THE Hauraki Plains Gazette. With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto Public Service. MONDAY. WEDNESDAY. & FRIDAY. WEDNESDAY JANUARY 19, 1927. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5077, 19 January 1927, Page 2

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette. With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto Public Service. MONDAY. WEDNESDAY. & FRIDAY. WEDNESDAY JANUARY 19, 1927. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Good progress is being made with the work on Belmont Road from the end of the bitumen to Taylor’s Avenue. A distance vf about ten and a quarter chains has been formed and metalled with 2%in metal. This is being well rolled, blinded with sand, and rolled again. For the. next couple of days, during the completion Of these operations, the road will be closed, and vehicular traffic proceeding to the. railway station or Puke Road is required to turn off into Station Road and travel via Rye Lane and Seymour Street, into the avenue. Incidently, it was a year yesterday since Taylor’s Avenue was opened to vehicular traffic.

An interested visitor to Paeroa yesterday was Mr Frank Murphy, at one. time headmaster at the local district high school. It is about 14 years since Mr Murphy last visited Paeroa, and he spent a happy time yesterday ■meeting old friends, many of whom were ex-pupils. Mr Murphy expressed his pleasure and astonishment at the progress Paeroa had made, and also favourably commented upon the type of buildings in the town.

Information has been received from the War Office, by cable, to the effect that Lieutenant V. J. Innes, N.Z.S.C., has passed the examination for. promotion prescribed for officers of the New Zealand Permanent Forces.

The meanness of some folk is almost incredible.. It was stated at, a meeting of the committee of the Matamata Racing Club on Saturday night that local ptople had been known to have complimentary tickets sent to friends at a distance, and for these tickets to be returned, presumably “by arrangement,” and used by the local persons, who had asked the secretary to send .the tickets away. The little game is to be scotched this year (states the “Record”), the complimentaries not being available, tor those living within 15 miles of Matamata.

Westport, as it stands to-day, dates back to 1872. The old town after an existunce of about eight years, was in 1872 shot out to sea by a. sudden diversion (it the Buller River. In conversation wijh a Westport News re l presentative last week Mr T. A. H. Field, of Nelson, stated that he well recalled playing the “wag" from school to see many of the old buildings in Westport going out to sea in the great flood of 1872. Included was an hotel with all the lights lit, up. Other houses were being jacked up on to rollers and taken up the street. As more of the land was washed away houses were shifted further up on safer land.

On account of the amount of water in the Waitaknruru stream the contractors for the building of the Hauraki Plains West, water supply dam have not yet been able to commence laying the foundations. They are making good progress with the construction of a tunnel through which the main will pass, and expect, to have the job finished in about five weeks’ time. The tunnel is over 300 ft long.

Particulars vf fares and train arrangements in connection with t,he Te Aroha Trots at Herrlesvillq, on January 22 are advertised in this issue.

Matters in connection with the reunion df ex-service men which the returned 'soldiers of Turua will hold on Thursday of next week are well in hand. A good programme has been arranged. Owing to the large attendance expected, the Turua Hall has been engaged instead of the Turua Buildings.

A special l%d postage stamp will be issued in Australia to commemorate the opening df the first Federal Parliament at Canberra on May 9, 1927. Competitive designs were invited by the Commonwealth Government, and 354 were submitted, of which 267 were from Australia and 54 from the United Kingdom. The winning design was submitted by Mr R. A. Harrison, of Elwood, Victoria, who was. awarded a prize ot £lOO. Mr Harrison i» the engraver and technical adviser to the Commonwealth Bank in the note printing branch.. The second prize £5O was won by Mr J. O- Lyons, of Prospect, Adelaide.

It is estimated that some 500,000 cases of apples will be exported from Now Zealand during the coming season. Of this number at least, 440,000 cases will come from the Nelson district.

“Denmark uses five tons of manure to the 100 acres, while New Zealand uses 12%cwt. Is it any wonder that New Zealand dairymen are frightened of that little country’s competition ?” aske/1 Mr J. W. McCullough at the farm school at Masterton.

Mr. A. J. Whiteside, who contested the. Thames electorate at the last two general elections, announces his intention to stand folr Mayor of Thames at the next election.

A gang of Public Works Department eunployees will commence short-ly-to erect the towers on .the' banks of the Waitakaruru-Maukoro canal to carry the Bombay-Waikino electric power mains.

Quite a number of unemployed came into Paeroa yesterday seeking work. A few o'f the more fortunate ones were found temporary employment on some of the buildings' or other works in the borough. The limit to the number that can be taken on, however, is easily reached, as the first call is that of t,he local married men, win;' are. already employed on these undertakings. Many applications Tor work have been made at the local office of the Public Works Department during the last few days. It is understood that a few men were given temporary employment, but no vacancies now exist For any class of labour.

A remit to be. submitted to the Hospital Boards’ Conference from the Waikato- Hospital Board is. .that cost of the treatment, o'f natives be placed on a Dominion basis. Another remit to be sent 'forward suggests that the law be amended to enable widows’ pensions to be granted to widows whose children have been born out of New Zealand, provided they are British subjects* and have been resident in the Dominion for 12 months, instead df as as present, three years.

A very great number of Plains motorists journeyed to the beach between Miranda and New Brighton on Sunday last. The nearness of this beach and the fact that there is no fel'rj' to worry about are points in its favour.

After being engaged on the Waihou River since the inception of the Waihou and Ohinemuri Rivers Improvement Scheme the Public Works Department’s large steam suction dredge left the Puke, to-day for Kopu. With a full complement of men and necessary gear the dredge is to be used in the construction of t.he approaches .to the Hauraki bridge, now in course of erection over the Waihou River at Konu.

The management df the New Zealand League football team has issued a statement in which it confirms the 'fact that the loss on the tom - was, £7OO. It blames the malcontents in the team for the trouble. The management protests against the action of the English League, which expressed its sympathy with the revolters and gave thtm a bonus of £lO each prior to their departure for New Zealand.

Miss Ina Ratliff, A.T.C.L., teacher of the pianoforte, has resumed teaching in Paeroa. Intending pupils may leave names with Mr Amy, care tef Isaac Brown and Co.*

The innocence of extreme youth placed a mother in Devon Street, New Plymouth, in an embarrassing position (says the Taranaki News). While, the parents walked down t,he street the tiny toddler remained behind admiring some children’s shoes hanging outside a shop. Presently the child ran down the street with several of the. choicest of the shoes, and called to her mother to “look here.” The mother’s face was: a study. The,re remained the problem of finding the rightful owner of the Footwear.

Complaints have been .received of stone-throwing on roofs of houses in the Bradley-Albert Streets area. It appears that a small band of young 'fellows are responsible, and a continuation of this silly practice may lead them into trouble.

The experience gained by the Lands Drainage Department in the construction of flood-gatos is to be utilised in other parts of the Dominion. An employee o'f the department from Kerepeehi has been sent, to Dargaville, where he will supervise the installation of floodgates Tor two or three months.

Touching on the recent, holidays, Mr Wellsted ,the business agent of the N.Z. Railways, said that the passenger traffic right throughout Ne.w Zealand had been very heavy during the Christmas and New Year vacation, and the department was very pleased with the results achieved. “There has,” he remarked, reverting to the local conditions, “been a decided decline in the passenger traffic between Waihi and Paeroa, and it is our business to try and get back that traffic, or, at all events, as much of it as we can, and that is part my mission here.”—Waihi Telegraph.

The Ngarua landing is the centre of considerable activity by the Lands Drainage. Department. Four dredges are working in the locality improving stop-banks or constructing canals, a big gang is engaged in forming a road over the old Ngarua-Awaiti canal, a gang is erecting a bridge on the Ngarua road, and a gang is reclaying the Pouarua road.

A group of in a certain district on the. Plains ait'e not now as enthusiastic about the advantages of wireless as formerly. When they had to depend on the newspapers for the weather forecast it was seldom read, but with hearing it broadcasted at 9 p.m. every evening they have come to plan their work accordingly. The cutting of hay was therefore deferred owing to forecasts of rain which did not eventuate until 'faith was lost in the meteorologist and the hay was cut in spite of the warning.