LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4768, 24 October 1924, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

. • The bowling tournament <n connection witii the Paeroa Bowling Club starts at 9 a.m. sharp to-morrow. As the result of the sale of work on Wednesday in the Centenary Hall, between £5O and £6O will be added to the Paeroa Methodist Circuit funds. Potato growers in the Pukekohe district declare that the early crops have been a failure, and that they are averaging only about four tons per acre instead of seven to eight toms. Monday, being Labour Day, will pc observed as a close, holiday by business firms, banks, and the post and telegraph department. The telephone exchange will be opein from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. An extraordinary general meeting of, members of the Paeroa Bowling Club to discuss the extra rental’ charged for the green by the Borough Council is called for Wednesday evening next, October 29, at the club’s pavilion, After a couple of days of sunshine, accompanied by a drying westerly wind, heavy rain commenced again yesteiday afternoon and continued until late in the evening. This morning several hail showers passed over the town. The plain and fancy dress ball held .under the auspices of Mr and Mrs W. Campbell at the Gaiety Theatre, Paeroa, last evening was splendidly organised, and reflected great credit on those responsible for the arrange-; ments. ! Many poultry keepers in this dis-j trict are saving up eggs for higni prices at Christmas time, but last, week nearly one million eggs were* shipped by the steamer Rotorua for England. The shipment is expected, to realise £lO,OOO. i A meeting of the Horahia riding ratepayers will be held at the residence of Mr T. Wheeler on Saturday evening. Several very important matters affecting the district will be discussed including the proposed drainage board, the riding road loan,, and ccunty council affairs in general.; The post office has increased commission on money-orders payable in Australian States and certain other countries. It is a matter of surprise to many people that the Postal Department2 does not advertise these alterations in the same way as other business concerns.

This week’s issue of the New Zealand Sporting and Dramatic Review is well up to the usual high standard with the variety and excellence of its productions. In the racing section appear attractive snapshots of notable New Zealand successes at the Australian Jockey Club’s carnival, while the Whangarei Racing Club’s spring meeting is covered in an interesting series. The centre pages show famous tennis and golf exponents, America’s most beautiful girl, etc. Full pages are devoted to the Wellington Provincial ladies’.golf championship, and portraits of the English cricket team in Australia and the All Blacks in England.

Mr T. W. Rhodes, M.P. for Thames, has drawn the attention of the Government to the advantage of providing a sum of money sufficient to enable research work to be carried on in connection with the flax (Phormium tenax) industry both in the laboratory and in the field or nursery. He pointed out that flax was now being produced on the Hauraki Plains containing 22.5 per cent, of very nice fibre, whereas some varieties in othef parts of New Zealand yield as low as 2.5 pei cent. It is obviouisly desirable that scientific experiments should be conducted with regard to the propagation of disease-resisting plants with high fibre content, in the interest of the industry and to increase production.

The section of road between the Puke bridge and Wilson’s Road having been scarified and rolled, the county road-making machinery was on Tuesday shifted to Carter’s Corner, where a start was made to similarly treat that part of the road towards Turua which was recently metalled but not rolled or blinded. At the present time the metal is scattered except in the wheel tracks, where ruts have developed. As soon as the Wharepoa-Kerepeehi road dries sufficiently an effort will bo made to break up the high ridge in the middle of the road with the scarifier. At the present time the ruts on this section of road are so deep that several motor-cars have been damaged by striking the ridge between the ruts. In the opinion of the proprietor of the bus that runs from Kerepeehi to Thames the read is unsafe for traffic. As a consequence lie lias discontinued the service until the road is improved.