LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4318, 16 September 1921, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The rating value of the Thames Hospital District is £3,887,948.

Motorists are reminded of the "Kprker” demonstration ,to be given at 7.30 to-night, on the section opposite the National Bank, Paeroa.

Copies of the “Gazette” may now be obtained from Mr W. H. Mahony, stationer and fancy goods merchant, next Paeroa railway station.

London advises that mails for New Zealand were despatched via Panama on August 31, by "Waimana,” and on September 8 by the "Tainui.”

Speaking with regard to signatures on petitions, a member of a deputation to the Hauraki Plains County Council said, "If you talk long enougn you can get anyone to sign a petition. If I took round a petition in opposition to the others, the same people would probably sign mine to get rid of me.”

Owing to the southwards express leaving Thames at 9.5 instead of 9.20*' a.m., it has been found necessary to close cetrain mails at Paero.a a quarter of an hour earlier than the present closing time. From Monday, 19th inst., all mails which have hitherto been despatched at 10 a.m. will close at 9.45 a.m.

It is announced, in connexion with the sale of Mr C. A. Hopping’s farms at Hikutaia and Netherton on Tuesday, September 20, that arrangements have been made by the Farmers’ Coop. Auctioneering Co., Ltd., for intending purchasers to. be met on arrival of the early morning trains at Hikutaia on Monday, September 19, and conducted over the properties.

The statement that 42,000 acres of Crown lands on the Hauraki Plains which was sold for £310,000 was now worth £1,500,000, was made by Mr J. B. Thompson, Government Chief Drainage Engineer, in the course of his evidence before the Waihou and Ohinemuri Rivers Commission at Paeroa. Huge sums of money. Mr Thompson said, had been made Dy some people on the Plains. Had the Lands Department known it could have held on to the lands and more than paid for the cost of drainage.

Large congregations assembled last Sunday, and attendances have been good throughout the week, at the Mission Services conducted py the Rev. F. A. Thompson at the Presbyterian Church, Paeroa. Mr Thompson has been emphasising the place of the Cross in the life of the Christian and appealing to his hearers to link up with Christ, and in His strength live on the high plane of unselfish service of our feDowmen, and of devotion to the Cause and Kingdom of God. The Missioner will preach at both services next Sunday, when his subjects will be "The Ministry of Intercession” at 11 a.m. and "A Notable Prisoner” at 7 p.m. Everybody is heartily invited and will be welcomed at the services, which will continue up to and including Wednesday, 21st inst.

Football is catered for in attractive fashion in the pictorial section of this week’s "Sporting and Dramatic Review.” The Auckland v. Taranaki inter-provincial match, the Springboks v. Hawkes Bay and Poverty Bay match, and the Springboks v. Maoris are represented in a sterling set of snapshots reviewing the main points of the play. The Marton Jockey Club’s meeting is also covered in a series of snaps, and Home events include the recent Aidershot Command Horse Show, the Cambridge and Oxford athletes’ visit to America, tennis and golf contests, and other personal touches of unique interest.