LOCAL AND GENERAL

Waipa Post, Volume 45, Issue 3214, 9 August 1932, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Chamber of Commerce meets this evening.

For casting offensive matter in Roche Street on the evening of 23rd July, a Taumarunui i*esident, Kenneth Kelland, was fined 10s and costs at the local S.M. Court on Monday.

Two men, Norman McMillan and Alphonsus McManemin, both arrested in the street on Saturday last, were charged before Mr F. H. Levien, S.M., at Te Awamutu Court on Monday morning with drunkenness. Each man was convicted and fined 10s.

“ In my observation I have not yet found a farmer who will admit that it was other than the firs; trip when he .is caught contravemng the traffic regulations. It seems strange, but that is so.”—Mr Levien, S.M., in the local Court on Monday, when dealing with a breach of the motor lorry regulations,

A very entertaining concert programme is to be presented at the Parish Hall this evening under the auspices of St. John’s Girls’ Club, and special interest attaches ‘to the nautical flavour of the entertainment, for there are hornpipes, jigs, etc., besides a humorous playette, Previous concerts under the same aegis have been very entertaining, so the promoters have reason to expect a full hall this evening.

A judgment debtor told the Court on Monday that he had lost his regular employment four months ago, and had been running about the country practically ever since lookmg for work. He had not sought to get employment under the Unemployment Relief Act provisions, as his four children were being looked after by relatives, and work under the relief scheme would not have provided sufficient money to enable him to make any reduct ; on of his liability.

The official re-count in the election for a representative on the Auckffind Harbour Board in the interests of the combined counties of Waipa Waikato, and Raglan, the Huntly borough, and the Leamington town district was completed on Saturday. The final figures are: A. S. Sutherland (Ngaruawahia) 1150, Alex. Livingstone (Whatawhata) 885, F. J. Farrell (Hamilton) 81; informal, 12; majority for Sutherland, 265.

“We are very fortunate, particularly these days.” This remark at the Te Awamutu Borough Council meeting on Monday night after the Council had been in session for over two hours occasioned some surprise. It transpired that a councillor had just coughed and it was the first cough heard all night. “Yes!”—added the observant councillor —“I maintain we are most fortunate as it is exceptional to find a dozen men assembled for hours at a stretch without one or ‘barking’ at intervals at these times when coughs are the rule rather than the exception.” Albert Mclntosh, of Pukeatua, pleaded guilty at .the local Magistrate’s Court on Monday to charges of operating a motor vehic e, a moior cycle, in Te Awamutu withouc having a license and w'thout the cycle bearing registration plates. The police said Mclntosh had had the vehicle about \four months, and defendant had stated 'he was coming to Te Awamutu to get number plates, having applied for them, earlier. He was also intending to go to the registration office to get his license. The number plates had not> arrived. The cycle was not in running order earlier. His said there might have been serious trouble had a collision occurred on the road. A fine of SI and costs 10s in each case was imposed.

The proceeds of the concert at the Parish Hall this evening are, we understand, to be devoted to the provision of heating apparatus in the Hall. Judging by the experience of patrons in the same building last evening, the heating will be very welcome. The Te Awamutu Borough Council was in session for exactly three and ahalf hours on Monday night, the meeting terminating at 11 p.m. As one (councillor remarked as he left the building, there were more cold feet than hot heads—and this despite somewhat animated discussions anent the traffic regulations and library proposals.

Boy Scouts and the junior organisation known as the Cubs are to be honoured with a v sit to-morrow evening by Major Sandford, Dominion Commissioner of Training, and other Dominion executive officers. The assembly is to be held at the OddfeLows’ Hall, and all interested are invited to attend.

The C.J.C. Grand National meeting opened to-day at Riccarton in fine weather. The attendance is large, and the course is in fairly good order. The Trial Stakes was won by (2) Dainty Ways, with (3) Morena second, and (1) Jayson third. Full Measure and Rameses were scratched.

That the roads in the Arohena district are not first-class was very evident last Saturday, when the Arohena footbal team due to play in Te Awamuu, did not arrive. Inquiry showed that two or three players managed to get through, but the remainder, travelling by motor truck, got bogged several times, and despite the help of settlers and others they could not get their vehicle out of the mire until long after the time set for the team to commence play about twenty miles away. It is to be hoped that the relief gangs employed in the district will be able to efrect improvement to the roads, or their comperes engaged on farm improvement in the district will be hard put to it to obtain foodstuffs, etc. Of course, there is better weather coming, and that should improve the roads.

On Monday a local resident showed us a strange fish, and asked a wellknown disciple of Izaak Walton to “ give it a name.” It was classified by him as a catfish, a species that frequents marshy streams that have a sluggish flow. The fish has a most repulsive head, with several protuberances like inflated whiskers, in length each about an inch, flexible and awesome. The length of the fish is about twelve inches, and the head is very much larger in proportion to its body. A further chat with the man who knew the species produced the information that the catfish is at times caught in the Mangapiko and Mangahoe streams and that they are plentiful in Lake Ngaroto. The Maoris consider them edible, but white folk are so repulsed on viewing the head that they seldom can muster courage to partake of the fish as food.