THE KAIPARA AND WAITEMATA ECHO With which is incorporated " The Kaipara Advertiser & Waitemata Chronicle." HELENSVILLE, THURSDAY, Jan. 17, 1918 FLASHES.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 17 January 1918, Page 2

THE KAIPARA AND WAITEMATA ECHO With which is incorporated " The Kaipara Advertiser & Waitemata Chronicle." HELENSVILLE, THURSDAY, Jan. 17, 1918 FLASHES.

THE HELENSVILLE SHOW -MONDAY, JANUARY 28. Owing to the shortage of shipping, it is estimated that six million pounds worth of last season's produce is held up, frozen meat and wool comprising the major portion. The new culvert at Ohirangi has just been completed, and the road in the vicinity is beginning to get into decent order. About 1600 yards of metal are to be deposited there by train, and the work of unloading the trucks will be carried out by the settlers themselves. An alien who wished to become a citizen received a blank form from the naturalization clerk. It began : Name ? Born? Business? When handed back by the applicant the blank was filled out thus : —Name : Jacob Levinsky. Born : Yes. Business : Rotton. The Rev. E. O. Perry, the recently appointed Moderator of Auckland Presbytery, will be the preacher at the Wainui Presbyterian Church on Sunday afternoon next (20th inst) at 11 a.m. ; i also at St. Cuthbert's, Kaukapkapa, at afternoon and evening Anniversary services. At Woodhill Hall at 11 a.m the speaker will be Mr Ferrell, of Auckland. A petition is going the rounds out Parakai way, to be presented at the next nieeting of the Waitemata County Council, praying for the installation of a sewerage system. It is estimated that it would cost about £800, and that about one mile of piping will be required. ■It is hoped that, with the rapidly increasing population in the Parakai district, the Council will see its way clear to grant the petition,

On Thursday morning last, while Mrs Stokes, the popular bath attendant at the Hot Springs, was lighting a spirit lamp, it suddenly exploded, setting fire to her clothing, and severely burning her. With great presence of mind she got into a bath full of water, thus extinguishing the flames, and probably saving her life. The patient is now in the Helensville Private Hospital, and is progressing favourably under the care of Dr. Meinhold.

At the recent Standard VI examination at the Helensville School, the following pupils obtained Certificates of Proficiency —T. Murdoch, F. Hughes, D. Stanwell, O. Olsen, N. Olsen, S. McAnnalley, D Sellars, T. Sellars, J. Worthington, L. Sproston, E. Ansell, E. Coutts, F. Ross, G. Forrester, M.Simcock, andß.McLeod. The Headmaster requests the parents of these pupils to inform him at as early a date as possible whether they intend to enrol them as pupils of the proposed District High School. *

New Zealand's net public indebtedness before the war, at March 31, 1914, after allowing for sinking funds, was £91,683,----835. At March 31,1917, it was £125,572,----315, an increase of £33,882,680, to which must be added loans raised since March, viz., some twelve millions or more. New Zealand has provided £34,000,000 from its own resources for war purposes and public works during the currency of the war.

Mr Philip Gibbs, writing of the latest push, says :—" The V.M.C.A. is busy in another tent or another dug-out. It has a cheery way of producing hot cocoa on the edge of a battlefield, and of thrusting little packets of chocolates, biscuits, cigarettes, and matches into the hands of lightly wounded men as soon as they have trudged down the long trail for walking wounded, and reached tha first dressing station, where there is a little group of men waiting to bandage their wounds, to say ' Well done, laddie, you did grandly this morning,' and to fix them up with strange and wonderful speed for the journey to the base hospital."

With a view to obtaining a road surface which will give a better resistance to motor traffic, experiment* are being made in France with a road-bed material consisting of an intimate mixture of " iron straw " or iron in the shape of a wiry or fibrous mass together with cement mortar or sand. Such material is called '• ferro cement," and it appears that tests as to its fitness for road surfac^ are giving good results But the iron is not the usual kind found in oommerre, but is prepared specially for the purpose. It is claimed that the resulting material will not be an* expensive one.—So there's hope for our roads. The Auckland Flying School has just been incorporated as a company, under the title of " The New Zealand Flying School, Ltd." The cost of equipping and running this school, so far, has been £10,000. Over fifty of its pupils have passed their exams, and gone home. Fifteen other men are at the school camp, and many applicants for admission to the school are anxiously awaiting a chance to enter. The new management proposes to raise further capital and to increase the plant and flying machines 60 as to double or treble the number of pupils being sent Home. The trouble at this school has been the want of machines for training. Were it properly equipped, it is said, it could turn out fifty men a month, and a strenuous effort is to be made to accomplish this.