THE PAST WEEK.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5465, 23 August 1929, Page 2

THE PAST WEEK.

The declaration of war between the two bus companies between Paeroa and Waihi, one charging Is 6d and the other “whatever you please,” brings to mind a classic case that occurred in China some years ago. A French company had for many years the monopoly of the Chinese passengercarrying trade on the Peiho River between Tienstin and Tongku. This was in competition with the railway, which ran practically parallel; in fact, the launch towing a number of passengerladen barges was known as the “boattrain." Just after the war a native conipany entered a fleet of launches and barges in opposition to the French, and charged lower fares. The gauntlet down, the European company accepted the challenge. Down went its fares. The Chinese immediately retaliated. Evenually the Chinese carried passengers for nothing, the end coming with the French carrying passengers free and providing them gratis with tea and rice to boot. The French, backed by larger capital, won. * « • • The effect of the effort recently launched at Waihi in the endeavour to revive mining there goes beyond that district and really interests the whole of Ohinemuri, Thames, and Coromandel counties. Miners are among the most tenaciously optimistic people on earth, and have never conceded that mining in these counties on any great scale was practically a thing of the past. In the majority of cases they lacked the necessary capital to further their hopes to prove their faith. Now co-operative action is being taken, and it is to be sincerely hoped that if not the full realisation of dreams, at least a fair measure of success will be attained. Should the survey turn out satisfactorily, then a great change for the better will take place in Ohinmeuri; should the survey prove l opes groundless, then once and for all the gold may be left, and activities confined to the land.

The aggregate cost of reorganisation of the railways workshops, including the equipment, is £2,279,459, according to a return tabled in the House of Representatives on Tuesday at the request of Colonel T. W. McDonald (Wairarapa). The separate cost of each workshops is : Otahuhu, £586,554 ; Hutt, £777,912 ; Addington, £387,419 ; Hillside, £495,385 ; East Town, £32,189.. And yet Thames, with up-to-date private enterprise, is denied Government work, its unemplovment problem being thus greatly aggravated, while £2,279,459 can be spent on “reorganisation and eqv.'pment” of Government workshops. Thames does not need “reorganisation and equipment” : it is ready, organised, equipped, and waiting.

Our Parliamentarians in action. Mr Samuel, in the House : “Would you be in favour of confining the primage duty to only luxury goods ?” Mr Munns : “I would be in favour of confining the member for Thames, if only it would keep him quiet.”

A Hawke’s Bay paper reports a woman aviator of the Hawke’s Bay Aero Club reaching an altitude of 95,000 ft in the club’s de Haviland, claiming her performance .as a record for that district. Record for that district ? Whv, the good lady has apparently smashed to atoms all the world’s records by a good 50,000 ft! It is impossible, as a matter of fact, to go beyond some three miles high without the aid of oxygen and special electrically heated clothing, of which appliances it is doubtful if there are any in the Dominion.

“How beautiful the golden bloom of that gorse will be in a few days,” observed a visitor to Kerepeehi this week, pointing in the direction of Kaihere Road. The picture undoubtedly promised to be beautiful, but the man to w’hom the remark was addressed owned land in the district, and in his time had spent many weary hours at the back-bt-eaking work of eradicating weeds from his farm, so was not enthusiastic about the golden bloom of the gorse.

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” said the farmer, “and after the blooms' come the seed pods, which scatter the seeds far and wide. Of all places. Hauraki Plains should be one where the Noxious Weeds Act is severely enforced, for only a few years back, when it was a swamp, there was not a noxious weed of any kind, and now there is hardly a farm that does not have its dirty corner. Because weeds have not yet assumed serious proportions locally their steady spread seems to be ignored by most landowners, and the greatest offender is the State. It cost a lot to bring this swamp into grass land, and the expenditure was amply justified, so it would be a crying shame to see any of it rendered useless by reason of neglect at this stage, when the amount of work necessary is comparatively so small.”