NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 2850, 24 February 1925, Page 1

NEWS AND NOTES.

“I have seen the lakes of Italy, (he mountains o'f Switzerland, the llords of Norway, the* Trossaehs of Scotland, but nowhere is there such a variety of scenery as New Zealand possesses.” This was the opinion of Mrs Norris, of Pasadena, one of an American party of tourists, who is visiting the Dominion. The long arm of coincidence and good fortune reached a long way in Napier recently, when a watch was found after it had lain for three years in long grass in Onepoto gully (says the “Telegraph”). The owner. Mi Fred. Welch, had long ago given up his liine-piecc as lost, but a road man cleaning the roadside channels the other day unearthed it with his shovel, read the name inside, and returned it to its owner. It was in good condition, and a twist of the winding stem set it ticking merrily. A slump in “militancy” seems to have set in amongst the miners on the West Coast, more especially at Runanga, where the State Miners’ Union was formerly so active and “advanced.” In conversation with a Christ church , “Press” representative, a Runanga miner stated that tin Miners’ Union there had practically gone out of existence, and recent efforts to call a meeting have not resulted in a quorum. The organisation is without a secretary, the official formerly holding this position having'resigned f,o act as a etieck-weighman at the James mine, and his successor resigning after a week. The Rewanui branch of the State Miners’ Union is still functioning, however.

During a thunderstorm at Midhurst, lighting played some peculiar tricks on Mr A. King’s farm. It struck a row of pinus insignis trees at one end of the belt and ran through the whole length of it, of about three chains, breaking off boughs until it (‘ante to the centre of the plantation, where it cleaned tip a patch snllieient for a horse and cart to pass through. Fencing wire connected the trees, but at intervals the lightning ran up to the top of the trees. This phenomenon was continued to the end of the row, ,erc it struck a strainer post of the fence, which it burst into splinters and left blackened and burnt. One piece was thrown 20 yards awav from the fence, and bore a pulpy appearance as if it had been chewed bv an animal. Pieces of wood testifying to the destructive force of the current were shown to a Stratford Post reporter.