Manawatu Herald THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 1924. LOCAL AND GENERAL

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 2686, 24 January 1924, Page 2

Manawatu Herald THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 1924. LOCAL AND GENERAL

A company :ii Westport, pays I lie Government nvcr (is on every ton of coni if sells. Alionl .C3O, 000 annually in luxation and oilier <-,L;irges. A .tidy sum. these hard times, to contribute In the National Exchequer. The careless handling of a firearm by some irresponsible person very nearly resulted in serious injury to a woman and child in the southward-bound express when nearing St. Andrew's a day or two ago (says the Christchurch Press). Passengers in one of the first-class carriages were startled by a loud crash, as one of the windows shattered to pieces. An examination showed that a bullet had hit the sash, and, glancing oil', had just missed a woman with a child in her arms. A baby boy was born on the Canard liner Scythia on the voyage from New York to Liverpool. In addition to following the usual custom of naming the ha by after the ship, the mother (.Mrs R. J. Madden) who was proceeding to Ballyspittle (Co. Cork) went a step further and included (lie names of the captain, the doctor, and the purser, with the result theand the purser, with the result that tile infant’s name will occupy a lot of space in the registration forms. He will he known as William, Christie Edward ScytSiia Madden. As in the ease of all births on Canard liners, the passengers presented the mother and ha by with a handsome cheque.

What must lie somewhat in the nature of a record for longevity was established by the occupants of a carriage on the train which left Greymoutli for Hokitika, one day recently. There were eleven happy old men, pioneers of Westland, lon being from Ihe (Ji eymoalh Old Peoples’ Home, and the eleventh (aged 84 year.-) from Grcyuioiith, hound for Hokitika to allend the celebration of the .Jubilee of Westland. The combined ages of the men totalled Sill years, I lie a.vcrage age of the ten men from the Home being 51.2 years. The eldest. inmate of the Home, Mr Prank Bathe, was one of the “tourists,’’ and he proudly exhibited his birth cerlilienle to prove hi- -lateinenl that he first -aw light of day 94 years ago.

"1 am still looking for a buyer for (lie hearse," said the land agent referred to in the “Wanganui Herald’’ of a recent dale. “I offered it to a local ina-ler painter mid suggested a, good bargain in the plate glass alone, lie informed me that he was now thoroughly used to motoring, and preferred to ride in a motor lienr-e. I next tried a newspaper runner, who goes out into the country, and suggested hack loading as a menus of augmenting liis income, but -till no business. Worst, of all, 1 got notice to take the hearse from the -table where, it was stored and hide it for a few days on account of the trots. This made me extra curious, and by asking a few diplomatic questions, I was informed that jockeys and trainers have a great objection to seeing a. hearse in a stable where llieir horses are quartered. Cases have, been known where they have actually refused stable accommodation, and 1 1 axe gone to considerable trouble to find other quarters because they lmd noticed a hearse stored on the premises. “The presence of this class of vehicle,” lie added, “is evidently looked upon as a bad omen, and it certainly appears so as far as my commission is concerned.”

Mr W. Adams, of Mangaweka. and an ex-local schoolmaster, is on a brief visit to Fox ton and is staying with his daughter, Mrs A. P. Easton, Robinson Street.

Swanson,, the fireman who was blown from an engine of an excursion train at Ashburton, is still clinging to life with an increasing chance of survving.

What appears to he a mon hone was found at the foot of the Alps behind the Rangitala Gorge, on Erewhon sheep run in a sand drift, says an Ashburton message. The bone had been exposed by the wind.

Messrs Wirlli Bros. Ltd. are bringing their enormous Combined Shows to Foxton on Wednesday, February 20th, for one night, only. They will present their latest attractions which have just arrived from England and America.

The date of the school picnic and railway excursion to Ashhur-t has boon altered from February titli to the Lilli. The Railway Department was unable In supply an excursion train for I lie titli.

Maoris working on farm- in the neighbourhood are making good money. says the Fit ham Argus. and some of them are getting up to Clfi per acre for thinning mangolds. At this figure mangolds are going to he expensive winter feed for some of the farmer- this year.

“Some of these local bodies would issue a certificate to a mail if he was blind!" said Mr Wyveru Wilson, S.M. iii the Magistrate’s Court- recently, who he convicted and fined a man So years of age, 20/- and costs for cutting a corner in a motor car. The defendant’s counsel had described him as an old man, slightly deaf, hut the pos--e-sor of a certificate of ability t<> drive issued to him by a certain lo,;il body and it was then that his Worship made the above remark.

“Even day that t hi- weather i outinites," remarked a business man to a Poverty Bay Herald reporter during the recent hot spell.

••I o-o| ;i little nearer the stage where I -hall shock my eu-toiiiers and my business associates by , (lining out in a shirt with an open collar, a pair of light- drill trousers and an alpaca coat. The trouble with us is that we are all afraid of what, people will say of ns. Probably every business man would like to throw off the dark suit and stiff white collar that seems to he his badge, and come to work in dress suitable to the climate, only he is afraid of ridicule. One of these days I’m going to risk it; and probably on that day it will rain like fury, and I’ll go home .with n cold ." he concluded. The sngge-tion that Gisborne should In- accepted as of subtropical climate i- gaining support rapidly, and possibly next summer will see a revolution in fine weather wear. Dr. Thacker, during his visit abroad, devoted some time to making him-oir acquainted with the latest medical developments. “Alongside medicine and surgery,” he -aid to a Christchurch reporter, “there is standing a third great health restorer which is called phy--siotherapy. It includes massage hydrotherapy, heal of all kinds and electric therapy, including t ho infra-red rays radical light lamps radium treatment of all kinds, diatherapy, and high frequency eurenls. In America a result of the war has been that the physiotherapy experts have demanded that their treatment must be accepted as special treatment, not to be ordered by the physician sending the patient, but by the people who carry out the treatment. There is a -I rung belief that, big surgical operations are to be cut out. within the next live years." Dr. Thacker also referred to the new school of dietary which had as its object the cutting out of candy feast, which was how the Amtricans described the eating of sugar and while starch.