LOCAL & GENERAL.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 25 January 1932, Page 4

LOCAL & GENERAL.

Commencing in the ‘ ‘ Daily Times to-day is the first instalment of a thrilling story by Charles D. Leslie, a w ellknown novelist, entitled, “The Orange Taxi. ’ ’

■lntending contractors are notified that the closing date of tenders for the contract of 100 yards of limestone at Weraiti, called by the Masterton County Council, lias been extended to Wednesday, noon, January 27tli. Although the Murchison earthquake did much irreparable damage, it seems that some good, at least, will come of it. According to Mr J. F. Burke, of Arch Hill, Auckland, one man whose farm was overthrown in the upheaval, has stayed by the ruins of his home, and he is washing a payable quantity of gold from a small stream that runs through his property.

A number of cases are reported of illeffects said to have followed upon the drinking of home-made beer brewed in kerosene tins, states a Press Association message from Auckland. The internal disorders experienced have so far occasioned little alarm in the medical profession, but the painful effects attributed to the method of brewing have given no little domestic concern in the families which have been the victims. Doctors state that the brewing process may readily involve oxidisation when kerosene tins are employed, the principal weakness lying in the solder, which is liable to be chemically acted upon by the mixture in course of fermentation. In some cases several members of a family as well as their guests have been confined to bed suffering from abdominal pains.

There has been no slackening in England of the fight against cancer, according to Sir Louis Barnett, of Dunedin, who returned by the Remuera last evening from a year spent in the Old Country and on the Continent. Everywhere, lie said to a they were realising .that-sudden dramatic developments in the Avay of a cure were not to bo expected. The method of progress was by steady and organised investiga- ! tion of the very numerous problems associated with the disease, the complexity of which transcended conditions in any other known disease. “In England/ ’ Sir Louis said, “the organisation is satisfactory, and they are making good progress both in the matter of research and in improved methods of treating cancer. There is a particularly promising line of research developing at the London Hospital, headed by a Dr. Lumsdcn. This is in connection with the serum treatment of cancer.

The Ulimaroa, from Wellington, arrived at Sydney this morning at seven o ’clock.

There was quite a busy day at the Eketalnina motor camp yesterday where several tents are pitched.

The green nature of the pastures in the Kaiparoro and Eketaliuna districts in contrast with those around Masterton, was commented on by visitors yesterday. On Saturday afternoon there was a shower of rain at Kaiparoro.

Wellington had its first glider crash yesterday afternoon, when the gliding club’s machine was damaged at nongutai airport. The pilot escaped injury, hut the machine broke a wing, and tne fuselage was fractured. Roderick McLaren Malcolm, aged 19 years, was'kilied under unusual circumstances at Te Rapa (4 miles fioin Hamilton) yesterday. With some companions he was practising steer riding for e forthcoming gymkhana, when an animal threw him. As he was falling the animal struck him under the chin with its horns, fracturing his neck. The Prince of Wales on Whit-Monday will unveil a memorial to the missing at Somme. The French President, M. Donmcr, will attend the ceremony, states a British Official Wireless message. An imposing arch, 140 feet in height, and 130 feet in breadth, has been erected on a ridge overlooking the Somme River. It will be inscribed with the total number of British and French lives sacrificed during the war and the names of 73,077 men of the British Empire who fell on the Somme.

Shortly before midnight on Friday the large wooden grandstand on the Ashhurst racecourse, capable of seating 1000 people, was destroyed by tire. The tire was noticed at 11.45 by two young men who were motoring to Pahiatua. The two men armed themselves with tree boughs and smotheicd the flames spreading from the stand to other adjacent wooden buildings, including the stewards’ stand and the totalisator house. Fortunately there was no wind blowing at the time and these buildings were not harmed. The cause of the outbreak is unknown, but it is considered that it originated from a carelessly thrown cigarette butt during the meeting. It is 79 years since the former colony of New Zealand obtained representative institutions. It was on January 17th, 1553, that the Governor, Sir George Grey, proclaimed the Constitution Act, passed by the Imperial Parliament the previous year. The Act provided for a General Assembly for the entire colony, consisting of a. Legislative Council and a House of Representatives. It also abolished the provinces of New Ulster and New Munster, which had been set up under the charter in 1847, and replaced them by the six provinces of Auckland, Taranaki, Wellington, Nelson, Canterbury and Otago. The Councils were elective, and each of them was presided over by a superintendent. These Councils, which had restricted legislative powers, lasted until when they were abolished by an Act of the General Assembly. The first General Assembly summoned under the Act met in Auckland on May : 24th, 1554. 1 The “Christchurch Star” makes a letter of resignation received at the last meeting of the Masterton A. and P. Society the subject of an article. “There is one man,” says the writer, “who, if ever he gets the chance to see his record in the book to which St. ! Peter keeps the hov, will surely lead. I ‘He nursed the slump in 1930-31.’ And the reason for this accusing line will be a letter in his own handwriting to the Masterton A. and P. Association: •Please accept my resignation. When the slump fizzles out I will join again." This man, however, is only one of a great company lost in their search for the Elysian fields of prosperity. For such as these a recent American writer has told a simple story. It concerns the wife of a seller of adding machines, who, hearing of the slump, skimped and saved in common with the rest of the women in her town. But one day the ! light broke, and she bought the things she would have bought before the news of the slump, right up to the point to which she could afford it. She raided the ranks of the unemployed for all the maids and gardeners she could afford. ' And she persuaded the other women of the town to do the same. Economy became a disused-word, and women began to think it more shame to do without maids and men they could afford to employ than to show the knee when ankle skirts were in vogue. All this was not done without protest from their husbands, but the town soon had no unemployment problem, the shops were busy even beyond sale-time dreams, and the husband of the woman who first had the bright idea began to sell his adding machines again. The slump had ‘fizzled out ’ :