LOCAL AND GENERAL

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2265, 19 April 1921, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Mushrooms are very plentiful in this district at present. The monthly meeting of the Foxton Harbour Board will be held at Foxton a<*►l2.3o o’clock to-morrow. The Rev. P. J. Mail's is visiting old Foxton friends. He will conduct the morning service at the local Methodist Church next Sunday. As a much-travelled act, the Musical Blanchards, to appear at the Town Hall to-morrow night, would take a deal of beating. They have of late years been through South Africa. India, China, and the East, recently returning from Australia.

Nominations of candidates for the Mayoralty and Borough Council and two seats on the Harbour Board close to-morrow, at 12 noon. The Hon. T. W. Hislop has retired from the contest for the Mayoralty of Wellington. There will now be a straight-out fight between Mr R, A. Wright, M.P., and Mr P. H. Hickey, the Labour candidate. Tho pursuit of the prisoner Keyes, who escaped from Mt. Eden gaol, still, continues. The escapee was sighted on Sunday, but got away again in the dense scrub. The search party is confident of capturing him sooner or later. A conference of delegates from the various local bodies and Chambers of Commerce in the district with members of the local Harbour Board will be held at Foxton tomorrow afternoon, at 1.30 o'clock, to discuss ways and means of increasing the trade of the port. The- cost of living is rapidly falling in Feilding, as a result of keen competition. Here are a few prices: Mutton 5s Gd half sheep, beef l]d per lb., bread Gd delivered the 21b. loaf. There is also keen competition among the drapery firms, and prices have gone down with a bump. The pure-bred Jersey heifer presented by W. Jewell, Esq., of Marotiri, to tho Farmers' Carnival Committee to the winner of the' gross Carnival takings competition, was won by Mr P. Petersen, of Levin, who guessed £1,140, the correct amount being £1,130 5s Bd. A mild flutter is being caused in local wholesale and retail circles connected with the softgoods trade by the price-cutting activities of a wholesale house (states the Invercargill Times). Some lines are being quitted, it is stated, at half the ruling prices, and brisk business is resulting. Mr Charles S. Rush, who has been business manager of tho Mauawalu Daily Times Company since its formation live years ago, has disposed of his interests in the concern and resigned his position. He has purchased the North Auckland Times, at Dargaville, from Mr R. E. Hornblow, and will take possession of that paper at the end of June.

In the rush to deal with the impatient crowd at the pay-out window at Awapuni on Wednesday, one of the tellers accepted a ticket which later, on closer examination, proved to be a neat forgery. Another bundle of the consignment of National Bank notes which were stolen in transit some months ago, were also in evidence, having been passed through the lotalisator.

In his report to the last meeting of the School Committee, the head teacher stated that during this week lie intended to proceed with tho election of a school council to help in the management of the various activities of the school. “During our -ojotirn in temporary buildings, 1 had the scheme in operation, and found the assistance of the council very valuable in helping to camout the school regulations and bylaws. Bv this method !he youngsters are.given elementary ideas of civic government and duties." At last Friday’s meeting of the School Committee the head teacher reported that: the average atconflanoc for the quarter ending March 31st was 307.19 (boys 294.0, girls 1G2.5). The attendance for the past two weeks was 355.1 and 352.7 out of tt roll number of 390 and 39!. The attendance has been m!offered with by the broken week on opening and the movement of population. Periods of industrial depression locally soon manifest themselves in the roll of the school. Natural tendencies towards increase in ilie numbers become reversed in their operation.

All interesting feature of the Wellington municipal election is the special appeal being made by women's organisations to secure representation on the City Council. Labour has its woman candidate, and there are three other women in the field, two of whom have the official backing of the women’s organisation interested in civic affairs, while the third, with the advantage of actual r ”municipal experience, is included in the “ticket” of the local Town Planning and Ratepayers' Association. The indications are that women's representatives on the City Council will be trebled as a result of the coming election. “The great welcomes accorded to .Lord Jellicoe throughout the West Coast district have jjeen a convincing answer to the disloyalists among us,” says the Greymouth Evening Star. “They are not wanted here, and the sooner this fact is realised the better it will be for the West Coast. It is a striking tribute to the liberty enjoyed under the Union Jack that its calumniators are permitted (o go on their way unchecked. According to them, the Germans of 1914 were gentlemen compared with the British of 1921. The wonder is that they remain under the shelter of a flag which they allege is the symbol of oppression in its worst form. They are welcome to depart in search of a better country; the Dominion would be well rid nth-mob as they.”

The Rev. Mr Minifie, successor to the Rev. Harding as minister in charge of the Foxton Methodist circuit, conducted his first services locally on Sunday to good congregations.

The death occurred this morning of the 13-year-old sou of Mr and Mrs Oxenham, of Spring Street. The cause of death was hemorrhage, from which deceased had previously suffered.

Mr William S. Vernon, son of the late Mr J. E. Vernon, formerly Rector of the Palmerston North High School, late Acting-Professor of Physics at University College, Auckland, is now in London.- He made an extensive tour of Canadian and American universities, the McGill (Toronto), Chicago, Harvard, Pennsylvania, etc., covering also leading technical and research institutions, besides the Bureau of Standards (Washington) and manufactories of electric machinery. He was able also to make an extensive visit to the Niagara power stations, and to see the new developments of hydro - dec t ric power.

A whale, 57ft. Gin. in length, was washed ashore on the Ninety-mile Beach, about two miles south of the outlet of Lake Forsyth. The whale was alive when found by Maoris of a nearby settlement, and struggled considerably, lashing the beach with its tail till it died. The Maoris lost no time in removing the blubber, which they sold for n substantial sum to a Christchurch firm of soap and candle manufacturers. They also removed a fair quantity of whalebone, tl is the first that has come ashore in that neighbourhood within the memory of the oldest inhabitant.

At the inquiry into the circumstances attending the death of Patrick Richard Elliott, whose body was found in the Waikato river, no evidence was tendered. Dr-. Bertram and Price held a post mortem, which showed that deceased had been shot at close quarter- in the back of the neck, probably from both barrel- of a shotgun. The pocket- of hi- clothing were found turned inside out. In conversation with people of the district it was elicited that deceased had befriended Hakaraia te Kahu (who i~ charged with murder) on -everal occasion-. Deceased was re-peeled and well liked in the district, in which he had re-ided for five years. Proof of thi- was shown by about 50 men giving their time and hard labour searching for the body.

Considerable consternation was caused among members of the fair '-ex who happened to be in the vicinity when on a recent afternoon a small, girl was seen in one of the busiest thoroughfares at Palmerston N. riding a bicycle and trailing along behind her a pram, in which was a baby. On turning a corner the child found tha,t she was in danger of being run down, and she immediately released her hold on the pram and' cycled off, leaving the pram with its tiny occupant to the tender mercies of the drivers of numerous vehicles, the traffic at this time of the day being very heavy. Only by an ace did the pram escape total destruction, since a team of ponderous draught horses attached to a dray was reined in on the nick of time. Meanwhile the infant stared around in wide-eyed wonder at the unusual activity, all unconscious of the extremely dangerous predicament in which she had been placed. A lady of mature years spoke to the child on the bicycle in motherly tones, with the result that site returned to her charge and cycled off again, towing the pram as before. Many comments were heard as to the foolishness of parents in allowing their children to be exposed to unnecessary danger—M.D. Times.