THE Hauraki Plains Gazette. With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY. WEDNESDAY. & FRIDAY. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1922. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4471, 25 September 1922, Page 2

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette. With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY. WEDNESDAY. & FRIDAY. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1922. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A sitting of the Magistrate’s Court will be held in Paeroa tomorrow. Several defended cases are set. down for hearing.

During the week-end a large barge laden with coal belonging to the Public Works Department sank at the moorings at the Puke wharf.

Tenders are invited by Mrj E. E. Gillman, architect, of the erection in -wood of a residence at Ngatea for the Hauraki Plains County Council. Tenders close on Saturday, October 7.

A successful and enjoyable gift social, organised by the Ladies’ Guild of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in aid of their coming sale of work, was held .in the church vestry on Wednesday evening last. An enjoyable programme of songs, recitations, and <> violin solo was rendered, and the competitions afterwards engaged in, for which prizes were awarded, created much merriment amongst both young and bld. A large number of dainty and useful gifts were received as well as a substantial sum of money to augment the sale funds.

A chcmi-st. who has been ih I’.ie business in Christchurch for 18 years informed a contemporary that so far this year the residents had been re-, markably free from thg usual seasonable complaints. The slight wave of illness prevalent was mostly gastric influenza. Minor complaints, -such as coughs and colds, were affecting the community, but these were what could be expected at this time of the year. It was stated that dryness of the .winter, with the absence of any severe changes in weather conditions, had kept the amount of illness down.

4bout 30,00’0 babies are born in New Zealand annually, and about 1500 of them die in the’r first year. Of the 1500 1000 die during tlie first month.

At the last meeting of the Piako County Council the assistant engineer of the Public Work’s Department advised that the Elstow Drainage Board proposed constructing one mile <8 cha’ns of drain alongside the Tahuna-Paei-oa road. The Board had approached the Department for a subsidy and had offered to spread the drain spoil so as to widen the road. Tlie estimated cost of spreading was 5505 cubic yards at 10s, 1'225 4s 2d. The writer asked if the Council would contribute one sixth of the cost if the Department contributed one-third. The letter was referred to the engineer for a report.

A number of flags were seen flying in Paeroa to-day to mark the occabioti of the fifteenth anniversary of' New Zealand’s elevation to the status of a Dominion. In connection with the visit of Dr. Mary Armour to Paeroa on Thursday next, the committee desire to arrange an informal reception at the Centenary Hall between 12 apd 1 p’clock to afford citizens an opportunity to meet this world famous speaker. For those to whpm it may be .a convenience luncheon refreshments will be provided. The address will commence at one p’clock, His Worship the Mayor presiding. It was a very lengthy meeting which was held at. Netherton on Saturday evening for the purpose of forming a Ratepayers’ Association. Proceedings commenced shortly after 8 o’clock and continued till 11.30. AU those present did not disperse at that time, however, and for some little time longer a number were still at the hall adding their signatures to a petition against the Hauraki Plains County Council’s bridge policy. The Rotpkohu Ratepayers’ Association advertises a meeting to be held in the Criterion Buildings on Friday next, 29th inst. A decree nisi was granted by Mr. Justice Stringer at Hamilton on Saturday in the divorce petition of Gilbert Stanley Gould against Alice Alma M. Gounld on the grounds of adultery with John C. K. Clark. Costs were given against co-respondent. Our readers’ attention is drawn to the replace advertisements 00 W. IEllis, blacksmith, and M. A. Pavlak, dining rooms, appearing in this issue. Of 100 original settlers who took up standing bush sections in the Manchester block, Feilding, in 1887, only about half-a dazen are now in occupation (states the “ Manawatu Daily Times”). Many have died and left their sons in possession, more have sold out with a competence; but none have left through failure. They were of selected stock and their landlord was a corporation of business men. Thirty-one accidents to passengers and staff on .the Christchurch tramways were reported during August, of which 11 arose from attempting to board or alight from ’ moving cars (states the “Press”). With ope exception the results, while painful were not serious. Most of the accidents reported meant inquiry, including the procuration of witnesses’ statements. The darkest days are not now. Between the years 1885 and 1891, said Dr. Mcllraitb in a lecture at Palmerston (states the Times), soup kitphens were established in the four centres,, and Sir Harry Atkinson, .then Prime Minister, offered a meeting of unemployed Is 6d a day in return for their labour. Moreover, he offered to support them for Is a day, leaving any who might take advantage, of the scheme the remaining 6d to do as they liked with. “One shudders to think what would happen if Mr Massey faced a meeting of unemployed ih these days and offered them those terms,” said the doctor. He further stated tha.t in the period 1885-91 mentioned, 20,000 more people left New Zealand than entered it.

A motor van, a mob of bullocks, and a man wheeling ai bicycle in Gonville formed the setting of a drama which was brief but interesting (says the Wanganui Herald). The driver of the motor noticed that one of the bullocks was inclined to be ferocious, and warned the man with the bicycle. Just then the bullock charged, and, lifting the cycle on its horns, went full tilt along .tflie road, with the owner of the machine following Jn hot pursuit. Just where and in what condition he recovered the cycle has not yet been ascertained.

Three thousand pounds is asked for by Sydney Tovey, of Wellington, in a petition presented to the House of Representatives' Petitioner states that on active service he twice injured his back. He received treatment at Home, but on returning to New Zealand was immediately discharged instead of receiving the further treatment which he says was recommended. He makes his claim on the ground of “neglect in treatment.” He is unable, he states, to work at his occupation as a storeman and packer, and he cannot support, his wife and family on his pension of £1 a week.

The latest German invention is tn ingenious instrument for compelling a burglar to ring an alarm bell that shall betray his presence. It is based on the curious property of selenium to become a conductor of electricity as soon as light falls on it. A small but very sensitive selenium cell, enclosed in a box about 6in square, comprises the essential part of the apparatus. It is connected with the alarm bell by a relay, and no current passes through it .while it is in the dark. But as soon as the burglar switches pn his electric torch’, and the rays strike the selenium, the current flow’s and the bells ring. And it will be useless to cut the conducting wires, presuming they are suspended, for that very act will start the alarm. The apparatus may be put anywhere, several in a room, so that it would be almost Impossible to operate against this ingenious burglar detector.

A passage in the annual report of the Director of the Division of School of Hygiene refers to the medical examination of candidates for the teaching profession. It concludes as follows : “If the same habits of living which have given rise in the case of these teachers to fairly extensive decay of nearly 40 per cent, of their teeth are to continue in the younger generations, there is no reasonable hope of ever being .able to cope witn the dental problem in this country. We are not keeping pace with It at present, and there is ample evidence that the prevalence of dental disease is increasing. Is it likely that this extensive disease of the teeth and the conditions causing it have not a serious influence upon the general health and especially upon the future health, of the people ? Can there be any more definite 'writing on the wall’ warning us to look to our diet and general habits of life ?”