LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4414, 15 May 1922, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The annual meeting of the Paeroa Chamber of Commerce takes place To-morrow night.

We understand that a sum of approximately £B5 was collected in Paeroa and district, for the Russian Famine Relief Fund and duly forwarded.

Messrs Walsh. Bros.’ Avro 100-h.p. Gnome engine airplane was very well patrontised in Paeroa during the week-end, a large number of people taking theif 1 first opportunity of experiencing the novel and exhilarating pastime of locomotion per flying machine.

The Huirau Road cheese factory has ceased cheese-making for the season. The milk will now be separated and the cream sent te the Ngatea butter factory. The first consignment oi cream from the Huirau, Road factory was sent to Ngatea on Salterday,

The snapping of a wire rope at the Wharepoa ferry was the caus- of the dislocation of traffic across the river at that point for nearly 14 hours. The rope snapped about 11 p.m. on Friday. and it was nearly 2 p.m. on Saturday before repairs were effected, sufficiently to allow traffic across the river to be resumed.

Under the auspices of the West 'Football Club a dance is jp be held in the. Soldiers’ Hall on Thursday evening next. May 18.. An orchestra from Te Aroha has been engaged to play the dance music, and the ideal dancing floor of the Soldiers' Hall a good evening is in store for those who attend.

Tn connection with the forthcoming elections it is rumoured that Mr C. W. Harris, of Waitakaruru. is yet. a possibte candidate for the Thames electorate This fact was also mentioned by a Ngatea settler at a public meeting at Ngatea on Saturday.

Wise and timely advice was given by Mp. G. T. Davidson, chairman of the meeting at Ngatea addressed by Mr A. A. Ross (Farmers’ .candidate) on Saturday evening. Mr Davidson maintained that all .those present should, express their opinions in the hall, where there was a chance of reply .by the candidate, and not leave it.'ill they got into the street to express their views.

Tenders for the erection of a teacher’s residence at Ngatea are' invited by advertisement

“I was amused and interested with the remarks of my friend, Mr Ross, when we were coming here this afternoon,” said kjr McAlpine at a meeting at Ngatea on. Saturday evening. Mr McAlpine went on to say that they bad set 'out early in the afternoon, expecting to reach Ngatea before dark, but the roads had been so bad that the molter.-car had got stuck, and it. took a horse and four or five men to extricate it from the hole in which it had 1 lodged. Mr Ross had exclaimed : “When I get into Parliament I’ll see to these —- I'oads.”

The Awaiti lagoon appears .to be a favourite place for the sportsmen of this district. Some fairly good bags have been reported, among the besr being 56 brace of ducks credited to the guns of four Netherton sportsmen, who reported that game was plentiful. Another party of four from Thames secured 55 brace. On another occasion two Ngatea men found that there were too many guns in the vicinity, and the sport not quite fis good as expected. “I had ten shots and got ten birds,” said one "and my mate only got a few more.” Dairyfarmers are directed to Messrs Treloar Milking Machine Co.’s advertisement on page 3.

Tenders are called for the sale of an unoccupied school reserve section at Komata. /

The Tirohia residents evidently practice the gospel of self-help.. Some time ago they ploughed up the Tirohia School section, and recently laid it down in grass. They had also, in 'tee first instance, bought four acres as additional school ground.

The absence of shelter belts on the Hauraki Plains farms is frequently being commented on by visitors from the hill country. Some settlers have an aversion to trees on their farms, but it is generally upheld 'that shelter for the herds is essential. The Gov-

ernment nursery at Rotorua, it is understood, supplies young trees farmers at a very low rate.

.An unusual mishap occurred on the Piako River .earl,y in the afternoon on Friday. The Northern Company’s s.s. Gaol, returning on the ebb tide from Kerepeehi ’to -Ngatea, struck a mud bank about midway between the two places. Before anything could be done the strong current had swung the vessel round, the stern crashing into and sticking in the willows on the river bank. There the vessel remained lengthways across the narrow river, completely blocking the waterway, so that the river traffic was all disorganised. The afternoon launch te Thames was hung up. The facto. 7 launch from Patetonga was unable to get past, and' the cream had to be winched over the vessel into another launch on the other side. The Piako Shipping Co.’s s.s, Oneroa, which was returning from the up-river ports, was similarly hung up in the river, and the congestion remained till early in the evening, when the incoming tide swung the vessel clear of the obstructions. The steamers were consequently several hours late in leaving fOr Auckland.