Manawatu Herald THURSDAY, MAY 19, 1927. LOCAL AND GENERAL

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3640, 19 May 1927, Page 2

Manawatu Herald THURSDAY, MAY 19, 1927. LOCAL AND GENERAL

It will be an open season for opossums in the' Wellington district ii'oin July 20 to August 31.

Having censured a witness at the Palmerston Supreme Court on Saturday for signing an affidavit which did not set out the true facts, the Hon. Mr. Justice Alpers remarked: Don’t sign anything in a solicitor’s office without having first read over the document.

“Blackberry is one of the worst weeds we have, and if is rapidly taking charge of a large area throughout New Zealand. If something is not done about it in the near future, our principal exports will be farmers and blackberry jam.”—Mr. C. C. Jackson (Masterton) at the Farmers’ Union Conference.

One of Auckland’s Hocks of wild pigeons came to untimely end at the Zoo the other day through venturing too close to the monkey house. A long, hairy arm shot through the screen of the cage, there was a squeak, and the next moment a much pleased monkey was sitting on a high branch, plucking one by one the feathers off the unwary bird. The pigeon did not long survive the rough treatment.

There was a large gathering of Masons at Feilding last night, from all parts of the province, on the occasion of the consecration, constitution and dedication of a new lodge designated Lodge Manchester. The ceremony was performed by His Excellency the GovernorGeneral, as Grand Master, assisted by officers af Grand Lodge. At the conclusion of the ceremony and installation, the visitors were entertained at a banquet in the drill hall. The peaceful penetration of the hedgehog continues apace in Carterton. The latest tale to be told states that the comfortable kennel of a bull terrier mother, and pup was invaded by a small ball of spines, and the two little things snuggled together in happiness. The mother dog was delighted with the increase in her family, and when the intruder was taken away showed distinct grief and yearning. She searched all round the place for the hedgehog, and pawed and whined, particularly to the lady folk, to have if brought back. In the meantime the hedgehog had moved on and could not be found, and the mother dog genuinely mourned her loss for two or three days.

“What does ‘pommy’ mean? I saw it in the newspaper the other day, and wondered what it was,” asked Mr Justice Herdman in the Supreme Court at Auckland, when a witness in a divorce suit used the word. “I believe it signifies ‘new arrival’,” said Mr Leary, who was appearing in the ease. “It is a synonym for ‘son of the Homeland,’ or rather, ‘son of the Homeland recently arrived,” put in Mr Singer, another counsel, amid laughter. His Honour did not seem satisfied with the explanations, and asked how the word originated. Mr Allan Moody, the third counsel, said it was a derivative of “Tommy.” Mr Singer thought it a variation of another slang word, “homie,” The Court left it at that.

Figures published by the Government Statistician show that heart disease takes the biggest death toll in the Dominion, cancer ranking second. During 1926 there were 2059 deaths from heart disease as against 1921 in 1925, 1858 in 1924, 2023 in 1923, and 1889 in 1922. Deaths from cancer during 192 G totalled 1341, compared with 1207 in 1925, 1245 in 1924, 1115 in 1923, and 1066 in 1922. Tuberculosis of the respiratory system accounted for 592 deaths last year, the figures for the preceding four years being respectively 560, 573, 619, and 594. There were only 11 deaths from infantile paralysis last year as against 173 in 1925, and influenza 288 as against 86.

The country had been living rather too highly —everybody was doing it, declared the Minister of Internal Affairs (the Hon. R. F. Bollard), speaking at the Gisborne jubilee celebrations. About £7,000,000 was spent on motor-cars and petrol last year, and that was too big a drain on the finances of the country. While that money was going out of the Dominion, it left too little for the development of the primary industries. Mr. Bollard remarked that the older people got the more sense they got, and perhaps as they grew older they would learn how to curtail their extravagance. There was a general call for cheaper money, but his own experience was that cheaper money meant inflation of land values.

A solitary heron, which lias made its home in the Orakei Basin, Auckland, has come to be regarded affectionately by many of the residents whose houses overlook the basin and Hobson Bay. For six months the bird has frequented the tidal waters of the locality, making its abode in the reeds and mangroves and feeding on small flounders and crabs to be found in the shallow waters. Not even the running of the Public Works trains across the new railway embankment disturbs the equanimity of the unusual visitor, whose salmon-pink breast and electric-blue head feathers still remain objects of admiration to those who know when and where to look for the rare bird.

A Dominion record for bitumen paving was put up on Grafton Bridge at Auckland last Friday, when (says the “Star”) the contractors covered an area of 1250 square yards. Operations were carried out all night on Thursday in preparing materials for an early start on Friday morning, and by 6 o’clock that evening the work was completed. The plant which was used for the contract had a capacity of 1000 square yards a day. An area of 2570 square yards was surfaced during the week, the length of the bridge being 93 feet. Among other features, Grafton bridge is built of reinforced concrete, and consists of eleven girder spans, in addition to the central arch spans, which is the longest three-hinge span in the world.

An unrehearsed, but for the audience highly exciting, incident marked a conjuring performance of Chung Ling Foo, at Mount Morgan recently, says an Australian paper. In his final act he had to be screwed down in a coffin and make his appearance immediately among the audience. He was placed in the box, but a commotion on the stage indicated that lie was finding it more difficult, than usual to escape. Eventually the coffin had to be opened from the outside, and an enraged Chung Ling Foo crawled out, in full view of the audience. Pointing to his assistant, standing in the wings, Chung Ling Foo said: —“Ladies and gentlemen, my act Inis been spoiled by that waster standing over there. He interfered with the coffin.” He then dashed at the subordinate, and a chase ensued, with the conjurer after the assistant and the conjurer's wife after the conjurer.

When will the last idea in the art of gambling or games of

chance be discovered, the Otago Daily Times asks. It is hundreds of years since the disciples drew lots to see who should succeed Judas after he had gone out and hanged himself. History tells us that the Romans even before that period had their games of chance, now long forgotten, and new schemes have come and gone since then of introducing an element of excitement into human life by gamble. Probably the very latest lias now to be mentioned though it was far from the minds of the authorities when they introduced the system of motor car numbers now in vogue. The procedure is simply this: A corner round which cars run in fairly regular procession is selected, and the party of gamblers first draw lots to allot the order of the “players.” Along comes No. 1, with five figures, the recognised poker hand. Then the next car and the next number and so on. The tally completed, the best poker hand connects. One taxi driver relates that when he drove past a suburban corner the other day his car had four ones and another number —a scene of great excitement ensued, the lucky “holder” throwing his hat into the air and yelling his delight.

A stout lady entered the smoker of an Amcklankt tram the other evening. As it happened there was only one passenger when she got in, a working man in the full enjoyment of his pipe. Shuddering with disgust the lady remarked “My good man, smoking always makes me feel ill.” “Do it now, Mum,” replied the worker, puffing away, “then you take my tip and knock it orf.” The conductor laughed. But really the smell of some of those American tobaccos would make anyone “feel ill.” Hi*-’ excess of nicotine they always contain is bad for the smoker, too. Affects heart and nerves. The safest tobaccos are our own N.Z. giovn. They contain so little nicotine that tiiev may be smoked pipeful after pipeful, and they won’t let you down. Full of fragrance and fiavour too. Delicious. They owe their fine quality largely to the fact that they are toasted in the course of manufacture. A novel idea! Ask -for “Rivcrhead Gold” mild, “Toasted Navy Cut” (Bulldog) medium, or “Cut Plug No- UV’ (Bullshead) a grand full flatouied kind.* 68 '

“He is in the pub having a booze/' was the. reply given by a Maori in (lie Native Land Court at Wanganui, when inquiry was made regarding the whereabouts of a certain witness.

A terrifying screaming by women’s voices and the yells of men aroused some St. Clair (Dunedin) residents in the very early hours of Sunday morning, and in the daytime it was seen that the dial plates of the weighing machine had been smashed and the works injured, bloodstains showing that the mischief maker had cut his hand somewhat severely—(Star). A very profitable Easter holiday was spent by a Dunedin manureports the Star). While walking along one of the less frequent beaches just out of Dunedin he came aeross some material which, from his seafaring erperience, he recognised as ambergris. In all, nearly a pound of the precious material was found, and at the value of approximately £4 per ounce, this represents a tidy sum.

We are informed that a counterpetition is to be circulated opposing a continuous telephone service for Foxton on the ground that the extra charge would benefit private subscribers at the expense of the business people. The necessary proportion of business subscribers, however, have already signed the petition for a continuous service and it now remains for the necessary proportion of private subscribers to sign up to obtain the continuous service.

During a discussion on noxious weeds at the Farmers’ Union Conference at Levin, Mr. G. H. Hood (Pahiatun) said that he made a tour of the South Island last year, and on the West Coast there was a tract of land 40 miles in length which was growing nothing but blackberries. In Southland there were thousands of acres covered with ragwort. A notice was published in the Invercargill papers giving occupiers of land seven days in which to clear ragwort. The speaker’s comment was that if some of the holders were given 70 years to do it, they would find it impossible to clear the ragwort, so enormous was the extent of the weed in Southland.

“While England is our best and surest market at present, we are unfortunately not giving it the support that we should,” said Mr. G. A. Monk, at the Farmers’ Union social at Levin. “We are sending far too much money to the United States—(Hear, hear).—Our difficulty is to right that, I think it can be overcome in this way. There is a good deal of machinery and stuff manufactured in the Old Country that is quite suitable for us. We are sending thousands of pounds away to the United States, for motor cars and benzine principally. The reason is that the Americans are building the car that suits us the best. Can we not persuade our people at Home to fill that bill?”

Standing up in his stirrups and looking out across the intervening paddock to the main road, Mr. R. Farley, of West-mere, was startled the other evening to see a car careering, snake fashion down the highway, obviously out of control. On it came in its crazy career, until after covering a quarter of a mile from the crossroads near the Westmcrc Church, it made a sharp turn and capsized. Mi*. Farley galloped in haste to the scene of the accident, and great was his surprise when he found nobody about. From the time the car had capsized to the time lie arrived on the scene he had hardly taken his eyes off the vehicle, and as there was no place in the immediate vicinity where a person could hide, he could only assume that when he saw it, the car was minus driver and passengers. Inquiry into the matter (states the ‘Chronicle’) elicited the information that the car was owned by Mr. H. Otto, and that it had been taken by some person without authority from a garage in Wanganui.