LOCAL AND GENERAL

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2287, 9 June 1921, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The present roll of the Shannon school is 370, and the average attendance last month was 317.

As a special privilege in honou of ihe King’s Birthday, the inmate of Mount Eden Gaol, Auckland were on Friday provided with : variety entertainment.

The Management Committee o the Ilorowhenua Rugby Union wi meet at Foxton to-night,

At the annual meeting of the Mu nawatu County Council held on Tu (sday, Sir James Wilson was re elected chairman for the ensuin' year.

“A Gamble for Death," anollm dramatic British detective story from the pen of Edgar Wallace, wil be screened at the Town Hall oi Saturday.—Advt.

The escaped prisoner, Williai Henry Grant, who disappeared froi Ihe working gang at Point ITalswc on Thursday, has not yet been re captured.

Under the recent census, the Ma nawatu-Rungitikei district, includ ing Rangitikei, Kiwitea, Kairangr Oman, Pohnngina, Manawatu an Ilorowhenua, shows an increase o (1,830, or 12 per cent.

Messrs Long and Makgill, representing the meat producers of the Dominion, gave evidence before the Imperial Shipping ’Board, giving facts and figures to show thnf high freights are making it impossible t<» ship some classes of meat. A Rangitikei farmer told a Manawatu Times representative on Tuesday that if the shearers persist in. their demand for 30s per hundred for shearing, co-operative methods will be employed by farmers for the shearing of their sheep next season.

A resolution was seriously proposed at the meeting of the New Plymouth Borough Council on Monday night, “That the Council adjourn for liftcen minutes for a smoke.” It was defeated on a show of hands.

Thomas George Cartwright was acquitted at the Supreme Court at Invercargill of the charge of arson, but was found guilty.of making a false declaration in a claim on an insurance company, and was sentenced to .twelve months’ imprisonment.

'The New Zealand Press can ho commended for the remarkable rigour with which it keeps out of: its pages defamatory references to individuals and articles of an unsavoury character,” said His Honour, Sir John Salmond, in the "Wellington Supreme Court on Tuesday. At a conference of local bodies at Eltham on Monday, the following resolution was carried: “That it he a recommendation to all local bodies to reduce wages by one shilling per day, the reductions to include casuals, surfacemen and foremen, hut |o exclude blacksmiths and bridge carpenters.”

Under ;t new system the police area of the Dominion has been divided into four divisions, Fho Wellington division consists oi the Wellington, Palmerston North, Wanganui, New Plymouth, and Napier districts, Superintendent Norwood, of Wellington, being in charge of the area.

Reference to the mutilation of Maori words was made by Sir James Wilson at. the meeting of the Manawatu County Council on Tuesday. He pointed out that, in a Government communication, the name “Makowhai” had been spelt “Matowhai.” “Makowhai” means “white kowhai,” he added.

In a discussion on Paekakariki Hill road, at Tuesday’s meeting of the Manawatu County Council, Cr Barber pointed out that there is a track from Waikanae across to Upper Hutt. '‘The grade is a good one,” said Sir James Milson, “and I believe improvements are at present being carried out upon it.”

A resident in a district not far from Palmerston North, who was given up by his doctor several years ago as a helpless victim of cancer, and for whom a coffin was actually

made after the performance #f an operation, is now hale and hearty; He attributes his recovery to the eating of molasses in large quantities, says the M.D. Times. In the person of the late Mrs Chas. French Pemberton, who died recently, Canterbury has lost an- , other of her earliest pioneers. Mrs , Pemberton was born at Sellindge, j Kent, England, where she married the late Mr Pemberton, civil engineer and surveyor, prior to leaving for New Zealand in the sailing ship Gleaner, in the year 1857. Mr Green, of Hawera, is on a visit to 'Foxton, after an absence of almost 20 years. He was agreeably surprised at the progress the town had made in recent years. He paid a visit to the local State School, and expressed the opinion that it was the finest primary school building, the cleanest and best equipped he had yet seen. Mr William Sawyer, a pioneer settler of Rangitikei Line, Palmerston, died on Saturday, aged 7!) years. Deceased, who was born at Ipswich, England, arrived in New Zealand in a sailing ship 45 years ago, and settled at Lincoln in the South Island. Ten years later he came north and took up land on Rangitikei Line, which he farmed for many years. During .recent ■years the late Mr Sawyer has re ; sided with his daughter, Mrs E. C. Jones, at Cameron’s Line, Kauwhata.

The local Patriotic Society is compiling a register of all returned soldiers who enlisted in the Foxton district, and in order to complete it, all returned men are requested to communicate with the secretary, Mr Trueman, who will furnish them with a card setting forth the details required. It will be to the advantage of every local returned man to furnish the details required. A sudden sound of whistling disturbed the slumbrous air of the class-room, and the strains of “I’m for ever Blowing Bubbles” floated over the forty small heads bent above forty small slates: “Who's that whistling?” screeched the teacher as soon as she had recovered from her surprise. “It’s just masel,” answered Sandy Macpherson, with true Scottish impeturbability. “Did ye no ken ah cud whilst le.”

A prominent Auckland business man does not think the financial position will ease until next year, saying that the banks will be called on to finance the butter and cheese factories from the opening of the dairy season until the produce is on the London market, and accommodation will probably be required by them until November or December.

“I am strongly against the proposal that the Government should take over the arterial roads of the Dominion,” said Sir James Wilson, at the Manawatu County Council meeting on Tuesday. “The policy c,f centralisation of control will not. be successful,” he added, and instanced the Hurt road as a monument to the Government’s ill success in this direction.

A London cablegram stales that Lady Dorothy Wood, daughter of a. former Governor of New Zealand, Lord Onslow, and the wife of the Under-Secretary for the Colonics, gave a luncheon to Mr Massey and iiis wife and daughter. Mr Massey has been summoned to (lie Privy Council on Friday, when Sir Robert Stout will he sworn in as a ’councillor.

As the result of a neighbours' quarrel, Martha Posselt proceeded against .John Wilkinson, in the Wellington Magistrate’s Court yesterday for the sum of £SO for alleged assault and slander. The evidence disclosed that plaintiff’s two children invaded the defendant’s property. It was admitted by the defendant in cross-examination that he had called the woman a “German sardine” and a “German pig.” After hearing the evidence, Mr U. Page, S.M., held that the plaintiff had not proved her case, and gave judgment for the defendant, with costs.

Mr Justice McCarctle, in the King’s Bench Division, London, in delivering a judgment, said: —“I deem it the duty of a Judge to take serious notice of all perjury committed before him. This offence is on the increase. Men are losing their sense of tlm eanctity of the, oath. They swear falsely with levity because tlfey imagine that consequences do not follow. No one save perhaps a Judge can appreciate fully the gravity of this crime of perjury. It strikes at tho very root of the power.of the Court to give justice. It strikes at the very foundation of right as between man and man.”

“The times are very dull in Taranaki at present,” said Mr IT. Wills, who recently returned to Ashburton from a. visit to the North Island. “Feed is very, scarce, and I have, never seen the paddocks so bare of pasture in Taranaki. Good dairy cows I saw sold at 17s 6d, 255, and up to £2 —cows which would have cost as many pounds as they do shillings to-day. Rain fell while I was in Taranaki, and was very welcome. A very large cheese factory which did not sell its output forward at the commencement of the season is only returning Is 6d per lb. for butter-fat to its suppliers, against the 2s 6d and 2s 4d per lb. paid by the Ashburton factories. The long-looked-for “Daughter of Brahma” will be screened at the Koval next week. —Advt.

Amon.g the pupils of St. Mary’s Convent who were successful in the Trinity College theory examination was Miss Ynes Easton, who obtained G 5 marks in the intermediate grade. This young lady’s name was inadvertently ontitted from the list published on Tuesday. A char-a-banc with about GO passengers bound for the races on Monday, capsized in Khyber Pass, Auckland, at a corner, where it collided with a tramcar. Eight pasj sengers were injured, and two were admitted to the hospital, viz., Hugo Sherson, assistant traffic manager for the city, and Frank Hansen. Tlieformer is badly injured. The brakes failed to act when the vehicle was going down the hill. Hugh Sherson later succumbed to the injuries received in the accident.

It is understood (says the Post) that the authorities have decided that Mrs Farr, who refused to take the oath of allegiance, may he allowed to land in New Zealan'd without doing so, as there are special circumstances which warrant such action without any breach of either the letter or the spirit of the law. Mrs Farr has, however, refused to take advantage gf this concession, it is believed because she desires to return to Sydney.

The practice of blood transfusion in medicine has given rise to a curious profession in America, stated Dr. Kenneth Mackenzie, in a lecture at Auckland recently. At the famous male clinic at Rochester, New York, live a number of men who are. professional donors of blood. M believer a patient requires a transfusion of blood they offer their services. They can undergo this experience about once every six weeks, the lecturer stated.

A fatal motor accident occurred near Dannevirke on Tuesday afternoon. About 5 o’clock Mr William Beattie, a fanner of Te Rchunga, and his brother-in-law, Mr Peter Hav, were returning from Dannevirke by motor car. Near the Taho-* raite railway station the car went over a small bank, and capsized. Mr Beattie was apparently killed instantly. Mr Hay, who was seriously injured, was removed to the Dannevirke Hospital.

A rather uncomplimentary reference to New Zealand members of Parliament is contained in Viscount Bryce’s book, “Modern Democracies.” Viscount Bryce says:—“The New Zealand House of Representatives is'in one sense too representative, for its members are little abovo the average of their electors in knowledge or ability. . . . The Assembly is left to persons livesixths of whom do not rise above the level of the town councillors of an

English town. . . . The standard not only of attainments, but of debates and of manners also, leaves something to be desired. Thinking bears a low ratio to talking. . . ■ There is certainly what one may call a sort of commonness, a want of that elevation of dignity which ought to raise above their ordinary level those who administer the affairs of a self-governing community with a great future, and thK luwers the moral influence of Parliament upon the community itself.’

A cablegram from London announces the death of Mr Will Crooks, formerly member of the House of Commons for Woolwich. The late Mr Crooks was horn in Poplar in 1852, of very poor parents, and at the age of eight years he became assistant to a milkman at sixpence a week, his working day beginning at Jive o’clock in” the morning. Ilis father became crippled, and eventually the seven children of the family had to go to the workhouse. Later he got work in a smithy at 5s a week, and afterwards was apprenticed to a cooper. He became a prominent. Labour leader in 188!) at the time of the great dock strike, and was elected to the London County Council in 1892, subsequently becoming chairman of the Poplar Board of Guardians and Mayor of Poplar. He was elected member for Woolwich in 1993. and held the scat until his retirement hist February owing to ill-health. He visited New Zealand in 1913.

A story is going the rounds which shows that decent, hard-working men have had quite enough of the gentry whose manual labour does not equal their oratorical energy. At a certain place where a large number of men are busy with the development of a hydro-electric power supply, two men arrived. They worked for a while, and then they preached their pet doctrine. As a result they were “fired" by the overseer. In a very short time they returned in a motor, accompanied by others, and demanded their re-in-statement and the dismissal of the overseer. A meeting was held to consider the matter. It was resolved to take n vote. The disturbers of the peace wanted an open vote. The meeting decided on a secret ballot. It was taken. The overseer was upheld by 282 votes to 11. The disinisscd men thereupon made themselves scarce, and the three hundred decent, hard working men are continuing' their industrious methods.

Tlfe many friends of Mr J. A. Nash, M.P., Mayor of Palmerston North, will be sorry to hear that he is indisposed and confined to his home.

The ordinary meeting of the local S.M. Court, and also the meeting of the Licensing Bench, will be held at the Courthouse tomorrow.

The late Mr Francis - Buchan, whoso death was recorded on Friday (says the Palmerston Standard) was a popular and well known resident of the Manawatu district. Deceased arrived in New Zealand from Scotland in 1887, and took up his residence in Wanganui, where he was in business with Mr Pctei Bell as a draper. Later he resided in Foxton, being in the employ of Mr E. Osborne. Shortly afterwards, the late Mr Buchan entered the flax industry, and for the past 30 years he lfad been a familiar figure in the engincrooms of various mills thioughout. the country, where he was engaged as engineor. He was well known at the mills at Bulls, Tukupau, Turakina, and Karere. Recently he had been engineer at Mr E. J. Nash’s mill at Koputarou. Aged 55 years, deceased was a single man of an active disposition, and he became a ready favourite with his associates.

“The Sporting Duchess,” to he screened at the Royal on Saturday, cost 200,000 dollars to produce. Alice Joyce is the star.—-Advt.