LOCAL & GENERAL

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 64, 8 December 1937, Page 4

LOCAL & GENERAL

Supplies Of Potatoes. A more satisfactory position prevails regarding the marketing of potatotu in Hastings at present. Supplies are easier from most sources and are coming forward in good eondition. Locally grown potatoes ao also in greater supply, and it is anticipated that, after the present break in the weather, supplies will become more plentiful New Season's Onions. New season'a onions are expected to come to hand for local consumption towards the end of this month. Rcports indicate that therq has been no particular shortage this year and supplies are holding qnite well at satisfactory prices. Expcctations of a good seasok's harvest are enteratined in Hastings, the weather conditions having been favourable to oniou-grow-ing. Scliool Oomniittees' Work. C "Roughly 15,000 persoys on selxool committees and education' boards participate, voluntarily and without pay, in the administration of education in New Zealand," states an article in National Education, the journal of the New Zealand Educational Institute. "Committees and boards have functioned as an integral part of the State system of education for 60 years, a lengthy and successfnl trial of democratiq principles." Two New Meanings, When Mr C. E. Critchley, the new Australian Trade Commissioner in New Zealand, was spealdng at a reception given in. his hononr by the Wellington Travel Club, he said that in the Dutch East Indies the English language was not spoken to any extent and gometimes letters Avritten in English weit, very amusing. There was an examination held in Java reeently and a class was asked to explain the words oxygen and hydrogen. "Oxygen is pure gin; hydrogen. is gin and water," was the answer of one Chinese scholar. Haymaking In Waikato. Favoured by a spell of warm, dry weather, "Waikato farmers have turned thousands of acres into hay during the last few days. Witli continual showers experienced while the grass was %ripening, the making of ensilage was undertaken later than nsual and most farmers have carried straight on with their harvesting operations and transferred implemerits to tne hay paddoelcs. Ihe quality of the crops varies according to locality, but a great many rarmers report that they have proved somewhat lighter than in previous years. "Better a Live Ass " Some appropriate advice to motorists in South Africa was to be tseen on signposts along the main highway s, said Major J. Kirk, Wellington, who has just returned from a tonr of the States of the Uriion, and who gave "a brief account of his travels at a Wellington Travel' Club reception. ' ' The signposts read: 'Better a live ass than a dead lion/ " isaid Major Kirk, who thought he would pass on the information to Mr Semple. He said that in t"he next two years South Africa proposed to spend £18,000,000 on road improvements. Original Cliaanbers of Commerce. The oyigin of the chamber of commerce dates back over three centuries, according to a statement made at an Auckland Rotary Club luucheon by Mr A. G, Lnnn, pregi.dent pf the New Zealand Assoeiated Chambers gf Com^ merce, The rnerchante » guilds »of early Tudor days were considered to be prototypes of the present ingtitution, the first recorfied branch o£ which was formed in Marseilles in 1599. The first jn the . British Empiie was that of Jersey, Channel Islands, formed in 1768, and the London Chamber was formed as late as 1881. The earliest chamber in New Zealaud was established in Wellington in 1856. Vfbrations. "I triefi to persuade fier to send ont love to the whole world instead of gending out all those vibrations she used to send out," said a witness who was describing in the Supreme Court at Auckland the mental eonditioa of a woman refative, "You are something of a Christian scientist," suggested counsel who was examining her. "Oh, no I'm not, I'm a psychologist," she replied. "You mean she spoke maliciously of people?" Mr Justice Ostler asked. "Yes," said .witness, "but I used to have different thoughts. higher thoughts in my mindj and when she was talking to me I had a stronger vibration."