LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Thames Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 17663, 14 August 1929, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

It is notified that' the annual meeting of the Thames Jockey Club has been postponed till Thursday, 29th inst. t

Authority to effect minor repairs to the T'airua wharf war, given to Cr. Ccry-W right at yesterday’s meeting of the Thames County Council.

Some very . nice stone is being brought out of the Una- Occidental mine at present. In every breaking down dabs and colours are- seen and during the part week not a day has passed without good stone being found.

Imports into Thames for the past month totalled 46 tons and exports 136 tons, a total of 882 tons over the wharves.

The Thames howling green is looking particularly well just now and the new sward which wan laid down at the end of last season is an .absolute) picture. Everything points to a. most successful season next year if the condition of the- greens be any criterion.

Some of the boats have- had particularly good freights' of fish during the past fortnight and one owner in particular who has . two boats in the Gulf ha»s averaged £IOO per week for fivo weeks. One day last- week a boat landed £4O worth of flounder in the one trip. On the other lian-d some of the line and net men are barely making wages.

According to the Alaoris who have certain means cf their own of making their prophecies, there will be- very little rain for some weeks and they also predict an early spring and a roniewhat dry summer. As a- matter of fact the earlier flowering of the shrubs, especially the tit-ree, is looked upon as a sign of an early spring and this /has been very noticeable this year. The almond tree, one of thei sights of Pollen Street South, has almost- completed its blooming and is fully three week*; ahead of last year.

A seqiiel to the Mount Eden tragedy last week came at the Police Court before Mr. F. K. Hunt. S.M., when A nne Elizabeth Cubis was charged with having murdered her twin boys aged four years. On the application of the police the ca?.e was adjourned to August 22. 1

A fourteen-year-old stowaway was found aboard the Discovery after the vessel left Cardiff for South Africa, en route for the Antarctic. Leslie Sutton, a Cardiff messenger hoy, landed at Barry with tear* streaming down his face. He was found under a tarpaulin on board the ship, having made up his mind to join the expedition. . He told his employer that he was not returning and disappeared from heme.' Frantic searches ended with the nevus that Sutton had been handed over to the Cardiff pilot. i

Times are changing. In the old days a gamekeeper was armed with a gun. but it was stated at a recent meeting of the Taranaki Acclimatisation Society that a ranger, while investigating the suspected shooting of pheasants and pigeons, had secured photographs _cf motor cars and of three men, alleged to be the offenders. The number plates on the ears were distinct, hut whether the offenders can he brought to hook remains to he seen.

A notice to the crew of the French cruiser Tourville was posted on hoard while at Wellington to the effect that any .sailor giving away the little red tuft on the top of his cap, known as the “pompom.” will he punished; and furthermore, no further supplies v, ill he sold. It seems that when in Auckland, the fairer sex had persuaded the “mntolrts”. to "art with their “pompoms” as souvenirs, hut the authorities have decided that a recurrence shall not happen in Wellington.

Mr. J. W. Barker. J.P., a wellknown resident of Coromandel, who was recently presented with an illuminated address on the occasion of Iris leaving the district, bad a particularly interesting career an a soldier during the war in France. Joining the Army at the age of 44 (a fact of which any soldier may be proud), he became a member of the New Zealand Engineers’ Tunnelling Company, attached to the Royal Engineers, and took part in the tunnelling' between Arras and Yimy Ridge. This was most intricate and dangerous work, the caves in Arras being connected through the chalky subsoil. Only two men of the company were lost, this being a tribute to the skill and coordination of effort which characterised the ta*k. Colonel (then Major) E. J. Duigan was in command of the ccmoanvi

There is quite a touch of romance about the travels of a bottle containing a message which was thrown from the Aorangi on Sunday. January 13 last, by Mr. John Fuller, the well-known theatre proprietor, on his journey from Australia to New Zealand. In a whimsical moment Mr. Fuller had written on a visiting card, “Admit four, best seats,’’ and in a sealed bottle bad • cast the message overboard off the coafit of Australia. Nearing - New Zealand lie sent- out yet a further message. As a. sequel to the incidents an old Maori of Bland Pay, Whangaruru, discovered one of the bottles on the beach 18 miles /•outh of Cape Brett last week. The message has been forwarded to- Mr. A. Alain, secretary of the Waite-mat a Electric Power Board, who, on making inquiries, learned that the instructions are genuine, and will lie honoured by the management of the St. James’ Theatre.