LOCAL & GENERAL

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 26, 23 October 1937, Page 4

LOCAL & GENERAL

No Paper on Latoour Day. The Herald-Tribune will not be published on Monday, Labour Day, The Ruahine's Arrival. The New Zealand Shipping Co. Ltd. advis© that the R.M.S. Ruahine sailed from Suva on Thursday and she is expected to arrive at Wellington on Wednesday morning, October 27. Red Cross Appeal. A donation of £1 from "Anonymous" bas been received by the Herald-Tri-bune tio the Red Cross Appeal for Chinese Kefugees. Further contnbutions to this fund m ay be made to the Hastings Rorough Council or to the HeraldTribune Whieh will acknowledge all sums received. Al Fresco Luncheon. The Hastings Rotary Club held its weekiy luncheon al fresco at Mr. A. L. Baumgart's orchard in St. George' s road, Hastings, yesterday. Visitors were impressed with the magnificent display of blossoms in the orchard and enjoyed a picnio lunch under the trees. The president, Rotanan A. J. O. Runciman, expressed the thanks of the club to Mr. Baumgart for his hospitality. An address dealing with the fruit industry from the aspect of the ainount of labour employed was given by Mr. N. J. Adamson, Government orchard instructor. This address is reported elsewhere in this issue. "The Widow's Mite." Two gifts were reported to the Auckland Hospital Board at its last meeting. Mr. H. A. Somerville, the seeretary, stated that the hospital would benefit to the extent of about £2000 under the will oi the late William Lowery. The other was an anonymous gift of £1, marked "For the poor." The chairman, the Rev. W. O. Wood, said that the latter was a reguiar gift from an unknown source. "This may possibly be 'the widow's mite,' " saici Mr. W. Wallace. "It comes regularly every year, and probabiy the person who sfends it can ill afford it." The Wrong "Oflender." No; little surprise was caused in the Magistrate's Court at Christchurch when a "defendaut" to a charge of breaking a traffic regulation pleaded guilty to charges brought against another. When the Court orderiy read the name and charge the "offender" answered, stood out aud pleaded guilty, and it was not until a traffic inspector had taken the oath that the error was discovered. The "offender," whose surname was the same as that on the charge-sheet, was advised to leave without more ado. He explained later that he had been stopped the day betore by a traffic inspector and warned for speeding. He decided that he ougbi to arppear in Court. By a coincjdence a similar name happened to be ou the charge-sheet for the day. Missed Its Destination. A story, said to have been toki for the first time, of how a party of unemployed men from Christchurch had successfully diverted from its destination a quantity of scrap metal was told by a speaker at a public meeting held in Christchurch to discuss the provision of aid for China. About the time of the Japanese conquest of Manchukuo, the speaker said, much scrap iron was being sold to the Japanese. A big quantity of the metal had been dumped near where a party of unemployed men was working, he said. and the men, without telling any oue, had managed very successfully to bury it with spoil. "That's one shipment tliat did not go. 1 They don't know where it is yet," he said. Australia "Radio Mad." "One thing 1 am pieascd to find is that New Zealand is not so insatiably 'radio-mad' as is Australia, where a multiplicity of stations, many of them cornmercially-minded, make the night hideous," said Mr. Peter Boustield, au Englisb visitor to Christchurch. "I can endorse my husband's remark to the bilt," said Mrs. Bousfiekl. "Nevcr beforo have our ears been assailed with such strange, raucous noises masquerading as music, as in Australia. And when it was not music so called, the broadcast was all about prize fights and race meetings. Try as we would, we could not get away from the radio ; it pursued us. What a relief it is to be in New Zealand. I hope that your wireless trends will not follow those of Australia." Footbaii With Bare Feet, The tbrill of seeing Rugby footbaii played with barefooted Fijians is a treat not to be missed, according to Mr. H. B. McDowell, who reeently returned from trip to the South Sea Islands. In a talk to the Oamaru Rotary Club Mr. McDowell said he had watched a footbaii match at Suva, played by Fijians. All those participating were barefooted, and the excitement was intense. But the enthusiasm knew uo bounds wlien a stalwart Fijian kicked a goal from a point midway between half-way and the twenty-five line. It was a great sight, the speetators displaying the wildest frenzies of delight, "To see such enthusiasm and such a kick from a barefooted player made me wish we had sucli exponents of our hational game in the All Blacks," Mr McDowell said

Acknowiedgment, Mr. Gordon Pirie, who has been canvassing for the purpose of presenting two chairs to an old resident of Port Ahuriri, Mr. Fletcher, now an invalid at Taupo, desires to acknowledge the receipt of a t'otaj of £12 3/1^ from various contrihutors. Excursion Visitors. Six hundred visitors from^ Wellington and other southern stations arrived in Napier this morning by the Labour Day week-end excursion trains, while, from Napier and Hastings alone, an equal number left last evening on a trip to Wellington. The Hawke's Bay travellers will return to their homes on Monday evening, while the return train to Wellington leaves on Monday also. Blue Penguin's Nest. A blue penquin has built lier rough nest amcng some old pieees of wood lying under sheets of corrugated iron on the property of Mr. R. J . Ockenden, Rocky Point, Titahi Bay. The bird was found sitting on two eggs. It had hatched out one egg, which produced to being photographed, but ujok care to keep the chick and the egg well under cover. Mr. Ockenden's property 13 some 150 feet above sea level, and there is a steep cnmb to it from the sea unless the less direct road route is taken. Centennial Memorial Coin. In discussing a proposal supported by the New Zealand Nunnsmatio bociety last year that a centennial halfcrown be issued in 1940, the Rev. D. (J. Bates said at a meeting of the society in Wellington that it was not in the mterests of the early adoption of decimal coinage to perpetuate the half-crown. The florin, which was a decimal coin, atid a four-shilling piece, which was a possible decimal unit, wouid be appropriate commemorative pieces. It was pointed out that the half-crown was suggested originally because it was the largest ciroulating coin, and it would also take a good design. Australia, however, L^'l abollshed it long ago. Australian Steel Industry. "The agrieultural and pastoral in.dustry in Australia is goiug well and the business men there have a great idea of the fnture oi the country in manufacturing,'' remarked Sir Wihiam Hunt, in an address at the annual meeting of the Canterbury Employers' Association. "Iron and steel are being made there at a lower cost than in any other country, 1 tcld. 1 put that down a little to Australian 'blowing,' but when I reached England 1 found that' this claim was true. 1 was told in England that the Broken Hill works were the largest steel-manufac-turing plant in the world, and that they were the best-equipped and the most up-to-date."