LOCAL & GENERAL

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 26, 15 February 1937, Page 6

LOCAL & GENERAL

Japanese Vessei in Port, A Japanese vessei, the Manju Maru, arrived at Napier on Saturday mornnig to load scrap iron, t-allow and wooj. It is expected tliat she will sail some time this evening. The vessei was built at Kobe in 1919, "Friendly Letter." "This man writes a friendly ietter,'said Mr H. W. Bundle, S.M., in tbe Dunedin Poliee Court retently, as he smilingly perused a written explanation from a defendant in a motor casc. The opening gentence of the letter read : "I regret my inability to appear before your good self this morning." Brief Hailstorm, A liailstorm acconipanied by thunder and 1-ghtning was experienced in Napier and the mimediate vicinity between two and three o'clock on Saturday afternoon. The storm lasted only a short time, but the atmosphei'e was very cold for some liours after. It was hoped that no damage would be done to tomatoes and other sot't fruits by the hailstorm and the subsequent drop in temperature. Good Bobaviour, Frequent coniplailits are heax-d about disorderly behaviour in excursion train. A Heralu-Tribune reporter who travelled to Palmerston North on the excursion yesterday was, therefore, agreeably surprised at the lack of rowdiness and the noticeably good behaviour of the passengers, aespite the unusually large number who travelled by the train. Rajlway Excursion* Seventeen carriages of hoiidaymakers formed the complement of the excursion train which travelled to Palmerston Nortli yesterday from Hastings and Napier, 'ihe train, drawn by two large express engiiies of tiie ABA type, lett Napier at 8.15 a.m., arriving at Palmerston North at 12.30, and left agaiti. at 6.-50, arriving back in Napier about 11.30 p.m. The weather in Palmerston was dull and cold, with scattered showers, and as it was the same in • Hastings when the train left the degree in which it was patronised was surprisiiig. Mud Spring In Lake. An unusual manifestation of thermal ' phenomena is reported from Waiotapu, where, foilowing the recent slight earthquake tremors, a species of minor eruption apparently took place in the bed of the Echo Lake. Although the water of 'this lake was previously notable for its vivid blue colour, it is now slate, grey. It is assumed that a mud spring lias broken out in the floor of tiie lake and that the dark patch indicates the location of the spring. Thc Bcst Crade. Now that the holiday rusli is over an Auckland tohacconist has found time to relate a Christmas shopping incident. An affeetionate young coupie came into his shop in Queen street at the busi- { est liour of the day and asked to see some pipes. When a line at 7/6 was displayed there was a request for something better. Then one of the bestknown and most expensive pipes on the market was produced for inspection. "Do yon like that oue, dearp" inquired the young lady. The young man said that he did. "Very well," replied the young lady cheerfully, "I will go to the warehouse and get you oue just like that." The shopkeeper took the full count, but gradually recovered coiisciousness, and a week or two after was even able .to raise a smile.

Prces of State Stores. Dissatisfaction with the practice of the Government Stores Control Board in not diselosing to unsuccessiul tenderers the prices submitted by successful tenderers was expressed by the executive of the Associated Chambers of Commerce.* The sepretary of the Stores Controi Board wrote stating that, in view of favourable prices being quoted by tenderers who stipulated that their prices must be treated as confidential, the board was firmly of opinion that it would not be in the interests of the Dominion to disclose the particulars of prices pajd for stores. The meeting expressed the view that it was in the public interest that such prices should be made available. The public was eutitled to know how its money was being spent. It was decided to write to the Minister of Public Works on the subject. Spcech of New Zealanders, * Australians liave often had to listen to strong criticism of their accent by strangers, but oue of the most severe critics is one of their own kin, returned from a sister JDominion with conclusions which ondorse the vibavs of many visitors. He is Mr F. A, McNeill, of the Australian Museum, Sydney, who has returned from the Science Congress in Auckland. "The people of New Zealand speak the best and most grammatical Englishj I have ever heard," said Mr McNeill. "Even the labouripg classes use better English than you will liear spolten in the uiDper classes of Australia, and the diction and lack of slang among the Maoris is something to wonder at, The awfulness of the Australian accent, the slurring of vowels, and the slang used by everyone becomes painfully apparenf op retnrning to Sydney." - !

Remand in Custody. Phillip Neil Partridge, aged 35, rvho appeared in the Hastings Court on Saturday on a charge of being intoxicated while in- charge of a motorVehicle, was remanded to appear on Wednesday, and was later removed to tlie Napier gaol where he will remain in custody until his appearance before the Court . Mr Foster Brook, J.P, was on the' Bench. 80-Mile Goat Farm. Goats kept on many of the farms between Napier and Gisborne to keep down blackberry amused delegates to the conference of the Wellington district of the Ancient Order of Foresters. At a gathering in their hoilour, visiting delegates made fun of these animals, asserting that there was aU 80-mile-long goat farm to the south of Gisborne and that tlie East Coast railway was being constructed to take the skins to market. No Mlssionary interference. A denial of the often-repeated statement th,at missionaries interfere with liatjve customs was made by the Rev. J. F. Goldie, pioneer of the Methodist Mission in the Solomon' Islands, who is visiting Auckland on furlough. Mr Golche said there was notliing further frim the truth. It was claimed that the missionaries made uatives wear European clothes and eat European food, whereas it was the people who had these things to sell who were responsible ior this. Missionaries disturbed the native Culture as little as possible. and sought to adapt it by introducing new meanings. Most missionaries were lieen anthropologists, much more so than many Government officials and it was time the idea of a missionary as a good and well-intentioned but misguided felloAV, forcing a new religion

on unwilling natives and destroying their old culture, AVas dispelled. Long Odds Quoted in Court. Whether a traffic inspector was in error or a 30,000 to one chance had oceurred, was the issue left t'o Mr E. D. Mosley, S.M., in tlie Magistrate's Court at Wellington when he lieard a charge against a car-driver of parking a car in Johnston street f'r more than an hour. The inspector said he marked Jlie froUi alili ai wneexs of the '».M near tbe bottom anj placed a corresponding mark 011 the l'oadway. N early lour hours later the car was parked in the same place, with the two rnarks corresponding exactly, Defendant on the other liand described his movements with the car elsewhere during the four hours. Mr A. R. Cooper, who prosecuted f°r the city traffic department, said tliat if both stories were right defendant must have parked his car the second time on exactly the same spot-. Tlie odds against this, he said, were one in 30,000. The magistrate decided there was room for - a mistake and dismissed the charge.