LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4575, 15 June 1923, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

At a special meeting of the Paeroa Borough Council held last night a resolution was tabled declaring blackberry, sweet briar, ragwor..,, Californian pr Canadian thistle, and gorse noxious weeds under the Act. At last night’s meeting of the Borough Council the Mayor and chairman of the finance committee wers appointed a sub-committee to arrange a conference of representatives from ths Ohinemuri, Hauraki Plains, Piako ano Thames Counties, and the Boroughs of Paeroa, Thames, Te Arpha, and Waihi to consider some uniformity of regulations regarding- the weight of traffic to be permitted on roads, and a uniform scale of fees to be charged such traffice. During the month of May 31 steers and heifers, 63 cows, 160' sheep, 3 lambs, 4 calves, and 19 pigs were slaughtered at the local abattoirs. With this week’s issue of the “New Zealand Sporting and Dramatic Re- ■ view” the proprietors have eclipsed all their previous efforts, over 150 spectacular pictures being reproduced on art paper. The outstanding feature of t,he number is the wedding of the Duke of York and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon depicted in an exclusive set of photographs covering a special ■’supplement of eight pages. This supplement forms a most picturesque souvenir of a notable event. The Auckland Racing Club’s winter meeting occupies an important section of the ordinary pictorial space, starts and finishes and exciting phases of the principal events being depicted. The centre pages are given up to an attractive series of illustrations covering interesting national, sporting, and social functions in England.

The Murchison County Council wrote to the Ohinemuri County Council asking that it be supported ia a remit that was being sent to the forthcoming conference of the New Zealand Counties’ Association, urging that the Local Elections and Polls Act should be so amended as to provide that the form of voting paper should be in all respects similar to that used at Parliamentary elections. It was pointed out that the placing of a cross in the squares only led to confusion. The Council decided to support the resolution.

For every hundred people in New Zealand who profess some kind of religion 42 claim Church of England belief, 24 Presbyterian, 13 Roman Catholic, and 9 Methodist. In Australia there are 44 Anglicans, 22 Catholics L 12 Presbyterians, and 12 Methodists to every 100 church-goers. Adherents of the Christian religion represent 95 per cent, of the population in New Zealand, and slightly more (97 per cent.) ip Australia. The total number of persons in this category in the Dominion at, the last census was 1,162,741, made up of 587,960 males and 575,681 females, showing an increase of 114,289, or 11 per cent, in five years.

A letter was read at the meeting yesterday of the Ohinemuri .County Council from the Piako County Council stating that at a recent meeting of that body the question of how to deal with rates on soldier settlement lands was considered. The meeting had been of the opinion that returned soldiers should now be placed on an equal footing with other ratepayers as regarded the paying of rates, and that they should be sued like ordinary ratepayers, except in the cases of dire poverty. It was considered that the. soldiers were now either able to pay their way, or must be considered unfit to be on land and should take up some other calling. The Piako County asked for an opinion as to what, action was deemed advisable. The chairman said there were no soldier settlers pr conditions that affected the Ohinemuri County, and it was decided to advise the Piako County Council to that effect.