LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4518, 22 January 1923, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Thames Valley Power Board on Saturday turned the supply of “juice” on to Thames. The R.M.S. Marania, from Sydney, witli 554 bags of mails for the. Auckland district, is due .at Wellington tomorrow. The mails will probably reach here about. Thursday. The Farmers’ Co-operative Auctioneering Co. will hold their stock sale at Hikutaia on Wednesday, 24 infet., as per advertisement in this issue.* The Public Works Department has accepted. P. R. Bailie and Co.’s (Wellington) tender, £41,693, for the supply of copper oable for t'he Lake Coleridge scheme. The Te Awamutu Borough Council isi being petitioned to .take a poll on a suggestion to rate on unimproved values. Three years ago the borough rejected rating on unimproved values. On Friday the Minister of Mines (Hon. G. J. Anderson) made a visit of inspection to a newly-discovered coalfield at Whatawhata. The Minister is reported to have “expressed a very high opinion of the prospects for development” and. of tlhe quality of' the coal now being worked. The Brenan Memorial Shield competition. was advanced a further stage on the local bowling rinks on Saturday afternoon. The .weather was very boisterous, the wind preventing any scientific games being played, though a very enjoyable afternoon- was spent. Tn reply to a message from the Governor, General to the King, epnveying, on be'half of the Government and people of New Zealand, loyal and respectful cangratulationfe! to Their Majesties on the engagement of His Royal Highness the Duke of York,- his Excellency has received 'a telegram expressing Their Majesties’ warm appreciation of the message. Letters of naturalisation were issued to Paul Maximilian Hansen in October, 1899, but by Order-ink:Coun-cil dated May 27, 1918, his' naturalisation, with .others,, was revoked. A Gazette notice published on Thursday states that it is deemed expedient to annul such order, and it has consequently been annulled. The first horse sale on the Hauraki Plains was conducted by tihie N.Z. Loan and Mercantile Co., Ltd., at Ngatea on Thursday. There was a gopd attendance of buyers, and a fair yarding of horses, most of which changed hands at satisfactory prices. Heavy draught horses brought up to £3o', and light draughts, suitable for farm work, from £8 to £2O. Horses suitable for riding .and driving brought, from £7 to £l3, and hacks; from £4 to £6. A great many horses that were passed in were afterwards sold by private treaty. Able seaman W. Kehoe, of. s.s. Kehoe, who dived into the sea to secure the line from the Wiltshire in June last, .thus enabling the shipwrecked crew to rescued, is about to be presented with a tankard as a memento of appreciation of his bravery. The tankard bears the. following inscription : “Presented by the chairman and directors of .the New Zealand Shipping Co., Ltd., to Able Seaman W. Kehoe, in recognition of his bravery in the rescue of the crew o' .the s.s. Wiltshire at Rosalie Bay, Great Barrier Island, June 1, 1922.”

Something new in the way of auxiliary schooners was seen at Melbourne recently, when the German sailer Carl Vinnen berthed at No. 20 south wharf to discharge timber firom Baltic ports. The wind-jammer, which is the first German sailer to visit Australia since the watr, was built only last year by F. Krupp, J Kiel, for Messrs F. V. Vinnen and Co., Bremen. Her curious l rig as she entered the river occasioned much, comment among hardened salts. But her first mate (Herr C. Pohl) described her as a five-masted topsail schooner, the new maA being placed between the lore and main in place of the staysails. This mast, he said, was called the “Vinnen” mast, after the company which had designed it- By the introduction of the Vinnen the vessel could make from eight to nine knots an hour in the slightest breeze without the aid of, her auxiliary engine. The Carl Vinnen is of steel, and is fitted with a Diesel engine,, having four cylinders, capable of developing 450 heft’serpower. She registers, 1827 tons gross, and hate'a length of 231 ft with 50ft beam. The total canvas spread, under dull sail, is about 21,000 square feet. She has a crew of twenty-three all told, and is under the eomniand of Captain G. Althaus, who receives a salary, o,f 30s a month, or in German money, about. 48,000 marks.

The Wellington police have issued a warning that a gang of expert pickpockets is operating in the city and at the races. Last week an exceedingly successful sale of Mrs Moore’s furniture was conducted by M|‘ H. A. Marks, Mr A. I. Parker, auctioneer, of Thames, wielding the. hammer. The prices realised were satisfactory in every respect. A party of local Oddfellows, comprising Bros. Phillips, Carrick, Johns, Lawrence, J. Morrison, and P. Morrison, travelled to Morrinsvi'le on Saturday evening to attend an Installation meeting of that The District Grand Officers were present, and carried out the installation ceremony, which proved very instructive, as well as interesting. The visitors from Paeroa thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and speak in high praise of the hospitality acocrdcd them by the M'orrinsville Lodge. According to a statement made by Mr J. Roberts, secretary of the Waterside Workers’ Union, for the six months ended February, 1922, at the port of Auckland, the average weekly wage for 1038 men was £3 3® Bd. If this is taken on a 26 weeks basis the average falls to £2 13s lO'd per week. “Reduction must be made in the excessive taxation,” said. M|r J. T. Martin, at the Chamber of Commerce meeting at Wellington. “It: has become i an intolerable burden, and is so seriously hampering the mercantile institutions of this country in their legitimate trade, stultifying their progress, restricting .their means o f assisting the farming community in their efforts to increase production, and compelling financiers in Great Britain and other countries with money to invest to refrain from placing it here.” The determination possessed by rats ha® been instanced in a very marked manner in a new concrete building in New Plymouth (says the “News”). In one corner was a .trap which could be lifted in case of drain trouble. The sides of the trap were of concrete, an inch in thickness, but the rodents got to work and gnawed a hole through. The hole was blocked next day with more concrete and broken glass, but by the following morning the rodents 'had again, eaten their way through the concrete. This yas repeated for several days, and not until a concrete wall over three inches' .thick was put in did the rats give up the task of attempting to gain entry. Since the present; Whangarei Borough Council has been in. office it has been responsible (for the erection of 41 residences within the borough under the provisions of the workers” dwellings scheme. In 10 1 cases the Council built and sold the houses, and in the remaining 31 advances averaging £750 were made for erection of, buildings in accordance with plans submitted by applicants. The G. H. Scales Co. have engaged the steamer Hannah to follow the Bembridge on the New Zealand loading berth for London. The Hanndh is now on her way to Australia, and should arrive at Wellington about the end of February to load wool, eta. She is a steel screw steamer of 3697 tons gross and -2321 tons net, built in 1913 by the Tyne 1.6.8. Co., Ltd., Newcastle, and is owned by .the Rahtken.s Shipping Co., Ltd., Middlesbrough. The vessel’s engines are by Messrs Blair and Co., Ltd., Stockton. The Hannah is fitted 'With a wireless installation. !

Mr G. H. Knibbs, C.M.G., replying to the welcome to visiting scientists at the Science Conference, said the people of New Zealand and Australia, he believed, had a common destiny, and everything that tended to establish closen - bonds between them augured well for the future of the South Pacific. Unless .the two people fostered a. faith in a great future, they could hardly hope to achieve much, and they might even, lose their inheritage. Science was on the eve of tremendous discoveries; and it should be the aim. of the present, generation .to see that the next, generation reaped the full fruits of scientific research. Research must be encouraged, and the vision of a/splendid future for Australasia kept before the people’s eyes. New Zealanders and Australians, Mr Knibbs suggested, ought to believe as strongly in the future of the Southern Pacific as the Pan-German believed in the future of the German nation, or the citizen of the United States in the future of America. His speech was warmly applauded.