LOCAL & GENERAL

Horowhenua Chronicle, 10 April 1916, Page 2

LOCAL & GENERAL

As (soon as the pressure of work in the office is cleared away the Horowhenua County Council intends to arrange interviews before the magistrate with motor drivers wso travel over the county roads at high speed. Those who travel without lights also will be asked for explanations. Councillor Stephenson mentioned that the_ police at Shannon were taking stepß in this matter. The Horowhenua County Council on Saturday decided to grant clerical assistance to the county clerk up to an expenditure of £50. it was pointed out that with expert asistanoe for a few months to overtake arrears of •work it would tie possible for the county clerk to carry on with the assistance ef a junior.

The sanitary contractor at Shannon, J. McPherson, and G. F. Murray, surfaceman m- the Otaki riding, forwarded their resignations to the jiorowflenua County Council on Saturday., the resignations were accepted, and it was decided to call for applications Irom men to fill the vacant positions. In regard to the application to tic Horowhenua County Council from a resident of Tokoinaru for a motor lorry the engineer said that motor lorries should be encouraged. They had broad tyres and did the roads no harm—in fact they improved the roads. The local,, recruiting committee intends shortly to hold an open air meeting in Levin to encourage recruiting. The meeting will be held on a Saturday evening. Referring to the county ranger s report on Saturday Councillor Stephenson said that the ranger had clone good work in Tokomaru riding. He had opposedi tlie appointment of one ranger but if the ranger kept on as lie was going the result would-be satisfactory. Councillor A'enn's condition of health is improving. He now is at home in Shannon. A diplomatic answer was given by the chairman of tlie Horowhenua County Council on Saturday to a question put to him by Councillor Rjder. ine interrogation was to elicit tlie information as to who was responsible, the tormer -chairman or former clerk, tor the muddle in tlie council's office affairs that obtained last year. Councillor Monk said it was a straight quesffon, and it required n straightanswer, and proceeded to give one by stating that there was neglect in the office,"and the officers of the council were under the chairman. .Months ago the Levin Borough Council erected notice boards limiting the speed of motors on borough roads to .12 miles an hour, but few motor drivers take any heed of it. One reason probably being that they travel so fast that they" have not time to readi the notice. Most people have lost faith in the effect of notice boards, on motor drivers, but the laith of the members of the Horowlienua County Council is still strong and on Saturday they decided to erect two oil the main road south of Manakau—one near the overhead bridge over the railway and other at the loot of Puiiekohe hill, near the private entrance to Mr AV. Simcox's property. The speed of motor cars on this stretch of roadi is not to exceed 12 miles per hour. A man named Herbert Edwards was arrested in Levin on {Saturday by Con. stable Greggan on a warrant issued in Wellington in 1914 for his arrest on a charge of failing to obey an order o. the Court to pay' maintenance for Ins wife and family. He was brought oe- ! fore Mr P. AA\ Goldsmith, at the Levin S.M. Court this morning and re- x I manded to appear at the Wellington S.M. Court to-morrow. "The. Stoning," _the leading picture, shown by Mr J. A\ . Farland on Saturday was the cause of much favourable comment, and the high merits of the picture fully deserved .it, especially the scene showing Jesus Christ raising Magdalen with the words "Go, and sin no more." In marked contrast to the action of Christ was the reception given by the members of tier own church to tlie young woman around whom the story of "The Stoning" centred, a reception which led their minister m an impassioned sermon at the woman s funeral, to denounce tlieir action bitterly. Tlie supporting iilms were admirable ones, andi the views of the site of the battle of Careiicy. fought between the French and Germans some months ago, showed plainly the great, destruction caused by high explosive shells and mines. Lieut.. Roberts, of Palmerston North, waited on representatives of the Horowhenua County Council and the Levin Borough Council on Saturday in connection with the recruiting question. He pointed out that one of the present difficulties was in regard to men who have filled in their cards, classing themselves unfit. The department had to accept this at present thougji there was no certainty that these men were unfit. It was intended by the Department to make arrangements for a medical examination at the different centres of all men who wish to be examined. The examination will be free and where necessary _a ,medical certificate will be issued that a man is unfit. Regarding noxious weeds on the county roads, referred to by the county ranger in his report to the county council on Saturday, Councillor Retter said that they often had complained to tlie department and nothing had been done." In parts of the county blackberry was spreading ta..a greater extent. - He did not think vhe j council had power to ask the surtacemen to grub out the weeds on the roadis as had been suggested. He moved that tlie department be'written to and asked to take the necessary steps to have the noxious weeds hi the county eradicated. Councillor Broad-belt seconded the motion. It would be bad precedent to ask- the roadmen to clear the weeds on the roads. It was the duty of landowners to keep the road to half its width clear along their frontages. Councillor Jvebbell remarked that it they did not d;o this the council could do the worK and charge the cost to the landowners. The chairman said'the trouble was tßa-t landowners saw the weeds so often that Lthey £ot used to them, and after a while did not see them at _ all. H<' mentioned an instance in his district, where helmrprised a farmer by drawing his attention to a large brmr linear his (the farmer's) entrance. It •had been there several years, hut 'lie farmer had not noticed it. The motion was carried. Now that the Horowhenua County Council has resumed the holding of its meetings at 11 o'clock there is a danger that its chairman will develop into a professional fasting man diuring + he next six months and be led perhaps to attempt. to emulate the feats of the fasting men of twenty years ago. On Saturday morning he had breakfast at five o'clock and at quarter to two fhe had had nothing to eat In the meantime) in the afternoon was wait- I iiig patiently at the crunciJ meeting for councillors to divulge the result ot their cogitations on county matters diuring the past month. One councillor mentioned something about lunch, but Councillor Catley rejoined that they should get on and cmnlej ■:< the business. They had wasted, muc'' time "yapping" about a certain matt«>r and had left- it as they found it. . Putlack of lunch, and also perhaps ihe lack of something to talk about, soon had its effect, and a fow minutes later the meeting adjourrie '.

The motor bus in Otaki pays an annual license fee of £5 to the Town Board, but in the opinion of Commissioner Nicolson this is not sufficient to cover the damage done to the roads by. tlie bus. I he totalisator at Trentham on Saturday handled' £40,741 10s, a total for the meeting of £71,4:20, as against £73,009 10s for last year. The Autumn Handicap run at \Vel- * lington on Saturday was won by Adjutant, Montana being second and Red Ribbon third. Eligible won the Trentham Gold Cup with Balboa second and Indigo third. On Saturday about 1 o'clock a heavy storm, accompanied by thunder, nail and rain passed over this district, and the temperature fell rapidly, the nignt being exceedingly chilly, while the tops of the Tararuas had a flight covering oi snow. After the mild and warm weather ol the past few months the sharp change was felt keenly, and no one . with perhaps the exception of the gas manager andi wood and coal merchants seemed very pleased with it. Sometime on Saturday night or early on Sunday morning, the premises oi AV. Bull and Co. were broken into. The only goods taken were a lew dozen bottles of beer. No evidence as to the identity of the culprits has yet been obtained. The annua] provincial conference of the New Zealand Fanners' Union (Wellington division) will be held in Levin this year (during May). A number of racehorses broad mares, etc, the property of the McDonald instate, Heatherlea, are to be sold by public auction at Palmersto'n on Wednesday next commencing at 9 a.m. Ernest Devoin, who is charged with liavjng shot at and seriously Louisa White in tlie Nairn-street reserve. last Monday week, and then attempted his own life, .was removed on Saturday from the \Yellington Hospital to the Terrace Gaol. Miss White is still in a serious condition. The lower part of her body is paralysed. The Manakau Patriotic Society wi> hold a garden party in the grounds of M>' f'obt. Bevan, kindly lent 'or t'ie purpose, on Wednes'dkiy nex% Apri. 12tl , when several competitions, ot,, will be held, and other amusementprovided for old and The Weraroa Training Farm Ba i-l w'il l.p in attendance, and a thoroughly enjoyable day should result. A number of Levin citizens have intimated their intention of being present. A hint on the building of groynes tc prevent erosion by rivers was given to the Horowhenua, County Council on Saturday by Councillor Ryder. .He said that his experience had shown that Wood and stone usedi in conjunction made tlie best groyne. The tendency of wood alone was to rise and of stone to sink but .used together they struck the happy medium. With this groyne always plant willows. The treasurer of the Levin ana District Patriotic Society acknowledges receipt of the following amounts:—For Red Cross Work and Gift Fund: Mrs Keedwell's box, £1 10s 4d, Mrs S. Hall's box £1 16s Bd, Mrs Duckworth's box £2 18s lOd. Donations: C. Frechtling os; Mrs TCirkcaldiie 10s; Mr Trass - 2s 6cl; Mrs Richter 2s (id; from Meadames AV. M. Clark's and AV. S. Park's "afternoon" £10 2s. For Belgian Relief, the sum of £1 10s was received from Mr D. Forsyth, being balance of money raised by ; the Jtoputaroa. school for this object. It is reported that as a result of the recent activity of the recruiting committee in one of the larger townships in Centra] Ota go there are now only five single men left in £Tie district, atl the others having volunteered for ictive service. Of the live mentioned, two are medically unfit, one is the only support of his mother and two sisters, and the remaining two are accounted for. 111-luck is the fate ol Charles Skinner, a resident of Irwell. Canterbury. Six months ago he was run over by a Cambridge roller and laid up for some, time. A little later he lost the top of one of his fingers, and on Tuesday last his shot-gun went off unexpectedly when he was about to shoot an old dog and his foot was badly' shattered. The Prime Minister (lit. Hon. AV. 1 1 . Massev), recognising tlie gravity of tnc position, has sent the .following cablegram to the High Commissioners: — "Please indicate to the Board of Trade that additional tonnage is urgently "e----quired in Mev in order to expedite beef shipments andi take advantage of quantities offering at works. Esti- , mate meat in store on 30th April will amount to 2,400,000 <301 bs carcases, and congestion will be very serious, particularly in view of Matatua and Eangatira* not being available, and Mamiri and Middlesex not loading until June. At Otaki -Raymond Murray was charged with theft of moneys from Catherine Robinson, and fraudulently converting same to his own u.se. There were seven charges, the amounts totalling £69 3s 3d. Defendant pleaded guilty to all charges. Constable Satherley stated defendant for the past year had been driving a baker's cart, and accounts had_been given him to collect, wljile others, not known to iMre Robinson as customers also paid liim. Accused had always 'borne a good character, but had unfortunately given way to temptation. . Accused's solicitor said Murray Hvas anxious to pav the amount at the rate of £4 0s per month. The S.M. decided to give Murray a chance, holding •that he would be far better fighting for his country (accused is in camp) than m gaol. He would write to the military authorities regarding an order of £4 10s month. In the mean time no would convict, and order him to come up for sentence when called upon.