DISTRICT NEWS.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 785, 17 November 1922, Page 2

DISTRICT NEWS.

MERCER. NOTES AND NEWS. THE FARM. Monday. Of i'ate the farmers of this; district have had more than their share of rainy weather. At the commencement of the present period of unpropitious weather the pastures commenced to “come away’' in a manner that was very pleasing to note, but the continuous of t'ainy days is now detrimentally affecting’ certain lowlying farms. In a great many cases the work of ploughing areas, in readiness for sowing, has been very materially retarded. Other forms of outdoor farm work have also been seriously hampered. From the aspect of the volume of butter-fat production the present dairy season bids fair to eclipse all previous seasojis. The yield of buttertfat from the many herds is still daily increasing. No case has been heard of in which at the present •jime the yield of butter-fat from any one herjd is less than at the time of last season. A SOCIAL. Another of the series of socials that are being promoted by the Mercer Kiwis’ Club—an enterprising combin. ation 1 of several four local, young men—was held in the Mercer Town HaR last Friday evening Over 40 couples attended. Orchestral music of first quality was provided, The light fantastic was indulged in until the early hours. A dainty supper was partaken of. A NEW SHIPPING COMPANY. In the form of the establishment of a new company, shipping in this district has progressed still another step. The new company styles itself “The R,oose Shipping Company."’ It owns vessels which were previously controlled by the Waikato Shipping Company which is how in liquidation One of the vessels owned by the new company is the paddle steamer Manuwai. (This vessel has been berthed a,t Mercer for some weeks and has been thoroughly overhauled and is now ready to resume her excursion trips on the Waikato River. THE GREAT SOUTH ROAD. Attention has often been drawn to the dangerous state of that portion of the Great South Road between the traffic bridge over the Whangamarino Stream, near Mercer, and the foot of the Rangariri Rills, near the old flaxm ( ill at Meremere, but not for many years has this section of the main road to Auckland been such a menace to the travelling public, There are a number of ruts or holes in which a dray will sink 1 up -o the axle. Motor cars are often, and in fact during ithe present rainy weather have been almost daiifc/, “stuck” in the mud. Pressure should be brought to bear in an endeavour to make the local body- concerned—the Whangamarjno Road Board take steps to at least effect repairs to the worst portions of the road. GENERAL. So fierce has been the wind at v.aif.ous times during the past week that quite a number of large willow trees situate in the vicinity of the Main South Road, south of Mercer, have been blown to the ground. In some cases the trees have snapped off at the trunk. The sawmill at Mercer, owned by Roose Ltd., is at present cutting in the vicinity of 13,000 feet of timber daily., A great deal of dissatisfaction exists at the Public Works Department's “Rangiriri Hills” relief works in connection with the alleged very j2Por quality of food 1 that is being provided for the workers. It is possible and in fact probable that during the next week definite action will be Itaken by the employees with a view to thdir obtaining improved conditions in the respect mentioned, Quite a large quantity of kauri gum is being obtained by some of the workmen at .present engaged on the Rangariri Hills deviation relief works. Tuesday. STOP-WORK CONFERENCE. ’ OF PUBLIC WORKS EMPLOYEES. AT RANGARIRI HILLS DEVIATION On last Tuesday morning some 30 of the men employed by the Public Works Department on the Ranga. riri .Hjills relief works held a stopwork meeting at eight o’clock. )The men concerned are quartered at No. 3 camp, which is situate about four ipiles south of Mercer. The reason Of the meeting was to protest against the very poor quality of food that was being provided for ffyi ‘*es men. The men decided that until an improvement was effected they would do no work, At about nine o’clock on the same morning Mr HiW, the overseer in charge of the deviation works, met the men, an.d on being informed as to the act'ual| position v and shown a sample of the lunches ''that were provided for the men (and which were not fit for human consumption) stated that a new chef was that day assuming command and that he (the speaker) would guarantee thaf there would be a vast improvement in the quality of the food that was supplied to the men. The employees were quite satisfied with Mr Hill’s statements, ,nnd it is not anticipated that there Will be any more trouble in respect to the matter mentioned. Altogether over* half a day was lost by the men on account of the trouble.