LOCAL & GENERAL

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 191, 30 August 1937, Page 4

LOCAL & GENERAL

New Gompany Registered. The registratioji is Gazetted of a new company to carry on business as general merchants in Napier with a capital of £200 in £1 shares. The firm will be known as Smith's Service Store, Ltd., the subscribers being P. A. and I. G. Smith, both' of Napier. Footbailers on Tour. Two reserved carriages were attached to the southbound mail train this morning, one to convey the touring Taranaki Rugby football team to Carterton, and the other to take the Napier primary schools Soccer football team to Wanganui. The train was considerabiy ionger than usual, there being a large number of passengers aboard from Hastings and Napier. Napier Starr-Bowkett. At an appropriation meeting of the Napier Starr Bowkett Building Society, Mr J. P. Thomson presided over a moderate attendance of shareholders. In No 4 issue sums of £600 were drawn by groups number 10 and 126 respectively. In No .5 issue a sum of £600 realised £10 per hundred and group number 35 drew £600. In No 6 issue, £500 was disposed of at £14 per hundred and £100 at £13. Tourist Traffic. Although the tourist season has' not officially begun, shipping companies and tourist agencies in Auckland are already handling passenger bookings for people intending to travel overseas next year. There is a steady demand for berths, and vessels leaving New Zealand in the tirst three months of 1938 are filiing rapidly so that even now it is reported to be difficult to get superior accommodation. Cook islands Fruit. Oranges and tomatoes were the principal items in the cargo brought from the Cook Isiands by the Matau, whiclx arrived at Auckland on Friday. It included 15,215 cases of oranges, 8695 boxes of tomatoes and 3482 cases of bananas. The Matau also brought 212 cases of coconuts, 378 cases of orange juice, .two cases of grapefruit, three cases of taro, four cases of beans, three sacks of kumeras, one sack of pumpkins and one case of mixed fruit. Rooks and weather. Kooks are excellent weather prophets. If they fly high and hurry on their way to their hunting grounds an hour before dawn, the day will be fine, but if they are later and lower than usual, and a few rooks and jackdaws drop out and perch on wireless poles or trees as if unsettled to make the further five miles to the usual feeding 1 grounds, it means unsettled conditions. If they come as usual an hour before sunset, flying high and direct, good weather will follow next day, but if they return home early, flying lower than usual, and calling exeitedly nnd flying in unsteady, anxious manner, then you may be sure that rain is on its way. Eiectricians' Catherjng. A successful gathermg was held by members' of the Hawke's Bay Eiectricians and Wiremen's Association in Hastings on Saturday evening. There was a big erowd present, and congratulations were extended to Mr E. H. Eairbrother, of Hastings, upon his success in gaining the highest number of points at the recent wiremen's examination conducted by the British Cable-Makers' Association. His success was rewarded with a gold medal, which was presented by Mr H. L. Benjamin, engineer to the Hawke's Bay Electric Power Board. Following the presentation there was a lengthy and general discussion on many matters eoncerning electrical workers.

Missing Rugby Shorts. "Faithful over small things" is apparently the motto of the New Zealand Rugby Union. The Manawatu Union Union has received a letter stating that R. M. McKenzie, the Manawatu forward, did not return his pair of shorts after the first Test match against the Springboks. "As these are required for the next Test, will you be good enough to ask this player to return them?" runs the letter. Mr McKenzie explains that the inuch-soughfc trousefs, even if recovered, would not serve in the next encouuter. They were torp from him during the match, and he was then Ient a pair by one of the emergencies, to whom they were returned at the end of the game. A Useful Bombardment. An amusing phase of the siege of Ruapekapeka, the last stronghold of the rebels in the Northern War of 184546, was mentioned by Mr C. E. MacCormick, Judge of the Native Land Court, in a lecture at the Auckland Ufficers' Club. The British, he said, used mortars which dropped into the pa many round shells filled with gunpowder. These did not kill anyone, but made a great noise, and after the bombardment had gone on for several days the defenders found themselves becoming deaf. Also they could get no sleep. When a shell failed to explode it was opened, and the powder inside was sufficient for many musket shots. Ihe harvest, in fact, was so good that when a sliot dropped near him a native would pull out the "wiki", or fuse, instead of seeking shelter from the burst.