NEWS AND NOTES

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3638, 14 May 1927, Page 4

NEWS AND NOTES

An unfortunate accident occurred to Mr. H. Toomey, bridge carpenter to the Hawera County Council, on Wednesday last. The Star states that he was working at the Noonan bridge, where he slipped and fell, a straw on the ground entering his ear and piercing the drum. He will not be able to resume work for at least a fortnight, and it is possible that his hearing from one ear will bo affected. [By a margin of ten votes Eketahuna decided on Saturday as the day for early closing, instead of Wednesday. At a meeting of between forty and fifty business men, employees and others held since the election, the following resolution was passed: “That this meeting of business people and others recognises the mistake, of the poll and considers it in the best interests of the town that businesses should remain open on Saturday.” ' “If of all the money spent on booklets illustrating the advantages and attractions of the Dominion half was spent in advertising in high-class English periodicals, the result would be much more beneficial to the tourist traffic of the country,” said a speaker at the Wellington publicity conference Booklets, he reckoned, were so much waste paper in the majority of cases. The average amount of “absolute rest” that is obtained during a night’s sleep is only eleven and a half minutes, according to Professor H. M. Johnson, of the Mellon Institute at Pittsburg. The remainder of the time he says, there is usually muscular or mental action, such as takes place during a dream. Seven and three-quarter hours of sleep is plenty for any normal man or woman, the scientist declares. Further reports of the bags secured by shooters out after .ducks (reports the Telegraph), establish that the season so far has not been too successful —in fact old sportsmen say that the opening is the worst they have known for some years, the weather being said to be too fine for effective work. The usually productive haunts have been practically barren of results so far, though three hunters out at Rissington on the opening day got a score in three quarters of an hour. Four fox terriers met a watery grave during the Hinemoa’s last voyage to Norfolk Island. The dogs were originally taken by Mr. Parker and party to Sunday Island, in the Kermadees, but on the death of their owner were re-ship-ped to Auckland. On the steamer’s arrival the terriers were not permitted to land, being subject to a £SO bond, and were still aboard the Hinemoa when the vessel sailed for Norfolk. Midway between North Cape and Nprfolk the dogs were placed in a large sack, weighed with heavy fire-iron, and dropped into the Tasman Sea. The sun’s measuring fixes the seasons, and if anyone who wishes to know when winter commences will give a base for the calculation by stating the period he allots to winter the commencement and end can be seen by a glance at the almanac. Most persons allow three months for each of the four seasons. That partitioning survives even in these days of rebellion against things that have been. Accepting the three months as the duration of winter, with apologies to New Thought, the middle of winter is astronomically the shortest day and, as the shortest day is six weeks ahead, winter is now beginning in the Southern Hemisphere. The section of the East Coast Main Trunk railway line between Wpihi and Katikati, a stretcji of about 14 miles, which carries the

railhead to within about three miles of the township of Katikati, was taken over from the Public Works Department last week. A new timetable for the service on which both the passenger and goods traffic has been showing a marked growth since it was opened by the Public Works Department, has been drawn up. With the improved facilities now being provided a further substantial increase in the volume of business may be expected. The connecting stretch to link the Waihi end with Tauranga is not expected to be ready for traffic much before the end of the present year. In a recent bankruptcy case, a northern D.O.A. remarked that the withdrawal of a firm’s advertising was usually the sign of a decadent business. The remark emanated from a challenge by a creditor of an item of £2OO per annum for advertising. An investigation showed that in proportion to the turnover this cost did not exceed 32 per cent, and was exceptionally low for such a business. Comparisons among the creditors, some of whom represented highly successful firms, brought forth the information that the average allocation of advertising by their firms was well over 5 per cent, on the turnover, and this was considered cheap for the business it produced. One creditor remarked that a good salesman was worth £2OO a year, but her services were practically useless without the help of advertising. The lack of live advertising contributed to the failure of the business. Railway travelling is to be made pleasanter for mothers who,are taking families on holidays. The wild rush which takes place at refreshment room stations, in which a woman with children is badly handicapped, should soon become a thing of the past. The “Lyttelton Times’’ says that the Railway Department following out its policy of studying the travelling public, has now instituted a system of carton lunches. There are to be sold at the price of one shilling, and will contain one apple, two pieces of fruit cake, one short bread biscuit and two sandwiches, the interior «f which will be comprised of egg, tomato, ham oi lettuce. The cartons will be obtainable at Ashburton, Oamaru, Palmerston and Clinton refreshment rooms. They will he appreciated by people who have found that of the six minutes allowed for refreshments, five or six are often taken up in the struggle to catch the eve on the busy waitress.