LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4402, 12 April 1922, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

• Owing .to Good Friday and Eas.ter Monday falling on publication days there will be no issue of this journal on those days. Mails which left Wellington on 7th March per R.M.S. Marama via San Francisco arrived in London on ,10th April. To-morrow, being Maundy Thurs day, the day of the institution of the Blessed there will be a celebration of Holy Communion at St. Paul’s Church at 8 am. Evidence in the trial of Arthur William Page, accused of murdering by gunshot Gladys McGregor Hutchinson, at Pipiroa,- on February 7, was heard before Mr J. H. Salmon, S.M., at Thames on Monday and yesterday. The evidence was much on the lines of what was published at the Sime of the tragedy. Accused was committed to the Supreme Court at Auckland on a charge of wilful murder. He reserved 'his defence.

At the Court this morning, beforeMessrs A. White and B. Gwilliam, J’srP., H. T. Wilton (Mr E. W. Pprritt) applied for an-injunction against E. A. Palensky (Mr O’Neill) to be bound over to keep the peace. After the complainant had given evidence the Court decided to dismiss the case, advising the complainant to abate the nuisance within, a reasonable time.

A meeting of the Thames Valley Drainage Reference Board is to be held in the County Council Chambers, Paeroa, on Thursday, 20th inst.>, at 11 a.m., to arrange for the Hon. Mr J. G. Coates’ visit to the district.

It was commented in a cable message- recently that New Zealand is fortunate in regard to the distribution of her population, the building up of big cities with congested populations being avoided. London, for example, has a population of about seven millions, or five or six 'times that of the whole of New Zealand. And the populations of some of the major provincial centres are very considerable, the manufacturing city of Manchester, for instance, numbering approximately three-quarters of a million souls.

Hikutaia is to be congratulated on possessing public-spirited residents whose worthy examples are not only worthy of emulation, but are being emulated. Following Mr W. H. Alley’s generous gift of land for the Alley Memorial Parks Mrs J. Corbett has intimated her intention of donating the handsome sum of fifty guine.as to the funds of the Bowling Tennis, and Croquet clubs, with A he further promise that if more money is required the. executive committee need not go far afield to obtain it.

The dancing season will be opened in Paeroa on Thursday, April 20, when’ the annual ball under the auspices of the New Zealand Co-op-erative Dairy Co., Ltd.,/ will take place .in .the Central Theatre. The music for the event is to be supplied by Mr H. Crickett’s jazz band, from Morrinsville, and the prices for admission have been fixed a'. 6s for double tickets, ladies 2s 6d, and gentlemen 3s 6d.

A peculiar position has arisen at the Ngatea boardinghouse. The proprietress, having given notice of her departure to the owner, left on a. date stated The owner arrived from Auckland bn Monday, the date pif removal, but had not arranged for anybody to take, charge, and the boarders. were left, to take care of themselves. The boarders will be forced to cook their own meals till next week, but, fortunately, during the EpHer holidays there will be few bceupants of the house.

A deplorable lack of interest was shown by the Patetonga settlers last evening, when only about a dozen ratepayers attended .the Settlers’ and Ratepayers’ Association’s meeting, at which two county councillors and the County clerk were present.

Mr T. W. Broderick, Under-Secre-tary for Lands, has written to the Patetonga ’Ratepayers Association regarding classification for rating, purposes of a number of' sections adjacent to the foothills In the Patetonga district. The letter stated that a reclassification bf the Hauraki drainage area was contemplated.

The section, in George Streep adtised for sale by Mr W. M. Cullen has been sold.

One of the advantages of the Paeroa- Pokeno railway is that it will put the Hauraki Plains in. the position of being the dairy and general produce supplier of Auckland, Milk, cream), vegetables, fruit, honey, etc., could be railed into the city within a couple of hours. The line would give the Plains an advantage such as the bridge over the Mersey gave the farmers who were thus enabled to get their milk-carts into Manchester (England) daily. -It is true that while the population of Auckland is only about 120,000, that of Manchester is approximately 750,000, but Auckland is growing and its present population t,akes a lot of feeding. Of course, the main need of the railway at present is that it is the only satisfactory way of getting metal to the Plains for reading as it would be fifty per cent, cheaper for conveyance, and there would' be no such thing as cutting up nine miles o.f road (as occurred recently) with heavy lorries in order to metal about 45 chains of road at the end of that nine miles. However, the Auckland produce market of the future is something, substantial to look forward to.

It appears that there are no drones on the Hauraki Plains County Council. Cr. Death was heard protesting because some additional duty was being placed on him. He complained that he had missed sowing some seed on account of County business. At this juncture the chairman interrup’led by saying that for two weeks he had been carting spoil for a road, gratis. “We have all had our share of it,” declared another, and Cr. Death was burdened with his extra : e’.por.'ibility.