THE Hauraki Plains Gazette. With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto Public Service. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 1928. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5225, 11 January 1928, Page 2

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette. With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto Public Service. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 1928. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Paeroa Chamber of] Commerce .is holding a meeting at the Coronation Chambers to-morrow night at 8 o’clock for the purpose cf discussing the statutory half-holiday for Paeroa for the ensuing twelve months. Shopkeepers ana .others’ interested in the matter who are not members of the Chamber of Commerce are invited to attend.

The Te, Arolia Dairy Co., Ltd., advises that the butter-fat received at its Te Aroha factory during December totalled 284,0001 b, which is a 22 per cent, increase over December, 1926. The. increase in production so far this season- compared with the corresponding period to December 31, 1926 shows a 25 per cent, increase.

Yesterday the Paeroa Borough Council completed the; approach to the ne,w traffic bridge over the Ohinemuri River. The job lias been a. big undertaking, as a -large quantity of filling was required, before; the metalling and bituminising work could be undertaken. The formation of footpaths and some fencing have yet to be done before the work in that area is completed.

While the farms of the whole of the Plains are badly in need of rain, the settlers of the Plains West water supply area' have plenty of water available. Hoses are being used to water flower gardens, and on account of the absence, of ball-cocks the surroundings of many water-troughs are quagmires.

The haymaking season on the Hauraki Plains.is rapidly drawing to a close, but the crops this year are lighter than us,ual on account of the dry weather. In comparison with other districts little use has been made of mechanical lifts, although the tendency has beep to employ labour where possible instead of assisting neighbours iii return foir assistance, As in other districts, the practice is growing of requiring neighbours to bring their ow‘n lunch, but this is usually due to the distance pf the hayfield from the. farmhouse rather than the reluctance of the farmer’s wife to cook for a crowd,

Swimming has been by far the most popular pastime on the Plains during the last few weeks, and, despite its muddy state on account of the spring tides, the Piako River has been well patronised. At Kaihere and Patetonga, where small swimming pools ■ have been made by damming up creeks, there is talk of forming swimming clubs for the purpose of regulating the hours- Plainsitcs have patronised all the beaches in- the neighbourhood, New Brighton being the favourite, for day trippers and Waihi for campers.

At the present time there is a Kai Lwi lady in hospital as the result of being thrown out of a trap on Christinas Eve. The lady, with her husband and family, was driving to the city at the time of the accident, and bringing some Christmas cheer for some deserving families. Contrast their act of charity with what what occurred opposite the Kai lwi Hotel after the accident. While tire lady was lying injured on the roadside the husband approached a young man, who was comfortably seated in a big indtor-car, and asked, him would he drive the,' lady to the hospital. Although he was coming to the city,, he actually refused point blank, says the Wanganui Herald.

The spell of dry weatlier continues locally, and yesterday conditions were very humid. At mid-day the temperature was 82 degrees in the shade. A heavy pall of smoke from the peat fires cont’nues to envelop the town, and this adds considerably to the humidity of the Last night conditions were a little cooler, and this morning at 11 o’clock the thermometer registered 62 degrees in tlie shade.. The barometer has fallen ■one and a half points since yesterday afternoon, but there are no immediate indications of a copious rainfall.

The depreciation of motor-cars was illustrated in an amazing manner at a recent sale of Walker’s (Tauranga) service cars. The great 15-seater Cadillac, which cost £l5OO, .was sold for £7 ; a five-seater Cadillac brought only £2 ; and a, seven-seatqr Hudson realised just £7 10s. Considering the price paid, for these cars, and the cdst of upkeep, it would seam to require a millionaire to own them without getting into financial difficulties.

The New Zealand Smallholder tails the story cf a wonderful little iris plot down Tauranga way. It is only one-eighth of an acre in area, but it gave its owner so many blooms last winter and spring that they brought him a return cf over £2OO in ne;t sales. The crop was marketed in many New Zealand towns from Auckland to Dunedin, and the blooms were yielded .ontin-iously from the end of January till early August. The magazine gives details of the. culture and variety of this £1,600-an-acre plot, which will greatly interest ambitious gardeners.

A hive of industry presents itself on Thames Road just past its junction with Station Road to-day.. The work of bituminising the surface is being proceeded with, and 16 workmen and five horses and drays, in addition to the heating and spraying plant, areengaged on the work. Every advantage is being taken of the fine weather', and with reasonable luck the whole of Thames Road to the borough boundary should be sealed in about four days’ time. Tih.e exceptionally heavy traffic that has prevailed during the holidays has wrought havoc on- the roads in the borough, -and more than e,ver before the fact that macadam roads will not stand up to the traffic has been brought home. The Borough Council’s policy of bitumen-sealing the highways is clearly the only practicable solution for maintain’iig the roads at something like a standard.

. The N-Z. Meat Producers’ Board has received a cable from its representa.-ti-ve at Buenos Aires, South America, advising the, following shipments to the United Kingdom for the fortnight ended January 5, 1928, from Argentine and Uruguay: 215,713 quarters of chilled beef, 8327 quarters of frozen beqf, 137,000 carcases of frozen mutton, and 151,490 .carcases of frozen lamb. .The quantity shipped to the Continent of Europe during the same period was as follows : 126,290 quarters of frozen bee,(' and 20,671 carcases of frozen mutton. A shipment to the West Indies cohta’ined 1300 carcases of frozen lamb.

The lack of grqen feed is now being felt on the Plains, and the milk yield is dropping. Wet weather interfered with the planting of crops, and now pastures are suffering on account of the lack of rain. However, th® district is in a much better state than many farming districts around.

Some remarkable geographical information has been he,ard in Hamilton lately as the, result of the visit of' the Balclutha. Boys’ Band (remarks the “Times”). One bright person guessed in turn that Balclutha was in Australia, Africa, and Canada before being informed that it was in the South Island of Ne,w Zealand, while some well-grown girls heard discussing its whereabouts were equally vague. One expressed the opinion that it was in South Auckland, while another smartly volunteered the statement that it was in Scotland,

In the middle of a lecture at the Workers’ Education- summer school, Methven, suddenly a wild-looking man dashed on to the stage behind, the speaker, closely followed by a woman, whom he hurriedly embraced, just as a masked figure close behind shot at the man, who fell heavily and was dragged out by the heels. The whale thing only took ten seconds. The audience was very much relieved when Professor Shellqy announced that it was really only a psychological test as to the reliability of evidence (says, the Ashburton Guardian). Each student was then asked to write an exact account of what happendqd and to answer ar number of questions in' the same connection. A great variety of happenings were recorded. Finally, the actors went through the scene in slow motion, proving how unreliable first-hand evidence may be,.

Elsewhere in these columns Mr P. S. Meachem notifies that he; has purchased the boot-rcpairii’g business lately earned on by Mr Pete,r Brennan, Wharf Street, Paeroa* .

Tfie reticulation of the Patetonga district by the Power Board will be completed in about six weeks’ time. Power has been available as far as the Patejtonga school since before Christmas. ,

With the continuation of the dry spell of weather many farmers in tliq district are not experiencing any shortage of feed for their stock as yet, but some are having a difficulty in maintaining an adequate supply of water on their farms. On\ Mr R. Stock’s proipejrty, Stop-bank Road, Puke, there are two wells which provide the main supply of water for the farm. Just recently both wells went dry for the first time within memory. Fortunately Mr Stock has beeni able to obtain a good supply of water by sinking a 40ft well some little distance from the old wells.

There are more wireless receiving sets in Patetonga and Kaihejre than in the whole of the rest of the Plains. In Kaihere alone there are ten- sets.