The Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, MAY 31, 1923. LOCAL AND GENERAL

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 2587, 31 May 1923, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, MAY 31, 1923. LOCAL AND GENERAL

A draft of 240 assisted passengers arrived at Wellington by the lonic from Southampton on Tuesday. \

The Hon. D. H. Guthrie is improving in health and lias left hospital for his residence in Paekakariki.

The Rangitikei County Council at its meeting last week instructed the Engineer to report on all abandoned roads and lands suitable for treeplanting.

If is understood that in order to relieve the sugar shortage in the Dominion, the Government intends to remove the duty on Java sugar, which at present stands at a Id per lb.

A portrait of Mr Massey, which has been painted by Augustus-John, was recently on view at the Alpine Club gallery at London. It was offered to the public at 850 guineas.

The Te Awamutu Power Board has a total of 030 lighting services, 155 milking machine plants, and 35 other power plants installed in its district. Tls monthly revenue is now in the vicinitv of £I,OOO.

The Summit (Rimutaka) had the highest rainfall in the North Island during March, with 914 points. Inglewood was next: with 083 points. In the South Island Otira had nearly 3,000 points of rainfall.

The following remarkable advertisement appears in the Hunterville Express : —£s Reward will be paid to the first person who sends to Box 34, the chapter and verse in the Bible where babies are commanded to be christened, or the example of a child ever being christened.”

Inspector Hugo visited Foxton on Tuesday and inspected the Fire station and expressed his appreciation of the building and appointments. He also made an inspection of the fire engine for the brigade •and his report will be submitted to the Fire Board.

During the recent electrical storm at Porirua, lightning struck an unoccupied four-roomed house owned by Mr ,T. Wall. The building immediately burst into flames, and efforts to subdue the conflagration were unavailable. The contents, which were uninsured, were destroyed.

“I know one sheepowner who i« in u pretty bij? way, and who has taken a lot of money from the publie with his raeehorses, who is not above beating a shearer for half a pound of butter,” stated a union representative at the recent hearing of the shearers’ dispute at the Conciliation Council at Wellington.

A city girl staying in the country spoke to the farmer about the savage way in which the cow regarded her. “Well.” said the farmer, “it must be on account of that red blouse you are wearing.” “Dear me.” said the girl, “of course, I know it’s dreadfully out of fashion, but I bad no idea a cow would notice it.”

“Daniel Richard Cooper , missionary, Main Street, Gore.” is the description published in a 1017 directory of the man later destined to be sentenced to death after one of New Zealand’s most sensational murder trials. Cooper’s subsequent actions indicate that his mission was one widely different from the general idea of a missionary’s work.

“That, considering the rapid development of the dairying industry in the Dominion, this conference urges the Government to appoint a Minister of Dairying as promised by the Prime Minister in March 1921,” was a resolution carried at the closing session of the Dominion Conference of the Dairy Farmers’ Union in Palmerston North.

On Tuesday afternoon, at the invitation of the chairman of the school committee, Inspector Hugo made an inspection of the local State school and expressed surprise with the up-to-date appointments and conveniences. He delivered a brief address to the children of the fifth and sixth standards in reference to fire lighting methods and promised that on his next visit to Foxton he Avould endeavour to deal with the subject in a more interesting manner.

We are asked to remind members of the local Dorcas Society that the meeting will be held in All Saints’ Schoolroom to-morrow

(Friday), at 2.30 p.m., instead of Monday next, which is a public holiday.

The Picton Borough Council, at it's last meeting, passed a resolution to subsidise sports bodies £1 for £1 to the extent of £SO for the purpose of erecting a pavilion on the town domain. An amendment that the Council erect a building at a cost not to exceed £IOO was defeated.

The death took place at the Palmerston N. Hospital on the 21st inst of Alice May, the 2i-year-old daughter of Mr and Mrs T. Morgan, of Avenue Road, Foxton. The child contracted diphtheria, and was removed to the hospital for treatment, where it succumbed to the disease. The burial took place in Foxton.

Mr Jas. Christie, of Messrs Levin and Co.’s local staff, has been transferred on promotion to the firm’s Picton branch, and left for Picton to-day. “Jim,” as he is familiarly known, has won the good opinion of all with whom he has come in contact, by his courteous and obliging manner, and we join with his many friends in wishing him success in his new sphere of labour.

Nature in playful mood is most diverting but one would not expect her to have on her bands any time for freakishness when she is raising up our forest trees (relates the Oamaru Mail). The other day, however, we were shown a piece of sawn rimu on which the grain lines most plainly displayed a -human face to the minutest detail. On the same board the heads of a dog and a pig were delineated.

“Ynrrum” in the Bulletin writes: We’ve heard a lot of champion mean men, but here’s an entry for the champion generous one. Walter Scott, of Mulloon, in the Braidwood (N.S.W.) district, has one of the best orchards in the state —poaches, pears, apples, plums, quinces and cherries galore, with melons of all sorts littering the landscape for miles. As soon as the fruit ripened, or a little before, Sc-ott advertised each year in the Goulburn Herald: “Fruit ripe at: sMulloon. Bring your carts and help yourselves.” I’ve seen as many as 20 carts roll up in one day.

Following a warm discussion at a meeting of the Pukekohc Borough Council, the Mayor (Mr Rontley) town clerk (Mr .T. F. Deane), chief engineer (Mr W. Wyatt), and Or. Baseley tendered their resignations. Mr Baseley objected very strongly to (he manner in which th Mayor was conducting the meeting, and appealed to him to be governed by the standing orders. Mr Baseley threatened him with Supreme Court action if he did not conform to the standing orders. The Mayor replied that he had no fear either of the orders or of the Supreme Court, and that he would conduct the meeting as he thought fit.

By generous bequests from the late Mr Wm. Shepherd, a wealthy builder, London hospitals have benefited considerably. The benefactions include: £35,000 to Guy’s Hospital to finance the erection and completion of the Nurses’ Home; £25,000 to the Bolingbroke Hospital, Wandsworth Common, for the erection and completion of a new wing: £20,000 to St. Thomas’s for the erection of dining and recreation rooms for nurses; £6,000 to the Belgrave Hospital for Children, Clapham Road. The £96,500 already distributed though not representing the whole of the estate, exhausts the funds available for immediate distribution.

“1 was prevailed on to write a letter for reproduction in the New Zealand School Journal,” I’emarked Lord Jellieoe at the opening of Jellieoe Park, Onehunga, on Saturday last. “This week I received a letter from a South Island boy, who stated that he had been trying to read my message in the “Journal,” but wasn’t able to read my writing. His teacher had said to him that he had better write to me and ask me to write him another letter—one more plainly written.” His Excellency begged the children present (states “The Post’s” Auckland correspondent) not to follow the South Island boy’s example for he could not write any better than he had done in the “Journal.”

Country newspaper proprietors have to put up with many pinpricks, direct and indirect (says the Eltham Argus). One townsman says to another: “Did you read about in the local paper?” The reply in this instance was: “That adjective rag. I never have it in my house, I never have it there and I won’t advertise in it.” So far so good. But the critic tells only half the story. The reason he neither reads nor subscribes to the newspaper in question is that he was sued for three years’ subscription and two years’ advertising. He could not now get an advertisement in the paper except by payment in advance. The second half of this story is quite as interesting as the lirst half.

The English language contains nbout 20,000 words which are of French origin.

A white frost wji.s experienced locally yesterday morning. Rain fell last night, and the weather hay turned very cold.

The annual meeting of the local Beautifying Society will he held in the Town Hall supper-room at 7.30 o’clock this evening.

Harry Potman, aged 40, employed by Mr T. Fountain*;, a t Kumeroa (VVoodville), was found dead with a gunshot wound in the head. After borrowing 35,000 marks a year ago to build a house, a Stuttgart man has now raised sufficient to pay off the debt by selling a single tree from his garden.

What appears to be two native rats were captured in a local business place in Main Street last night. The rodents are smaller than the grey species, and are slate-col-cured.

On Tuesday evening Inspector Hugo made an inspection of the local Fire Brigade, and witnessed the firemen at drill. TTe subsequently addressed the men, and will report on the Brigade equipment. Mrs Matilda Barlow, aged 52, the wife of Mr J. M. Barlow, of Te Ai'olia, was found drowned in the women’s swimming pool at. Manmer hospital yesterday, where she was a patient. The Prime Minister, Bight Honourable W. F. Massey, returned to Wellington yesterday morning. Messrs J. A. Nash and J. Linklnter, M.’sP., met and conferred with him at the Palmerston station.

Speaking at the Waikato Winter Show, the Prime Minister said that a new Minister of Railways would be; appointed, owing to flu; illness of the Hon. D. H. Guthrie. Mr Massey also forecasted an improvement in the passenger service.

Inspector Hugo inspected the local firebell on Tuesday, and recommended that it be removed to the fire station site. He said that its removal and erection would not be a costly matter, as the timber was in a good state of preservation, and the ringing could be done by a pulton wheel.

The unveiling of the town and district’s war memorial at Te Awamutu took place yesterday, in the presence of several thousand people. The ceremony was performed by the Governor-General, and was in every way fitting. The memorial is a cenotaph erected on a triangular plot on the section reserved for the municipal offices and town hall.

A family of dwarfs, hidden in an attic for 40 years, in Madrid, were discovered after the death of Lapido, a Spanish composer, who lived a lonely life. When the house was searched, two sons of 4p and 42 years respectively, were found. Both are only 3ft. high, but have pei’fect bodies. Neither has ever been out of the house. They ate and lived like animals. When the subject, of the appointment of a Public Service Commissioner was mentioned to the Prime Minister at Wellington yesterday, Mr Massey said: “The Public Service Commissioner is selected.” He said also he had no other announcement to make respecting the matter. The Public Service Commissioner would be appointed by the Governor-General, and all the papers were now before His Excellency.

It is stated that the Pope intends to mark the customary Catholic Church Holy Year of 1925, by convoking the (Ecumenical Council. This Council will be a continuation of the Vatican Council of IS7O, which was interrupted by political events, and whose labours were never really concluded. It is expected that nearly all the prelates of the Catholic world will make a pilgrimage to Rome. The Council will last several months.