LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4447, 31 July 1922, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mr. J. W. Silcock has, been elected unopposed to fill the vacant seat on the Paeroa Borough Council caused by the resignation of the Rev. F. McDonald.

The Levin Chronicle says that the Kuku Dairy Company’s payments for the season will be equal to 16%d pe v lb butter-fat.

At the Australasian Institute of Secretaries examinations, held last December, the top place for all Australasia was gained by Mr Leonard Knight, an Auckland student of Hemingway and Robertson’s.

Ari exchange states that the average pay out for the past season of the Stratford Farmers’ Co-operative Dairy Company was Is per lb. and the Hawera Co-operative Dairy Company Is 3d.

The following reply has been received by the Paeroa Chamber of Commerce from the Te Aroha Chamber with reference to the control pf the wharves and river: “Re Thames Harbour Board obtaining control over wharves on the Waihou River, we .have been informed, on good authority, that the Harbour Board has no such intention, ,and, further, that the question has never been considered by the Board. The Chamber is, therefore, of the opinion that no protest need be made.”

A story of quick native wit was told at a dinner in tlie South recently. A native .had been bragging to a European of the number of ducks he had shot out of season. When the European proclaimed that he was the newly-appointed ranger, and asked who the native was, the Maori replied • “Mel I’m the biggest plurry liar in the North Island.”

“The Prime Minister,” said the Minister of Defence (Sir Heaton Rhodes) in the House last week, “promised a deputation of the R.S.A. that he would set up a commission to inquire concerning soldiers! pensions. The men who are to sit as members of that commission have already been selected. Unfortunately there is some delay in appointing the magistrate who is to preside, as owing to sickness and death in the ranks of the stipendiary magistrates the Minister of Justice has not ye: been able to allot a magistrate for the work. I hope very shortly to be able to announce to the R.S.A. that the magistrate has been appointed/’

The Pihama Dairy Company has planted 15,000 trees this season, mostly gums and wattiles. An indication qf how the Pihama settlers are taking up tree-planting is shown by the fact that over 40,000 trees are being planted this winter within a radius of two miles of Pihama. —Manaia Witness.

Miss M. L. Clark, dressmaking instructress 'for the Auckland Education Board, has rearranged her timetable, and will conduct an additional dressmaking class for adults at, the Paeroa Public Hall on Mondays from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. The fees for the remainder of the year are very low—7s 6d for pupils under 18 years of age and 12s 6d for pupils of 18 years and over.

A Palmerston North authority on the questions of Maori history, character. customs, and language assures us. states the Manawatu Tiihes, that although the old time Maoris were an estimable people, there was no sentiment or practice among them which could be accounted as “gratitude.” He points to the proofs as being in the three circumstances mentioned here. There is no such; word in their language. When making a present they invariably expect to receive one of equal value. Their laws and Tabits being communal, mutual service is regarded as a matter duty.

A very curious slug has recently been presented to the New Plymouth Museum by Mr. A. J. Smith. The animal, which is about sin long and wide, was found in a gravel pit at Uruti. The unusual feature about it is that two thirds of the way down its back is a flat shell l%in long by lin wide The shell looks as though it had accidentally dropped on the back of the anijnal, but is a natural growth. Though supopsed to be dead when handed to the librarian the slug soon showed signs of life, apd an enthusiastic local naturalist proposes to give it house room. The beast’s scientific name is Schizoglossa Novoseclandia, and it is popularly known as the paua sflug, from the resemblance of; the shell to a paua. It is rare, and occurs ojnly on the h'brthwest coast o’ this island.

A good story is told against himself by a local good sort, whose adipose matter is accumulating extensively. says the Gisborne Times. On a ”ecent visit to Auckland he found himself face to face with a weighing machine, which, by the way, was ou: of order, and, wishing to know the worst, tried his luck, only to find the machine registering three stone. His chagrin was increased by two urchins standing expectantly near, one of whom exclaimed: “Say, Bill, the bloke’s hollow !”

7ome apposite remarks were passed by Mr. H. W. Bundle, S M., in the Dunedin City Police Court (states the “Otago Daily Times”) when dealing with the application of a boy of sixteen for exemption from military training on the ground of religious objections. In such a ease, the magisfat? said, the military authorities should ge.t the boy to see his chaplain. The Court was hardly the place for a theological discussion, and 'f the lay really held these beliefs it was not, a proper thing that they should be dragged out in court. In the case in question the boy and bis mother belonged to an unorganised sect, which had no definite creed, did not believe in the Orthodox Church, and were content to describe themselves as Christians —those who sought in daily life to carry out the teaching of Christ.

For Children’s Hacking Cough, Woods’ Great Pepeprmlnt Cure.