THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. MONDAY, JANUARY 11, 1926. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 4924, 11 January 1926, Page 2

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. MONDAY, JANUARY 11, 1926. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Retailers in Paeroa report that, on the whole, trade during last week was, very satisfactory, and -showed a slight increase- on the voilume. of business transacted for .the week following the holidays last year. A number of people were in town on Friday night, and very brisk business is reported to have been done.

A Stratford monumental mason has just completed what must be'a unique order from a fa,rmer in .the Pohokura district (writes a Stratffird reporter) in the form of a small tombstone to one of his sheep-dogs which was accidentally killed.

Among the exports from New Zealand which are steadily growing is that of honey, which last year showed an increase of 200 tons over .the preceding year, or from ’5OO toils to 700 1 tons, valued at between £40,000 and £50,000.

The Japanese .training shifl, Iwate, which has, just reached Fremantle, will arrive in Wellington on February' 18 and leave on the 23rd for Auckland, which will be reached bn February 26. The Iwate is in charge of Captain E'dahara, The vesel will complete its New Zealand visit on March 6.

The total number of men for whom employment had been found by the Department up to Ma ( rch 31, 192'5, is 1418,961 (states the Year Book), and the dependants of these number 181,037. Of the number assisted, private employment was found for 70,413, while the remaining 78,548 went to work of various kinds for the general Government.

Gisborne is disturbed by the unexpectedly' great cost of repairing its tug Pelican, which was bought in October, 1924, and recently was, sent to Auckland for overhaul.. The “Herald” says that a s,um of upwards of £4OOO ha,s been spent on repairing a vessel which only cost the board £5OOO, and twelve months ago, immediately before the purchase, was said to have been placed in first-class order by the vendor, at a eos,t exceeding £2OOO.

A most peculiar accident occurred last week near Newstead, qn the road to Puketitiri, in which two motorlorries, were wrecked and burnt, states the Hawke’s Bqy Herald. When mounting a, steep grade the larger lorry caught fire. The driver of the other truck immediately went back to render aid, but the brake on his lorry failed to hold and it 'ran back and collided with the burning lorry. The force of the impact started the bigger lorry running, and at the same time it set fire to the smajler one. Both lorries plunged over the side, breaking the fences; and falling into a. deep gorge below. They were completely wrecked, and their loads were practically ruined. No one wjas, hurt-

The local solicitors resumed practice .this morning after being closed for the Christmas vacation.

Athletes are adivsed by advertisement in this, issue that entries for the Hikutaia Sports for a,1.1 events a;re extended to Saturday, 16th inst.

New South Wales, has a population, exclusive of full-blooded Aboriginals, of 2,265,056, and of the total Sydney claims 1,012,070. Victoria has a population of 1,667,090,, and 885,700 reside in Melbourne.

The dead body of a well-dressed girl about 18 was found on the floor of the Blue Platter tearooms; Island Bay, Wellington, on Friday. The premises are at present untenanted, and it is presumed that the girl got into the house by climbing through one of the windows and hanged herself two days before.

The post office site is still the aillabsorbing topic of discussion at Kaihere, as no pronouncement has. yet been made by the department. It is asserted that the department’s decision will not be apcepted, but many inquiries have failed to ascertain what form the opposition will take.

Mr Peter B. Kyne, the American novelist, has written to his, cousin, Mr M. J. Kyne, of Gisborne, to the effect that he is leaving America early this year on his visit to New Zealand and hopes to spend atj least a month in Gisborne with him.

Mr Robertson, postmaster at Patetonga, who sustained a broken bone in his wrist in the motor-lorry accident on Boxing Day, when Mr N. K. Evans’ truck went down an embankment, has. been granted a month’s leave* of absence. Mr Tremayne, of the relieving staff, is in charge of .the office. <

Very welcome 'rain commenced to falll on the Hauraki Plains last evening. The long spell of dry weather has, been of benefit to the farmers, as it has permitted hay-making operations ;to be continued without interruption, but it has had the effect of drying up the pastures somewhat in some parts a.nd causing a shortage of water for household and stock purposes.

One of the victims of the land boom as couple ofi years ago was a returned soldier who sold a suburban property in Wanganui for £lOOO, which money he invested in a farm, paying for it £63 an acre. As he was unable to meet his liabilities, the farm was sold over his head, a,nd at the meeting of the Wanganui-Waitotara Patriotic Association an application was received from him for temporary relief.

An indication of the manner in which the rabbits in the East Coast district have been eradicated during the past 10 years was given at the monthly meeting of the Napier Rabbit Board (says the “Daily Telegraph’’). The inspector’s reports showed that the kills from the whole district during the past month totalled 16, whereas the kills for the corresponding period 10 years ago numbered 450.

This yea,r Anniversary Day (January 29) falls on a Friday, and a question has arisen as to the observance of the late night for shops. The Shops and Offices Act, 1921, sub-section 3 of section 31, provides, in such a case as follows : “When in any week a shop is closed and no assistants ftre employed during the whole of the day on which that s,hop may be kept open until 9 o'clock in the evening, pursuant to sub-section 1 of this section, the shop may be kept open and the assistants, may be employed until 9 o’clock in the evening on such other night in the week as 'the occupier may think fit, provided that previous notice in writing of such change has been given to the inspector.”

Faithful John Chinaman had brought the vegetables to a, St. John’s, Hi) ( l (Wanganui) lady regularly for months past, and nearly always at the usual hoiri'. During the holidays he

arrived one morning much earlier and the lady of the house was dressing and was not in a position at that moment to go out and make the us.iial selectioni. Just as John was passing the window she called to her daughter Ella, and she remarked, “You go, Ella.’ 1 ’ John evidently heard the remark, for when the daughter came to the door all smiling she met a, fero-cious-lpoking John, who remarked : “Whaffor go. helja, you go hella yourself

One of the- queerest accidents that could beflal a motorist, and one which no amount of precaution could prevent, occurred to-a Wellington motorist whilst driving along the road to the Tauherenikau racecourse on Saturday last. Whilst the car was travelling at a fair rate ot speed the plateglass windscreen wa,s suddenly shattered without any obvious cause, and it was only through the coolness of the driver that, this strange occurrence did not result in the car swerving dangerously into the! ditch at the side of the road,' for hi» hands were cut and scratched by the broken gljase, which fe'll all over him. He could oiily conclude that the accident was due to one of the front tyres, by some means or other, throwing a stone in the air and the car dashing against it.

They say that it is much better to be born lucky than rich. One evening a young man, while attending the pictures, accidentally dropped a small piece of white paper in which was rolled and tied in a neat package two much treasured £5 notes, sa,ys> the North Auckland Times. The young man did not miss the money until next morning, and thought that it ha'd “gone west”. His mother, however, was not going to give up hope so easily, and got to work to carefully search the track that the young man had taken to the theatre, and had h»r search rewarded by finding the ’lost notes in the water channel outside the theatre door. What a find someone missed!

Tenders for various booths for the Hikutaia Sports are invited until Saturday, 23rd ihst