LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Waipa Post, Volume III, Issue 116, 4 June 1912, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Talk carnival

Tenders are invited for painting the schoolhouse and teacher's residence at Parawera.

The annual meeting in connection with St. John's Church will be held to-morrow, as advertised.

The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Co., Ltd., on behalf of Mr F. W. Devereux will sell a quantity of farm stock and sundries on Tuesday next, as advertised.

We are advised that a plain and fancv dress ball will be held in the Pirongia Public Hall on Friday, June 28th, the proceeds of which are to be devoted to the fund for the purchase of the new hall piano. The arrangements are in charge of a cap tbie committee, and the necessary preliminaries are already well in hand.

On account of Wednesday not being a half holiday the annual meeting of parishioners at St. John's Church has been postponed from 4 o'clock in the afternoon until 7.30 p.m.

Mr de Ridder, architect, has accepted the tender of £284 15s 3d of Mr W. J. Bickerstaff, builder, for a 4-roomed residence with scullery, bath-room, wash-house, etc., to be erected at once in Mahoe Street.

Sir Joseph, Lady, and Miss Ward have returned to Wellington, where they wereentertained. Over 3000 people were present. Sir Joseph was presented with an address, and Lady Ward with a grand piano. Sir John Findlay and Sir- James Carroll were among those present.

A Feilding message states that the Minister for Education (Hon. J. A. Hanan) has approved of the Education Board's regulations for compulsory attendance at continuation classes in the Wanganui education district, and the experiment will first be tried in Wanganui and suburbs, where conditions are exceptionally favourable.

Te Aroha did not consider it advisable to send a delegate to the recent Hamilton Conference. At a meeting of the Borough Council, one member suggested that the project should have received more consideration, as, if the Bill were passed it would upset the whole municipal law, take away the power of local bodies, and " wipe us right out." "A good thing if it did, responded another councillor.

The advent of the motor-car has proved a great boon to settlers in outlying districts. A farmer who lives quite fifty miles from Masterton stated the other day that since he' purchased a car, he is able to make in two hours or so a journey which previously took him more than a day One of the chief advantages derived from having a car is that he is able to keep in touch with the stock markets, the fluctations of which are so very important to the average settler.

Writing of seedless apples, Mr Luther Burbank says none of them are of any commercial value. " There was," he says, " once a so-called stoneless plum, but it was not larger than a large bean, and was not fit for human food. The bush was an ill-shaped, thorny one, and the fruit absolutely useless. Now there are growing on my farms splendid prunes and plums, which are stoneless. Nature gives us a hint, and it is man's business to carry the work to produce results. "

Without funnels, coal, firemen, and smoke, the forerunner of the new steamship has arrived. The Danish East Asiatic Company has made a practicle test with a new boat of 10,000 tons displacement. The ship is an oil burner, and is, in fact, an immense motorboat driven by engines somewhat similar to those in use upon motor-cars. The engine-room has the advantage of plenty of light, no oppressiveheat, and but little noise. Its oil tanks, at the keel, carry sufficient fuel for a cruise around the world,

The pit ponies of one of the English mines were brought to the surface when the miners stopped work. None of the animals had seen daylight'since they were first taken into the mines, some as long as twenty years ago. All of them were bewildered, and many were as frightened as though they had been deposited on a new planet, but there were some which showed signs of joy, neighing and rolling over and over on the ground.

The severe earthquake reported from the North Island last week was recorded by the seismograph of the Magnetic Observatory at Christchurch. The initial movement occurred at 6 hours 05.9 minutes p.m., the larger waves arriving at 6 hours 06,7 minutes, and attaining a maximum at 6 hours 08.4 minutes, with a complete amplitude of twelve millimetres on the trace. These larger waves ceased at 6 hours 10.9 minutes, but the small movements which followed did not cease until 7 hours 02 minutes p.m., New Zealand standard time.

Mr Plummer, inspector to the Board of Education, Auckland district, is on a visit to Te Awamutu, and to-day is inspecting the work of the scholars of the local school.

By advertisement to-day notice is given of a dance in connection with the local territorials, to be held on Wednesday, I2th inst The proceeds are to go towards the establishment of a gymnasium.

While he was at Fairlie the other day, the Prime Minister (Mr Mackenzie) said that something would have to be done to put a stop to the trafficking in Crown leases, by which the seller was left with all the profits and the buyer had to " nurse the baby."

The chairman of our lo:al school committee has been informed that a deputation from the Education Board, consisting of Messrs Edgecumbe, Greensladeandßaniball, with Inspector Plummer and Mr J. Farrell, architect to the Board, will visit Te Awamutu to-morrow (Wednesday) at 10 a. m. to inspect the proposed new site for the school, and report thereon. The committee is to meet the deputation and show them on the site, and discuss the whole position with them.

It is reassuring to learn that of late a good deal has been done towards improving the sanitation of the native villages on the Wanganui river, which used to be the hotbeds for epidemics. At most of the villages water has been laid on and surface drainage installed. The villages are also nearly all fenced in and surface drainage installed to carry off storm water. Pigs are also excluded from the villages, and fines are rigorously imposed for drunkenness, liquor being strictly prohibited. The conditions, generally speaking, are greatly changed for the better, as compared with years ago.

A largely-attended meeting of bachelors was held in the Cosmopolitan Club Room on Saturday evening to consider the advisability of holding a bachelors' ball at Te Awamutu. Mr G. Cruickshank presided. Mr E. A. Cox, convener, outlined the business before the meeting, and discussion ensued as to whether a ball or a dance should be held. It was ultimately resolved to hold a ball on Wednesday, 26th inst.> and a dance, as a return to the ladies, about four weeks later. Mr E. A. Cox was elected secretary, and Messrs G. Cruickshank, F. Potts, Teasdale (2), M. Ryder, W. Pollard, B. C. Wheeler, J. Elliott, H. A. Collins, R. G. Blennerhassett and A. G. Warburton were appointed a general committee of management. Messrs Blennerhassett, Cox and Warburburton were elected a sub-com-mittee to make enquiries regarding an orchestra, and arrange for the supply of invitations. After further preliminaries had been considered the meeting was adjourned until to-morrow (Wednesday) evening.