LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3579, 23 December 1926, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Local business people anticipate a record Christmas trade this year. The editor and staff of the Herald wish to acknowledge Christmas greetings from Mr P. Skellen. According to custom, the Herald will not be published on Christmas Day. Kiddies! Don’t forget to be at Hofmann’s at 2 p.m. to-morrow when Father Christmas will make his appearance. You must not fail lo visit him in his magic cave. Admission only fid and each child receives a good to}'.

The Oroua Downs Amateur Dramatic Society staged an original musical comedy entitled “Don’t Tell Matilda,” in the Town , Hall on Tuesday night lo a fair and appreciative audience.

At the inquest held on the two boys who were drowned in the Mann watu river last Saturday, the parents stated that they had been warned not to bathe in the Manawatu river. The coroner returned a verdict of accidental death.

The most valuable single stamp in the world, for which Mr. Arthur Hind paid £0,500, is a onc-cent British Guiana issue of 1850, and so far as is known no other copy of it is in efistenee. Hr Hind is a taxtile manufacturer of Utica, U.S.A., and one of the world’s leading collectors. He obtained this stamp at (he dispersal sale of the Von Ferrary collection in Paris. Mr Hind’s collection of stamps is valued at more than £500,000. Schoolboys and University students often favour energetic methods of spending holidays, and a recent enterprise which had Wanganui as its headquarters furnishes a fresh example of this preference. One young fan, an Otago student, walked from Wellington to Wanganui, where he joined a fellow-stu-dent equally energetic. Both then tramped up the Parapara road, and finally scaled Alt. Ruapehu, with nothing but their native intelligence to guide them. The weather thro ughou-t. their trip was shocking, but woolsheds and barns were sufficient shelter. The pair now propose to walk to North Auckland. A cyclonic disturbance, accompanied by a severe thunderstorm and heavy rain, visited the Tamahere district, at Hamilton, yesterday afternoon, and did considerable damage. The track of the visitation was plainly visible, the whirlwind affecting an area about live allies long and a few chains wide. Haystacks were whirled aloft. The tops of pine trees were broken, and fell on the electric and telephonic wires, interrupting the services. A bluegum tree was blown across the road and iron sheeting which covered a haystack was blown over a mile. Ten feet sheets of iron were whisked up into the air like paper. While the disturbance was going on the noise was terrifying. The whirlwind travelled on towards Matangi,doing damage to haystacks and fences.