LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4366, 16 January 1922, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The need of .a swimming bath in Paeroa, particularly for; the benefit of school children, was stressed in a lea ling article in the "Gazette” recently. Apropos the same subject, when speaking to an audience at Eketahuna recently!, Dr. Truby King stated that alongside every school there should be a swimming pond. No other exercise conduced so much to health and fitness. In the Norta Island bathing should continue the year round; in the South Island for six or eight months of the year.

The indignation meeting held at Ngatea on Saturday may well be likened unto a speaker who gained second prize in some elocutionary c.ompetitions in Auckland some years ago. It was an impromptu speech, and this particular person had paused very frequently, and often very long, for want of sonwthlag to say. In commenting on his performance, the judge said he had awarded the second prize to him because his speech had been well punctuated. The im dignation meeting was well "punctuated,” and op one occasion nearly half an hour elapsed before the debate was resumed.

The Methodist Church; corner section*, which was taken in hand by tne Paeroa Beautifying Society some time ago, is now looking very attractive with its rock borders and flower beds. The two park seats donated by Mr S. J. Laughlin are made use of to a very considerable extent. The latest addition is a bubble-fountain the> son. ciety has just had installed, wherefrom people may drink in a cleanly manner, without need of a cup or other vessel; the pressure of a button sends up a little column of water, bubbling invitingly.

The main road between th© Hauraki Plains and the Horotiu freezing works will, according to the opinion of Mr Hall Jones (Public Works Department), be that through Komokai raw and Tauhei. These two places which Mr Jones mentions lie between Morrinsville and Ngaruawahia districts, and the stock would be driven across the new ferro-concrete bridge recently erected by the Waikato County Council across the Waikato River at Horotiu.

In building a new theatre in Auckland, disappearing shops for the building front are being seriously, considered. The idea is to lower each shop into a well at night, thus making their, roofs part of the floor, of the theatre vestibule. The building site has .already been purchased.

The effectiveness, of a patent fire extinguisher was well exemplified in Messrs Brenan and Co.’s garage one day last week, when, owing to an eelctric spark, a car caught fire. There was soon a sheet of flame and a cloud of smoke, but one application of the extinguisher instantly put the Are out, otherwise serious loss Would certainly have been’ incurred. Those who witnessed the incident state that they had never before seen such a remarkably effective extinguishing mixtiure.

The fate of Turua township as a leading trading centre In the im-x mediate future will be settled next Wednesday by the carrying or otherwise of a loan proposal for the reading'of certain town and district roads. The carrying of both the County and the Turna-Netherton road leans would mean an accretion of- "foreign capital” towards beneficial roads and machinery that Turua will never have another similar chance of getting. Those township residents who see the position clearly are going “eyes out” for both loan proposals. The farming community in the respective districts have had such a surfeit of mud and misery that they do not require educating up to the value of good roads.

The shrewdest man at the races during the holidays was Mr W. F. Massey, Minister for Finance), says the New Zealand Herald. Note that he pulled out of the betting £45,676 in taxes. Altogether £652.480 went through the tdtalisator, but much of it went through several times. It would not be a wild guess to say that perhaps £lOO,OOO would cover the money actually used in these betting transactions, and it will be seen that Mr Massey’s winnings were little short of haM that sum. He was the only man bn the course who was on a certain winner.

A fine example of that spirit of generous comradeship sp characteristic of colonials, was- shown recently in a country settlement in Hawke’s Bay (states an exchange).. One of the setn tiers had a most unfortunate run of bad luck. While his wife was lying seriously ill in the hospital his home, was burned down, and he and his children were left without shelter; It was then that the neighbouring settlers came to the rescue. They provided all. the labour for a new house, and subscribed sufficient money to enable the man to pay his wife’s hospital expenses and to provide for the comfort of his little ones. Such practical charity cannot be over-praised', for it represents in the truest sense “the milk of human kindness.” YOU can learn to heal the sick like RATANA. Particulars free. Apply Box 1397, G.P.0., Auckland*

Good progress is being made with the Paeroa Borough No. 1 sewerage mains. The pipes are laid from the tank to Junction Road, a distance of about a mile. The present contractors (Messrs Anchor and Co) have about 2% miles of excavation and piping to do. The supervisor of the work, Mr H. Rirsden (who, by the way, is an old Paeroa ex-resident), states that the formation of the country is particularly hard, the main drain traversing what appears tb be an old ridge. He expects to be across the railway line tomorrow. When completed the present contract will mean the linking up of the main business and residential area of the town.

A Waihi resident who has recently returned from a visit tb Hamilton and Cambridge (states the "Telegraph”), writing, under the pen name of "Milk Ohi,” says : "I was somewhat surprised to find that in the districts mentioned, where the price of land is much higher than about Waihi, ths retail milk vendors can sell their milk at 4d and 5d per quart, while consumers here are still paying 7d a quart. The price at Cambridge is 4d and at Hamilton sd, and to satisfy you that the flr,st»-mentioned quotation is correct, I am sending you a copy of the Waikato Independent published at Cambridge." In the paper furnished by our correspondent we find the advertisement of a r.etailer announcing fresh milk daily at 4d per quart as from January 1, with a winter supply assured. As the vendor claims to have reduced the price in the district, it is possible that there is competition and cutting and that f somo Cambridge retailers are charging sd, as at Hamilton.

We had occasion recently to refer to tlib presence in Waihi of Messrs F. S. Budd and H. G. Somervell, representatives of the New Zealand Co-> operative Bacon Company. Their object (writes the “Telegraph”) was to interest farmers, and more particularly those concerned in dairying, in piffraising as an important and profitable adjunct to the main industry", and at the same time to add them to the long list of suppliers to the company. Our visitors have since, then approached the majority of the settlers about Waihi, at Waitekauri, the Golden Cross, and Waikino, and so satisfactory has been the response to-their representations that already they have the assurance of support sufficient for them to make t,he statement that it is practically certain that the company will shortly proceed with trie provision of a buying depot, with, weighing scales, at the Waihi railway station, and the appointment of a local buyer to receive and handle pigs raised in the district. This is welcome news, as it will be to the benei fit of settlers and the town to., have such facilities, and when the company’s representatives have completed their task we shall probably make further reference to the industry In the hope of extending interest therein.

The present need for the exter-i urination of rats makes the following of more than ordinary interest. Ari American boy, 12 years old, once cleared his father’s cellar of a pest of rats. Out of some fruit jars he constructed a battery of three Leyden jars, which he connected and placed upon a large iron plate that touched the tinfoil on the outside. The bait was arranged in such a way that when the rat stepped upon th© plate to seize it, he ,at once completed the connection between the outside and the inside of the jars, which, were discharged through his body, killing him on the. spot. The jars were Charged by an electrical machine, also of the boy’s construction. From the room above the cellar a couple ol wires' were run through the floor, and as soon as he heard the rat squeak the young inventor immediately recharged the machine. In three hours 25 rats were slain, and in two days the plague was entirely banished from the cellar.