LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5165, 15 August 1927, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Unsettled weather conditions prevailed locally over the week-end. Heavy rain fell duTing Saturday morning, and again shortly before 2 p.m. there was a down-pour. Tlie ■•kies then cleared, and the remainder of the afternoon was lino, as also was yesterday, until late last night, when further heqvy rain fell. Similar condition-?- prevailed this morning.

Constables J. McClinchy and JDawson, of the Paero;i Police Station, appeared in the street this morning in their new uniforms for the first time. The 'material of the new uniforms is of a finer texture than that formerly used, and the buttons- are silvered inste-ad of being black. The new shako, with a large silver Coat-of-Arnis in tlie front, is a very diffident style of headpiece to the helmets. The two officers have a very smart appearance, and attracted the attention of pasC'srs-by this morning.

Since the Paeroa dental clinic was opened a little over a week ago the teeth of the children in primers 3 and 4 at the Paeroa District High School have all been examined and 70 operations performed- It has been generally found that the teeth of the children are in a bad condition. It has been stated by Miss Ellis, dental nurse in charge of the clinic, that parents are offering no opposition and are readily accepting the benefits of the service in almost every instance.

Two nominations have been received for the election of a mejnber to represent the Karijngahake> riding on the Ohineniuri County Council. Those nominated are Messrs Thomas Augustine Barrett and John Benjamin Morris. Tlie poll will lie held on Friday, August 19.

Because a dozen watersiders would not work in the rain an audience at the Grand Opera House, Wellington, was turned away one night last weekThe people had assembled to witness? the opening performance of Cartel the Great and the house was almost full. It is stated that the men had unloaded some of Carter s properties from the hold of the Manuka when rain began to fall. One of the men remarked, “This is no good to me, 111 get rheumatism.” So they had a vote on whether they should continue or not, and decided not to do so. Mr Carter told them that 41© had important properties in the- hold and offered them good money to go on with the work, but one of the men said : “That won’t pay my doctor’s bill-” They had another vote and still decided not to go on.

A letter was received at the Borough Council meeting on Thursday night from Mr E. W. Porritt, who is at present at Wanganui, thanking the council for its resolution of sympathy in iris illness and advising that he was gradually getting better and hoped to return to Paeroa again before very long.

No score resulted, " hen the Turua and Waitakaruru senior Rugby football teams met at Ngatea on Saturday in a play-off for the StrettonPinchess Cup, and the match will be continued on Saturday next. The Ngatea juniors beat Turua B by three points to nil, and will now have to play off for the shield with the Turua A juniors.

A infeed of praise is due to the Thames Valley Rugby Union for its efforts in providing foi’ the comfort of spectators at the Paeroa Domain oh Saturday afternoon. Owing to t-he spell of bad weather mud and slush abounded. After moving the playing field to a higher portion of the domain, which was drier, the union place-d a. row of duck-boards- across to the playing field. Duck-boards were also placed on the two sides of the ground, and extra seating accommodation was provided. As a result of the union’s efforts spectators Were able to keep reasonably free from mud.

An intimation that the Department of Education cannot see its way to pay t-he- train fares of candidates from country towns attending the National Scholarship examinations at the examining centres has been received by the Morrinsville School Committee. Th© Minister, the Hon. R. A. Wright, states t-hat the additional cost that would be involved could not be undertaken by the department. It is pointed out that at present a very big expense is involved in examining candidates for scholarships-, and that these examinations are entirely free to the candidates.

The chairman of the Auckland Education Board, Mr A. Burns, visited Ngatea last Thursday morning and was met by the chairman and members of the school committee. The hopeless inadequacy of the additions now being made to cope with the steadily increasing number of pupils without continuing to use the old school, which is supposed to be- a shelter-shed, and also the actual shelter-slhed, as permanent classrooms, was discussed apd caustic comment was made at the shortsightedness of the department’s: policy in only providing space when long overdue and not anticipating the natural increase when authorising any additions. Mr Burns said that; the matter was not in the control of the Education Board, which often held similar views to committees pit such subjects. Mattersftvhich did concern the board were also discussed, and adivce was given by Mr Burns as to the course to follow.

The attention of the Hauraki Plains county engineer was drawn by a councillor at Thursday’s meeting of the council to the ffict that there wasno light on a road roller which was standing on a roadside one: evening recently. Mr Basham replied that the lights and as much of the wiring as co\ild be reached had been stolen. Dozens of electric globes- had been purchased to. replace those stolen. On one occasion a council employee had nearly caught a motorist who. it was later found, had stolen eight gallons of benzine from a road roller’s tank. Since then the benzine tanks had been drained at the conclusion of t-he day’s work.

According to tlie latest statistics, quoted by the “Medical Journal,” New Zealand is tlie healthiest, country in the world, and is growing steadily healthier. In America tlie “expectation of life” (average for both sexes) is 58 years, while in England and Wales the- average is 60 years for females and 56 for males. In New Zealand, however, tlie average age of death is nearly 63 years- for men and 65 for women. These figures give cause for congratulation, and prove that the “Medical Journal’’ has justification for its claim that this Dominion is the healthiest country in the ■worid. In addition, there is the undisputed fact that we have the lowest infant mortality in thci world. These facts are a grand advertisement for this little Dominion. The “Medical Journal” declares that in thirty-three years expectation of life will actually be two years more- than the “allotted span.” Tn New Zealand by that time, if we go on as we are doing, it may be still higher.