LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Thames Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 19850, 30 October 1936, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Butterfat Pay-outs. Pay-outs at the Turua factory this month for butterfat were 1/- per lb. for butter-making and 1/1 for cheese.

Solf Season Concludes. The presentation* of trophies and official closing of the Thames Golf Club will be held at the Club's links

to-morrow. Maramarua Roads Rough. Many travellers between Thames ind Auckland of late have complained of the rough nature of the highway in the vicinity of Maramarua. The oadway Is badly pot-holed. Fishermen in Demand. This week a fishing company operating in the Hauraki Gulf waters sent out a call for 200 fishermen for employment at Mercury Bay. Over £300,060 on the Tote. More than £300,000 was invested on the totalisator at race meetings throughout New Zealand during the Labour Day week-end. This sum was spread over ten meetings, and represented an increase of about £BB,OOO, or 42 per cent., on investments at the ; corresponding meetings last year. Porpoises at the Coast. A small school of porpoises was seen a little way off-shore between Tapu and Puru on Wednesday. The fish attracted the interest of several passing motorists as they leisurely made their way towards Coromandel. St. George's Anglican Bazaar. St. George's Anglican Church bazaar ooncluded last evening with a concert in the Parish Hall. There was a fair number of people present, and the main attraction' was the appearance of Mr. J. C. Crawford, of Te Aroha, who entertained with magic and illusions. A number of local artists also contributed to the programme. Alsatian's Pedigree. "It may have a pedigree, but now it has a record, too," said Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., in the Auckland Magis-

trate's Court, when a man charged with owning a dangerous Alsatian dog claimed that it was a pedigree animal. The dog was stated to have rushed at a man and bitten him. "I think you had better get rid of it," added the magistrate. When the defendant promised to send the dog to Hamilton' the case was dismissed on payment of costs. A Desk Outgrown. A recent meeting of the Southland Education Board received a letter from the sole teacher of the Lower Shotover School, saying that as one of tho pupils had grown abnormally for his age he was now too big to sit comfortably in the largest of the dual desks. He was sft 10in when last measured and sat with his feet tucked under the seat so that his Icnees would go under the desk. He therefore applied for a table and a chair. The architect was instructed to write to the teacher giving his instructions on what would be the obvious thing to do in these circumstances. The Maori "Rubicon." How to avoid payment of dog tax. a problem that exercises the minds of many owners of dogs, has been solved by some Maoris in the Waikato. When the appointment of a tax collector was before the Waipa County Council it was said that the tax collector in an adjoining district had trouble in his efforts to collect fees from Maori owners, who, when they saw him approaching, hurriedly took their dogs across the river, which is the boundary between the two districts. In the other district the local body regularly fixed a dog tax, but made no active effort to collect it, and tho Maoris are fully aware of the fact.