LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 24 June 1924, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Taranaki Farm School was opened at the old Technical School buildings, Stratford, yesterday morning. A meeting of intending members of tnp St. John Ambulance Association is to be held at the Borough Council Chambers this evening, when it is hoped that there will he a large attendance to make preparations for the classes. The first lamb appeared in the Tangitu 'district on June 7, more than a month earlier than is usual.. According to a Herald correspondent it and other lambs will run a great risk of being eaten by wild pigs, which are very numerous and causing anxiety to -the settlers. * * Apparently the highwayman instinct is not dead in Christchurch. Two women, a mother and her 4 danghter, were held up in Francis Avenue, St. Albans (states the Sun). They were on their way home when a young man on a bicycle came up to the women and demanded their handbags. He presented something at the women, who thought at first that it was a revolver, but afterwards it was learned that he was merely bluffing them. The women naturally were alarmed. The man snatched their handbags, got on his bicycle, and quickly made away down the street. “There is a scientific way of eradicating the blackberry pest in Noav Zealand,” said Mr. Massey to a deputation from the Auckland University College Council, “but its adoption would involve the sacrifice of roses.” Such, at any rate, explained the Prime Minister, was the information given to him by a scientific expert at Honolulu, where a similar pest had been destroyed. The destructive specific, however would also destroy roses. Even at that price the result would he worth it, though he would like to save the roses in New Zealand. “Good form -at its best is the natural expression of a fine character. At its worst it is a cloak by which a man conceals from those who do not know him well a hard heart or selfish life. But it is emphatically true t.hat a man or woman, whose temper is really Christian, will hardly fail to have the essentials of good form. The generous temper and kindly heart in the end make us forget any lack of social grace. Beauty of spirit is a richer and more enduring thing than the elegances of social training. What does it matter if a man holds himself awkwardly and speaks with a Cockney accent when we fee-1 that he is ffine of Nature’s gentlemen’ ” —Caron Barnes, M.P., in the London Evening News. Motorists have their grievances against- most kinds of vehicular traffic, there is the fellow-motorist whom one can only describe as a demented hooin a hurry. There is the apathetic subject of the drivers’ and carters’ award. There is Che tramear, sole autocrat of the middle of the road despite magisterial decision to the contrary. There is the cyclist whose mazy wake, unlighted at night, is the despair of those who desire to overtake without accident or a wide detour. And, lastly, there *s x the eccentric pedestrian, sometimes foolishly venturesome in most unexpected fashion, or blisfullv oblivious of everything but the profound thought in which he is evidently immei’sed. Possibly, however, when the Main Highways Board really functions, we shall have real roads’ and not a mere imitation of them. Maybe then we shall also have real traffic control, and not a burlesque of it. —Dunedin Star. There is apparently complete agreement that it is a mistake to allow the full advantage of the preference to goods that are three-fourths foreign—■as. Mr Massey says, a coat of British paint makes a foreign motor-car eligible for privileged treatment at the Customs. The Prime Minister proposes that the ratio should be 75 per cent., and promises to bring about a better state of things. Referring to evidence of German efforts to exploit the existing regulation, Mr Massey said that when he learned of what was happening “he at once asked the Minister of Customs to instruct his officers to do the right thing and not allow German goods or goods manufactured in any country outside Britain to get the advantage of the British preferential rate.” In this statement there is no suggestion of any difficulty, hut a positive undertaking that the anomaly will be removed. —Now Zealand Herald. A farewell social will be tendered to Mr and Mrs H. Crosbie in the Kakaramea Tfnll to-night (Tuesday). The Mangatoki branch of the N.Z. Farmers’ Union will hold a grand hall in the Mangatoki Tlall on Friday next, June 27. FREE TROUSERS. During Shove Week we are making suits-to-measure with extra trousers free for £5 12s (id. Remember, this is a genuine offer of a good suit and a pair of extra trousers free. Call and be measured for your suit during Show Week at the New Zealand Clothing Factory, Hawera. —Aclvt. OUTRED’S. Sale in full swing with Outred’s usual bargains: Velour coats from 49/(1; costumes, navy blue, 29/0; coat frocks, special value, 49/(5; Burberry coats. £4 10s and £6 10s; children’s tweed coats, 10/6 (large sizes); children’s rubber coats, 15/6; fur necklets from 19/6; millinery greatly reduced. Watch windows for further reductions. —Outred’s, High St. —Advt.

The Eltham Fire Brigade received a call yesterday afternoon to quench a fire in High street. A spark had caused a fire in some dry ivy on a brick wall, and presented no difficulties to the brigade. At a special meeting of the Eltham Progress Committee, Mr B>. E. Carson was appointed chairman in place of Mr It. Payne (resigned). Messrs .1. Barnard, J. B. Wilson, and McDonald were invited to accept seats on the committee. Owing to the non-arrival of the vocal scores of “Our Miss Gibbs’’ the practice called for this (Tuesday) evening will be for sopranos only, and on Friday next a special practice for the male sbetion will be held. An advertisement drawing the members’ attention appears in this issue. The plans for the new Nelson Anglican Cathedral have been adopted, and the construction of the first part of the building will soon be commenced. This portion will .comprise the chancel transept and part of the nave, thus enabling the-tower and spire to be erected. The spire will be 9ft. higher than that of the Christchurch Cathedral. A sum of £20,000 is in band, but Bishop Sadlie'r stated at a meeting recently that another £25,000 or £30,000 was needed to complete the first part of the building. The estimated cost of the entire scheme is £BO,OOO. As a result of the heavy gale which raged last evening the roots of one of the large stringy bark trees growing just inside the main school grounds, cm the South road, were loosened and at about 7.30 this morning the tree crashed to the ground, falling across the fence and partially blocking the roadway. Fortunately no one was passing at the time, though the driver of a vehicle which crossed the spot a few seconds earlier is to be credited with a narrow escape. The fence was considerably damaged, one panel being practically demolished and two others were cracked. A working gang under Mr W. White, acting under instructions from the school committee, had the roadway cleared shortly after 10 a.m. The committee has also decided that two other similar trees which are considered unsafe shall be felled.

Apart from juvenile offences, parental shortcomings are indicated as an original cause of much of the sexual evime prevalent in the Dominion. An undue proportion of the sexual convicts of the prisons consists of comparatively young men born in New Zealand. Dr. Murray, who produced the statistics relative to the matter, was asked by the chairman of the Commission if he could give any reason for the high percentage of New Zealanders in this category. “Yes,” replied the medical officer for the Prison Department; “it is largely because of the lack of parental control and home restraint. That really is the root cause of the depravity.” The general trend of expert opinion in this direction cannot be ignored, and the problem calls for concentrated and searching investigation on the part of the social reformers. — Otago Daily Times. Nowadays much of the work of the school is done, more or less deliberately, outside the classroom. Teachers are directed to undertake duty in the playground, and ability to organise and control teams’ games is rightly regarded as a qualification for appointment to primary school staffs. In secondary schools one or more members of the teaching staff, according to the size of the school, are definitely given a place on account of their special aptitude as sports coaches. These facts are indicative of a modern discovery in education—the high value of play as an educational process. Physical, mental, and moral development are all served by it. Denial of opportunity for it is a foolish and cruel wrong; direction of it is a pedagogical duty. It follows that a people boasting a. national system of education is committed to provide ample playing area in connection with every school it builds.—N.Z. Herald.

Ancient Alaori customs which are still practised were discussed in interesting fashion by Air. George Graham in a lecture given at the Auckland Aluseum Library. Among the customs existing in modern society, said the lecturer, was the law of tapu, although its breach nowadays was merely frowned upon, whereas it formerly meant death A Maori would not take his pipe and tobacco into a burial ground, nor would lie eat in a cemetery. In the old days the heads of the chiefs were very tapu. '"‘’(d ■to this day there were instances where old men kept their own scissors, which, they took to the barber, who carefully collected, and handed over all the hair clips, which were buried in a place known only to the Alaori concerned. Hair was considered a certain means whereby ill-will could be’.exerted against a person. There were still instances where dying chiefs desired to clnnk of the waters of an ancestral spring. After death food was formerly deposited in the village sacred place, but the practice was now to place it in the coffin. The tanoi was, of course, the counterpart of the Scottish deathwatch or the Irish wake. It was probably the most important of Alaori customs still observed, but there were certain modifications. Widows still followed the old custom of cutting hair, and occasionally they cut their faces as a mark of grief. The peculiar custom ill connection with death of altering tne name of the family wa s still in full force in some districts. Air. Graham pointed out that grace was now usually said before meals in most Alaori households. They instinctively accepted the Ghristian formality of saying grace as a means of avoiding witchcraft.’ It was said not so much by way of thanks as to prevent illness. The remnants of lood were never used again in the manner practised bv our thrifty housewives allor friends have been entertained, those remains were thrown away.