River with the reinforcements, but finding the river in flood, decided not to go on. There was a considerable amount of talk about this incident, as no one could understand a large body of men being held up by a river the size of the Waiongona, even if in flood. The disaster was attributed solely to the failure of the Colonel to appear on the scene with reinforcements. Since penning the above I have looked up records, and find that on June 27, 1860, Puketakaure was attacked, and although the 40th Regiment suffered most; there were also men from the warship Pelorus and others engaged.

April dates for collection of pigs for the Pig Marketing Association and Inglewood Bacon Co. appeal' in this issue. Members of the Okato branch of the Farmers’ Union will spend Thursday in inspecting the Waitara freezing works, the Fertiliser Company’s works and the Taranaki Producers’ works.