THE Hauraki Plains Gazette. With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE Motto: Public Service MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1923. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4641, 21 December 1923, Page 2

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette. With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE Motto: Public Service MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1923. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

* . Christmas Day will be observed with special services, at St. Paul’d Church, and the faithful will oe given two opportunities of fulfilling thsir Christmas duty. The service at 8 a.m. will be a plain celebration of the Blessed Sacramem of the Altar, and that at 11 o’clock a full choral Eucharist, with sermon. In the evening af 7.30 festival service will be sung, at which the anthem will be Simper’s “Glory to God.” M“ Harold Hill will sing the recitative and air “Comfort ye” and “Every valley,” from the Messiah, and there will be a number of old Christmas hymns and carols to be sung by the choir and congregation. While fitting a belt on a pulley in a milking shed on Tuesday last a married woman, the wife of Mr D. Clot-, worthy, of Huirau Road, Turua, had her hair caught by a revolving shaft, with the result that the whole of her .scalp from the Heck to the top of the head was wrenched off

Towards the end of last week a disastrous bush fire swept over the soldiers’ settlement on the Waitawheta block. Fences have been destroyed, and also a large quantity of milling timber. The loss of grass is a very serious matter, and the settlers are now faced with the problem of finding pastures for their stock, a verydifficult matter in that class of more or less unbroken country. It is reported that one settler has lost all he possessed, including several head of cattle.

Out of an average roll number of 60.9 in the local high school department the attendance for the quarter averaged 56.3, or over 92 per cent., an excellent result for the last quarter of the year. In the primary department the attendance averaged 354.1 out of an average roll of 379.3, or ovei 93 per cent. It i? hoped that parents will assist the school by allowing as many as passible to enter the high school department next year, as an endeavour is being made to secure the services of an extra assistant. It is hoped that if the numbers warrant it a course in business training will be ad (led to the present high school curriculum. The harbourmaster of the Thames River l-as erected a. cross-arm beacon in the midstream of the Deputation reach of the river. It’s purpose is t-3 mark the "deputation snag,” and it also serves to show the sduth-west edge of what is known as the Freeman Channel. The descripiton is: W.oden cross-arms, painted white, surmounted on an iron standard: top of beacon 16ft above low water. The locality is approximately half-way between the Kaimanawa wharf and the Nelherton ferry. A single woman named Esther Spow, aged 46, housekeeper to M.- W. J. Suckling, of Ngarua Woad, Kaihere, died under peculiar, circumstances on Tuesday last. An inquest was held the following day by Mr W. H. Lucas, district coroner, at Thames. It was stated that the deceased was subject to epileptic fits,, and when she felt an attack coming on would go to a neighbour’s house across the road. Oh Tuesday afternoon deceased was seen to cross a paddock and to disappear into a drain. Neighbours were soon on the spot, and the woman was removed from the drain in an unconscious state. However, about three hours later she passed away. Dr. J. J. Valentine, of Turua, made a post-mortem examination, and found that death was due. to hemorrhage of a lung, due to the fall. The Paeroa District High School was closed yesterday for the Christmas vacation, and the children, who,, of course, had been eagerly looking forward to this alliimportant day to them, spent a happy time in song and story and listening to gramophone selections on an instrument kindly lent by Mr Busby. The children were enthusiastic in their Christmas greetings to their teachers, which were heartily reciprocated.