Manawatu Herald SATURDAY, JUNE 4, 1927. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3647, 4 June 1927, Page 2

Manawatu Herald SATURDAY, JUNE 4, 1927. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tlu* Canadian Soccer team defeat'd Welling!on I>v 2 points to nil yesterday.

Building permits for war', of a iota] cost of £11,115 were issued last month by the Wanganui City Council.

The rosella, a gray-pluuiaged parrot and native of Australia, has spread amazingly on the Wailakere ranges, Auckland, and is now often seen by visitors, flitting from one high tree to another. Hundreds of applications from all parts of the Dominion have been received in Wellington for the position of official censor of films. U is expected that the appointment will not be made for about a fortnight.

‘‘Some of our retailers are even forgetting to advertise, and' are grumbling and growling that their business is falling off. These men should realise that they are, up against it," said a Christchurch business man, “and should use a little push. In our line we find that mir figures are beating last year’s, and we advertise.” An unusual case was heard in the Afar! borough Magistrate’s Court last week, when William Inman Davis, a midle-aged man. was charged with assaulting a lady whom he kissed. Accused offered the excuse that “she was just like dear old mother,” and that was the reason for the salute, which cost him £3 15s in line and costs.

With the election of Mr J. .1. Moody as chairman of the Opotiki County Council an unusual position has arisen (states an exchange). Mr Moody is a brother of Mr (}. S. Moody, Mayor of Opotiki, and their father was for many years chairman of the Opotiki Town Board. It is claimed that the family's record in local body affairs has not been surpassed in the Dominion.

A Pukekohe resident informs the Waikato Independent that Chinamen and Hindoos are gaining a great hold of the market garden industry in that district, where hundreds of acres are tilled by these industrious foreigners. The white growers are being pushed out of the business, we are told, by the coloured men, who pay high rents for the land and work very long hours.

“Cliff Porter, the All Black captain, told me it was a pity they had not as good referees in Wellington as we have here," said Mr T.'AYrigley, at the Ilorowhenua Rugby Council meeting this week. “The referees here, remarked Mr J. W. Procter, “are as good as any in Wellington. On Athletic PArk the players can knock on as much as they like.” Air Wrigley: “The public in Wellington are complaining, this year, about the refereeing, on account of lehting things go in the game in an attempt to make it spectacular.” : While working in a metal pit at Peep o’ Day, near Raugiwahia, an employee of the Kiwitea County Council (Mr. C. Krebs) came across what appeared to he a log of wood. As the depth below the surface was between 50ft and (50ft, curiosity was aroused, and a piece of the obstruction was knocked off with a pick. To the surprise of the workmen, it was found not to lie wood, but bone, and of a diameter of eight inches. It is now thought that the bone .was part of the shank of a moa, and it will be interesting to see if portions of the skeleton are unearthed.

Two large crayfish, a small blue penguin and a collie dog were found by Mr L. T. Griffin, of the Auckland Museum, in a 544-pound tiger shark caught by an Adelaide doctor at the Bay of Islands. Referring to it in an address recently, Mr Griffin said it gave him a good example of the “fish yarns” told in the North nowadays.. A little while after the catch he met a man who, not knowing that he had had anything to do with it, assured him that the shark had contained not only two craytisli, a penguin and a collie dog, but also a policeman’s helmet and a sewing machine.

Owing to lack of space- in this issue a report on the Girl Guides movement lias been held over and will appear in our next issue.

The Prime Minister announced on Wednesday that Sir James Allen, G.C.M.G., K.C.8., had been called to the Legislative Council.

Last month was the driest May recorded in Christchurch since the observatory started in 1902, the rainfall being 80 per cent, below the average for the month.

The Masterton Chamber of Commerce lias passed a motion protesting against so many bank holidays, and for the abolition of Saints’ days as holidays. Mr L. M. Ellis, Director of Forestry, says the road along the range between the Hall Block road and Paliiatua track is one of the finest scenic roads in New Zealand. The excellent results obtained by the formation of-school banks was referred to in the Auckland Education Board's annual report to the Minister this week. The report states that the banks have been highly successful in their operation and already pupils have accumulated a large amount of savings.

It wa son May 21st, 1860, that James McKay purchased from the Maoris the whole of the West Coast from below Aft. Cook to Cape Farewell, and half-way inland, for the sum of £3OO. McKay was a great explorer on the Coast, and the only memorial of him left is a street in Grevmouth named AlcKay Street.

Air. Thomas Higgins, of Alasterlon, a well-known horse-owner and trainer, was found dead in a lavatory at the Otaki racecourse on Thursday. During the night deceased went out, wrapped in a blanket, to tin- lavatory, where he in a lifeless condition at 7.15 a.m. The lute Air. Higgins has been ailiusr for some time.

A farmer in Canterbury lias been

awarded £3lO against the local power board for damage done to his trees during line erection, and Air Justice Alpcrs, in giving judgment, laid down that while in the public Interest public bodies should lie able to over-ride private rights “they should do this with the utmost regard to private property." A lady resident of Rosebank, Balclutha, witnessed an unusual little phenomenon recently. The weather was calm and peaceful, when suddenly a whirlwind arose within a circumscribed area some little distance from where the lady was standing, and a small hay stack, caught in the vortex, rose slowly in the air until it was level with the tops of some tall pines nearby. Then it slowly sailed away like a huge balloon, but shedding wisps of bay in its course, the bulk, by pressure of the atmosphere apparently, keeping intact. When last seen by the lady, the stack was disappearing on the western horizon.

An Auckland business man received a lesson in physics the other day (says the Star). He rang up an otli'ce in Quay Street, and. while waiting for the man he wished to speak to, lie heard the syren on the Ferry Buildings announcing twelve o’clock. Over Ihe 'phone he heard the syren stop, but was surprised to find that with his free ear he could still hear it. The sound from the air did not cease for a couple of seconds. The explanation was that sound travels much faster in the form of electric waves than it does through the air, and he heard the linish of a race between two sorts of sound waves, with electricity an easv winner.

An English road engineer now in New Zealand states that bitumen sealing can be done very cheaply if the area dealt with is large enough. In Britain it is now being done in large areas at 3d a square yard. He considers that similar work in New Zealand, if a large mileage was done with proper plant and organisation, should be practicable at 5d or Gd a square yard —the latter figure is equal to £264 a mile on an 18ft. road. The policy of separate local bodies each doing a few miles with inexperienced staff and uneconomical plant, this engineer considers wasteful in the extreme. But New Zealand seems to prefer throwing money away in these matters —so long as most of it is motorists’ money!

The size of some of the boys in the Awaliou fourth lifteen caused doubts to arise as to whether they were all under the age limit of 16, (says the Levin Chronicle), and as the attention of the Ilorowhenua Rugby Council was called to the question by Mr. Mason, headmaster of the Eoxton District High‘School, in a letter a fortnight ago, Messrs F. Robinson and IV. Neville were deputed to interview live boys whose ages had been challenged and to point out to them that in ease of protest the onus was on them to prove their ages. At the meeting of the Council held on Tuesday evening, Air. Robinson reported that it had been ascertained that four of the boys were under 16, but the other boy was not sure whether his birthday was in December or May. Consequently the lad had been requested to procure his birth certificate, which lie agreed to do. Air. Robinson added that one of the boys, notwithstanding his size, was under 14.

The mood for good sublimes in good, The good of self and others; The will for ill results in ill, All men should be as brothers. The thought of good is fraught with

good, , , , In happiness of deed and mood; For colds that Rood we all assure, When giving Woods Great Pepper mint Cure.—2B.

A few hours after leaving London for Now Zealand recently, live stowaways were discovered on the steamer Port Campbell. The captain permitted them to work their passage, but when a quarter of an hour later six others appeared he withdrew the permission, and lauded all at Falmouth.

A hostess announced a “white elephant party,” and each guest was requested to bring something for which she could find no use, but was too valuable to throw away. The party would have been a great suceess, but for the unlooked for development which broke it up. Eleven of the guests brought their husbands.

A cave, apparently of considerable size, was discovered by workmen engaged in blasting rock from the toe of the hill in Clifton Road, Whakatane, for harbour reclamation work. A quantity of rock had been blasted away, when a cavity a few feet in diameter was found. On investigation, a passage was found under the hill, and a little below the surface level of the road. Nobody lias as vet ventured into the cave.

The damage done by eels to trout was stressed at the annual meeting of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society held this week, and it was made a recommendation to the incoming council of the society to appoint a special committee of • three to go into ways and means of destroying them. The appointment of a paid eel destroyer was mentioned, but for the initial effort it was recommended that united efforts of anglers be first tried, and that special prizes !>e given to anyone who liked to compete for the greatest number of eels destroyed, and for the biggest eel caught. It was recommended that a considerable sum of money be devoted to the eradication of eels, attention being devoted to one stream at a time.

'“When 1 was a lad," continued ilie millionaire, who was telling his fellow club members at their annual dinner some of the troubles of his earlier life, “I walked to Devonshire.. 1 found a job, and after five years' hard work managed to save enough to buy a bicycle.” There was a gasp of astonishment from the listeners. “Not long- after,” beean the other afresh,. “I got a letter from home. Mother was very id. So 1 jumped on the bike and rode into London just in time to hear the doctor say that the fresh air of Devon was the only thing that would save mv mother.” His audience gasped. “You didn’t take her hack?” they said. “No,” said the millionaire; 1 dragged the old hike in, let the wind out of the tyres, and mother’s alive to-da.v.”

In one of the backbloek districts recently a comedy was almost converted into a tragedy (says the Wanganui Herald). In view of the cold weather huge log (ires are kept burning, and in a certain camp recently one of (lie occupiers of the where was standing with his hack to the tire. He stooped down to pick up something from the floor, forgetting for the moment the big blaze at the back of him. He was soon forcibly reminded of the fact when tin* seal of bis trousers caught fire. Action was very swift after that. It was only a few seconds until he was outside sitting in a bucket of water, but those who were in the room screamed with laughter as the incident reminded them so much of similar occurrences represented in movie comedies.

On Tuesday afternoon of last week, Constable Lapouple, of Waitnra, in response to an urgent Urenui telephone message which alleged that two desperadoes brandishing revolvers were alarming various people along the road, hastened to the scene. He found two youths with swags, one of whom had a dangerous-looking weapon stuck in his belt. This the constable promptly seized, but on examining the weapon found it to he a harmless toy, being nothing more or less than an air pistol, which fired darts with a large rubber end to facilitate its propulsion by air. It appears that the alleged highwaymen were lads from New Plymouth, who had left that town in search of work in the country. Constable Lapouple issued a warning to the budding “Tom Mix’s” in regard to alarming, people along the road, and they departed in high spirits, although they had only a few shillings in their possession. After the constable’s return to Wailara he received further alarmist reports per medium of the telephone, but speedily discounted the wild rumours.

Like the fusel oil in bad whisky so the nicotine in strong tobacco is injurious to health. It is an astionshing fact that the leaf produced in certain localities of the Auckland and Nelson districts contains less nicotine than any other tobacco known. This is of the utmost importance with regard to the development of the N.Z. tobacco industry, because it is just these mild typos of leaf that are eagerly sought after by manufacturers abroad and fabulous prices are often paid for them. New Zealand indeed will become famous for its unique tobacco, and the local product will he our national smoke. Unlike some of the foreign tobaccos, the N.Z. article does not bite the tongue, it smokes smooth and mellow and leaves the mouth sweet and clean. Moreover it is all pure tobacco with a distinctive flavour, obtainable in various strengths. “Cut Plug No. 10” for those who appreciate a full body, and “Riverhead Gold,” for the lover of a very mild aromatic, while “Toasted Navy Cut” (Bulldog), represents the medium strength. 5.

Two local residents returning by cars from the Otaki races lust evening each collided with cows wandering on the road. In one case the animal had to be destroyed. No great damage was done to cither vehicle.