THE Hauraki Plains Gazette. With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto : Public Service. MUNDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. MONDAY, JUNE 30, 1924. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4718, 30 June 1924, Page 2

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette. With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto : Public Service. MUNDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. MONDAY, JUNE 30, 1924. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

; In the last issue of the N.Z. Gazette the Governor-General's consent to the Turua Town Board borrowing £3500 foi; the purpose of providing a public hall is authorised. A tame opossum, the pet of a Ngatea family, came to an untimely end one, morning recently. Instead of taking its exercise in a pine tree, as usual, it climbed one of the, electric power poles with disastrous results. An Order-in-Couneil appears i’ll the latest N.Z. Gazette authorising the Hauraki Plains County Council to, raise the sum of £3400, being a portion of a loan of £15,000 for road construction purposes at a rate of interest not exceeding 6 per cent. A litter of 17 pigs, which a farmer thought some time ago was a record, at all events in hi,s experience, has since been eclipsed by the same sow on the same farm which (says the “Taranaki Herald”) presented the farmer with a litter of 20 pigs. While discussing the necessity af fencing drains at the monthly meeting of the Hauraki Drainage Board at Turua a member remarked that cows on the Plains were so used to walking into and out of drains that many, when they were sent; to the hill country for the winter, walked over cliffs with disastrous results. One settler had lost almost half'his herd through tliis reason. A sequel to an accident at Tahun, in which a woman’s hair was caught in the belting of an engine, was heard at the Morrinsvillc Court when Barnett and Barnett,, farmers, were charged witli using machinery for which a certificate had not been issued according to the requirements of section 33 of the Inspection of Machinery Act. The action was brought to give the matter publicity, that farmers and others might know their liability for neglect. The defendants were fined a nominal amount, the maximum being £lOO. A young lady, dressed according to the fashion of about the year 1900, passing along Main Street, Taumarunui during the lunch hour eno dav last, week, attracted considerable attention, her appearance being all Hie more conspicuous when contrasted with that of two maids in more modern attire, who walked on either side of her. It is understood (says an exchange) that the lady who presented such a quaint appearance had previously been offered a wager, and that her little “stunt” would be rewarded by a considerable sum of money. Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure. For Coughs and Colds, never fails

The special collection in Paeroa on behalf of the British and Foreign Bible Society just concluded amounted to £3l 3s lO’/ad. Miss Coote, the local branch secretary, has a notice of thanks to donors in this issue.

On Saturday morning two basketball teams from the local high school journeyed to Waihi to play an interschool match. The Paeroa A team was defeated by Waihi by 13 points to 12, and the vsiiting B team beat Waihi by 30 points to 5. The Paeroa teams speak highly of the hospitality extended to them by the Waihi scholars.

The fear is entertained among many medical officers pfi health in England that small-pox lias now become endemic at Home —that instead of occurring occasionally as a result of importation from abroad it lias set? tied down to stay. This, says a medical man, is the result of people not being vaccinated. Since the beginning of the year 1556 cases have been notified—more than twice the number in the corresponding period last year.

The projected killing of a large number of horses at the Tokomaril Hay freezing works has been abandoned owing to the objections raised by a con. iderablc section of the Maoris (states the "Poverty Bay Herald"). The horses were to have been rounded mi from the Ruatorea district, where dairying will shortly be commenced, and it was estimated that close on 2000 would have boon collected.

For ways that are dark and tricks that are vain Bret Harte's heatlia'i Chinese could not give many points to a. Wanganui Maori (remarks the “Chronicle’’). He went to a tailor’s shop in the Avenue, ordered a £l4 suit, and paid £1 deposit. That was merely a preliminary,. Thence the Maori kept his eye on the .shop and his patience was at length rewarded when the suit appeared in the window, marked “unclaimed,” and ticketed up at £7. Then the Maori again bestowed his patronage on the establishment, paid £7, and secured the bargain. A ease of what appeared to be a deliberate attempt to wreck a floodgate was reported to the Hauraki Drainage Board on Friday last. The concrete door on the Thames Valiev outlet was found to have been broken in a manner indicating that an axe or hammer had been used rather than that the mishap had been accidental. A member reported that the gate had been severely criticised by settlers from both within and without the board’s area, and he could not believe that the damage had been caused other than by man. As the broken gate had permitted the tide to flow a great distance up the drain and overflow on to farm lands the board ordered a wooden gate to be fitted.

Writing to the Levin “Chronicle” from Plimmerton a correspondent ■says the celebrated Pelorus Jack has had an imitator on a smalLseale in that locality. For several weeks past a solitary porpoise has done sentry-go ilcross the narrow channel at Paremata, where the waters of Porirua Harbour connect with the sea. The channel is narrow here, and the tide rushed in and out with a strong current. This is probably a cute dodge on the part of the porpoise tb get an easy living, as all fish coming in must come through the narrow entrance and the ’tidal eddies make them an easier prey. Fishermen say the porpoise will eat nothing but living fish caught by themselves. The porpoise, which looks" sleek and fat, takes no notice of boats, and these can approach within short range. As may be imagined, he is not a popular visitant with the fishermen who get their livelihood in the vicinity.

The danger of meddling with electric installations is not realised by some people (remarks the “Otagp Daily Times”). The other day the staff of the Electric Power and Lighting Department of the city learned that- a woman householder at Maori Hill had taken what might be termed dangerous steps to cut off her electric powey. She was repairing a room, and, desiring to remove the switch, she simply took a pair of scissors and cut the wires in two. The repapering work done, .she bound the cut ends together again with a piece of tape. Subsequently she discovered that what she had done might not be really effective, and she rang up the department to report her action. Needless to say the department was rather startled to hear of the method adopted to cut off the power, and as a result of its vigorous protest it Is quite unlikely that the householder will ever again adopt such a risky course.