THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto Public Service. MONDAT, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. FRIDAY, JANUARY, 14, 1927. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5075, 14 January 1927, Page 2

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto Public Service. MONDAT, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. FRIDAY, JANUARY, 14, 1927. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

As required in tire terms of the Shops and Offices Act, a special 'Meeting of the Paeroa Borough Council was held last night to consider tne fixing of the statutory half-holiday for the borough for the ensuing twelve months. There being no petitions before the meeting, and the people of Paeroa apparently being satis.fied with present arrangeuients, Cr. F. E. Flatt moved that Saturday be th.e half-holiday, as at present. Seconded by Cr. J. W. Silcock. The resolution was, carried, Cr. J. Pinder being the only dissentient.

It, was resolved at last night’s meeting of the Paeroa Borough Council that the builder o'f a dwellinghouse in Arney Street be again notified that he had not complied with the by-laws with regard to the class of timber used in a portion of the house, and that unless the by-laws were complied with within 14 days the council would take action.

Returned soldiers.. of Turua. have taken the. initiative to promote a, reunion of all Hauraki Plains ex-service men. The matter is in the hands of an energetic committee, and a function has been arranged to be held in the last week o'f this month at which a record gathering is anticipated.

To enable the council to construct the kerbing and channelling at a specified curve at the Belmont-Sta-tion Road corner Mr R. Rasmussen has donated about 10ft of his property frontage. Intimation to this effect

was made by Or. P. E. Brenan at the Paeroa Borough Council meeting last night. It was resolved to thank Mr Rasmussen for his generous and pub-lic-spirited action.

In his quarterly report to the Domain Board meeting last night Mi- W. Hamilton (superintendent) stated that the weather had been the worst he had experienced for many years, and as a consequence his; time had been largely occupied in the cutting Of grass, and the mowing, of lawns, as the growth had been so phenomenal.

Farmers on the Hauraki Plains have been busily engaged during the past week of fine weather getting in their hay crops. Generally the crops have been heavy, and a shortage o'f labour has been experienced. Travellers passing through the district have commented on the fact that the abundance of hay apparently causes, farmers on the Plains to take less care in the building of their stacks than is taken by 'farmers in other districts. The fact that few, if any, stacks are covered or thatshe.d was commented on by one tnavellej, who observed that further south stacks were covered as soon as possible by sheets o’f corrugated iron. Long narrow stacks with a top sloping to the prevailing wet weather winds were built.

During the past few very hot days the bitumen roads, about Turua have been bleeding considerably. The Tur.ua Town Board has had all its bitumen roads covered with sand to absorb the bitumen.

Picturesque incidents of the racing and trotting carnivals in 'Auckland 'form an attractive portion of the. illustrations in this week’s issue df the “N.Z. Sporting and Dramatic Review.” The centre pages arc devoted to snapshots, of patrons on the lawns at Ellerslie arranged in artistic fashion. The Northland Trotting Club’s meeting at Whangarei is depicted in a comprehensive series, and the gatherings o'f the. Taranaki Jockey Club and the Manawatu Racing Club also occupy prominent space. The motor-cycle gymkhana at Blandford Park is. the subject of a thrilling page of happen-, ings, and in more peaceful vein comes a series o'f photographs at the Russell regatta. The Maoris v. Blackheath match furnishes interesting snapshots, and there is an interesting miscellaneous section. Fashion, stage., and motion picture sections are dealt with in the usual attractive style.

At last nights'meeting of the Paeroa Borough Council three building permits, totalling £712, were authorised.

In reply to Cr, Mayn the Hauraki Plains county clerk reported on Thursday that during the. last few weeks the Pipiroa 'ferry had been paying well. The receipts for the period from December 20 to January 12 was £5l os, 3d.

During December the revenue in the district fund account of the Pae.roa Borough Council amounted to £Bl6 Is Bd, and the expenditure totalled £420 0s sd. The net credit balance in the fund affter meeting advances made to various loan accounts amounted to £1928. The position of the various loan accounts, exclusive of advances made is as follows : Street Improvement Loan Account,, debit, £207 7s 4d; House Sewerage Connection Account, debit, £375 8s 2d ; Domain Improvement Loan Account, credit, £3 19s Id; Sewerage Loan Account, debit, £129 9s sd; Council Chambers Loan Account, credit, £43 15s Bd.

Motorists passing through the Hauraki Plains lecently have commented on the big clumps of grass lying on some of the roads. These clumps are of tall fescue, and have been removed by employees o'f the County Council or by farmers and placed on the roads, where the traffic will effectively destroy all trace of this grass, which is becoming a pest.

A break in the recent spell of fine weather took place locally last night. Shortly after 5 o’clock heavy clouds banked up from a westerly direction, and before 8 o’clock heavy rain fell. With the rain the temperature dropped, and to-day has been squally and more like a spring season day than one nearly in mid-summer.

One usually associates, a Bible class camp with soft cooling drinks, but at one in the North Island a barrel O'f beer was ordered (says the Wanganui Herald). Lest some readers should jump to a hasty conclusion that the beer was required for the campers, it is just as well to dispel any such idea at the outset. It is well known that cooks who swelter over h°t ovens require a little lubrication and more than one cook likes a “spot” or two occasionally. Th© beer in the camp referred to was ordered for the benefit of the culinary department. ,

“Thirty bob a. week ironing shirts and collars for fat,, well-nourished, wealthy men, and dainty lingerie for portly ladies with horn-rimmed glasses is all we get,” said a. bright-look-ing girl employed in a laundry of the liner Carinthia to a reporter (says an exchange). The reporter became, rather curious when he learned that the girl received such a munificent sum, especially when fabulous sums are paid for the tour. Inquiry showed that there are thirty girls in the laundry of this floating palace, and they have to work mighty hard from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. No wonder the girl asked the reporter what were the chances of a job in this country.

Accounts totalling £3241 5s 9d were passed for payment and the payment during the month of accounts totalling £4308 8s 5d were authorised at Thursday’s meeting of the Hauraki Plains County Council.

The pea crop throughout the Nelson district has been exceptionally heavy this season (says the "Mail”). Eight railway trucks of peas lately arrived in Nelson in one day from the country districts, principally from Hope, Brightwater, Foxhill, and Wai-iti. One factory has been- dealing with from 6000 to 7000 pecks a day 'for some time, and the. heavy part of the season will extend foil a week or two yet. These peas are grown by contract, and the exceptionally favourable season will mean much larger returns for the. growers.

For the pm'Pose of permitting a better view of oncoming traffic the Turua Town Board has had a large tree removed from the Bank of New Zealand’s section at the corner of Hauraki and Piako roads. The obstruction to the View and the narrowness of the bridge at this corner have been the cause of many narrow escapes from accidents since the bitu-men-sealing of the r.oads provided a surface over which motors can travel at a fast rate.

A London paper advertises : “Farm Learners Wanted in Australia. Fares for boys under 17 years £5 10s, and £ll for boys, between 17 and 19 years. Minimum wage on starting 16s a week and keep, with periodical increases. Fares can be paid after arrival if desired, and free training on Government farms will be given to a limited number, of the boys.”

During the quarter ended December 3.1 the time, spent on the bowling by the Paeroa. domain superintendent was 184% hours. On the croquet lawn 82 hours were spent, and on general maintenance work 308% hours were occupied.

Dog license 'fees for the Hauraki Plains County were fixed by the council yesterday at 2s 6d for cattle dogs and 10s for other dogs. ■

When learned professors get, into the minutiae of human affairs; they are apt to become a little tiresome. Professor Godfrey Dewey, of Harvard, 'for example, estimates that two hundred million pounds a year might, be saved on printing bills by a revision of the English alphabet. He is not the first of his countrymen to play with ideas of this kind. Some time ago a crusade was started ■in the States Tor the abolition of the hyphen in all compound words. The crusaders! calculated that each of the 200 million people who use English write at least three hyphens! a day. As half an ounce of energy is required to make a hyphen with pen or pencil, this superfluous symbol, they contended,, entails a total waste o'f some 19,000,0001 b of muscular force a day—or enough energy to draw a heavy passenger train round the world. But this is to leave out of account the possibility that if the millions were not making hyphens they might, be getting into worse 'forms of mischief. It is very unlikely that they would immediately devote their unexpended energy to hauling trains.