LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 2017, 19 August 1919, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

In the Wellington Supreme Court, Minnie Spiro was awarded £350 damages against Philip Scbneideraan for breach of promise.

Sir Andrew Russell has withdrawn from the candidature of the Hawke’s Bay seat. Mr H. M. Campbell announces his intention of standing. :

"You may have,” said Mr Hanan, Minister of Education, "a good school ima bad building, with a good teacher, but , you cannot have a good school, even in a good building, with a bad teacher.” The special local committees to advise as to the regulation of the goods traffic on the railways have been set up in different parts of the Dominion. Large numbers of applications come in daily for permits, arid the duty of the committees is an onerous one in discriminating as to what are the most essential goods.

"You appear to have a prejudice against dancing” said a parishioner to a minister of a certain religious denomination. “No,” replied the minister, "I have never said anything against dancing; as a lad, in common with the children of both sexes, we were taught dancing, but if you mean "hugging to music,” then I must confess I don’t approve of it.”

Mr P. C. Webb is expected to regain his freedom some time during the next few weeks (says an exchange). The date of his release from imprisonment, in the ordinary course, would be September 13th, but as there is a remission of sentence up to the possible limit of 20 -days in his ease, it is probable that he will he set at liberty before the date mentioned.

“The world can only be properly ruled or governed on the basis of common sense/’ said Sir James Carroll at the meeting of the Owners and Breeders’ Association. “We have too many politicians and too few statesmen, hardly any, in this country in these days. Wc want fewer of the one and many more of the other. Yes, but what did Sir James do when he was a statesman? At Saturday’s conference of local bodies to discuss the transfer of the Round Bush as a scenic reserve, Mr W. E. .Barber said some years ago the bush was frequently visited by picnic parties, who were able to drive to the edge of the bush, but of late years the gates giving access to the bush were kept locked. Mr Golev interjected that he had known the locality for many years, but he did not remember any picnics being held there.

Mr Linklater, representing the Kairanga County Council at Saturday’s conference, said he had made an inspection of the “Round Bush,” and said if the land was cleared it would make a tine little farm. In his opinion the land was worth £4O per acre. Mayor Chrystall said that might he so, but with the Government restrictions as to the preservation of the hush and plant life the area could not be classified on that basis.

Replying to Mr E. Newman, M.P., Sir Joseph Ward said he believed a part of the shipping control had been done away with, and when the troops were all conveyed overseas lie thought they would release the whole of the ships used for transport purposes. When that was done New Zealand would be in a better position, as a number of refrigerated ships were being used for carrying troops—even for carrying American troops. He had made representations after the war that some of the Argentine ships should be sent to New Zealand to lift meat. Mr Massey: “They have given them.” Sir Joseph Ward. “I am glad of that.” -

With a view to its utilisation in the manufacture of paper, a quantity of marram grass was recently forwarded by the chairman of the Ocean Beach Domain Board to the New Zealand. Paper Mills, Mataura. A reply has now been received stating that the marram grass was found to be suitable for the purpose, but the manufactured article would be improved if old sacks or woolpacks were mixed with the grass pulp. A sample of the wrapping paper forwarded with the letter showed it to be tough and of satisfactory texture. When normal railway facilities are restored another consignment will he forwarded to Mataura so that the experiment may bo continued. The experiment is not without prospects of success.

Further particulars show 'that Colonel Sweetzer, who entered into the motoring business in Wellington after being demobilised some three months ago, was driving a twoseater ear on his way from Pahautanui to Wellington, when he took a wrong turn in what is known as “the hairpin bend,” and came to his tragic end. It is assumed that the Colonel, who was travelling alone, must have made an outward sweep, and, before he could straighten the ear, it plunged over the side of the road, and dashed into the gully below 1 . The ear only fell about ten feet, but was completely overturn? ed, and Colonel Sweetzer was pinned, face downwards, by the seat of the car. From this position it would be impossible for him to move, even if conscious, hut the probabilities are that he was rendered insensible by the fall.

A boon to public speakers, singers, and reciters is NAZOL. Keeps the throat clear as a bell. Can be taken anywhere.

11.M.5. New Zealand, with Admi- : ral Jcllicoe aboard, will arrive tft Wellington to-morrow. An afternoon will be held in the Red Shield Club on Friday 3 p.m. Music, competitions, afternoon tea. All welcome. Admission Is. See advertisement.

The troops returning from Egypt, bythe-EHenga, due in Auckland iff

bout 28th August, include the following Poxton men: —Q.M.S. L. C. Bryant, Trooper J. Evans, E, E. Robinson, L. G. Robinson, and Walker.

The Ngatipikiao tribe, a branch of the Arawa tribe, living at Lake Rotorua, have presented the Government, without compensation, all the beauty spots around the lake, aggregating five hundred acres, stipulating -for the right to use the old burial places contained therein. The dead body of Harry Horwitz, a Russian Jew, 51 yeilrs of age, was found in soldier’s uniform floating in Wellington harbour near the Eastbourne ferry wharf, on Saturday. When recovered the body was warm, indicating that the man could not have been long in, the he was quite dead. He had been at Trentham camp.

A recent wedding in Auckland is of some interest to wireless men. The bride was a certificated operator, whil.e the bridegroom is chief instructor at the Dominion College of Wireless in Auckland. The two groomsmen wore wifeless men, while the officiating clergyman is himself a qualified operator. All the signatories to the marriage register were, therefore, connected in some way or other with the profession of lifeless telegraphy.

The total value of exports from the Dominion fur Ihe week ended August 12th was £200,340, made up as follows: —Butter (all from Auckland)- £1,114, cheese (all from. Southland) £141,5GG, lamb (all from Oamaru) £20,913, mutton (nearly all from Oamaru) £10,940, other frozen meat (all from Southland) £2,848, wool £20,013, grain and pulse £72, kauri gum £34, flax and tow (all from Southland) £lO,010, and timber £4Ol.

■ When an Auckland business man opened two cases of goods -'wwich had arrived by a recent steamer, he found that 20 pairs of ladies’ shoes were missing. The landed cost per pair was hbout 30s. Evidently the thieves wanted the shoes only, as ladies’ boots had been taken out of cardboard boxes and thrown together in the bottom of one case. The cases were imported from Gineinnatti, and had to travel by rail fnn New York before being shipped for Auckland, As it was summer ti/W* when the cases left New York, it vs thought that the fact that only shoes were taken points to the robbery having been committed <wor there. In the hurry two odd smoes were taken.

A strong point was scored by Mr E. C. Banks, at the Auckland Educational Conference, in the course of a reference to the under-payment by the Education Department of its officers. “I noticed the other dayjfc' an advertisement for a chief inspector of schools,” lie said, “at a salary bf £OSO a year. The director of education in this country gets about £9OO a year.- In my private capacity I happen to be a director of the New Zealand Farmers’ Bacon Company; it may interest some of you to know that we pay our manager £1,200 a year. He deals with some fifty,or sixty thousand pigs, and we think it worth that sum to have them dealt with properly. To a man dealing with over 100,000 school children, the Department offers the princely sum of £6501”

“Pigs is pigs,” and as a rule the demise of a porker from a cause other than the butcher’s knife is not very fully inquired into. However, the death of a pig, which was discovered at the New Plymouth Borough Council’s farm at Fitzroy, was the subject of a report to the council by the inspector. Deceased bore no outward signs to indicate the cause of its demise, so a post-mor-, tern examination was held, this revealing that the animal had apparently eaten something beyond the capabilities of its powers of digestion, which had set up inflammation of the bowels, and this was determine to have terminated the animal’s existence. A councillor remarked that he did not know there could be anything unsuitable for a pig to eat, To this Mr Day replied that salt substances were particularly injurious to pigs, and it was something of this nature which had set up the conditions which had caused the .. death of the animal in question. Some time ago we chronicled the find of a “told,” or Maori adze, by Mr Dawson, on the Whirokinp run, near one of the lakes on the estate. We suggested that Mr Dawson should report the find and describe the implement to Mr W. W. Smith, ‘of New Plymouth, an authority on Maori implements, etc. This he did, and Mr Smith writes as follows: “Your note with sketch of Maori told came to hand on'■Friday. It is, •according to sketch, a very fine but not by any means among - 'the largest known. It is of black basalt, which occurs on Mt. Egraont, and i« susceptible of high polish. It probably is a relic of the old Rangitanc Tribe, who made very fine stone tools, and who occupied the district* where you found it for a long period. Several very large toki, some larger than yours, has occasionally been found near Onoki Lake, lower Wairarapa,’which was the last home of the Rangitane before being driven across Cook Strait by Ngatikahungriuna 130 years ago.”

Why bother making cakes when there is sack a good assortment at Perreap'al*

Mr G. Ty.er, lion, secretary of the Red Shield Club, desires to acknowledge the following:—Gift of books, etc., Misses Bryant and Clark; pot plant and flowers, Mrs McMurray; donation £2 2s, Mr W. Ross. The Unionists have selected Mr F. M, B. Fisher, of New Zealand, to be their candidate for the Widnes by-election, caused by the elevation of Colonel W. Hall Walker to the Peerage.

A charge of having made a bet in the Grand Hotel on July 12th was preferred against a man named James Donnelly, before Mr E. Page, S.M., at the Wellington Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Accused was fined £3O and costs.

A meeting of supporters of Mr C. A. Wilkinson, M.P., was held at Eltham yesterday, when he definitely announced that he would not be a candidate for re-election at the forthcoming Parliamentary poll. A further meeting is to be called to select a successor.

The recent controversy on the question as to whether or not it is possible that moas may still be living in the fastnesses of the Urewera Country was touched upon by a Gisborne Times reporter in the course of a conversation with Colonel Porter, C.B. Colonel Porter remarked that he was not one who held the belief that the moa is not extinct. As far as he knew no evidence had been found in this or any other district which tended to show that live moas had been traced during the European occupation of the Dominion. He had personally seen the egg shells and feathers found in a cave in the Te Reinga district over 40 years ago, but there was nothing about them to show that they were of recent origin. “They may,” he added, “have been hundreds,, nr even thousands of years old.”

“In my opinion no country that

wants to keep abreast of the times

(•an afford to stand out of aviation for long.” That remark of Sir Joseph Ward’s suras up his ideas of what New Zealand should do in the development of Hying. The Minister of Finance stated to a Christchurch reporter that already in Groat Britain it was an everyday occurrence for both morning and evening uews-

papers to be carried from London, • in specially designed airplanes, to various parts of the kingdom; and there was a daily service from Britain to Paris, Cologne, and to other important centres on the Continent. That showed what might he done in the wav of mail services to the more

isolated parts. Also, Sir Joseph

staled that there was a daily passenger service in England, Scotland,

and Ireland. In one steamer crossing the Atlantic to America, there travelled seven people who had missed their trains to the port and made the connection by airplane, taking their luggage with them.

Mr Parkinson, on behalf of the Educational Institute, waited upon the Minister for Education at Wellington on ’Saturday, in respect to educational reform. Speaking in reference to teaching control, Mr Parkinson-said: “In any service the staff must feel, if it is to do its host work, that faithfulness and merit will ensure promotion in due time, inti that has not been, and is not now, the experience of the teaching service. It can be asserted with emphasis that education boards are not on the whole composed of men who are capable of administering such a highly technical professional service as that of the teacher. Hence we have, instead of a national service in which merit should be the passport to advancement, a group of provisions in which appointments are made on no definable principle—except that of exclusion already referred to —and in which promotion depends less on merit and justice than on personal considerations and pure luck. Only a single controlling authority can so adjust the teaching power of the work it has to do as to give at once the best return in service to the State and the beSt assurance to the teachers that merit shall meet its reward.”