LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19364, 22 July 1925, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Seaplanes will proceed 200 miles to sea from Sydney, to welcome the American Fleet which is due to enter the heads at 10.15 to-morrow morning.

An explosion rent in twain the Polish torpedo boat Zaskub anchored in Dantzig harbour. Three of the crew were killed, and almost the whole of the survivors wore injured.

Mr. Joseph Rank, of Hull, has do nated £lOO.OOO to the Wesleyan confer ence to prevent the necessity of reducing allowances from the worn-out ministers’ fund.

The late Mr Isaac Hopkins, of Auckland. late Apiarian to the Department of Agriculture, bequeathed ’an amount estimated at about £3OOO to the Cawthron Institute, Nelson, for the purposes of bee culture and research.

A sign of the times —the number bf “swaggers” on the road at the. present. time. A local resident remarked yesterday that he saw half a dozen mon “humping their blueys” between Wangaehu and Wanganui on Monday last.

Lambs have already made an appearance in the Fordell district. Quite a number have been observed within the last day or so. Reports to hand from outlying districts indicate that within a week the season should be fairly general.

A meeting will be held in Feilding on Friday or Monday next for the purpose of forming a branch of the Automobile Association. Representatives of the Wanganui association will be present to encourage the formation of the new branch.

The City Council have authorised the Deputy Mayor, Mr C. W. Poynter, and |the tramwtay engineer, Mr A. E. Cheal, [to proceed to Auckland to make enquiries regarding the running of motor buses there, with the view to the purchase of buses to run in conjunction with tho trams in Wanganui.

A message from Swampscott (Massachusetts) states that Senator Hate, chairman of the Senate Naval Committee, informed President Coolidge today that he believed immediate steps should be taken to establish a strong naval base on the Pacific Coast and to strengthen the Pearl Harbour (Hawaii) defences.

It is understood that during the Power Boards’ conference, to be held in Wellington on August 5, a conference of executive officers of the various boards throughout New Zealand will also be held for the purpose of establishing an association for the exchanging of ideas in connection with matters electrical, in order that the experience of each board may be made available to the other.

In Auckland the Post and Telegraph Department has arranged for information regard the times of closing and arrival of overseas mails, the times of arrival and departure of overseas mail steamers, names of vessels within wireless range, data in regard to the more important train times, and weather reports to be supplied to telephone users on calling up “Information,” No. 394. Hawera proposes to establish an information and publicity bureau for the benefit of tourists to the town.

At the Magistrate’s Court yesterday morning, Mr J. S» Barton, S.M., entered judgment by default for the plaintiffs in the following undefended cases:— |Takarangi and others v. David P. Cullinane, claim £45 15s, costs £4 17s 6d; G. S. Mowat and Co., v. P. J. Cox, I£4 9s fid, costs £1 5s fid; Marks and Bott Ltd., v. Len Barnes, £3 10s, costs i£2 15s; Hodsons Ltd., v. Dick Hena, £6, costs £2 5s Cd; Dean and Co v. Peter Clark, £5 6s fid, costs £1 19s 6d; and W. M. Luxford and Co., v. David V. Leith, £7 3s 10d, costs £l'l3s fid.

“Black cats for luck,” they say, but none of the crew of the steamer Wtiinui was particularly disturbed when the. ship’s cat could not be enticed aboard. She had her reasons, for shortly afterwards the Wainui collided with and sank the fishing launch, Iris Eileen. When the. Wainui returned to the wharf the cat walked aboard calmly, and proceeding to the wheelI house, sat down on the open log-book lat the page where the Account of the collision had just been entered.

In the excellent enlarged issue of “Everylady’s Journal” for July is >a fine article by Mrs Carlyle Smythe, describing the women of Italy. It is a land where women cannot divorce their husbands, and are refused a vote. Mrs Smythe explains why, land describes the life of the Italian women in a charming way. It is doubtful if any foreign journal reaches Australia equal to “Everylady’s Journtal” in appeal to the women of Australia and New Zealand. The issue for July is a fine one, [ including 96 large pages, ranging over fashions, designs, and notes, to short stories.

Mr A. L. Waters has accepted the position of chief wiring inspector with the Wanganui-Rangitikei Electric Power Board, and will take up his duties in this district immediately. Mr Waters has had five years’ service in a similar capacity with the Thames Valley Beard, and has had considerable experience in installing motors for milking plants. Over 1,200 of these motors have recently been installed in the Thames district. Mr Waters is also qualified in respect of electric water heating appliances, and his experience in this and other directions is calculated to be of particular benefit to the farming community.

That the unemployed in Wanganui are facing adversity with a “stiff upper lip” is demonstrated by the fact that the Swankers* Club’s funds are not being strained at the present time. The Club recently alleviated distress in five homes, but during the past few weeks although unemployment in the city has increased considerably—no applications for assistance have been received by the secretary (Mr P. Swan). However, the club is urgently in need of a healthy reserve fund to meet emergencies, and with the object of augmenting its present account, a committee of ladies will make an appeal to a generally responsive community next Friday, per medium of collection boxes. It is hoped that their splendid efforts and the worthy cause will be accorded the usual support by citizens.

Forty-five applications have been received hy the Wanganui-Rangitikei Electric Power Board for the position of assistant-engineer, but as yet no decision has been arrived at.

A local merchant stated to a reporter yesterday that potatoes have taken another sharp rise in price, this being the third rise recorded within the last three weeks. As a result supplies are difficult to obtain from southern merchants.

Housewife: “We are having a few friends in for a musical evening tonight, Bridget, and I’d like you to do your best.” Her cook: “Sure, mum, I ain’t sung for years, but you can put me down for ‘lt Ain’t Gonna Rain No More.’ ”

A rorqual (red) whale, between 40 and 50 feet in length, is stranded near the mouth of the Taniaki River, Auckland. The body is scarred, possibly as the results of attacks by swordfish or sharks. It hlas been claimed by two men, Morgan and Bennett.

Eight hundred entries have been received for the Wanganui Competitions, which will bo held during next month. These entries do not come up to last year’s standard, this probably being due to the fact that tho Wellington Festival will be conducted simultaneously with the local Competitions.

“Is this la good photo of you?” Mr. Wyvern Wilson, S.M., asked a young woman in the Christchurch Magistrate’s Court when perusing a photograph of her and her husband. “No,” wb.s the definite reply. “Is it a one of your husband?” asked his Worship. “Yes, it is a good one of him.” “It is a peculiar thing thar one never considers a photograph of oneself a good one,” his Worship remarked. The woman, who wias 22 years of age, sought to have a separation order made against her husband, who was taged 24 years.

In regard to the Wanganui-Rangiti-kei Electric Power Board’s proposal to workmen engaged on the transmission lines to carry out constniction on a cooperative basis, negotiations were advanced on Monday, when the committee set up to go into the question considered the adoption of tho schedule of averages it is proposed to pay for actual results. It is expected that a satisfactory compromise will be reached shortly, and in this way the board will be enabled to push on with its work more extensively to cope with tho demand for electric current in some of the country districts.

The eclipse of the sun yesterday was seen under favourable conditions and created much interest, especially among the rising generation. The obscuring of the sun was not complete, the eclipse being an annular one. According to time, table, the moon began to obtrude itself across the face of the sun nearly an hour before the solar orb showed above the horizon and so the daybreak was a very dull one. The middle of the eclipse, when the greater portion of the sun was hidden, was at 8.12 and the eclipse ended at 9.43. Various kinds of smoked glasses and old photographic plates were brought into requisition yesterday by those who were keen to see all there was to be seen.

Those who are contemplating visiting the South Seas Exhibition, and have experienced the difficulties of securing accommodation when visiting cities during race weeks, or during some other equally important fixture, will be gratified to learn that the Dunedin people are effectively guarding against the risk of having their visitors “parading the streets by compulsion,” “sleeping out with the stars as their roof,” or going to another town for the night. A resident of the South Island stated yesterday that a special accommodation committee had been appointed by the Exhibition authorities. During the course of the Exhibition the hotels would make special provision for the influx of visitors, and comfortable board and lodging would be provided by the hospitable Dunedin residents. Intending visitors would be assured of good accommodation by getting in touch with the committee prior to making the journey south.

“I think it a scandal that a State employee should dribble along like this, unable to pay his rent and grocer.” remarked Mr. J. 8. Barton, S.M., when a judgment debtor, a railway employee, explained his circumstances at yesterday’s sitting of the Court. The debtor pointed out that he had to maintain a wife and family on his regular wage. He owed £6 to his grocer and was in arrears in respect to the rent of a tenement. He also owed a considerable amount for repairs to a motor-cycle, which had been seized by his creditor. The Magistrate supplemented his criticism by stating that by reason of the nature of the debt he would not record judgment, but if tho debtor again appeared in Court for further “drifting” he (the Magistrate) ■would overcome his scruples in the matter. It was not fair, he observed, that a State employee should get behind in his payments to the men who put a roof over his head and food into the mouths of his family.

The adjourned inquest concerning the j death of Mr. Harold Harvey, which occurred recently on the Maxwelltown < Road as the result of a motor accident. I was concluded before Mr. J. S. Barton. S.M., City Coroner, yesterday. Additional evidence was given by Mr. Percy William Peters, manager of the firm of McGruer’s Ltd., who stated that at 6.45 p.m. on July 6. when proceeding to Wanganui, he noticed a motor car capsized on the Maxwelltown Road. Mr. Hugh Swainson (who gave evidence in the early stages of the inquiry), was standing on the road, and signalled witness to pull up. Mr. Swainson appeared to be dazed and shaken, and informed witness that there was a man under the car. The man proved to be Harold Haprey, the deceased. Witness endeavoured to release him, but the jack utilised in this process was not sufficiently powerful. The front seat of the upturned car was resting across the deceased. It took six men to lift the car, and so release Harvey, who, when removed, appeared to be dead, there being no indication of heart or pulse beat. Witness gave it as his opinion that, the car had swerved for a distance of 100 yards, thus indicating that the machine had got out of control. At the conclusion of this evidence, the Coroner returned a verdict that the deceased was accidentally killed near MaxwellItown on July 6 by the capsizing of the car he was driving.