LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 19029, 3 June 1924, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Advertisers are reminded that the commercial office of the ‘‘Chronicle ” will be open between 9 and 10 o’clock this morning. Replace advertisements for Wednesday’s issue must be handed in not later than 10 o’clock.

At a meeting of the Wanganui Chamber of Commerce last evening the president, Mr W. Brown, said that the most important thing for the Chamber was to see that the various roads leading to Wanganui were completed. The Wanganui Chamber of Commerce have decided to send a circular letter to other chambers protesting against the high charge made by banks for an indemnity given to importers in cases where overseas steamers arrive with cargo before the documents. “Why should over a million people bo taxed for the benefit of 300 or 400 of the sugarworks employees at Auckland?” asked Mr A. Harris at a meeting of the Wanganui Chamber of Commerce last evening, when protective duty on sugar was briefly mentioned in connection with trade with the East.

The absence of telephonic communication in some of the Wanganui back country was commented upon at a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce last evening by the president, Mr W. Brown, who gave an instance where a settler had to travel seven miles to reach the nearest telephone. Mr A. Robinson said that county councils had the necessary powers to erect telephones.

In the presence of 50.000, Earl Haig unveiled the Cenotaph in George Square, Glasgow.

The London Sunday Tinies says that the King’s Birthday list of honours to-day will contain no peerages.

A report on one of the local hotels presented to the Wanganui Licensing Committee yesterday, commented upon the fact that it was an old building. The chairman, Mr. Barton, remarked that there would always be ranks and grades in licensing premises and patrons found tl:«>ir own groove; therefore the hotel in question filled a need.

A meeting of the Wanganui Licensing Committee was held yesterday. The business was formal. In the case of a couple of hotels slight structural alterations were asked for, and an assurance was given that the matters would receive attention. Police and health reports were favourable and the licenses existing, wholesale ‘and/ retail, were renewed.

During the hearing of a case at the Court yesterday when a mother was charged with failing to send her child to school, the magistrate, Mr J. S. Barton, remarked that if free cars and breakfast were provided for school children some would probably complain that the porridge was not to their taste. The truant officer said that children were already provided with free cocoa and biscuits. He added: “I wish I could go to school now.”

During the month of May 65 births and 22 deaths were registered in Wanganui, as against 46 births and 25 deaths for the same period last year. The number of marriage licenses issued for last month was 25, and for the corresponding month last year 13. The marriages at the Registrar’s office last month totalled six, and for the same month last year five.

Customs returns for'May 1924 show an increase as compared with those for the same month last year. The amount collected for May was £ll,997 12s Id, being a decided increase over those for May 1923, when the duties collected amounted to £9598 5s 9d. The beer duties last month totalled £503 13s 4d, a decrease on those for May 1923, when £6OB 14s Id was collected.

An extraordinary claim—that light signals could be turned into soumis—was made before the Academy of Science by General Ferrie and a number if wireless experts. “Listening to the stars singing,” is what one of the audience called it. Selenium cells, as used in “television” experimnts, were exposed to the light of the star Capella. The resulting current was amplified by means of valves into four electrodes, and further by means of a charged condenser. Oscillations were turned into sounds, and optic signals were picked up in the telephone receiver.

With the possible exception of the rabbit pest it is probably safe to say that the question that gives the average farmer the greatest amount of anxiety is that of the eradication of noxious weeds, which seem to thrive under all sorts of conditions. One phase of this matter will be discussed at the annual conference of the Otago branch of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, which will deal with a remit from Palmerston urging that the Government be requested to set aside a sum with a view to experimenting on the best and most effective means of eradicating gorse.

The conviction that there is money in trees is spreading considerably amongst Taranaki farmers. On one farm not many miles from New Plymouth the owner has been looking ahead, and with the assurance of £1 a tree when they are 25 years old he has used all the available rough ground on his property for plantation purposes. During the last eight years he has planted no less than 100,00 Q pinus insignus trees, 20,000 gums ahd 3000 macrocarpas. A certain number have, of course, died, but as the farmer said it seemed a sound enough legacy for his children.

A Swiss couple who have been engaged to be married for 42 years, during which time they have exchanged 2600 love letters and sent each other a photograph every year, have now been wedded in a hamlet near Aarau, Geneva. Gundner, a farmer’s son, became engaged at the age of 21 to a pretty local girl, but he stipulated that he should not marry her till he became a millionaire in francs. The girl promised to wait faithfully for him. Her sweetheart emigrated to California, and at last built up the fortune he desired—£4o.000. After selling, out his farm Ke took the first boat home and joined his sw r eatheart. They fiavo arranged to leave the money to charities, as they have no relatives.

*1 had the misfortune after breeding eighteen pheasants and liberating them to see hawks take three of them within half an hour,” remarked Mr. Nicholl, of Wairarapa, to the Acclimatisation Society recently. He ssiid the pheasants were bred in open and got used to the hawks. When they were liberated they did not seem to realise that they no longer had the protection of the pens. The same speaker mentioned a most unfair and unsportsmanlike method of taking quail that had come under his notice. The persons concerned had used a thistle seed threaded with horsehair, which was nipped off about an eighth of an inch from the seed. This stuck in the quails’ necks. For the few that were taken many were killed and were never found.

An instance of juvenile depravity occurred in a shop in Carroll Street, Dunedin, recently, where a small boy approached the proprietor with a sad story of losing half a crown in front of the shop. The boy, who appeared to be very distressed, said that he had been sent by his mother, who was ill, to procure medicine at a chemist’s The boy offered to give his name and address and that of his school as a guarantee of good faith, but apparently the shopkeeper trusted him and loaned him half a crown. The following morning the boy told the same story to a St. Andrew’s Street shopkeeper, but on that occasion, ho pleaded that he had lost the money with which he had been sent to purchase groceries (states the Otago Daily Times). The second shopkeeper, however, had been told of the incident, and on saying, “You are the boy the police are looking for?” the lad bolted out of the shop and made good his escape.

To-day is the King’s Birthday, and will be observed as a general holiday.

An equestrian statue of Lord Roberts was unveiled by the Duke of Connaught at the Horse Guards Parade, (London) in the presence of a large and distinguished assemblage

To be able to gather ripe plums in .Tune is rare, and a tribute to the productivity of Wanganui soil. Yesterday a Gonville resident picked ciglit ripe plums from a tree, the fruit being a second crop.

In connection with the Wanganui Agricultural Association’s stock drive, the local auctioneering firms, Messrs Williams and Harper, B. Bennett, and Sharpe, North and Co., have agreed to sell produce or poultry donated, free of charge.

The pukeko is protected, and to emphasise that fact the Acclimatisation Society proceeded against J. Hiroti at the Magistrate’s Court yesterday for shooting one of those birds at Kaitoke. The defendant, who said that he mistook the pukeko for a duck in bad light, was fined 2/6 and r osts. For disturbing the congregation during worship at the Central Hall, Guyton Stret, three men—Owen Ruscoe, James Wright and William Hogan—appeared at the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. The police stated that the congregation had been annoyed by having the lights turned out. Hogan and Wright were each fined £1 and costs, and Ruscoe £2 and costs.

At a sitting of the Wanganui Licensing Committee yesterday, the chairman, Mr. Barton, 8.M., remarked that out of six members of the bench, five had been returned unopposed for 21 years, which, he said, showed the confidence oT the electors who returned them. One of the solicitors present, Mr. Bain, humorously suggested that there should be something in the way of a celebration.

During a discussion on farm economics at a meeting of the Taranaki Agricultural Society the opinion was expressed that a greater knowledge of the analysis of artificial manures was needed among farmers. Hundreds of pounds were expended yearly on the application of artificial manures which were practically thrown away because they did not contain the ingredients necessary for the manufacture of plant food for the crops to which the manures were applied.

The case of a woman who had failed to send her child to school presented some difficulties at the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. As the defendant had no means, and was in receipt of the widows’ pension, the Magistrate said it was no use imposing a fine. It was extremely doubtful if it could be recovered, and, if it could be, it would only be taking it out of a compassionate pension that the State provided. Still, the child had to have its chance in life, even if the mother did not seem to realise it. If the child was found about the streets, and not at school, there was power under the Industrial Schools Act to take steps. The State was keeping the child now, and, if necessary, would also educate it.