Local and General

Waipa Post, Volume 42, Issue 3303, 30 May 1931, Page 4

Local and General

A public holiday will be observed locally on Wednesday next, being the King's Birthday.

Travellers by train from the south yesterday morning report a heavy fall of snow on the high country in the middle of the island.

The amount of loans borrowed and expended by the Thames Valley Power Board is £BOO,OOO, and the annual payments of interest and sinking fund on these loans is £55,623.

Yesterday morning one of the most severe frosts of the present winter season was experienced throughout this district.

The Borough Council is at present employing a gang of relief workers on the borough reserve near the junction of Bank and Roche Streets, levell, ng that and adjacent sections.

The engagement is announced of Helen Margaret, younger daughter of Mr and Mrs A. J. Roach, of Te Awamutu, to George Joseph, younger son of Mrs and the late Mr J. S. Edge, of " The Point," Ngaruawahia. It is expected that the decision of the Arbitration Court on the applica- 1 tion of the Employers' Federation for a general order reducing wages under all awards will be published on Monday.

"That the fee for itinerant traders should not be less than £lO per annum," was a motion proposed at the monthly meeting of the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce last Wednesday night. It was resolved to write to the Borough Council to this effect.

A Pirongia correspondent who is interested in basketball claims that the information given in last issue re the scores in the two matches on the previous afternoon between Pirongia and Te Awamutu teams was incorrect. It is claimed that while Te Awamutu team, playing at Pirongia, won by 13 goals to 4, the Pirongia team playing in Te Awamutu triumphed to the tune of 14 goals to 6, thus leaving the honours undecided. Our information was to the effect that Te Awamutu teams won both games.

"American professional and business men are the most hospitable people in the world, and they show an extraordinary willingness to hand over all information at their disposal to people from other countries," stated Mr A. Tyndall, engineer to the Main Highways Board, in an address at Christchurch. " That information might have cost them thousands of dollai's, but that makes no difference, as long as the visitor is interested. America is a most remarkable country in that way."

"If this earthquake doesn't shake a lot of people up, I don't know what will," said Mr J. Vigor Brown at a recent meeting of the Napier Sailing Club. He had seen many people walking as they had never walked before, going as if they were training for a race. This might be due to the loss of the trams, he added, amidst laughter. It was not a very nice thing to say, but there was no doubt that the earthquake, while it had done a lot of harm, had also done a great deal of good.

A Stratford resident recently had the misfortune to break a rib, and had in consequence to suffer the .administration of a surgical plaster about his chest. One night he found the adhesion of the plaster particularly irksome, so he rose from his bed and cast it from him. In the middle of the night he was awakened by a hideous noise. Fearfully he edged himself from the bed and groped his way to the switch. When the light flooded the room he was relieved to find that it was only the household cat hopelessly entangled in the remains of the plaster bandage.

Recently a number of small teeth, apparently carnivorous, were brought into the Dominion office, Wellington, by a woman for identification. They were found at Stewart Island, she explained, and she thought that they might be of some value, for each was pierced by a hole, not of recent origin, and they appeared as if they had been used as a necklace. The teeth were submitted to the director of the Dominion Museum, who identified them as dolphin teeth. The natural habitation of the dolphin, he said, was in the colder southern seas, and it was probable that one of these mammals was washed ashore, and the Maoris of long ago took its tooth to ornament themselves.

Many people wonder what becomes of all the ballot papers after an election. In the case of a civic election, such as the one recently decided, it is the duty of the returning officer, as soon as practicable after the re-count (says the Dominion) to make up into one packet all the packets of voting papers, seal it, endorse it with a description of the contents, and hand it over to the clerk of the nearest Magistrate's Court. That official has to retain the packet for a period of six months, permitting no one to open or examine it (except on -the order of some court of competent jurisdiction), and thereafter effectually destroy'it. In Wellington the voting papers are destroyed in the furnaces of the destructor, where any possible record of " who voted for whom " goes up in smoke.

At last meeting of the' Te Aroha Unemployment Committee a point not generally realised was raised. Mr Willis stated that it had come to his notice that in three instances men placed under scheme 4a had been compelled to assist in milking a large number of cows. This was contrary to the regulation which definitely laid down that the work for which the labour was provided under the scheme must be of a developmental nature. The Mayor, in reply to Mr Johnson, stated that farm development work was the class of labour to be undertaken by relief workers under scheme 4a. It was decided that the secretary communicate with the three farmers concerned, pointing out that it was a breach of the regulations governing scheme 4a to employ the workers in milking cows.

Mr H. G. Corbett, of Otorohanga, barrister-at-law, has been appointed church advocate in the Waikato Diocese by the Bishop.

Mr J. Price, of Matamata, has been elected chairman of the Thames Valley Power Board, in place of Mr F. M. Strange. Mr Price (vice chainman) defeated the sitting chairman by four votes to three at the meeting on Tuesday.

In connection with the Rugby representative football match, Waikato v. Auckland, at Hamilton on Wednesday next, a correspondent asks for the scores in the similar match a year ago The match at Hamilton resulted in a win for the visitors by seven points to six. Playing at Auckland later in the season Waikato won by ZX points to 3.

A well known settler of the Rangitaiki Plains recently advertised inviting applications for the position o± sharemilker, on a quarter share basis, and received 160 applications from all parts of the North Island and one from Canterbury- The greater number of the applications came from the Taranaki and Te Puke districts.

A decision to commence the country week tourney in Auckland on July 13 was made at a meeting of the executive committee of the Auckland Ladies' Hockey Association. Miss Dawson presided over a full attendance of members. The King Country Association's application for affiliation was approved. The Waipa Association's inability to affiliate this season was noted with regret.

Stating that there was a principle of great importance involved, Mr J. Miller, S.M., adjourned two cases which came before him in the Carterton Court, one against a lorry driver for exceeding the speed limit and the other against the owner of the lorry for allowing the limit to be exceeded. The magistrate considered that drivers might be induced to exceed speed limits as the trip schedule laid down for them by the owners could not be carried out without so doing. The question was of importance to all local authorities and needed a ruling to settle it.

The Radio Broadcasting Company's lease of the major stations throughout New Zealand expires on December 31, and as adequate notice will have to be given to the company should the Government decide to alter the system of control, it will be necessary for Cabinet to decide upon its future policy concerning radio broadcasting at an early date. It is understood that the Government contemplates changing the present system, and legislation providing for this will probably be prepared for presentation to Parliament next session.

An exceptionally large wild boar was shot on the Pirongia Mountain by Mr K. Prentice. The boar measured 6ft. 6 1 in. long and its snout was 14in. long. Mr Prentice was out with a party including Messrs G. Berryman, C. Woolston, M. Lindsay, and J. Butterworth. They have been going out regularly since Easter, and so far, have secured 24 wild boars. They surprised their big capture in a clearing by a creek. The animal seeing the hunters had surrounded, dashed straight at Mr Prentice. All the members of the party shot at the animal, and Mr Prentice checked its rush with a shot between the eyes. Members of the party declared that wild boars are plentiful on Mount Pirongia.

" It must be remembered that the ratepayers of this country are paying, and have paid their fair quota toward the improvements to the roads. It is not fair to them that these roads should be destroyed by a few individuals who, no doubt, are paying something toward the cost, but still are not given a free hand to do as they like, stated the report submitted by the engineer at a meeting of the Kairanga County Council last Wednesday. The engineer also stated that the local bodies were finding out that it was not a payable proposition to put down good roads and have them damaged by excessive loads. " Our roads are not built for such loading, and even an occasional excessive load may do a vast amount of damage," he said.

According to -the view of Professor Tocker, of the Economics Department at Canterbury College, the stage is now set for a general economic recovery. If it should prove to be the case that the bottom of the slump has actually been reached the upward movement should not be at all remote. Capital which has been frozen in during the depression should thaw quickly. People who have been economising are beginning to see the end of their stocks of clothing and other necessities, and no doubt will buy more freely as soon as they feel assured that the danger point has been passed.- What is wanted is a general return of confidence in the resources of this country, its recuperative powers, and in its future, which is undeniably assured as long as the conditions favourable to the return of prosperity are not abused by imprudent and irresponsible government.

Some time ago mention was made of the fact that horse traffic instead of vanishing altogether from the roads was showing signs of a revival. Up to a point the motor vehicle would appear to be the cheaper proposition, because its greater speed balances the comparative cost. Taxation, however, would seem in this country to have carried the proposition ps\t that point. According to a statement published yesterday one of the Wellington carrying companies is taking its heavy motor trucks off the roads and replacing them with horse drawn lorries in order to effect a saving of £275 in heavy load license fees. A member of the firm declared that this was another instance of Government taxation defeating its own ends. The repercussions in various directions are obvious. Less petrol is bought, ar. fewer tyres. There is less work for the garage mechanics, and so on. In the end the State conceivably may be an actual loser by this ham-stringing of business enterprise.

An excellent response from the public was secured by the Community Sunshine Association in its street collection in Auckland yesterday. It was estimated last evening that a sum of £730 had been obtained to assist the association's funds, and additions to that amount are expected.

The necessity for better organisation in the relief of distress and the collection of funds in Hamilton was emphasised at a meeting - of the Waikat Social Welfare League last Thursday evening. Dean G. R. Barnett appealed for greater co-opera-tion between the churches. He said they had not given their fullest support to the league in the matter of finance. If they could not guarantee any definite contribution they should assist in some other way. Several members spoke in favour of a central relief organisation for the district. It was decided to hold the annual meeting on June 22 in order to consider a new scheme.

Six years ago Mr C. H. E. Rhodes of Wanganui, an enthusiastic gardener, read of a wondei-ful new hybrid grown in England of the amarlylidea family. He' immediately wrote to the editor of The Garden (England), and asked him to procure and send him some seed at any cost. The editor got into touch with the grower, who forwarded seed to Mr Rhodes, and also a letter, which stated that the seed was the first sent to anyone in the world. From Mr Rhodes's garden have gone seeds and young plants to garden lovers all over New Zealand. The original amarlylidea (a lovely rosepink) is very rare, and Mr Rhodes after 20 years endeavour, has just received seed from a grower in Edinburgh. He has also another hybrid of this beautiful family, besides the bomarea, called " Nerkleri," a deep red, which is comparatively new, and not grown so far anywhere else in New Zealand.