Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 1926. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3524, 14 August 1926, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 1926. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

One of the chorus girls who took part in the Fibre Concert on Thurs■day night had her tresses shorn to the “Eaton Crop,” which almost completely changed her identity.

The friends of Mrs R. ‘M. Parkcs, who recently underwent an operation in the Palmerston North Hospital, will be pleased to learn that she is making satisfactory progress. The Wellington and Hawke's Bay Rugby reps, will try conclusions for championship honours at ’Napier to-day. Hawke’s Bay is challenged for the ownership of the Ranfurly Shield. .Alfred Whitta, a tobacconist in Cathedral Square, Christchurch, had his premises raided by the police yesterday. He was arrested on a charge of keeping a common gaming house. Three other men were arrested on the premises. All were released on bail. Old-timers will remember the. small steamer Manawatu which was a regular trader between Wanganui and Wellington and the West Coast, way back in the early eighties. After 53 years’ service the vessel is lo be converted into a hulk in Australia.

Following are the of the Stratford .Art Union: —First, No. 18474: Mrs Bailey, Palmerston North. Second: No. 4240:.Wellington (name not available). Third, No. 24000: Mrs Howard, Stratford, Taranaki.

“My husband is worse when lie is sober,” said a petitioner in a divorce ease in the Auckland Supreme Court this week. “Then yon prefer him drunk?” asked counsel. “I do not prefer him at all,” was the reply.

At the Palmerston North Supreme Court on Tuesday the scheduled case, a claim for £IOOO damages by Frederick Spencer Easton against the Moutoa Drainage Board, was adjourned till the week after next.

The fire siren and bell rang for a false alarm at 8.40 last Thursday night. The outbreak proved to be nothing more serious than a large heap of box-thorn ablaze in the vacant section at the rear of Mr. R. M. Parkcs’ shop. A carrier, George Price Williams, who was charged in the Christchurch Magistrate’s Couft- with being intoxicated while in charge of a car, was fined £lO and his license was suspended for seven days. Defendant had struck a verandah post and a cyclist and had then attempted to crank up his engine.

C. T. Woodroofe held a successful auction clearing sale of groceries, etc., in the assigned estate of Messrs. Winstanley & Son on Thursday and Friday. There was a good attendance of buyers and bidding for certain bread and butter lines reached retail figures 'whiler other classes' of goods were (putted at much below cost price. “That a town without a Chamber of Commerce is a dead one,” was the opinion expressed by Mr. T. F. Gibson, the newly elected President of the Levin Chamber at the annual meeting this week (says the Chronicle). Even should the Chamber meet only occasionally it could give the impetus necessary to any worthy project and take a lead.

The Government has sanctioned a grant of £2OOO by way of £ for £ subsidy for carrying out urgent repair works to the banks of the Manawatu and Oroua river’s The request was made per medium of a deputation from the ManawatuOroua River Board to the Minister for Public Wjorks introduced by Mr. J. Linklater, M.P. ' An Auckland constable was charged by two citizens with using obscene language. The Magistrate dismissed the charge, remarking, after taking the evidence of witnesses, “the Court is satisfied the listeners made a mistake. There were no inducement for a.man with the constable’s reputation, and no motive, to make the statement air leged in the charge.”

L. J. Hunter, of Waitui, the winner of the £4OO Independence Art Union first prize, is a returned soldier farmer. During the war he was maimed, losing his left arm from the shoulder. He has resided in Stratford all bis life. The windfall is very acceptable. No recommendation was made to the Government by the Petitions Committee, which reported to the House on Thursday night on the petition of -T. W. Teale and 196 others, asking for the abolition of the Manawatu-Oroua River District. The prayer of the petition, the Committee staled, could be answered onlv by the passing of a local Bill. ;

A plea for greater public interest in the welfare of tubercular patients at the general hospital was made at Thursday’s meeting of the Board by Sir James Wilson. Tliero were many ways, be said, in which the lives of the inmates of the annexe could be brightened, particularly by their instruction in some handicraft. The secretary stated that a croquet lawn was being laid down.

The managing secretary of the Palmerston Hospital Board lias been authorised to confer with the Palmerston Borough Council in reference to the inadequate water supply at the hospital. It was pointed out at Thursday’s meeting that in the event of an outbreak of fire, the pressure would be barely sufficient to reach the second storey of the building. When does winter end? It is a common question. Here is an answer upon calculation. Allow three months for each of the four seasons, and, accepting the shortest day as midwinter, the three monthly winter must be 64 weeks before and 64 weeks after the 21st June. Figured out thus, we of the Southern Hemisphere have just come to the junction of winter and spring. This deduction is qualified bv the proverb that as the day lengthens the cold strengthens, but the light is coming hack, and before long we shall he looking for the lambs and the narcissi.

A taxi driver, Frederick John Hawkins, was arrested at Wanganui following the inquest concerning the death of John William McDougall, and was charged with manslaughter. Me Don gall was picked qp in a dying condition at three o’clock on Sunday. His skull was shattered. Botli Hawkins aiul deceased had been to the same party, but bad left by different routes, McDougall cycling and Hawkins drhv ing. According to evidence at the inquest both men had had drink. Hawkins was remanded, hail being allowed in a personal surety of £IOO.

Some fwo moiillis ago, Mr. A. Douglas, headmaster of the Boys’ Central School, Nelson, decided to try the experiment of abolishing homework for his pupils, and expressed his confidence that the expel imcnt would he a success. Mr. Douglas now expresses the opinion dial it has proved highly successful in every way. Teachers and scholars are far happier, and are working more than ever in sympathy and harmony. On being asked how parents regarded the change, Mr. Douglas said he would rather leave that to them, but he had been thanked bv telephone, by letter, and personally, and he could now understand how great a burden homework had been to them. A highly appreciative letter from a mother has appeared in the “Evening Mail,” expressing appreciation of Mr. Douglas’s humane and sane action in this direction, and stating that the benefits 'are inealeuable.

Says the Wanganui Herald: The' Kailway Department appears to have developed a 'penchant for duniping old buildings. A few months ago an old building was dumped at Katana Station in. order to meet an increased demand there for accommodation. Now the railway carpenters are engaged in adding the finishing touches to an old shanty that has been brought from some other locality and placed near the railway crossing in Taupo Quay. The said buildings would be no credit to a hard-up baclcblock farmer. If private enterprise attempted to carry out a scheme of that description in the city, a permit would immediately be refused. A photograph of the building was secured this morning, to be forwarded to “the man who gets things done.” [By the way, a small structure was recently removed from the local wharf by the railway authorities. Possibly that is the structure which our contemporary objects to.]

Mysterious circumstances surround the loss of a herd of pigs at Onaero, North Taranaki, on the property of Mr. M. Jonas, says a New Plymouth exchange. Early last week he procured a quantity of buttermilk’ from the dairy factory and divided it into two lots, one lot for the pigs on his part of the farm and the other for those on his mother’s part. He was dismayed when later in the day he found his pigs in a bad way, some indeed being dead. He was not able to arrest the trouble, the consequence being that between 50 and CO pigs were lost. The Government veterinary and the inspector of stock were sent for, and the former, after an examination, expressed the opinion that arsenic by some means must have got into the buttermilk, for undoubtedly that poison caused the death of the animals. The pigs on Mrs Jonas’s part of the farm suffered no ill-effects, so it is presumed that the portion of the but-ter-milk fed to them was free from poisonous substance.

Mr. W. Dudson, of Montoa, leaves for To Aroha next week where he will take up his residence. At Thursday’s meeting of the Palmerston Hospital Board, letters were received from all the contributing authorities in the Board’s district other than those in the Horowhenua County, protesting against the Otaki cottage hospital being made a charge on the Palmerston hospital district. It was decided to forward the letters on to tlie Minister for Public Health. In the course of a statement in (he House, Mr. Contes said that when the new railway workshops were completed, New Zealand would he able to make all its own rolling stock —that was, with the assistance of one of' two New Zealand shops, which were not run by the Government. He was convinced that we would want no more engines from outside New Zealand.

Never has the relieving officer of the Palmerston North Hospital Board had such a large number of claims for charitable aid as have been presented to him this winter and this social condition is reflected in the low proportion of patients’ fees paid, which, it is apparent, will not reach the estimate. In July £1845 was collected,, as against £IBB9 for the corresponding month last year. Whlijle a circus was unloading wild animals at the railway station at Orange (N.S.W.), a boy named •Patrick Burke, who was watching the proceedings, was standing near a cage when a lioness thrust through her paw and seized the boy’s arm. A number of 'by standers attempted to beat the lioness off, but only succeeded after the boy’s limb had been frightfully mangled. There was an epidemic of sneezing at yesterday afternoon’s auction sale conducted by Mr. Woodl'oofe. The auctioneer wanted to kn«jw who was throwing pepper about as he struggled with an irritation of the olfactory nerve and finished a sneeze on a high-pitched note. It appeared that some nasal snuff had been liberated in some one’s pocket and the withdrawal of a handkerchief had broadcasted the harmless, though somewhat irritant atoms.

The facts that the number of tests made in relation to social disease was not diminishing at the Palmerston North hospital, but rather showed an upward tendency, was commented on by Mr. J. K. Hornblow at Thursday’s meeting of the Board. A discussion in committee on the treatment of these patients followed, but Dr. Frazer assured members that for a town of its size, the number of venereal cases brought under his notice was not out of proportion. In the course of a discussion on the question of discontinuing the supply of hot water at the factory for washing purposes, at the annual meeting of the Pifiima Dairy Company in Taranaki last Saturday a supplier boldly stated that he had, rn several occasions, simply “swilled” his cans out with cold water. “The milk is accepted just the same. The manager cannot tell the difference and the cheese tastes no worse. In fact, I think all this talk of boiling water to wash a few milk cans is all twaddle,” ho said.

The medical superintendent (Dr. L. Fraser) reported at Thursday’s meeting of the Palmerston Hospital Board, that 227 patients had been admitted during July, 201 discharged and 8 had died, having 143 patients in the institution. Sixty-eight major operations had been performed. The hospital had been exceptionally full, owing to the epidemic of influenza. A number of serious cases had been admitted, but the severity of the symptoms had not approached that of the pandemic of 1018 and now appeared to lie on the wane. Owing to the cold and changeable weather, She greatest care should be exercised by those who contract it who should remain indoors until convalescent. The services of the nursing stall had been heavily taxed, but this position was also improving.

“New Zealand has come into possession something more valuable than the biggest gold mine,” remarked the captain of an American liner the other day when sampling some of our local tobacco. “And I predict,” he went on, “that in years to come tobacco-growing here will be just as flourishing as in Virginia, my native country.” It is gratifying to see that some enterprising people in this Dominion are realisng the huge possibilities of the tobacco industry, but even the most sanguine were surprised when the local article made its first appearance. Such was the success that the manufacturers could hardly cope with the demand. And no wonder, because this tobacco represents quite a new type with a distinctive flavour of its own, due, it is said, to the toasting process which has been adopted in its manufacture. But its greatest virtue is its Small percentage of nicotine, and this is why it does not affect the heart and nerves or the eyesight. Smokers should not fail to give it a trial. Obtainable in three strengths—Riverhead Gold, Gold, mild; Toasted Navy Cut (Bdlldog), medium; and Cut Plug No. 10 (Bullhead), full body.*

Cherryripe put up her lips to kiss, Who could resist the dear? Lovely red lips pouting out like this, Eyes like the sky so clear. Sweet little maid, just ten years old, We must her health secure; When coughs assail, when days are cold, Give Wjoods’ Great Peppermint Cure. 33.

Last year 165 schools applied to the Forestry Department for trees for planting in school grounds. The total number of scenic reservations in New Zealand is 7G9, covering an area of 454,000 acres.

A football match was played on the racecourse this morning for the Austin Banner between Otaki and Foxton primary schools, the home team winning by 18 points to 3. The world-famous evangelist “Gipsy” Smith, is to commence a three-weeks campaign in Wellington oiv September 24th.

The Levin District High School Committee has received a subsidy of £SO promised to a deputation some time ago on behalf of the school dental svstem.

The area of native land purchased By the Crown during the year was 34,217 acres. The area proclaimed as Crown land was 9171 acres. The total area of land purchased by the board since April 1, 1910, is 1,329,027 acres, and the aggregate purchase money expended £3,330,342 0s Id. A man 6ft. 6Jin. in height was recently charged at- Windsor, England, with stealing a bicycle lamp. He was ushered in by a gaoler of 6ft. .two policemen of 6ft. 4in. and 6ft. 3in., gave evidence against, the chief constable, who is 6ft. 2in., had something to say, and the Magistrate’s clerk, who is well over 6ft., cross-examined him. The Land and [income Tax Amendment Bill, Samoa Amendment Bill, Scenery Preservation Amendment Bill, Cook Islands Amendment Bill, Cinematograph Film Censorship Amendment Bill and the Cemeteries Amendment Bill were read a first time in the Legislative Council yesterday. The Mildred Elaine Smyth Divorce Bill was passed.

Two fines of £1 each were imposed upon the proprietors of the “Auckland Star,” and “New Zealand Herald” in the Auckland Police Court yesterday when charges were before Mr. J. W. Poynton, S.M., of publishing advertisements relating to lotteries. Two of the advertisements in each case were in connection - with charitable appeals, and it was in conection with these eases that the court imposed fines.

“Oh, no! If you please, let me stay where I am!” said an aged woman’ in the Upper Hutt Court yesterday, when Mr. Page, S.M., told her that she must become an inmate of the Ohiro Home. Mr. Page: The evidence shows that yon are not fit to take care of yourself. “I shall not go!. I shall stay where I am! The house was left to me for my use during by lifetime. I shall not go out of it!” Owing to the complaints of neighbours, an inspector visited the/place. When lie entered the bedroom, lie was forced to beat a hasty retreat until a draught from the opened door and window carried away the smell. The place was absolutely filthy.