LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5113, 11 April 1927, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Will advertisers please note that the "Gazette” will be published on Thursday this week instead of Friday. Advertisements usually inserted on Friday will require to be in the office by 10' o’clock on Thursday.

This morning the president of the Chamber of Commerce waited on the local postmaster (Mr W. E. Ward) apd handed to him a petition signed by upwards of 200 subscribers to have a continuous telephone service in Paeroa. In presenting the petition Mr Williams mentioned the fact that it was a unanimous wish of the subscribers to have the continuous service, and he hoped the petition would be given immediate effect to. Mr Ward promised to forward the petition on to the proper>quarter.

At the Police Court this morning, before Messrs B. Gwilliam and F. E. Flatt, J’s.P., an old offender aged 70 years named William Stewart Lee, with several aliases, was charged with drunkenness, and also with being an idle and disorderly person. He pleaded guilty to both charges, and stated that he was too old to work and the first bed he had slept in for some time was at the police cells. On the first charge he was convicted and discharged, and on the second was sentenced to three months’ in gaol without hard labour.

The natives of Tirohia held a dance in the meeting-house off Te Aroha Road near Paeroa on Saturday night. Quite a number of Paeroa young bloods attended the dance, and all went well for a short time, until a fisticuff battle arose between the Europeans and Maoris, and some went to their homes looking very much the worse for their evening’s entertainment. The police have the matter in hand and are looking for the troublemakers.

The sacred Cantata “Olivet to Calvary,” which is to bo sung in St. Paul’s Church to-night after the Evensong at 7.30, is a work belonging to a class which is seldom heard in a town the size of Paeroa, as the music is difficult throughout, and the. solo parts for tenor and baritone are especially so. The cantata deals with the events of the last few days of the Saviour’s Life on earth, leading up to the Crucifixion. and concluding with thq very beautiful chorus "Droop, Sacred Head,” and the hymn "Rock of Ages,” to be sung by the choir and congregation. Mr Harold Hill will sing the tenor sqlos, and Mr Arthur Colledge has been engaged to take the baritone parts. It may be remembered that Mr Colledge was the singer chosen to take the bass solos 'at the Auckland Choral Society’s last “Messiah” concert, and he is considered by musical critics to be. the best interpreter of that class of music resident in the Dominion.

The well-known steamer Taniwha, •which trades between Paeroa and Auckland, is undergoing an extensive, overhaul on the slip at Auckland. The steamer Waipu has taken up the Taniwha’s running, and the auxiliary scow’ Torea is also engaged in tile cargo trade.

A local wireless enthusiast. Mr R. W. Medhurst, reports that he had the unique experience of listening-in t© Dutch music on Friday evening. At about 6.15 he was in direct touch with Station 28. L., Sydfiey, which relaid the programme from Station W.E.C.G., Holland. With the loud speaker Mr Medhurst was able to hear the music, which was of a sacred nature, quite clearly.

Good entries have been received for the stock sale which is to be held in Paeroa to-morrow by the N.Z. Loan and Mercantile Agency, Ltd., and everything promises for a further successful sale.

Unsettled weather prevailed locally on Saturday. Although the afternoon was fine, drizzling r.ain fell during the morning and heavy rain fell during the early evening and through the night. Beautiful weather prevailed yesterday, and people were not slow to take advantage of the bright sunshine. There was a decided touch of winter in the air last night and this morning, and the day dawned cloudy and bleak.

The “great white train,” Which is being organised by the New Zealand Preference League to draw attention to the comprehensiveness of New Zealand-made goods, will be run fiom one end of the Dominion to the other (shys the “Evening Post”). It will consist of either a cordon of motor trucks or a railway train, and "’ill be- pa+nted white. An expert advance agent will precede it, and make all necessary arrangements. The scheme has been conducted with marked success in Australia, and it is anticipated that it will be equally successful in New Zealand. It is also intended to get factories to adopt a seal signifying that the goods were made in New Zealand. These seals will be worth a certain number of points according to the price of the article, and children will be encouraged to collect them by the offering of prizes for a given number.