THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY. WEDNESDAY. & FRIDAY. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 1925. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4828, 1 April 1925, Page 2

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY. WEDNESDAY. & FRIDAY. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 1925. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

flic monthly meeting of the Ohinemuri County Council is to be held in Paeroa to-morrow.

Operating from yesterday all tollgates within the Taranaki province are now abolished.

Drain-cleaning in both the Horahia and Hauraki Drainage Boards’ areas is now well in hand, and the district ■should shortly be quite prepared for the wet weather.

Steady progress is being made with the erection of the hew railway bridge over tiie Ohinemuri River at Paeroa. Six of tiie principal piles have been driven to an average deapth of about 42ft on tiie left bank side of the river.

A word to the wise'.: Get on the.roll, Tiie borough election is due to be held next month, and residents of the town who hold a burgess’s qualifications should make a point of ensuring that their names appear correctly on the district electors’ roll.

The latest issue of the N.Z. Gazette contains the resolutions of the Paeroa Borough Council to raise the sums of £2OOO for the purpose of house sewerage connection loans and £6OOO for water improvements under tiie Local Bodies Loans Act 1913. ’

Harvesters are now busy on many parts of the Plains, and numerous crop® of oats or barley are being cut.

The Auckland-Paeroa steamer Taniwha is at present undergoing annual survey and overhaul. The s.s. Waipu is replacing the Taniwha.

From to-day every driver or a motor vehicle must have a license. The inspector at the County Office, Ngatea, was kept, busy issuing licenses yesterday to eleventh-hour applicants.

Further evidence from Hauraki Plains settlers in the Supreme Court, action, Shareholders v. the N<Z. Meat Packing and Bacon Co. (in liquidation), was taken at the County Chambeivs, Ngatea, yesterday, and was continued in Paeroa to-day.

Witli the exception of a. small amount of fencing and laying of patns, etc. the work at the Ngatea post office was completed yesterday. The telephone exchange is connected up, but the Morse instruments arc not yet installed.

The Kerepeehi Tennis Club has recently held a handicap tournament. Miss I. Masters was the winner of the ladies’ matches, with Mrs Hudson runner-up, and Mr W. Murphy won the men’s section, with Mr T. Majury second.

By Order-in-Council recently gazetted cinematograph films containing the substances known as celluloid and xyonite, and other similar substances containing nitrate cellulose, have been declared dangerous goods undbr the Explosives and Dangerous Goods Act, 1920, as from to-day.

Contrary to expectations, the remov,al of the Paeroa railway station staff from the present building to the new (station in Moore Street, which was to have been effected to-day, has been deferred until later on in the month. Although the ne|w building is practically ready for occupation, much work remains to be done to the station entrance and platform.

"I have the authority of a reputable builder to say that he is prepared to build houses to-uay at 10s per square foot floor space,” said an objector at the' Wanganui Assessment Court recently (reports the “Herald”), “and use 0.8. timber.” The city valuer said he had seen many estimates of costs of building, and the price was more like 13s 4d.

A party of fishermen drawing off the Napier Marine Parade beach on a recent morning, brought to land their net a splendid specimen of the elephant fish tribe (says the “Telegraph”). These fish possess ehormofis flat bony foreheads, and hanging over their mouths is a curious sort of tentacle that greatly resembles an elephant’s trunk.

“How long will rabbit poison last was a question asked at the Rabbit Boards’ Conference at Feilding recently (says the “Wanganui Herald”). The chief inspector of the Wellington district said that he had known rabbit poison to last 16 years in a sealed tin, but if the. air could reach it it would not last h.alf that time. Mr Munro (Wanganui) said that the Government issued fresh poison every year.

So far as moton traffic was concerned the streets of Paeroa .presented quite a busy appearance yesterday, many motorists preferring to lehve the matter of obtaining their licenses until the last day. The Paeroa Borough Council has issued a total of 81 drivers’. licenses to date, and the Ohinemuri County Council 20. It is considered that there will yet be owners of motor vehicles who have not obtained a license as required under the Act.

The dark-skinned native crew of the Wonganella has attracted considerable attention a| the Bluff, where the vessel is at present unloading Nauru phosphates for Southland (reports the “News”). The 45 members of the crew are from the Philippine Islands, and were signed on at. Manila for two years, though many of them have 'served considerably longer aboard Hie Wonganella. They are American citizens, and many of them the fairly well educated and speak English, though seeming to prefer their native dialect, which is of Spanish origin, Tiie officers on the vessel, ten in all, hail from Australia.

A remarkable eight was recently witnessed by the crew of a, Bluff cutter while cruising off the Heads (says the “News”). One of the members noticed a seagull unable to rise from the water and apparently sick. He steered in its direction with the humane object of knocking the bird tiie head and putting it out of its agony, but on approaching saw that both legs were held in the mouth of a young shark. The shark made away as the boat approached, and the unfortunate gull rose and flew away, when it was seen that both iks legs had been chewed off. Apparently the shark had not been strong enough to drag tiie resisting bird under the water, and" had therefore been patiently hanging on to its legs waiting until its strength was gone and it could be devoured.

"There is a great hope that this new bitumen road is going to save wear on tyres,” said a Wellington motorist to a Manawa,tu Times reporter. “It is well known that there is a difference in the running of the driving wheels-of a, car and the front wheels; it iis purely a rolling motion on tiie front wheels. The running of the driving wheels is in excess of the front wheels, owing to tyre slip in driving wheels, due to lack of sufficient adhesion between the wheels and the road. On a properly laid macadamised road the adhesion is the most nearly perfect, and on concrete and bitumen roads which have not that adhesion to the same extent there is a tendency to create wearing action which becomes greater as the adhesion becomes lass. I saw recently in an American publication that the wear on tyres on concrete had been diminished by some 30 per cent, compared with bitumen.”

Wood’s Great. Peppermint Cure, For Coughs and Colds never fails.

A small consignment of Anchor butter was sent from the Ngatea factory this week for the China market. The boxes were addressed to a firm r.i Shanghai.

The Parish of Hauraki Plains will be honoured at the latter end of this month with a visit from Dr. Averill. This will be the first parish His Grace has visited after being created Archbishop and Primate of New Zealand.

The work of bituminising Dulcie Street was completed on Monday, and a real good job appears to have been made. Tims another street, laid down permanently can be credited to the progressive policy of the Mayor (Mr W. Marshall) and his Council.

Over £45 towards the cost of acquiring a site and erecting a church was raised at ,a Harvest Thanksgiving sale at Kaihere on Monday evening. This sum . includes £lO, which had be'en promised should the proceeds of the sale exceed £2O.

Taking the average price of wool at Is 3d per lb, an interesting fact probably not realised by many is that if one pound of wool were added to the fleece of every sheep in the Dominion an increase, hi the country’s: finance of about £1,500,900 per annum would result

It has been said that the man who causes two blades of grass to grow where only one grew before is a public benefactor. If that be true—and true it assuredly is—what, is to be said of those who established a successful local industry which finds employment for many hands, develops the latent resources of this Dominion and keeps tiie money in the country ? Look tit what the poor gum lands of the North and the barren clays of Nelson, at one time considered worthless for agricultural purposes, are now producing. They furnish the manufacturers with the raw materials for our local brands. And so excellent is this product that no smoker should fail to give it a trial. He is in for quite a new type, a toasted tobacco, mere . fragrant, less nicotine, and, therefore, healthier. A wonderful improvement compared with the,nbntoasted tobacco. There are three grades—Riverhead Gold, very mild; Toasted Navy Cut (Bulldog), of medium strength ; and those who prefer a full body will appreciate Cut Plug No. 10, the Bullhead brand*