NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2379, 14 January 1922, Page 4

NEWS AND NOTES.

The Carterton School Committee has received advice from the Director of Education that the Miss Park inquiry will be held at Carterton on January 30th,

A Wellington carrier has been fined £1 for charging an excessive sum for conveying luggag'e from one wharf to another, fie was entitled to ss, and charged Bs. Count Okuma has finally died (says .a cablegram from Tokio). For several days the coma was so intense that it was impossible to determine with certainty whether he lived or was dead.

The Bishop of Oxford has refused to proceed with the heresy charge against the Rev. H. D. A. Major, a former vicar of St. Peter’s, Hamilton, New Zealand. The matter thus lapses.

Stock is not going forward to the freezing companies freely at the present time. Feed is-ptentifnl, and farmers are holding on, awaiting eventualities regarding the proposed meat pool (says the Napier Telegraph). The grand total mileage of all roads in the Dominion is G 4,3284, of which 44,4(12 are formed roads. Of these formed roads 27,507•{ miles arc metalled and 1(1,054.) unmetalled, while there are besides 5,200 miles of bridle tracks and 14,0001 miles of unformed legal roads.

Mount Egmont claimed- a full share of attention from holidaymakers throughout the Christmas and New Year vacation. In spite of the unsettled weather a large number of ascents to the summit were made. One man who stayed at North Egmont for eight days went to the top five times. Mr R. D. B. Robinson, town clerk of Gisborne, has a record which is probably unique in the Dominion. He entered the. service of the corporation at Gisborne in 1888 as junior clerk, and three years later was appointed town clerk at the age of 20 years, a position which he has retained right up to the present time.

When Mr William Illingworth, a farmer who resides near Okawa (Otago) was driving a bull from one paddock to another, the animal attacked him. Mr Illingworth was badly cut about the face, and walked for a mile in his injured condition through the bush in order to receive attention. He was subsequently conveyed--to the Dunedin hospital. • Mr H. S. Jones, chief* assistant at the Greenwich Observatory, with Mr Melotte, the discoverer of Jupiter’s eighth satellite, will leave at the end of the month for Christmas Island, to observe the eclipse of the sun in September. They will also carry out tests in regard to Professor Einstein’s theory of relativity. There is a possibility that a Ger-man-Dutch expedition, accompanied by Professor Einstein, will also go. After being in a cataleptic trance for nine years, Anne Swanepoel has awakened in possession of all her faculties, states a Johannesburg message. Her voice is weak but distinct, and when' asked on awaking what she would like for breakfast she replied: “Sardines on toast.” Many faith-healers claim credit for the girl’s recovery, but there seems no doubt that this was due to the efforts of the staff at Rietfontein Institution for the Chronic Sick. A conference of the National Union of Women Teachers, held in London, passed a resolution in favour of an amendment of the law relating to assaults and cruelty to children, in order that the sentences might be commensurate with the crime. -Speakers emphasised the fact that fifteen years and the “cat” were given in Australia for ruining a child, and imprisonment for life was given in South Africa, and they condemned the light sentences given in Britain.

A man followed by a half-grown Tnmworth pig appeared iu the streets of Hastings on Monday (says the Napier Herald), and exoiled the curiosity of the people by the evident friendly relations which existed between the two, and the manner in which the pig chummed up to every dog that came along. The man’s name is Tom Owen, and he and his four-footed companion set out: from the neighbourhood of Auckland nearly two months ago with the intention of making a walking tour of the North Island. The Hon. C. J. Parr (Minister for Public Health) inspected portion of Wellington city on Tuesday, and in one case found the Chinese occupier of the premises fattening a.big goose in the backyard. This is quite against the city by-law. The goose was in a case in which there was grain and other food. There was evidence also that rats were getting nourishment out of the food. John was given till noon the next day to kill and eat the goose and clear up flie unpalatable mess in his yard, failing which the matter is to be turned over to the man who delivers the summonses.

The New York Times, commenting editorially on the ratification of the Irish treaty, states: “The great talent for public affaii-s which Irishmen have shown in their far-llung dispersion among other nations is now to be tested in their own country. More than that, they must overcome the unhappy impression made by a bad start. They cannot fail to be aw'are how seriously the prestige of Ireland has been hurt during the past month. The insensate bickering and personal jealousies show-n in Dublin have filled the friends of Ireland abi’oad with amazement. It would not take a large cave to hold all the malcontents, irreconcilables, and invincibles. The Irish-Americans who dread the loss

of their grievances and jobs could also get into it without crowding.” There is a good story told of the first locomotive engine of which Auckland boasted. This engine had a wheel base of 10ft. sin as big as a modern motor car —and its driving wheels were only three feel in diameter. Apparently the engine arrived from England before the Parnell tunnel was finished, and it had to be taken out to Newmarket by road. Captain Casey, a well-* known Irish steamer skipper of marked characteristics, . was the man who undertook the job of getting the monster overland. Two items in the bill which was submitted to the Provincial Government were a bugler to precede the trolley, and the other was for 120 quarts of beer used in lubricating the throats of the workmen who helped the volatile sailor on the trip. Both items were “tagged” by the Government auditor.

In a cellar beneath a very old Wellington building in Old Customhouse Street —right in the centre of the business area —the municipal officials have made a remarkable discovery. The cellar has been used for some years as a dumping ground by a well-known identity, who collected in a 'hand-cart all the rubbish he could lay his hands on. Apparently he did nothing with it except store it, and the result, says a Wellington paper, is a horrible accumulation of filth, which must be a veritable home# for rats. There are old clothes of every description, dirty (lax, dilapidated boots and shoes, cases filled with rags, and so on, the whole lot lying to a depth of about Oft. Some of the rubbish must have been in the cellar for years. The council’s officials at once set a gang of men to woi'k to clear the' collection —at the owner’s expen*#.

The slogan “Keep the cradles full” is not thoroughly popular with some people. People in search of homes know something of this strange antipathy. The wife "ft a well-known Auckland resident went to a suburb the other day (says the Star) to inquire about a house which was advertised to let. After explaining the reason for her call, she was given some casual particulars about the dwelling, which was empty. “Of course, I have children,” she added. “Kids,” replied the other woman with evident disgust, accompanied by a stony stare; “I wouldn’t have them about (he place.” “Thanks,” replied tlu; caller, with a smile, “I am too proud of my children to have them associated with you in any way, although you were a sort of a child yourself at one time, no doubt.” They parted. An audience of a couple of hundred people—most of them Maoris —assembled at the Opera House, Wanganui, on Monday evening to hear an ‘open-air address entitled “Tohungas, Spiritualism, also Ratanaj” by Chieftainess Tahnri, of Rotorua. Early in her address (reports the Chronicle) the lady dispelled the idea that she was antagonistic to Ratana. /The speaker said that her aneestoi-s were the Arawas, who brought their tohungas with them, and stressed the fact khnt Natives would not do wrong because of fear of the tohungas. Referring to Ratana, she said that- he was doing good, but there were two ways of going about a job. She instanced how she had cured a dying aunt by letting fresh air into (lie room, and had successfully treated a man who had scalded his legs. “There is nothing like good oil for burns,” she confided. Proceeding - , the speaker urged the living of a simple, good life, and said that the nearest way to God was a short cut. The spirit had to he clean, just as one would not drink water from a dirty cup.