LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 19032, 7 June 1924, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The erection of another four-storey block of flats is contemplated in New Plymouth. The building will comprise 32 flats, and w’ill be erected alongside an existing block of flats in St. Aubyn street.

The historic Maori war canoe which was recently hauled to the Museum, occupies a prominent position in front of the institution. It has been stripped of the sides that were built on to it in recent years, and is being properly housed and wired in.

The new X-ray tube invented in the famous electrical works of Eindhoven, whete over 4000 men are engaged in the manufacture of electrical instruments, has just been completed, and numbers ar© arriving in London from Holland. It is a wonderful tube, because it throws out a beam of X-rays in the manner of a little searchlight which can be directed On any given spot, so that no more fear of the dangerous burns produced by stray rays need be felt. The tube is so simple that it can be held in the hand, and the beam of rays can be so finely regulated that absolute uniformity of work is assured. It marks a step forward of enormous importance in the history of X-rays. Exchange.

It is understood that when the final corrections have been made, the Palmerston North memorial will bear the names of four hundred and twenty of those who made the great sacrifice.

"A few cases of facial exema have been noticed amongst sheep in the surrounding district of Wanganui, but they arc nothing to cause alarm,” remarked a stock inspector when in conversation with a "Chronicle”' representative yesterday.

On Saturday evening last a father and son were admitted to the Auckland Hospital suffering from injuries to the face, the former through being knocked down by a tramcar and the latter through falling off a tramcar.

The Native War Memorial Committee has let a contract to Messrs Walpole and Patterson Ltd. for the erection of the District Native Memorial in Moutoa Gardens. Ponding completion of financial arrangements, the pillar alone will bo erected. This work will occupy some months.

When removing debris from Foster’s Hotel site yesterday morning a small windfall was discovered, in the shape of several dozen pennies, a shilling, and a medal, besides a little harp. These, no doubt, are relics of the |fire which occurred about six years ago.

Police business, together with bylaw breaches, etc., this year shows a considerable increase on last year’s figure. Up till yesterday 585 cases had been dealt with by Magistrates and Justices at the local court this year, while the figure for the corresponding period of last year was 388.

"Farmers are now realising the value of having t’:O ullc uoni their cows tested in order to ascertain which animal in thoir herd is the most valuable, ” explained a Wangiinui gentleman who is ia tou.cn with farming pursuits in this district. Ho furtehr pointed out that herd testing, which enabled farmers to cull out .the “drones” from their herds, was on the increase in this district.

In the course of his presidential address before the Farmers’ Union conference at Dunedin, Mr E. H. Murney said that the wages paid to those employed in New Zealand in the textile industry amounted to about £1,300,000. He contended that if the people of New Zealand paid these workers their wages for doing nothing, they would be making a saving of £59,000 per annum by purchasing imported goods, providing the latter were admitted duty free.

Reference to the rapid passing of the veterans was made by Captain James Stlchbury i n a speech at the annual luncheon at the Auckland Town Hall on Tuesday last. During the past year,, he said, no fewer than 79 veterans of the Maori War had died in various parts of New Zealand. There were originally 7425 veterans drawing pensions; the number had now dwindled to 589, and ever more and more rapidly the ranks of the surviving veterans were being depicted.

Included in the latest list of com panies registered is the following:— Bituo Roads, Ltd. Registered May 27,. 1924. Office: Maria Place; Wanganui. Capital: £lO,OOO into 10,000 shares of £1 each. Subscribers: Wanganui—A. G. Bignell, R. Russell, G.' Marshall, J. M. Wells, G. Meuli, A. A. Gower, W. H. Clapham, S. F. Reynolds, F. J. Hill, A. Haworth. E. M, Silk, E. R. B. Hambley, 1 share each. Objects: To carry on the business of dealers and manufacturers of, and workers in gravel, sand, earth, clay, and general incidental.

‘‘They were certainly not Corriedales!” The speaker was Mr. H. T. Little, the winner of the short head at the sheep dogs trials championship meeting, which concluded yesterday. Mr. Little is a well known Corriedale breder, and his remark was with reference to the sheep classed as Corriedales used at the trials. The South Island breeder said that it took fifteen years of breeding, starting with a long wool ram and a merino ewe, to produce the proper type of Corriedale, and he added: "It takes five years’ crosses to get the true Corriedale.”

As the result of the sale of poppies on the day prior to Anzac Day, the Returned Soldiers’ Association collected £157 12s 2d —£149 4s from poppies, and £8 8s 2d from donations. The local expenditure in connection with the sales amounted to £2l 7s 6d, which leaves a balance of £136 4s Bd. Of this amount a certain proportion of district expenses have to be levied. The U.S.A. have approached the Borough Council in regard to th" disposal of the funds, and they have agreed to subsidise any amount available £ for £. At the last meeting of the R.S.A. committee it was decided to recommend to the council that the work to be provided for retulrned men be carried out at Lorenzdale Park, Gonville. The Association is now calling for applicants to work under the Poppy Day scheme.

The advent of Auckland’s first girl bus-conductor, although warmly approved by a considerable section of llio travelling public, has been greeted in very chilly manner by the civic authorities, the New Zealand Herald states. They have not only withheld an official benediction, but have refused to grant this young pioneer the necessary license to enable her to continue her self-chosen career. The matter camo before the City Council at its meeting in a brief report from the Finance and Legal Committee: "Miss . Applying

for a conductors’ license. Inspector of police reporting favourably thereon, but referring to the point that the request is by a female person. Recommend be declined.” And declined it was, without argument or discussion. The proprietor of the vehicle is not disposed to allow the matter to remain where it is. He nas received application for employment from seven other young ladies, several of whom held bus-conductors’ positions in London during the war.

Mr. W. A. Veitch M.P. will deliver a pre-sessional address to the electors at the Opera House on Monday evening.

Owing to the unusul growth of feed in the district this year farmers postponed the killing of their stock, but they arc now releasing them. Consequently the Wanganui freezing works, which should have been almost closed down by now. nre reported to be able to carry on for another two months.

“Just like those wild west pictures,” was how Miss Ray West, of Palmerston North, described her impression of Calgary and other western towns in the United Stales. She stated that the buck-jumping and tj pical wild west shows were held wit h unfailing regularity there, and she enthused upon it as being a refreshing change from the din of the. East ern cities.

David Aitken Lusk appeared at the Police Court yesterday morning be fore Mr. D. McFarlane, J.P., to answer a charge in respect to the theft, at Taihapo, on or about May 27, of 19s 6d in money, the property of G. F. Kelly. On the application of the police the acused was remanded to appear at Taihapo on Juno 10. Bail was allowed in Lusk’s own re cognisance of £5O, and one surety of £5O, or two of £25.

A curious side-light on the JapanAmerican situation is supplied by thNew York Herald-Tribune. On o single page of a recent Tokyo “Jiji,” the New York paper says, there were nine display advertisements, and all but two were American. One advertised a German electric ear, one a Japanese oil company, and each of the remaining seven proclaimed the merits of American automobiles, motor-cycles or tyres. In the streets also, as well as in the daily papers, the American style of advertisement has taken possession. Up and down the Ginza, the famous shopping-cen-tre of Tokyo, electric signs of al! sorts "threaten the supremacy of the Great White Way in New York.” The Japanese invasion of California may be a reality, or it may be Californian politics, but the all-American invasion of the cities of Japan extends even into the sky.

The farming community in New Zealand have been looking for some specific to destroy noxious weeds, and consequently the announcement of a Patea resident that he has discovered a liquid that kills blackberry, will come ns welcome news to many. The discovery of the weedkiller is the result of the Wanganui Provincial Executive of the Farmers’ Union forwarding a remit to the recent conference in Feilding, urging that the Government be asked to offer a reward for some specific that will eradicate noxious weeds. The Patea gentleman declared that the liquid he has prepared will kill anything it touches; and if the samples of the blackberry sprayed with it, and shown to a “Chroniclf” reporter, are any criterion, it ceftainly does everything that is claimed for it. The liquid is not poisonous to cattle, and is guaranteed to kill the tops of blackberry within eight hours of spraying. It is also possible to pull out the roots by hand a week after treatment. The local Farmers’ Union have written for samples of the liquid, and the matter will be considered’ by the executive on Wednesday next.