THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto Public Service. MONDAY. WEDNESDAY. & FRIDAY. FRIDAY DECEMBER 17, 1926. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 5066, 17 December 1926, Page 2

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto Public Service. MONDAY. WEDNESDAY. & FRIDAY. FRIDAY DECEMBER 17, 1926. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The National Tobacco Co. (Napier) shows, a net profit of £8251 for ife third year ended. Octobqr 31. To. .this is added £1394 carried forward from the previous year. The directors recommend the distribution of a divident of 12% per cent, on thq ordinary shares, and 8 per cent, on the preference shares. .

The’Thames Borough Council' has decided to purchase nearly four"acres. at Tarar.u for a public park. The t property in question is about a. milQ from the post office and close to a beautiful sandy beach. The acquisition of an area suitable for a public park in this vicinity has bee,n advocated for some time.. In the early days part o’f this property was a racecourse and sports ground, and many notable athletic contests we,re held there.

- For the purpose; of securing cheap road metal the Thames Borough Council hais opened, up and equipped a quarry which up to the present has cost, £13,383. To complete the equipment another £Bl2 is required. By the time the loan, together with interest and sinking ’fund, is paid off, the capital, cost will be in the region of £35,000, and if -metal can be produced at Is per yard less than it can be purchased from outside sources something like 700,000’ yards will have to be, delivered before the undertaking becomes a payable proposition. The Council is. of .the opinion that, a market can be found for the metal.

The, engineer of the Thames Valley Power. Board is. still very interested in the utilisation of electrically driven centrifugal pumps, to assist the gravity drainage of land. He is hopeful of securing machines at £146; Auckland, which will lift 300,000 gallons of water an hour against an Bft head. A 25 h.p. electric motor will be mounted vertically on ,the same shaft as the pump, and the whole of the pump will be submerged. These particulars were givqn by Mr W. E. G. Willy at the Horahia Drainage Bpar.d meeting yesterday, and it, was decided to ascertain full particulars.

This week’s issue df the “N.Z. Sporting and Dramatic Review” is particularly attractive. The fine centre, pages are devoted to graphic pictures, of the Atlantic Fleet pageant in the Channel witnessed by Dominion premiers. Besides the Waipa and Ta ( kapuha race meetings, the Wellington Trotting Club’s meeting also has good representation. Scenes at Luna Paik evidence the interest taken in Auckland’s new attraction on the waterfront,. Tennis, golf, and football occupy promintent places}, and there is ■i’ln exceptionally striking series o’f overseas and local, subjects. A beautiful frontispiece of Marie Burke and other stage and motion picture favourites, together wtih social portraits, add to the universal interest df the publication.

New York architects announce two office buildings, each of 65 storeys, which will overshadow the Woolworth (60) and the Metropolitan Life (50) sky-scrapers. A new apartment h°use for the wealthy being erected hear the river has a yacht basin in the basement and a landing platform for aeroplanes on the roof. This, too, will be, a sky-scraper.

That etwo million pounds sterling could be saved annually in New Zealand in outward shipping 'freights was a statement made by Mr L. C. Walker at the meeting Of residents at. Hornby (says ,the Lyttelton Times)’. It was not ,the shipping charges thajt cost the money, he said, but the .amount of cruising that was done from port to port of the Dominion, and delays at the wharves.

An astonishing discovery, which may lead to an important, enterprise, has just come ,to light in the Levin district (relates the “Chronicle”). This is nothing less than the discovery of pearls o'f commerci'ajl quantity in mussel shells 'from the Hokip beach, which is only a few miles fr.om the town. The find was. made by a boy, who gave some of the gems away, and showed others to his school teacher, as a result o'f which inquiries were instituted to ascertain their potentialities 'ajs a .marketable commodity. The opinion of a local jeweller who now holds halT-a-dozen of the pearfls is that, although they are of different grades, they are a promising collection. /

The Church of England vestry at Gisborne is taking vigorous steps to introduce the duplex system of finance into the parish (says the Poverty Bay Herald). Meetings this week are being held in the suburbs to advance the initial step. The. principle, shortly put is to place; the cost of running the church and more fully aiding its missions and social work in the outer world, systematically, upon all parishioners in sm'ajl amounts, and doing away with present methods of raising money, which ar.e so costly, both of time and money, to all the workers engaged in them. It also doe.s away with all financial considerations in public worship, the-church services being wholly freed from offertories. Public wprship becomes really free to all, without cost of any kind.

That some buyers, after purchasing boxes of strawberries in .the Christchurch market, took berries from eafch box for the purpose of filling extra, boxes for sale, was the substance of remarks; made .by Mi’ L. Paynter, Government orchard instructor, at. a meeting of the Canterbury Fruit Growers’ Association, states .the Lyttelton Times. By this, procedure, it appears, some fruiterers are- enabled to sejl more boxes thajn they buy, the result being a larger profit. It was stated .that in some cases one fresh box was made from every three bought, from the; grower, an increase of 33 1-3 per cent, to the buyer.

Visitors to Sydney from New Zealand during Christmas time will be able to enjoy what to most of them will probably be the "novel experience of travelling beneath a city’s surface in electric t,r.ams (reports the Sydney, correspondent of the Otago Daily Times). The' underground city railway is expected to c®irry its first passengers on December 20. The underground trains will run only as far a.» the first station, St,. James, but it will be a novel experience nevertheless for Australians and visitors from the 'Dominion' who not been to England dr. America. It is anticipated that duriiig the rush- hours trains will p®ss put of it every 'four, minutes or so. On,e. o'f the big drapery emporiums will have something to thank the underground for, as. travellers by it will emerge practically at it,s door. It will bq an epochal day for Sydney when the first passengers step from the underground train at , St. James, in the heart df the :city.

“He’s a good ’usband, Sir, mostly, but ’e’s like a bear with a sole ’ed when ’e don’t get ’is pipe, and it don’t always run to it,” a poorly-dressed woman told the magistrate at an East End of London Police Court when giving evidence against her husband for assault. The magistrate smiled sympathetically. He evidently knew from personal experience the sootliing and tranquilising effects of the weed. But there are tobaccos and tobaccos. Some brands rae just rank with nicotine and cannot be indulged in constantly with impunity. About the safest tobaccos on the market are those grown and manufactured in. New Zealand. They are all toasted, and contain so little nicotine that there is no fear of developing “Smoker’s Heart,” a distressing malady, or nerve trouble. These tobasecs appeal to all smokers, and the more oyu smoke them the better you like them. That’s why they are meeting with such a large saie. Ask any tobacconist for Riverhead Gold, mild; Navy Cut (Bulldog), medium; or Cut Plug No. 10 (Bullshead), full strength.*