THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY. WEDNESDAY. & FRIDAY. WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 1923. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4587, 18 July 1923, Page 2

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY. WEDNESDAY. & FRIDAY. WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 1923. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Prior to proceeding with the usual business at t,he Paeroa Chamber of Commerce last evening the president (Mr E. W. Porritt) referred feelingly to the loss the town of Paeroa and district had sustained by che death cf Mrs J. Brenan. A vote of sincere condolence was accorded Mr Brenan and his family in their bereavement. The motion was carried in silence. Owing to the spring tides the Piako River is still at flood level. Most of the surface water has gone, but the ground is still very wet. At Kopuarahi very little improvement is noticeable, and several farms are still completely under water. An extra outlet has been cut across the load near the school and the water is getting away very quickly. It will be impossible for the Kopuarahi school to be opened until the water subsides. Over two thousand cows have gone through Waitakaruru to the hill country around Mang.atarata and Maramarua during the last few days-

Mr C. Skitrop, consuling engineer, writing to the Morrinsville Borough Council, stated that it was a mistaken idea that a bituminous asphalt road was worn out sooner than a concrete one, but he pointed out that pure bitumen being a universal product did not perish or lose its adhesive and water proof quality with age. All that was necessary to keep the street good indefinitely was to keep the wearing surface renewed as required as was also the case with concrete, which had to be covered with a bituminous wearing blanket. He quoted the' following costs for a road one mile long and 18yds wide ' Formation and scarifying, 10,560 square yards, at 9d, £396; broken metal four inches thick, 1174 cubic, at 16s. £BBO 10. s; metal chips, 360 cubic yards, at 17s, £36o'; Union asphalt, 13,200 gallons, at Is 3d, £825; rolling, £176; total, £2583 10s ; average cost,, 4s 10%d square yard. The above-mentioned estimates included all material and labour.

When the fact that stock sales were to be resumed at Paeroa was mentioned and support of them asked for at the Chamber of Commerce last evening a member was heart! to remark: “I will gather up those confounded ducks of my wife’s and take them along. They are an absolute pest around the place.”

Mr G. H. Taylor, headmaster of the Paeroa District High School, has been re-elected to the management committee of the Auckland branch of the New Zealand Educational Institute for the ensuing year.

A little excitement was caused at 5 o’clock last evening when a Chevrolet car, driven by Mr L. Mitchell, of the N.Z. Insurance C0.,-Ltd., collided with a Maori boy on horseback. The car was proceeding at a steady pace along Belmont Road, and when opposite Say’s butcher shop the Maori boy pulled his horse right across in front of the car. The result was a collision. The horse was lifted bodily off its forelegs and the Maori boy toppled off on to the road. The car was promptly stopped. The only damage that resulted was a broken headlight glass and a bent mudguard to the car. The horse was slightly cut on its front legs, but, the boy was unhurt. He was quickly surrounded by a crowd of his schoolmates on the footpath, to many of whom he appeared as somewhat of a hero.

Branch secretaries of the N.Z. Farmers’ Union have been circularised asking if settlers require farm labour. The provincial secetary has the names of several new arrivals, some of whom have had experience on farms. The Governor-General has accepted the offer of .the Union to place some of the 100 men who will be discharged from the warships Philomel and Chatham in August on farms.

Pointing put the wisdom of establishing big centralised factories, Mr A. J. Heighway, representing the management of the N.Z. Co-op. Dairy Co., at a meeting of Morrinsville suppliers on Wednesday evening, said that the company’s Waharoa factory made 90 tons of butter per year per man employed. He knew of a small company in the district which made 30 tons per man per year.

A few days ago there passed through Shannon something new for these parts in <the car line, namely, a steam-driven car. It was on its way from Wellington to New Plymouth. The car, which was a flveseater, to all outward appearances did not look any different tp a petroldriven car. The engine is at the rear while the boiler is in the front, the funning of the car being controlled from the wheel,, which is on the left side. There are no gears, carburettor, clutch, etc.,, to go wrong. A local resident who journeyed to Tokomaru in the car spoke in high praise of the smooth manner in which it travelled.—Levin Chronicle.

" We will have to take on India* China, Japan,, and Africa,” said Mr Joseph Clark, director of the N.Z. Cooperative Dairy Co., at a meeting of suppliers at Morrinsville on Wednesday evening, when discussing the necessity of extending their market for dairy produce. Milk and butter were coming into more use in the world and the East was cultivating European modes of life. Their opportunity in the East, therefore, was coming.

Eighty-Hwo years ago Mrs Rubin Short, who is only fourteen months away from celebrating her hundredth birthday, stepped ashore with her mother,, t,wo brothers, and three sisters from the sailing vessel . Lady Nugent on to the beach where now is the extensive business area of Lambton Quay (states the Wellington Dominion). With the exception of partial deafness Mrs Short is still in possession, .of her faculties,, and takes an active interest in life. Her brother, Mr Sou'thee, of Feilding, is still enjoying good health at the age of 96, and her husband only died twelve months ago at the age of 94.

The Te Awamutu police captured a motor-car load of liquor thait was being taken illegally sinto the King Country on Thursday afternoon. For some considerable time efforts have been made to catch "droppers,” and on this occasion the Te Awamutu po'ice motored to the boundary of the King Country, after a suspect had passed northward earlier in the day. They drew itheir car across the road, effectively blocking progress, and the suspected car, which arrived only a few minutes., later, was forced to pull up, actually in forbidden territory, It is very seldom that special trains are requisitioned by private individuals in New Zealand for making hasty journeys, but las(t night (says Monday’s Waikato Times)', o»n the ar--rival at Frankton of the Main Trunk express from Auckland, a male passenger hurriedly made his way to the office of the stationmaster, who conducted him to a side line,, where* an engine with a carriage attached was already steaming. This had been ordered by telephone from Auckland, and (the man immediately boarded her and the train dashed away on an urgent journey to Rotorua. Travelling by “special” is a somewhat expensive mode of getting about the country, and the journey from Frankton to Rotorua would cost, the passenger something in the region of £5O. Specials are charged for on the basis of 12s 6d pei' mile for the first 30 miles, and 9s 3d thereafter, with a minimum charge of £6 10s. Were this method of exclusive travelling to come into general use,, there would be little fear of the railways not paying.

There is not an idle carpenter in Waipukurau (states the Napier Daily Telegraph). On every side can be heard the voice of the saw and hammer. In the main street the new Public Trust offices have been started, three shops and an auction room are well under way, whilst extensive improvements are being made to a business premises at the southern end of the town. Outside of the business area residential buildings are being erected in all directions. Never was, the busy central Hawke’s Bay centre appeared more prosperous.