Local and General.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 4 February 1913, Page 2

Local and General.

A recommendation was made to Levin ISoroiigh Council Last ni.ijlit, '>v tlie borough's lire brigade coniniHtee. thai a donation of JL'J. he made towards the expenses oi' the Levin Hrigaib/s delegate to the conl'erenjc. This iv;is objected lo by Councillor Parker. Ife referred to a letter in a Wellington newspaper which (•(iniended that fire appliances ui Levin were insufficient, and by iniereneo slid it \v.ns founded on nil truth. It seemed to Councillor Parker tint there w.as plenty oi" hose and :ip]»li;inoos in Levin; but if they were not. it s"oined to liiin that the council had not received I'roni ihe delegates to former coiifereiices ilie wiliie of the subsidies given. Councillors France. Lancaster find Hleiikhorn eacb supported tlie pi'oposed grant of I'l towards Cnpfain McTaggart'.s expenses; the briH;ulo wax a volunteer one. and tlie 'j;rant of such an .amount n<; tliis to an honourarv body was a small matter. Councillor i'aiker wished to make il dear that he w.as not against making tlio grant: lie was asking for infn-rnmlion. and testing the valik , ' !' the service:-, likely to lie rendered. The Town Clerk backed up Coun.cillor Parkers coniention that tlv was not .short of appliances. In i\ jocular reference to tin , brigade's appliance-. Councillor Hie lαlioi'n mii<l il .seeiiKvl they wovo not Ifuinkful for everylliino; offered thom; there was Cuuicillor I'Vanoo'.-; skeleton sketch of the fire tower for Weraroa. C!nujj;litoiO! EventtnHv the council itassetl {ho. vote of C-l. find nareed tenia lively to a. pureliiso of a reasonable (pnntity of hose at Wan<iainii d<>iv,onstration. sho'i ; d prices be satisfactory. Photographs illustrative of Levin waterworks from the initial sLago to the completed one. have been presented lo Levin Dorough Council by Mr L. G". Adkin. of Queen street. The council resolved that the thanks of the Levin .Honnt«j;h Council lie <iiven to Mr Adkin for his of an lalhiini of jdioto'i.raphs of the waterworks. The gravel pit at the corner ;>f QuceiiKWood road and ]?a(li street J::\>> been .spoken of na a death-trap--spoken of in this way on various ccasious. Levin Ooun ;il wislies to know why the County Coiun-il does not move in this matter. A propcsal was n::;d" last nielli; tliat the borough council do the work and charge the cost to the County Council, but instead it was resolved that the Town-Clerk write again to the County Council, urging expedition. The Minister for Hallways at liaunevirko:—Wliat 1 propose to do is to gel the Department to report to me [■on all the really I in the dominion. In .some'instances' — it might not be possible in the one under notice — u crossing might be liKule less dangerous by cutting down trees or shaving off embankments. Certainly instructions coukl he given to drivers to whistle. The only trouble would be that people on oho train would complain that the whistle was a nuisance. The matter would receive very careful attention. He was going into the whole question of crossings and would try and find out which were the most dangerous, and see what could be done He thought the "Stop, Look out for the Engine" notices might be shifted to about 10 chains from the crossings, so that drivers of motor cars could see them, Violet (Shampoo Powder, wh'oh makes an ideal wash for the hair and leaves tlio swilp delightfully derm and refreshed, now 2 for threes pence at 0. S. KeedweH's pharmacy. -Adrfc. .' I

''Town planning is in the air, but it is .absolutely impracticable." This to the dictum of Councillor France. "It will never get outside the columns of the newspapers," he told the Levin Borough Council last night. A recommendation fioni the lire brigade committee of Levin Borough Council was read to the council last night. It recommended that 200 ft of hose be purchased at the demonstration to he held at AVanganui this month, as all the new hose used on occasions is sold considerably below ordinary price. it was suggested that some 200 ft be bought, a.s i\ .saving or some £n or ,CG could be effected. Both recommendations were agreed to. The discussion ?? summarised in another paragraph in t-o-day's Chronicle. In a recent interview at Christchurch Mr Webb (president of the Federation of Labour) .adversely criticised the contract system at lteelton. lie said the men were asked to work in stopes at such low prices that it means that they must sacrifice their health. The secretary of the Employers' Association has ■•c----ceived from the general manager oi the Consolidated Company, Reel'ton, the rates per .shift earned b'y -contractors during December. The following were the earnings per shift, after deducting what the men have purchased in stores: 15s -Id, 17s lid, 1-j.s !)d. 18s Bd. ]2s M, 23s l>d, 10s 7d, 12s 2d. i)s 10d. Ms J<l. 16s, 13s !»d. IDs r,,|. Kis Id, f7s Id. 18s -Id, Ms <)d. Ms 9(1, 17s od. and 15s 5(1. Objection was taken last night, by Levin Borough Councillors. ag.i\insi tho prevalence of Mater-race diversion. Councillor France strongly objected to the publication of an advertisement warning settlers against diverting the races. They all knew the law. and they should not be warned, but prosecuted. The Horowheinia County Council had been too lax on the matter; a man bad been caught red-handed diverting th(! water-race, but there was no prosecution. Those offences were I'm- too common, a borough councillor had- been amongst the offenders. Councillor Lancaster agreed that diversion was far too common. There was one man up his way who had diverted the water-race into his pig yard, for the pigs to wallow in. and consequently the neighbours had no water for three days! "Under Fire with the Turkish Army" is the title of an article- by Alan Ostler which gives grim pictures of the fighting around Tchorlu in December last. In concluding, it gives a pen picture of a scene in the town after the Turkish debacle had occurred. Ostler says:—"The night is wet. and bitterly cold. Tho narrow, lilthy streets arc lillod with .shivering soldiers. They are starving. They are trying to break into the houses. Hero is a picture of one of them: an unshaven, hollow-eyed man, with blood caked on his cheek, with a mangled kind wrapped in a bloody rag. Ho sobs to liimsolf quietly with cold and hunger, hugging his drenched grey coat about him, and huddles wistfully against a window that is shuttered against him and his kind." H has been found inadvisable to plough up a track around Lovin I'aik Domain as a first help towards making a track for the use of cyclists. Expenditure on this work was authorised by the board late bust year, and a beginning was made with the ploughing, but after the borough foreman had made a, round with his plough be found there would be more stouts than soil in tho turn up. Accordingly he reported to the hoard that it was inadvisable' to go on with the work—it would be too hard and too expensive—and that the matter should be hung up. In speaking to the report. Councillor Blenkborn said it put the case very cloaily, and he was sure, the cyclists, as a reasonable body of men would receive it in tho spirit in which it was made, and acquiesce 'n the dropping of the proposed work

The practical training for young fanners that tlio iUiakimi Farm of Instruction has for some years offered to the youth of the dominion <s about to be undertaken on almost identical lines in South Australia, says the Journal of Agriculture. The writer adds that youths are also in residence at the Weraroa and Moumahaki Experimental Farms. The number of applicants for instruction at the three stations is already far in excess of the accommodation available. Writing on the work of the farm generally, Mr P. McDonnell, in an interesting article, says:—"lt is a gratifying fact that if tlio whole estate were put up for public sale to-day it would realise nearly a ceiit.-pt-i-cent. profit on the original purchase money, and all expenditure on the farm up to date combined. This is quite apart from the value of tho experimental work that lias been carried out." Perhaps, ho adds, the most pleasing feature of the past year is the fact that the interest exhibited by tho fanning community in tho work of tho farm lias increased by and hounds, and also that numerous appreciative encomiums have been received, by letter and in person, from farmers who have visited this station, and who have admittedly derived valuable information from inspecting the various experiments in progress. During tho past 12 months, roughly speaking, over 3,000 visitors have inspected the farm. These come not only from all parts of New Zealand, but from all parts of tho world. Moreover, visitors are still on the increase, so much so that this phase of farm-work is becoming a difficult matter to cope with.

A considerable number of Ngatihaua, from tlie Matamata and Walton districts, went to Hiintly to take part in tho ceremonies attendant upon the marriage of Taipu, second son of the Into "King" Mahuta, and the daughter of To Heuheu Hukino," of Taupo. Among the visitors were Tapu Taingakawa "(the King maker), and Rawhti. The marriage took place at Hukaimi on Saturday, January 25. A list of dangerous crossings In* been made out for the Minister of Railways. Councillor France askvd (at last night's meeting of Levin I Borough Council) whether it was known how the Kawiu mad crossing, Levin, stood in this regard. Undoubtedly it was a dangerous crossingv he said, and that the local bodies were willing to give a halfcost subsidy should induce the Minister for I?aflw,ay« to meet the wishes local people. The Town Clerk said ho had nothing definite so far. but ho would write further on the matter to the railway authorities. Leave of absence w;ts granted n, v last night's meeting of" the L~cviu Borough Council) to Mr B. ]\. Gardener. Mayor, and Councillor M,atheson. Mr Gardener wrote that he was away at Marton, attending : , mooting of friendly society deledates. "As r consider this « meeting in tho interests of humanity, I must ask you to pardon me for .lot attending the borough council meeting this evening." concluded Mr Gardener. Leave of absence was I granted to both applicants. ; <A S it's in the interest of humanity, we must grant it," one councillor laiiHiingly remarked. Doubt was expressed whether business was at the bottom of Councillor Mathesors absence—not the good of humanily —but Councillor Franco remaire<t "Oil. don't be Lard on him. ' Vl » mt him in the the Miavor!"

Comment was made, at Levin Domain Hoard meeting last ni-} lt . l}i the smalliiess of the annual receipts for grazing on Iho domain (C 2 l» b ). Councillor H,anmm thought more money eon Id "he made if the grazing was let |,y tender for a year, bill other councillors opined this course would he inadvisable. "That is .so." said Mi- Goldsmith, tho hoard's doik; "I have got into more trouble over thiat grassing than enough. Sometimes tho people want the sheep kept off; other times they come to me imploring me to got sheep put on to eat down the bug grass!" Continuing, Mr Goldsmith .said the general practice now was [„ j ( ,i, sheep bo put on when it suited, sind for tins a charge of«, much per molt poi , night was made. The board resolved to lot the practice eontiii r> us nt present.