LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 18967, 19 March 1924, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Woolbuyers arrived in Wanganui yesterday, and have commenced the process of valuing the wool to be offered at the sale in the Opera House this evening.

The deer shooting season opens on April 1. Licenses, entitling the holder to two bucks not less than 12 points, and three does, are obtainable from the Chief Postmaster, Wanganui. Only 30 licenses will be issued. The Postmaster-Genetal has prohibited correspondence or money-order business with W. R. Mayer and W. R. Russell ,of Hobart, having reason to believe they are conducting a lottery or'keheme of chance.

It is estimated that 490,000 bales of wool have been sold this season. The grand total for the Dominion will die over the half million mark when the remaining sales are completed at Wanganui, Auckland and Christchurch.

The plaintiff in a civil action heard by Mr. E. C. Cutten, S.M-, at Auckland,- was vehemently indicating his devotion to th e interests of his business, when counsel for defendant pointed out that plaintiff had taken a three-months holiday trip to Australia (says the Herald). Plaintiff explained that the trip was taken under the doctors orders. “But. did you get married during your sojpurn?” asked counsel for defendant ‘‘Yes,’’ replied plaintiff, “I thought I might as well combine that with my trip.”

By the accidental dropping of a line the signature, “C. H. Burnett,” was omitted from a letter relative to borough affairs published in yesterday’s issue.

A posting box has been erected on Somme Parade near Spier Street for convenience of residents in area of the town. It will be cleared at 11.30 a-m., 2 p.m., and 11 p.m.

Kate Douglas Wiggin (who was Mrs. Biggs by marriage) left a fortune of £lOO,OOO made from her books "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.” and "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cab. bage Patch.”

“You have got to do something for the future, although the future has not donfc anything for us.”—Mr. W- Gibbs, chairman of the Patea County Council, at a meeting of the District Highways Council yesterday.

In the article on Ruapehu in our issue of March 17, last column, line 10, “1894” should be “1895,” and elsewHcre “impediment” and “impediments” should read “impedimenta,” which is what Julius Caesar called his luggage, and our soldiers call their kits.

The Mayor of Wellington, Mr. R. A. Wright, in connection with the vacancy by the death of the City Engineer, Mr. W. H. Morton, has given notice of a motion to call for applications in Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand for the position at a salary of £l2OO, rising to a maximum of £l5OlO.

Roland Blair who was sentenced at Auckland on Friday to seven days’ imprisonment for making small bets at tote odds, was released from gaol yesterday morning, and set free on receipt of instructions from the Governor-General. Nothing has been heard as to the result of the request for Blair’s reinstatement in his position at the telegraph office.

The question of heavy traffic on roads was discussed at a meeting of the Highways Council yesterday, and it was decided that a committee of officers of the various county councils concerned should be set up to deal with the subject, draft by-laws to deal with heavy traffic, and submit suitable roads for which they should apply. It was decided that Mr. G. H. Derbyshire, clerk of tho Wanganui County Council, should act as convenor of the committee.

While he was in England, the Prime Minister contributed an article on New Zealand and its affairs to the November issue of the Ninetenth Century and After. In the course of a letter, which has been received locally, Mr. George A. B. Dewar editor of the Nineteenth Century, says: “I take this opportunity of thanking Mr. Massey anew for the article which he contributed to the November number. It was invaluable, not only to the Nineteenth Century, but to the cause which he advocates. If he considers that the -Nineteenth Century can do anything in the future to help New Zealand. I hope he will let me know.”

It seldom falls to the lot of a County Council to receive such a generous offer as one made to the Southland County by a Dunedin resident, Mr. J. Rhodes, who owns a certain amount of property at Otatara. In a letter which the council received at its meeting recently, Mr. Rhodes stated that he wa s endeavouring to get a contract let for £530 to nyctal the balance of the Oreti road from Dunn’s road to the river. He whs prepared to find £3BO towards the cost of the work on condition that the council voted the’ sum of £75 and obtained a Government subsidy of £75. During tjie last eight years he had paid about £7OO in rates, while nothing had been spent by tho council on the road fronting his properties. The offer was referred to the member of the riding and engineer for favourable consideration.

Rev. S. J, Hoban, the well-known minister of the Central Methodist Mission, Melbourne, and formerly superintendent of the Lyceum Mission in Sydney, has lately received scZeral tempting offers to leave his work in Melbourne and undertake other duties. The latest offer (says a Melbourne paper) is a pressing one, from Sydney, of £3OOO a year and travelling expenses, if he 'Will undertake some special work for a firm of very high standing, and a good deal of pressure has bebn brought to bear upon him to accept this offer. Mr. Hoban, however, says the official organ of his church in Melbourne, "believe s in putting first things first, and, while thanking the firm for its offer, has respectfully but firmly declined it. His work, he believes, lies at the Central Mission, where he has big projects in hand, and where God is very graciously blessing his ministry” Last year Mr. Hoban visited England and America, and while in tho latter country h e was pressed to, accept an important ministerial position at a salary of £2060 a year. This he declined for the same reasons?

Among laymen there has always been considerable doubt in the locality where eels are bred (says the Otago Times) airtl the paragraph appeariug in recent issues relating to eels having been discovered in a pond fed from an artesian bore makes confusion worse confounded. Another incident ’concerning cels is probably ■worth recording. At the Cromwell Development Company’s head works, in the Kawarau Gorge, owing to damage done to,the race, the water was turned off tbs pumps and permitted to flow down a bywash for some weeks. Recently the pumps were again started with the' result that the bywash carried no water, and an examination of the loose rocks and metal over which the water had flowed revealed hundreds, probably thousands, of eels, ranging in length from four to ten inches Closer ex amination showed that when some of th e loose rocks were lifted there were hundreds more than first met the eye. Knowing that the eel appears to thrive best in a sluggish stream, it seems quite a puzzle to understand how these fish came to select this particular part of a fast flowing stream like the Kawarau in which to live, especially as the water at this spot is almost a white seething foam. ’

When by-laws wero under discussion at a meeting of the District Highways Council yesterday Mr. WGibbs, chairman of the Batea County* Council, -expressed tb e opinion that the only thing worth having was a Magistrate’s decision.

At the Magistrate’s Court yesterday, Michael Lynch was charged with obtaining £2 15s from Rev. Father Mahoney by false pretences. The accused went to Father Mahoney and told him that his mother was dying, and thus received the money. It was stated that accused had hitherto been of good character, and Mr. Hussey, on his behalf, asked for probation. Accused was admitted to probation for two years, a condition being that he should take out a prohibition order.

The hearing of the dispute between the Australasian institute oi Marina Engineers and the Ijnion Steam Ship Company concluded before the Conciliation Commissioner to-day. An agreement was reached regarding ship-keeping and vessels out of. commission in terms of the company’s proposals which were agreed to in lieu of Sundays an.i holidays, the chief, engineer to he paid £4 per month, second £3 per month, and below second £2 per month. The matter of wages was referred to the Arbitration Court.

“If the railways are to be superseded by motor traffic we cannot stop it” said Mr. T. M. Ball the chair, man, at a meeting of th e District Highways Council yesterday. “Possibly the railways have already paid for themselves by the country they have opened up. The Waimarino district was not possible until the railway went through it, and the valuations are now possibly increased three or four times what it cost. The building of the railway was responsible for increasing the valuations to that extent.

The danger of eating fruit without taking the necesary precaution to peel it has been further illustrated (says the Napier Telegraph). A young Hastings lad took unto himself an apple which he demolished with -boy ish promptitude. The said apple, however, had, at one time, had a lib eral coating of some spraying material, and the unfortunate boy’s stomach was unequal to the task of digesting the poison, with the result that he was confined to his bed for some time. It is only too often that such a small oversight leads to serious consequences.

Powerful electric headlights have been installed on five engines running on the Main Trunk railway and have proved a decided success. More engines will be equipped as material arrives. The lights arc of 250 candlepower and can be dimmed considcr-

•ly when the engine is entering a station- Power is obtained from a generator on the engine, worked by la steam turbine. As indicating the strength of the light it is stated that experiments have proved that a newspaper can be read without the assistance of any other light at a distance of 175 yards from the globe.

It is authoritatively estimated that the reconstruction work proceeding in Sydney at the moment (writes the correspondent of the Otago Times) represents something like £40,000,000 It must be all that and more. The regulation height for buildings is 150 feet, and not a few of the new structures are reaching up to the maximum. Day and night workmen are delving into the earth for the new underground railway, and the explosions suggest something of the sinister aspects of a battle. On the northern side of the harbour, where the railway will link up with the bridge, t#e incessant blasting is so shaking the nerves of some of the neighbouring flat-dwellers that they are seeking fresh quarters. Windows rattle, residents olast the blasters, but the work goes on. Old Sydney is passing. A new and more modern city is towering into the sky and spreading, itself out everywhere. Even the massiveness of the proposed harbour bridge is not properly appreciated. It is that Union House, one of the city’s skyscrapers, would go comfortably under the roadway of the bridge, if they were alongside. It will be a new and strange Sydney in another decade. One of the most imposing buildings going up is that for the Sydney Morning Herald on the site of the old building. Graced by a tower, which in turn will be surmounted by a cupola, it will be a magnificent structure, but will not be completed until 1928.

An exciting trip was made last week by a party, which included Mr. G. W. Corbridge, of Palmerston North, through the flood area between Wairoa and Napier. On Tuesday last a party left Wairoa by car for Napier, the storm then raging fiercely. They reached Waikare late in the afternon and, though warned of slips on the road, proceeded on their unenviable journey, keenly desirous of reaching Napier. The road to Matahori Gorge was, however, impassable and they had to return to Waikare. On Thursday morning at 6 o’clock the party, carrying a little food and some mail, set out on foot for Napier, journey by car being impossible, and, as they proceeded, evidence of the severity of the storm was seen on every hand. In the Matahori Gorge there was only five feet of road left and to widen this the cliff, it was stated, would have to bo blasted. Gaping ruts and holes, large enough to hold a motor car, were everywhere. Several bridges had gone,' and the party had to cross on the girders in several instances. At Tutira station, they came upon three horses that had attempted to get a load of fire-wood through the slips and had become so imbedded that they would have to be dug out. The troubles of the party increased, | for in the Waikoau Valley more strenluous work was required in negotiatI ing the huge slips that blocked the [road. Refreshed later with tea and scones from a wayside house, they climbed out of the valley, 1500 feet, to a spot known as the “Devil’s Elbow” and down the White ■’Pine Bush road, eventually reaching Tangoio. In this place the countryside had been greatly devastated and houses wrecked. The party had now gone 27 miles and at 4 p.m. left Tangoio for Napier, their track for miles lying in deep mud. Two horses, however, had to bo requisitioned to carry two of the party and a strenuous and dangerous trip practically finished at Petane at 7 o’clock, Napier being reached later, assistance having been sent, for from the latter place.—Standard.