Manawatu Herald THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 1923. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 2525, 4 January 1923, Page 2

Manawatu Herald THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 1923. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A Wanganui resident had the good fortune recently to strike a treble of £OOO to £l.

Fox ton’s total rainfall for the year 1922 was 31.74 inches. The rainfall for last month was 1.94 inches.

Some hoys fishing in the Oroua liver at Feilding landed a 141 b eel, measuring 4ft 2in. They were using birds’ eggs as bait.

The local vital statistics for December with the corresponding figures for the same month last year in parenthesis, were: Births 3 (5), deaths 1 (nil), marriages nil (4). Within the past twelve months seven drowning fatalities have been recorded locally, including two in the lake on Messrs Robinson’s property, and the finding of an unidentified male bodv on the river bank.

The “Daily Express” states that the late Lord Northeliite’s estate is valued at £5,500,000.

At the local seaside on New Year's Day over two hundred cars and two thousand people were present.

Percy Dowling Hawkins, charged with forgery of a Government cheque for £7OO, signed “Beeson,” was remanded at Wcllngton last Saturday for a week. The police stated Hawkins was connected with Makin, recently similarly, charged.

A press message from Now Plymouth reports that Mr Wiliam E. Atkinson, of Wellington, did! there suddenlyon Friday night, from heart failure. He was for many years mi the staff of the Wanganui Collegiate School, and was a nephew of Sir Harry Atkinson.

A local townsman desires us to protest against the disfigurement of the roadway and footpaths hv sign writers. The practice is a breach of the borough by-laws and if the perpetrators are ' apprehended this method of advertising may prove very costly.

Says the Patea “Press”: “The first wild' rabbit seen alive in Patea was shot on ’Xmas Day in Mr S. Melton's paddock in Egmont Street near the borough boundary. Several others have been seen in the Whenuaknra district lately, showing that the rabbit menace is real rather than imaginary as some people suppose.’’

Great improvements have been made to the Manawatu Gorge since the Board of Control has undertaken its supervision. Some of the worst bends have been widened and portions railed off. The risks to motorists have been greatly minimised.

At a Native gathering at Jerusalem, near Waipiro Bay, a Maori was emptying a tin of benzine, which caught fire from a lighted candle, and exploded. Nine persons were injured, three seriously, arid one of them a nine-year-old child named Nihu Ngaro, is dead.

repe^^UPß^^^ro^uto^night. At a late hour on Saturday night or early on Sunday morning some wags wrote inartistic greetings in large letters on seveal shop windows in Main Street. They were considerate enough to use witewash instead of paint or tar. We are informed that a bathing tragedy was narrowly averted at the seaside a few days ago. While bathing a lady fainted and a lad who accompanied her managed to drag her to the bank and thus averted what might have proved a fa tali tv.

An important meeting of members of the Reform Party will be held in Wellington next week, when the of the Government and the party in respect of its administration responsibilities will be considered.

The custom of conducting funerals privately is becoming more and more established in Dunedin. On one morning recently a clergyman who lias an extensive parish, officiated at three funerals before breaklast, one at 6 o’clock, one at 7, and one at 8.

A press message from Auckland reports the death of Mr James Chisholm, at the age of 53. For thirty years he was connected’ with the Bank of New Zealand and for the last three years had been branch manager at Gisborne. The late Mr Chisholm was well-known in Foxton, where he was manager of the local Bank of N.Z. in 1900. While resident in Foxton he took a keen interest in tlve town’s welfare and was held in high esteem.

Mr T. A. Blytli, the well-known alpine climber, has just made his fortieth ascent to the summit of Mt. Ruapehu.. He was accompanied by Messrs R. Steel (of-Ohakune), R. Stone (of Mangaweku), and W. Glasgow (of Pokaka). The snow was in perfect order for tobogganing. The crater lake was clear of vapour, but sulphur was floating on the snfaee. The King in the course of his reply to the City of London’s New Year greetings, said: “Amid the universal complications left by the war, my heart goes' 1 out to all in their trials and sufferings, and T devoutly pray that in the coming year, inspired by a feeling of unity and mutual confidence, we shall together strive to restore happiness and prosperity to our beloved country.

The corpse of a female infant was dug up by the police yesterday morning at Newlands, Johnsonville, on which stands the house of Daniel Richard Cooper and Martha Elizabeth Cooper, who were before the Magistrate at Wellington on Tuesday last, charged with having attempted unlawfully to detain a male infant. The police yere searching the section when the body was discovered. The corpse was unclothed and bjore no apparent marks of violence.

A mob light occurred in Lyttelton on Tues-clay nigrlit- between the crew of the oversea steamer Carpentaria and the non-union crew of the Union Company’s Whangape. Fists, sticks and iron bars were used. After the Whangape’s party had been driven back to their own vessel, the police appeared on the scene and ’hostilities ceased. No arrests have been made, .as the numbers engaged in the melee were too large to permit of any men being singled out. Many of the participants are suffering from bruises and sore heads, but no injuries are serious.

Two young boys, who escaped from the Weraroa Training School on Christmas Eve, stole a gig, horse and harness at Palmerston N., and travelled to Wairoa. There they stole sundry articles, and cooked food, by means of a kerosene tin. By this time the horse was played out, so they confiscated anotfher from Mr Martin Edwards, a wellknown footballer. Sergeant Wade, of Wairoa, followed the miscreants as far as Whakaki over heavy roads. Finally he communicated with the Gisborne police who captured the hoys, and sent them back to Napier.

Wticn one of the apprentices of the Randwich (Sydney) trainer, F. McGrath, returned to the sheds after a gallop on Magnet, he asked McGrath if he could see anything on his neck. To the trainer’s astonishment lie saw blood running down the lad’s neck and on the back of his shirt. The hoy stated that he thought someone near the three furlongs post had thrown a stone or a piece of glass at him as he was galloping. Then it was discovered the mare had thrown both her hind shoes, heavy ones at that, and one had evidently caught the hack of the hoy’s head and inflicted an ugly wound.