LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4665, 22 February 1924, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The. ease of Higgins, now lying under sentence of death in connection with Hie Waikino murders, will in all probability be considered at the end of next week, when there will be a full atl' iidance of the members of the Executive Council in Wellington.

Supplier to the Huir.iu Rbad phceese factory have just received a final payment for the 1922-23 season of .823, making the total payout for the season Is 8.45 d.

Mrs Budden, wife of a share-milker at Tahuna, got her hair caught in the belting of a milking machine engine anil was whirled round the shaft a couple of times before the engine was stopped. Very severe injuries were caused to her bead, the skin being takeju off on the nose, forehead, and round the ears.

Au incident which had i’s pathetic side occurred on the Paeroa-Waihi section of the railway on Saturday aftemcon last (says the Waini Paper). A Maori woman with six dependants, boarded the train at the Paeroa station bound for Waihi in order to join her husband, engaged in gumdigging at Katikati. She was quite without means to pay the" necessary railway fares, but a good Samaritan furnished the money for three adults, but there was still no provision for her four young children. The guard in the course of collecting tickets was confronted with a problem, the solution of which was met on the train’s arrival at Waihi by the stationmaster who referred the matter to the police.

During last week the Unden-Secre-tary for Lands, Mr J. B. Thompson, an-! the Chief Drainage Engineer, Mr O. W. Campbell, have been louring the Plains and looking into many matters brough up before the Minister for Lands on his visit in December last. Settlers were met at many places, an I full d, tails of their requests were noted by Mr Thompson, who promised to give a written decision in p.oout three weeks’ time, after he had conferred with the Minister. At Patetonga Mr Thompson assured the settlers that the iO per cent, penalty would not be added to drainage rates from that district for the time being. From the tone of the meetings settlers are looking ’ forward to a sympathetic reply from ihe Department.

Speaking at the A. and P. Association’s smoke concert at Masterton on Tuesday night the Hon. W. Nosworthy, Minister for Agirculture, said that since he had assumed the portfolio of Immigration no fewer than 35,000 immigrai.ts had been brought to the Dominion. and he felt he could safely say that every one of these had been placed in the position of Going well for himself. For three years up to last year 8000 men, 9000 nomen, and 7000 children had been landed here, so it would be seen that from an agri-, cultural and pastoral point of view we were starting on young stuff. The Minister said that he believed in immigration, but did not believe in bring.ng immigrants into the country quicker than the country could absorb them.

The Education Department has approver of the proposals of the Auckland Education Board to hold two courses each of one week’s duration, at Ruakura Government Farm of Instruction for the senior boys in the secondary departments of district high schools. Boys from the following schools will attend : DargavUle, Aratapu, Warkworth, Waiuku, Te Awamutu, Te Kuiti, Taumarunui, Pio Pio, Otorohanga, Cambridge, Morrinsville. Matamata, Rotorua, Opotiki, Whakatane, Te Puke, Tauranga, Waihi, Paeroa, and Te Aroha. About ninety boys will attend each course, the first week’s class beginning on March 10. The Education Board’s instructors in agriculture, Messrs Hudson, Hesse, Dennehy, Dill-Macky, McKinnon, and McCaskill, will be in charge of the boys, and, together with officials of the Department of Agriculture and the Farm staff at Ruakura, will give a series of lectures and demonstrations on Agricultural Science and Practical Farming.

“It is only a little over a quarter of a century since L stood in Michigan Avenue in the city of Chicago, wit’i thousands of others, waiting to see some 100 l driving down the street in a horseless carriage,” said Mr T. W. Patterson, while speaking at Carterton, “but he was not a fool ; he was a genius. He had solved the problem of transmission of internal combustion power to the thing we called a “horse-, less carriage,” and look what we have to-day. In the United States there is one automobile to every eignt people, and in some States one automobile to every five people. How long will it be until Now' Zealand has proportionately as many automobiles ? The day is coming.”

-The composers of “Yes, We Have No Bananas” probably did not write their ,song with a view to improving the banana trade, but exporters of the fruit in all parts of the world are now indebted to them for advertising their product, for reports show that demands have vastly increased since the song came into favour. “Yes, We Have No Bananas” is apparently attaining world-,wide immortality, the banana growers of South America are reaping increasing profits, and the truth of the adage “It Pays to Advertise” receives another telling demonstration.

rhe New Zealand Sporting and Dramatic Review consistently maintains *ts high standard for pictorial excellence, and this week’s issue is another strong testimony to this enviable claim, in the racing section appeal snapshots at the Te Kuiti Racing Ci üb’s annual meeting and the Otahubu Trotting Club’s summer gathering. The Egmpnt meeting at Hawera is given a generous showing, while the racing carnival in Gisborne is also represented. A series <>f photographs that will appeal to all is that devoted to the Governor-Gen-eral inspection of the boy scouts at the Auckland domain. The stage an l niiotion picture section have an ex-, ceptionally fine showing in portrait.: and .scenes.

Th® Te Aroha School Committee has already raised £3OO tor improv, ing the school grounds and expects to obtain a further £2OO by Blaster time.

About four hundred pupils of the Paeroa District High School, accompanied by teachers, parents, and friends, left by., special train this nioniing for Te Aroha, where the annual picnic is being held. The Konnta school children are also taking part in the day’s outing. The party will return to Paeroa by the usual 7.20 o clock train this evening.

■‘l suppose I might as well tell the sun to stop shining as to tell you feb lows to .stop drinking,” said MT A. M. Mowlem, S.M., in the New Plymouth Court on Saturday when dealing with a fireman off the Westmoreland whose devotions at the shrine of Bacchus had made him so obstreperous that ne assaulted the first and second officers of the vessel.

At Wednesday’s special meeting o£ the Plains County Council the engineer reported that the Wharepoa ferry was leaking badly, and the ferryman thought it would not be able to run agaiti. A waggon of coal was on boird and the punt was sunk. Or. Nicholson said that since the winch wa< broken the punt had been made fast to a slack rope. The engineer was instructed to look into the whole' matter

A member of the swagging fraternity called at am Oamaru farmhouse and asked for food (relates the North Otago Times). The farmer’s wife gave him half a loaf of bread and some butter, and told him he could procure milk from the dairy. He th-ew the bread at her feet, exclaiming. “Have you no meat or tea?”

”1 know some of you tiling I’m long winded,” said Cr. F. R. Cooke in the course of a speech at a meeting of the Christchurch City Council, ‘‘but it is necessary to indulge in repetition in order to drive the arguments into the minds of some of ."ou, »whose minds have been suspended since the age of 14 years.”—Exchange. In Popular Mechanics, of Chicago, it is announced that Mr Frank L. Newbury, of Reefton, New Zealand, offers an award of £750 for an effective Blackberry bush exterminator that will pass a test conducted by New Zealand Government experts. It must impregnate itself in roots of bushes without harming surrounding plants. A reply has been received by Cr. McLoughlin from the Hon. C. J. Parr to representations made recently concerning the Ngatea, post office, stating that the Hon. J. G. Coates has promised to look into the matter.

A peculiar case of theft i.s reported from Westport. The Court officials discovered Unit twelve sheets had been removed from the criminal record l ook. The motive for the theft was evidently to secure the stamps, valued at over £BB, affixed to the sheet- The theft caused consternation among the Court officials, and the auditor reported the matter to the authorities. The result was that a young man who had been employed as a temporary clerk and electoral officer, and who had access to the room containing the record book, was interviewed by Detective Young and subsequently arrested and charged before Mr Lawry, S.M., with havingstolen the sheets. He was fined £2O, and twelve months was allowed in which to pay. An application for costs by the police was disallowed, as the magistrate said that the fine had been made sufficiently substantial to cover sueh amount. An'order was made for suppression of the man’s name.

A London resident, writing at the start of the year to friends in Wanganui, states- among other things: "The City is a sad place nowadays. The effect of the election has been disastrous to business. People here are very afraid of a Labour Government, but I think they are wrong to be so seared. They are sure to make a mess of things, but as every Government invariably does the same thing (if only it lias enough time), what does it really ’ matter ? London is very dark, very cold, and very, veiy we [. —j n fact, the New Year has opened somewhat Pnauspiciously, but that doesn’t matter so long as it ends well I” —Wanganui Chronicle.

" You ask me to explain the reason for the movement of the rural population into the tow,” stated Professor Shelly at Riverton Summer School for Teacher-s. ” I can give you one good I‘enson. and you will find it in a little book which 1 would recommend you all to read, viz., Standard IV Arithmetic. it goes like this: “A merchant buys 100 bushels of oats from a farmer at 2s 6d a bushel and sells them again at a profit of 50 per cent. (Question) : How much did he receive ?” “ You see you are teaching a fourth standard boy that there are merchants who can make 50 per cent, profit out of the oats the farmer grows, atid that boy is usually share enough to realise that the merchant juggling with 50 per cent, profits i* in a better way than poor old dad who grows the oats in the first place, so he decided to give up the idea of growing oats in favour of buying and selling them.’’—Exchange.

In connection with the provision of the Education regulations regarding the award of senior free places by recommendation, the regulations also prescribe that a senior free place may be awarded only to a pupil who, after otbainjng the educational qualification for a junior free place, has satisfactorily completed a course of inst”iict'on during the two years immediately preceding. In dealing with the recommendations of Technical High School in the past it is consl:l-. ered that the Department has been too lenient in regard to the requirements of the regulations dealing with attendance and qualifications. In future directors of technical high schools are urged by the Director of Education not to consider any pupil who has not fully complied with the conditions. No hardship will be caused by such action, since it is open to those pupils who are not eligible for recommendation to enter for the intermediate (senior free place) examinaobtaining the educational qualification.