LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 26 March 1913, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A reward is offered for the recovery cf a punt, painted grey, lost in the Kaipara River at Helensville,

A meeting of the Sports Committee will be held in the Public Library on Friday evening next.

The Hon. Mr-Fraser, who is still in the North, expects to arrive at,Darga. ville to-day.« ,0n Thursday he wi visit Maungaturoto and Paparoa. . -

The Secretary of the Helensville Public Library informs us,that hehas received from the Government-the annual subsidy for this year ammo anting to L 8 37s 2d. " .;','""

We have received a sample of a hew apph from Mr Hjorth, called "Queen Maude." This apple is being shown at Motueka. •"' "-■'

A notice appears in another column that after Saturday, 29th March, the issue of excussion tickets on the N. Z. Railways from Auckland and intermediate stations to Helensville on Saturdays by the 4. 42 p.m. train will be discontinued.

Messrs Alfred Buckiand and Sons,, auctioneers, notify in another column that they have received instructions from Mr John Gardner, and will offer by auction at his residence Garfield Road, Helensville, the whole of his household furniture and effects, being the contents, of 6 rooms, .also gig, horse and harness. The sale will commence at 12 noon.

Results ! Judge us by what we have done, rather than others by what they promise—and frequently fail to do ! For 31 years J. Jones, auctioneer. of fruit, poultry, pigs,- dairy- and. farm produce, Victoria and Lome Streets. Auckland, have been getting results ! For further particulars see their re-, place advertisement on page four.

Deputation from South Canterbury Farmers' Union waited On Mr Massey at Timaru and urged activity in importation of farm labourers and domestics. Mr Massey replied that Dominion, agents we're doing their best to select suitable immigrantsj and offers of many colonials who wore going Home to aid in the selection had been accopted.-

The average attendance for the past quarter at the Helensville School was 104,3. If an average of 161 can be kept up for the year the teaching staff will be iucreased by another assistant. Taking the average of the first quarter into consideration this should be an easy matter enough. And the addition to tho teachers staff should be an incentive to parents to keep their children at school as regularly as possible.

Big cheques are common in the Taranaki district, more so than they are North of Auckland, but a cheque of £85 8s 3d received by a supplier from a small farm of 80 acres in the Parakai flats for the month of February shows that some daivy farmers in this district have herds that are capable of showing as good re» suits as those of the great butter fat ■ plains of Taranaki and this for a very dry month. The weather during the Easter Holidays was fair for holiday making. On Good Friday there was the largest crowd of visitors yet recorded at the Hot Springs, and the want of accommodation was badly felt. On Mondayjtho attendance was also in excess of last j'ear. On Monday a numof picnic parties were camped at the Rocks. The attraction in Helensville was the Athletic Sports which were fairly well attended, Mr Bowles, District Traffic Manager Auckland Railways, informs us that he nas been advised by the Head Office that when the Battleship New Zea land is in these waters early next month, it will probably visit 'Wellington and-Auckland and remain in each of these Ports about one week. In this connection it is the intention to run School and other Excursion trains to the Ports, and we urge School Committees desirous of arranging for the school children under their control to visit the Port, while the vessel is there to start to communicate with the Traffic Manager as promptly as possible, stating the number of children likely to make the visit. School Excursions will be restricted to scholars and teachers, and the actual members of tho School Committeo m each case. It is important that the school committee place themselves in commuication with Mr Bowles promptly, so that arrangements may be brought well forward at an early date, as there will be very little time in which to complete arrangements after the Battleship arrives in New Zealand waters, in addition to school excursions, holiday excursion tickets will be issued ou suitable dates to enable the people to visit the Ports while the Battleship is there Dates for issue of excursion fares will be adverlised as soon as movements of the ship have been ascertained,

Allegations have been made regarding the flogging of the boys on the Government training vessel Amokura, and -a departmental inquiry is now being held at Wellington.

Mr EJurand, a member of the local Cricket Club, playing for South Auckland against . Ma^ll>6roughj/ made a useful score of 17;' being the third highest. The' South "Auckland"team won the match, and are now the holders of the cup presented by Lord Hawke for competition amongst the seebnd :rrgfade \'~ ;WsocTa(idrFß"--of-':-Nißvr' Zealand.

The Prime Minister states, regarding" the "New ZealanU~TJsllleßnlpr itinerary, that the only fixtures are: — Wellington, April 12 ; and Auckland April 25 or 26. When/tho ship arrives the commander, under the instructions of the Imperial authorities will]' consult his Excellency'; the Governor, and possibly the Governmet will fix the remaining programme.

fcpeakmg on the subject of loan to local bodies at Cust ;on his southern tour, tbe Prime Minister said that so far as the Government was;; concerned the last loan of the old Government cost L 5 2s 9d per cent and this money was intended t"> lend at L 3 ilOs per cent, 50..-.that the-'difference .was- an absolute loss. Parliament, however •passed^n Act to provide that local bodies should have the money ,at cost rates to the Government^ but this did: not jfihd money. Ever since the Government had been! struggling to overtake'its liabilities. .Local bodies would receive their money but county bodies would get theirs first, and in case of new districts where money was wanted for roading, a robate of 1 per cent would be allowed. The Government was putting thing's in a sound position, and he; believed that in another three months it would have overtaken its liabilities.

Speaking at Kaikohe, the Hon. Fraser (Minister for Public Works) i said that he abominated the present system of making grants to ldcal'bodies for' certain roads. He had always thought that a classification scheme should be propounded for^the alteration of the system, so that each local body should be granted a lump sum and asked to make out-its own estimates. A system had crept up, in fact, by ~which~the-~local—bod ies- were -in—the.. habit of asking for six and seven times the number of 'grants "which they knew they had any hope of getting. Anyone would then see that such a sj'stem made a Minister's work difficult,, for with, a V6ry imperfect knowledge of.the ,-districtg he had to allocate money, and in many instances make grants in cases where other work would be more valuable jto the district concerned. He could assure them that as Miuister of Public Works he would try to bring about the alteration of a system which did not work for the best interests of the country. •

The public will read without any concern for the victims that have failed and the victims that have passed the results . of. the recent teachers' examinations, hut the following extract from the paper in Human Physiology for the. Class D.-certificate may (says the "Lyttelton Times" V strike a chord of sympathy in the hearts of some of "tlvse"' kindly folks who have gone through-a- similar ..ordeal. Make a drawing showing what you would see on sawing longitudinally through the thighbone of any marrimal. By what means have you determined the proportion of organic to inorganic rnattpr in the bone? State precisely what you observed when examining the" liver of—a pig or other mammal. Discuss briefly the: functions of the . liver. Describe the external appearance of the eyeball.; How would you proceed to lay bare in the case say. of a rabbit, (a) the sciatic nerve, (b) the sub-maxillery glands, (c) the spinal chord, (d) the tendou of Achillos? It would be interesting to see how the Minister pf Education and his colleages wotiidi fare ftveo with the assistance of Dr Pomare if thess questions were set before them aft6r a long session, in sonje respects as exactrng as a teachers December term. " !