LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Thames Star, Volume LIX, Issue 16625, 22 October 1925, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

As from the 27th inst., the hours at the Paeroa Telephone Exchange will be from 6 aim. to midnight. Six shillings and sixpence was the profit upon"the football matches staged to augment the funds of the New Plymouth Tourist and Expansion League. “We do not stand for Empire,” declared Mr. Rogers at a meeting at Wanganui in reply to a question as to what would be Labour’s attitude in the event of war between Britain and Japan. The Waihi Telegraph says it is re ported that the Government diamond drill is likely to be sect to Te Puke at au early "date, for the purpose of further testing Muir’s Gold Reefs Mine by boring. Tho September payment of the Morrinsville Co-operative Dairy Company is 1/7 per lb. butter-fat for direct delivery. This is considered exceptionally good, especially on account of the uncertainty of shipping. A reminder is given of Mr. Burke’s lecture to-night at St. James’ Hall on “The Truth about America.” Mr. Burke is a brilliant orator, and has drawn crowded houses wherever he lias spoken. The indications are for easterly winds, strong to gale, and veering by east to south. Expect dull weather, with much mist and fog in parts. Heavy rain is to be expected. Barometer falling, but rising after about 24 hours. Seas heavy, tides high. Barometer 30.03, thermometer 65. The capital of the company which is to be formed in Auckland to start a new evening daily paper in that city is £300,000. Mr, E. C. Huic, managing director of the Christchurch Sun, is to 1 be managing director of the new company, and it is understood that he will take up his residence in Auckland very shortly. The company’s project includes the purchase of the Christchurch Sun at roughly £IOO,OOO.

The Maori elections will be held on Tuesday, November 3rd, the day before the general election. _l’t may not be generally known that there is a section in the Legislature Act which provides that: “it shall not be lawful to sell or supply to any Maori any intoxicating liquor on the day on which any election is held for a Maori electoral district, and every person who commits a breach of this provision shall be liable to a line not exceeding five pounds.” It was a rather overwhelming experience for a Christchurch firm when, in response to an advertisement calling for applications from ladies as attendants- and saleswomen for their china and crystal exhibit, they received 186 applications—all by personal call. To the average man, dealing with 186 women, each eager for a position, is not an enviable task, nor would the average man, if he imagined that the advertisement would attract so many of the opposite sex, be so keen to use the newspaper.

The new Te Awamutu Co-operative Dairy Companv has let a' contract for the factory buildings, which will bo located beside the railway line. Material is being hurriedly assembled, and a large staff of workmen has been engaged to expedite the erection of the building and plant. The main building will be 90ft. by 40ft., and the planning is such as to assure econo mical handling of the product. The machinery will permit of an annual butter output of approximately 500 tons, . while the building capacity is for a 1000-ton output. The boy Morrison, who had such a bitter experience on the hills near Oamaru for four days last week, is now sufficiently recovered to be able to leave his bed. His feet are giving him trouble, but it is hoped that he will be completely restored in the course ; of a few days. The lad was without food for 100 hours, and suffered terribly on account of the cold, wet weather. That he survived under stich- conditions is regarded as little short 'of a miracle. It is estimated that six or seven hundred persons took part in the search, as no, fewer than four hundred were out on one day.” Probably the most unique question ever put to a. political candidate was presented to Mr. W. J. Girling, M.P., at Picton, on Monday. It occupied over 70 sheets of paper, and in appearance more resembled the manuscript of a novel than a single "question.” However, appearances were deceptive, for actually the question had bee*’ written over and over again, and had been signed on the numerous sheets of paper by no fewer than 98 electors. It drew attention to. the fact that, due to old age, Picton School had become a disgrace to the town and a menace to the health of the children, and asked the candidate, if returned to Parliament, would he do all in his power to have a vote placed on the Estimates for a newbuilding. Mr. Girling assured liis audience that he would not only agitate for a new building, but would not give up agitating until he got a grant. 4k:

“How cmi England giv? either Australia. or New Zealand any preference over the Argentine when we have six hundred million sterling invested in South America?” This (says the Levin Chronicle) was a remark made to Mr. W. S. Park, of Levin, when in England lately, by a well-known journalist. The New Zealander had commented upon the slow progress that the principle of preference was making in’England. The reply crystallised the real trouble into a sentence and helped the Levinite to understand the rgal significance of a recent remark during the Prince of Wales’ visit, that the “Argentine is really a British* settlement outside the Empire.” Motorists in Auckland and elsewhere put themselves to a surprising amount of trouble every month to report trivial motor accidents to the police stations. If a. mudguard is bent, or a windscreen or radiator smashed in a careless collision, the parties, either wishing the police to straighten matters out for them, or misinterpreting the Motor Vehicles Act, 1924, hurry to report it to the nearest police station. For nine months the police have been troubled with, a host of trivial complaints, since the Act was brought into force at the beginning of the year; and it is time that owners and drivers realised they are required to report an accident only when someone is injured. In that case it is compulsory to make an immediate report;, and to obtain medical attention for the victim.

“Weeding out the worthless” in New Zealand art galleries is what the National Art Association yearns to see begun. Its Bulletin remarks: “In Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin, each public art gallery is filled to overflowing with pictures—mainly pictures.—purchased, presented and bequeathed, and the limited space has necessitated such close packing on the walls that any scientific system of arrangement is out of the question. The result is, as may be anticipated, visitors come to look, and depart in a more or- less confused condition, wondering what art is. or was. or should be. Students find little to help them in their quest for knowledge, and those in control wonder and do not seem to have anv clear conception of the course to follow. The time has come for stocktaking and for a rigorous weeding out of the. worthless and the undesirables : and even public gallery in the, Dominion has its full share of them.” The conditions under which some of the lady teachers in the backblocks have to teach as regards living accommodation is exemplified in a striking manner by the position at Mangatapoto. Mr. T. H. Sims, to whom the Taranaki Education Board had referred the matter, reported that the school eommitteo had found it absolutely impossible to obtain accommodation for the teacher with anv of the residents (states the Daily News). The lady teacher had succeeded in obtaining a small whore, renting it for a bacli. He, however, understood that the hut would be required by the owner at Christmas time, so that the teacher would have to obtain board and lodging at Ongaruhc, four inil.es awav, with a road impassable during the winter to any wheeled traffic. That was a case where a movable residence would be quite suitable, and it was a matter of extreme urgency. Members agreed that the '-matter was an extremely urgent oiie, and representations will be made to the Department.