LOCAL & GENERAL

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 39, 2 March 1937, Page 6

LOCAL & GENERAL

Rangitata radios. The New Zealand Shipping Co., advises th.at the Rangitata, which left London on, February 4, radips that she expects to arriv© at 7 a.m. on March 12. Rotary Club Meets. The Napier Rotaxy Chtb continued yesterday jts programme in celebration of the birthday of the movement, two Rotaxiana giving addresses on matters affecting Rotary. In the absence of the presidcnt, Rotarian H. R. J. Dockery, at the pan-Pacific conference at Wellington, the chair wgs taken by Rotarian T. M. Geddis. Flashes of humour. The sittii^s of the annual conference of the Methodist Church in Auckland have been marked by occasjonal flashes of humour. .Qne reverend speaker was described as standing head and shoulders abov© anyone else, As his height is 6ft 6ins, the claim appeared to be well justjfied, Cnrse of the Country, Strong opinions on the subject of door-to-cioor selling of expensive goods on the instalment plan were expressed by Mr J. L. Stout, S.M., in the Palmerston Nprth Magistrate's Court, when he non-suited a firm in its claim against a husband for a debt ineurred by his .wife, from whom he was livhig apart, "TheBe people have no right to go round taking orders for espOnsive garments from persons who canuot aftord to pay," said Mr Stout. "There is too much of this peddling and trying to get persons to buy things they cannot afiord. It is the curse of the country. These people go from door to door selling to persons on sustenance and others who cannot afford to buy. They are a perfect pest and should not be encouraged." A Foroeful Personality. "Although he has only recently been elected to the Houge of Representatives, Mr Holland, M.P., has already made a front-bench reputation for himself. Not only has he won a place with his own party but he is hstened to with respect by Mimsters and suppoi*ters of the Government. He has a tborough grasp of industrial legislation and he will probably be the National Party' s Minister of JLahour, when that party wins to office," deciared a prominent Nationalist in explanatfon as to why this member of Parliament was selected to address a meeting to be held at Wanganui. Combined Banks' Site, A vacaut section, whicb has yet to be fenced off, is all that now remains of th© site occupied by tiie combined banks of Hastings during the earthquake pex;iod. The temporary buildxng has been completely demolished, all tbe banks concerned having vacated it in, favour of modern and strikixxgly characteristic banking chambers of their own. It will be recalled that last year the B^xok of New South .Wales offered the temporary bxiilding to the Hastings Borough Cduncxl, but that body dxd not accept the offer, and in turn the building was handed over to the Mayor's Itelief of Histress Committee for disposai. It is. underptood that the committee realised well over £200 for the building. Not According to Label. There is one hotel lxotnsee in Christchurch who has lost a certain amoxint of faith in> human n.ature, reports a Southern journah It was not until the rather precipitous departure of a barman that he mad© discoveries which prpved interesting, if expensive. A customer purchased a smali fiask ot brandy against the day when there might be .iilness in .the house. It was to Ms yast surprise that he found he had ppid good money for a brandy bottla which contained iixnocuous ginger ale. There followed a consxiltation with the Ixcensee, and his inqxxiries revealed that certain giu bottles had been filled with water, in an eflort, successful for a trnxe, to keep up the stocks of ihe bar, One thing led to another, and it was found even that some of the beey bottles had been filled with very inferior beer. The licensee now knows why his percentage showed a marked declmo tor a number oi weeks. Domostio Comedy. A frog, a hedgehog, a pomeranian dog and a littl© girl all played their part in a domestic comedy in Hastingts yesterday. The ecene .w.ae a rather dark well-grassed laneway between a hous9 and a high board fence in Townshend street. Looking from a side bedroom window the mother of the house watched her daughter creep slowly up behind the household "pom" with the evident intention of giving this little gentleman a big surprise. Bait it was the girl who came in for the surprise. Just before she reached the dog he sprang) over the high grass and landed close to a hedgehog, At the same moment a big green frog gave a valedictory croak and hurried away to the safety of the dark regions under the house. In the lilt of "The House that Jack Built," "this was the frog that, was chased by the hedgehog, that was stalkeo by the dog that was followed by the child — " Hedgehogs are, of course, usually nocturnal marauders, but a nice fat frog and a dark lane evidently proved too much for this hungry member of the specie.

The Onlooker's View. "I have not much faith in indepondent witnesses," said Mr F. H. Levien, B.M^ iii ihe hearing of a motor collision case at. the Paeroa Magistrate's Coxxrfc. '.'Their evidenoe is mostly given in good faith, but I don't place much reliance on it. During the depression, when so many men were working around ihe strtets, some of the things that were aupposed to have been seen by independent witnesses were ahsolutely amazixjg," Rush for Schoo! Books. The annual rush, for pchool books has set in with the booksellers in Hastings, in common .with other towns, and yesterday afternoon there was a big crowd of patents and children to be seen in every store in town. Most of tho retailers were. obliged to make special arrangemtents for meeting the rush, and thxs morning they and their staffs wero busy wrapping up the orders which had been left unattended over uight. Luoky Find, While walking along th© Oamaru foreshore near where th© old woollen factory stood, two local meff had the good rortun© to find three spvereigns recently. £trangeiy tho men were not together, oue having made his hnd at least 12 hours before; but tiie coincidence was shown when, it was seen that both men had made tiieir discoveries within a few yards of each other. Oue sovereign wa§ a New Zealand coin and was dated 1864, but the others wero of Australian mint and bore the dates 1860 and 1861. One of the men also iound thre© pennfes, three half-pennies, and oue coin the size of a halfpenny, which had the lettering "Otago Cooperative Stores" on one side and 10/on the. other. Presxxmably the co.in in question was one of those early coms. used by this particxxlar firm, and was valued at 10/-,.