THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto Public Service. MONDAY. WEDNESDAY. & FRIDAY. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1928. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5240, 17 February 1928, Page 2

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto Public Service. MONDAY. WEDNESDAY. & FRIDAY. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1928. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

False hopes, were raised locally yesterday morning when heavy cloud’s gathered in- the sky, and shortly after 9.30 o’clock a light rain commenced to fall. However, in ten minutes the sun was shining relentlessly again and the rain had completely disappeared, there not having been- enough to lay the dust on the streets. A very hot day followed, the thermometer registering 81 degrees inf the shade at 2 p.m. There was less than half an inch of movement in the barometer yesterday, and it is now steady at 30.4'2 inches. . - ■

The Dominion tour of the Duke and Duchess of York, according to a Treasury White Paper, cost £72,000. The cost of the Navy for the year ended March 31 last year was £57,817,000, the Army £44,1?7,000, the Air Force £15,648,000, and the Ministry of Pensions £98,912,000.

The average value of the 10,019 motor-cars imported into New Zealand during 1927 was £152 at the port of shipment. Th’s is the lowest on record, the decline having • commenced after 1921, in which year the peak average of £270 M - each complete car.

The Minister of Lands, the Hon. A. D. McLeod, will open the new traffic bridge at Te Aroha on the afternoon of February 22.

On Wednesday morning the Ohinemuri Acclimatisation Society received a consignment of 50 1 three!months-old pheasants from the Auckland Society. The, birds are well growni and in a forward condition. With the consent of Messrs W. F. Johnstone, J. Endean, D. Sheehan, and J. Barrett, 30 of the birds were liberated in the Rotokohu district, five on a property on Mill Road, and five up t'he Waitawheta Valley.

A pleasing little function took place this morning when the girls’ St. John’s Ambulance class at the Paeroa District High S'chool made a presentation to Drs. G. T. Smith and W. W. Little. During the year 1926-27 Dr. Smith has acted as honorary instructor to the class, while Dr. Little has been examiner. As a'result of their efforts 13 pupils have gained certificates of merit in the divisions for which they sat. The doctors were asked to accept the presentations as a slight token of appreciation of. their services, and grateful thanks was expressed for the help so cheerfully given.

An estimate of the cost of continuing tihe concreting,of the Great South South. Road from Papakura to the Bobmay Hills deviation has been submitted to the Franklin County Council by the county engineer, Mr J. F. McArthur. For a concrete roadway 18ft. wide, with a thickness of 6in. in the middle and 9ft. at the [sides, his estimate was £77,609 2s 6d, for the total distance of 7 miles 71% cliainis. The matter was left to the county’s representative on the District .Highways Council, Mr H. P. Garland, to ascertain if there was any (likelihood of the Highways Board contributing £3 to £1 for a concrete roadway.

An act of vandalism was perpetrated at Ngatea on Wednesday night, when a concrete pipe 4ft in diameter was. rolled into a roadside drain. In its descent it broke another pipe already placed in position. The act was obviously a deliberate one, for a wooden chock ihad been removed, and considerable force must have been necessary to move the heavy pipe. The police have the matter in hand and developments ar? expected.