LOCAL AND GENERAL

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 2621, 18 August 1923, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

“If is jin oxlrjioi'diiuirv I'iiel,” said Mr S. Solomon, K.C., in ft Jec(nro recently, “lluil in the history of New Zomlsukl only mio bookmaker Inis over boon found guilty by ii jury of bookmaking. And n still more exlraordiimrv feature is tluit I was defending' him,” bo added. Thirteen inmafos of (ho Turaima Old Men’s Home have died in the last twelve days, states a message from Ashburton, out of a total complement of 112. The late winter and spring usually usher out many of the aged people, but the present number is abnormal. The aggregate age of the thirteen was 1057, and the average slightly over 81. Complaint has been made that pukekos have been eating wild duck and mallard eggs at lagoons in the Marton district. One of the rangers has recommended to the Acclimatisation Society that permission should be granted to a local owner to have a number of them destroyed. It was decided to apply to the Internal Affairs Department for necessary permission,

Penny postage and New Zealand (says “The Pest's 7 ’ London correspondent, writing on 22nd June) inspire “The Spectator” to publish an eulogistic paragraph. “Ah Massey, Prime Minister of New Zealand,” says the writer, “is to he eongratainted on the decision of his Government to reintroduce penny postage This is not the first occasion on which New Zealand has given the lead to the Empire as a whole, and, incidentally, it is proof of the soundness of the Dominion’s finnli-

lt' the curriculum of our schools is not already overloaded it might be worth while for the Education Department to see that instruction is given in science of mortgages, what they arc, and how they are managed. For instance, to show the ignorance on the subject the following episode may he cited. A property owner said, “I am going to vacate my home.” “Why?” inquired a friend. “Rccause the mortgage is due, and I cannot meet it,” was the reply. “Why do you not raise a fresh mortgage to pay off the old?” asked the friend. “Gosh, can one do that ?” “That is the way it is always done,” said the friend astonished at such lack of knowledge.

Btoady progress is being made with the big scheme to control the Hood waters of the Mauawatu River from Linton to the sea. All the work in the vicinity of Eoxton has been completed and a discussion between representatives of the Mana-watu-Oroiia. River Board and the Eoxtim Harbour Board is about to take place to discuss Ihe points in the project which are of common interest to both bodies. The scheme has for its principal object the protection of some 70,000 acres of low-lying land, which in big floods is all subject to inundation, but it is also Imped that by taking the flood waters direct to the sea great improvement will lie possible to the shipping facilities at Eoxton.

A rather unique display of butter (says “The Post’s” London correspondent, writing on 22nd June) is now to lie seen in the miniature freezing chamber in the window of the New Zealand Office. One half of the chamber is taken up with pound packages and a couple of hundredweight boxes, hut in the other half is a picture executed in butter on a “canvas” of black velvet. On the one side of the foreground is a fern tree, on the other is a niknn palm, and these, frame a pastoral scene with innumerable cows, a river, and a mountain range. The exhibit has been done for the New Zealand Produce Association, whose name the picture hears.

Advertising New Zealand butter in (treat Britain was conducted last year at a cost of £750. Of this sum importers provided £SOO and the Dominion Government put £250 to the fund. When the campaign started, Danish Imttcr was commanding more than New Zealand by -15 s per owl. After three months of advertising there was practically no «.\if ferenec between the prices of the (wo butters, according to the report of the Department of Agriculture. “If would he rash," the report coni',nurs, “to state that the change was entirely due to advertising, hut the need of the comprehensive continuous advertising of New Zealand dairy products lias been evidenced.

There is ;ni acute shortage of coal at Auckland for shipping purposes. All (Jit* stocks have been depleted, and shipping companies are borrowing coal from one another for present needs until more comes to hand. The principal cause of the shortage is the recent labour trouble at Newcastle, which has slopped eoa.l coming direct from there to this port for some months, stales the “New Zealand Herald.” Another contributing factor is the epidemic of influenza on the West Coast of the South Island. About half (lie miners in the Westport Coal Company’s mines are off duty, resulting in a corresponding reduction in output. Urey mouth is affectid in a similar manner.

A particularly mean theft occurred on the ferry slimmer Britannia on an early trip from Takapuna to Auckland recently. Some ladies seated in the cabin observed a man ipiielly lift a purse off the lap of a. gill beside him and go up the stairway to the deck. The victim was promptly apprised of her loss, and several passengers hastened to

follow the miscreant, but unlorlun ately lie was not idealilied. Nubse ipieully, however, the purse wmfimiid, having c\ ideally been thrown away see roily alter .02 Ids lie balk of I be money il emitained laid been abstracted. The owner of the purse bad the small satisfaction of knowing I bat live shillings had been considerately (or carelessly) left to meet her immediate ro(|uircmcn(s. While waiting at the Ml. Albert terminus at Auckland, a tramway conductor saw a woman running along the roadway (states the Auckland “Star”). It was obvious that she was an escapee J'rom the mental hospital, and the conductor sizing up the situation, asked her to board the tram. “I have no money,” was the reply. “That’s all right,” said the conductor, “1 won’t charge you anything.” The woman then boarded the ear, and the conductor kept her under observation till the top of Symonds street was reached, when lie handed her over to the policeman on point duty and a few minutes later she was on her way back in a taxi. “I felt pretty mean about it,” remarked the conductor to a passenger, “but it was the only safe tiling to do from the public point of view.” Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure For coughs and colds, never fails. •

With the. coming of (lie fresh in lire Manawatu River, whitebait, in considerable quantities, have put in an appearance once more and some good enlehes have been recorded. The Palmerston-Wanganui char-e-bane overturned at Mount Stewart on Thursday morning. It contained fifteen passengers, one of whom named Nolan, was injured about the load and was removed to the Palmerston North Hospital. lie is making a satisfactory recovery.