THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto Public Service. MONDAY. WEDNESDAY. & FRIDAY. FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 1928. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5249, 9 March 1928, Page 2

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto Public Service. MONDAY. WEDNESDAY. & FRIDAY. FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 1928. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

At a meeting of the executive of the Qhinemuri Jockey Club held this week it was decided to! donate a 25guinea watch to tile trainer of the winning horse in the St. Patrick’s Handicap, six furlongs, to be run at Paeroa on March 17 (St. Patrick’s Day).

A fair quantity of basic slag is coming into the district ex the- Home steamers. This morning the PaeraaAuckland steamer Taniwha reached the Puke with thirty tons, and there is a further seventy tons, approximately, for Paeroa and. district due this coming week. , '

The recent spell of wet weather Has interfered with the progress of the erection of tlie Paeroa mupicipal baths, but with, reasonably good luck 'it is iTofeed to have them completed by the encl of the present month. The work of concreting the ground back from the baths for a distance of six feet on each of the four sides is now well in hand, and two sides' and one encl are completed. On the outside edge of this concrete a narrow gutter is provided, and ,wlh©n the area is used as a promenade by bathers the gutter will, carry off all superfluous water. The next work to be put in hand is the erection of a corrugated iron fence, about six feet high, outside the baths area. This will be erected in conjunction with the cubicles, which are to be placed on the Normanby Road encl of the baths.

A return presented by the manager (Mr R. Sprague) at Tuesday’s meeting of the Thames Valley Electric Power Board showed that the total receipts flor February amounted to £8936 Ils 4d, made up as follows : Sales and wiring, £2853 7s lid; lighting, heating, and power, £lBB7 13s 2d; and flat rate, £4195 10s 3d. The expenditure for the month included wages £675 6s Bd, postages and telegrams £B9 12s Bd, salaries £Bl7 10s, motor maintenance £76, debenture■hollders’ interest due £10,500, replacements, cars and trucks. £578 ; stock, £1215 9s Id, making a total of £14,373 9s Bd, which left a debit balance in the power fund account of £5336 3s 4d.

The approach road to the site of the Awaiti Canal bridge near Kerepeehi on the direct route from Kerepeelii to. Kaihere Landing has been metalled by the . Lands Drainage Department. This is not in anticipation of the early construction of the bridge, but to provide access to the department’s benzine store,, where two big tanks have been installed.

Current events of local and overseas note are superlatively illustrated in this week’s issue of “ The N.Z. Sporting and Dramatic Review.” The centre pages present an artistic ensemble of Hollywood favourites, outdoor sport, etc. Snaps at the Waikato Trotting Cub’s meeting and the Te Aroha Jockey Cub’s, fixture occupy prominent space. The stage aiid motion picture sections are featured with artistic portraits and a beautiful coloured supplement of Marian Nixon, the film star, will be universally admired.

According to the latest monthly statistics it now takes £1 12s 4’d to

purchase jvhat could be purchased for £1 in July, 1914.

Advice .lias been received by His Worship the Mayor (Mr W. Marsnail) that the Hon. R. A. Wright, Minister of Education, will visit the Paeroa District High School between 10 and 10.45 o’clock on the milling of Tuesday, March 20. A meeting of the High School Committee is to be held to-morrow night, when arrangements will be made for the reception of the Minister.

Referring to unemployment, at the Waikino Old Boys’ Association’s reunion on Wednesday evening, Mr H. M. Corbett, chairman of the Ohinemuri County Council, stated that his council had been alive to the matter and had placed before those in authority the claims of the Qhinemuri district for relief works.

Touching on the matter of tipping, Mr M. Cohen, who returned to Palmerston North last week from ! hi s visit tp the United States, said it was interesting to note that the aggregate tips received by negro porters in Pullman cars throughout that country amounted to £1,400,000 per annum.

Eighty-eight (including JO male) teachers in the Auckland Education Board’s district are actually out of employment. There are approximately 197 ex-Training Students (46 of whom are men) not permanently employed. Relieving work has been found for .109 teachers. '

Possibly no part of the Hauraki Hanis County was so badly affected by the drought as the hill country about Mangatarata. There was. very good on the hill runs during the spring, and the ground became covered with grass and clover seeds when the pasture dried up. Now there is a thick carpet of young clover and grass.

•The number of births registered in New Zealand during the year 1927 was 27,881 (males ,14,291, females 13,590). This, figure (is the lowest recorded since 1919, and is a decrease of 592 over t herpveiou thes hthb m of 592 over the previous year, this being the first time sinpe 1923 that, a decrease in the actual number of births has taken place.

Owing to pressure of business on account of the approach of the end iof the financial year, and' in order that estimates for the main highways should be prepared and submitted to the council, the monthly meeting o'f the Paeroa Borough Council, which was to have been .held last night, has been postponed until. Thursday, March 15. :

In the latest issue of the N.Z. Ga--zette an Order-in-Council is published declaring certain streets and P OT ' tions of streets within boroughs to be main highways. So far as the Borough of Paeroa is concerned the following streets are mentioned as being a portion of the Pokeno-Waihi main highway: Ootamencing at the northern boundary of the Borough, arid proceeding generally in a southeasterly direction via Puke 'Road; thence along the southern boundary of section 6D.P.1240 ; thence via Taylor’s avenue, Belmont Road, and Normanby Road, and terminating at the sotatherm boundary of the borough at a point' on Normanby Road opposite the southern corner of section 4, Huruhuru No. 1 block, being a distance of two miles 7 chains.

It is such a common occurrence for motor vehicles to go into roadside drains on the Hauraki Plains that the incidents are seldom reported unless there are some unusual features. At KopUarahi on Tuesday a car backed into a drain. It was pulled out by a horse, but the driver omitted to disengage the gears °r switch off the battery, with the result that no sooner was the car on the road again than the engine started and the car dived into tlie drain on the other side of the roach On Wednesday a Hudson car, driven by Mr Schwartz, of Matamata, went into the Orchard. East roadside drain. ’ Mrs Schwartz was shaken and is suffering from shock, and the chassis of the car was bent. “A local body member is honoured for one clay—the 'day of his election. From then on, his is a life of trouble,” stated Mr H. M. Corbett, chairman of the . Ohipemuri County, Council, at Waikino on Wednesday evening, and he ought to know, having been a county councillor since he was 21 years of age. The statistics of deaths for the past year are more encouraging than are those of births. Only 11,611 deaths were registered during 1927, as compared with 11,819 for the previous year. This figure, while not as low as some recorded in recent years, is, nevertheless, sufficient to maintain the death-rate on the , same satisfactory low level, as hasj been established since 1924. The death-rates per 100'0 of mean population for the years 1926 and 1927 were 8.74 and 8.60 respectively.

At the 'last meeting of the Thames Valley Electric Power Board Mr W., E. G. Willy drew attention, to the dry weather that had been experienced and said that many farmers on the Hauraki Plains were .willing to put in electrically operated pumps for producing a water supply, but it was found that the board’s costs for electricity were too high. The settlers had found that it was cheaper to put down bores than avail, themselves of electricity Pr pumping purposes. On tlie suggestion of tlie chairman (Mr F. M. Strange) it w.as decided to defer the matter until after the bal-ance-sheet had been brought down and the.annual charges were reconsidered.

The walking dipper-dredge which has been lying idle alongside the old Puke wharf sheds for some time was yesterday launched into a barge in the Ohinemuri River meander. It is the intention of the Public .Works Department to tow the barge down the Waifiou River and up the Piako River to Ngatea. The Lands Department has taken over the machine, which will by employed on some of the larger drains in the Ngatea area.