NEWS AND NOTES

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3663, 9 July 1927, Page 4

NEWS AND NOTES

Taranaki bowlers may tour New South Wales next year if the centre finds that a sufficient number of players are able to make the trip.

The rumour that Education Boards are to be done away with in the interests of economy has been revived. When questioned on the subject the Minister of Education was non-committal.

An increase of sixty eggs a day by switching on the electric light at 4.30 a.m., thereby deluding the hens that the sun was shining, is claimed by a farmer of Preesall, near Fleetwood, Lancashire.

Speaking on modern advertising recently, Mr. Tano Fama said that there were actually some people who did not believe in advertising at all. Others considered: that because their business had been in existence 30 years there was no need to advertise. There was a church in the district which had been built over 40 years, and they still rang their bell on Sundays!

For the half-year ended December 31, J. and P. Coats, Ltd., cot-ton-thread manufacturers in England earned profits of £1,226,151after providing for depreciation, taxation, and writting down of stocks. 'The Idistribiftiofn of the term is per cent., or at the usual rate of 171 per cent, per annum on the ordinary capital of £14,750,000. A phenomenal break in a game of snooker was registered at ITunterville when Mr. Keg. Merwood, well-known in that centre as a billiards enthusiast, went to the table after the balls had been “broken” and scored 126; breaking down with only the blue, pink, and black balls on the table. Right through Merwood played brilliant snooker, and this creditable break was not marred by a single “fluke.”

The notes of a cuckoo have been heard in the To Kuiti district recently (says the Auckland Herald). Writing from Oparure, Mr. M. M. Puckering states he heard' a cuckoo twice on Sunday morning and one was heard in another part of the district on Saturday.

Under the Weights and Measures Regulations, part 0, re standardisation of packages, shopkeepers and others are reminded that as from the 13th instant, it is an offence for any person to sell by retail enclosed in a package, butler, tea or milk, in any quantity other than those specified in clause 2 of part 0 of the Regulations, which are now being administered by the Inspectors of Weights and Measures throughout the Dominion.,*^

An American journal refers in sympathetic terms to the disastrous drought which is ruining the dairying industry in New Zealand (states the Stratford Post). After mentioning the fact that “there has been no rain for two years in the northern area,” the writer extends himself on the unwise use of such country for dairying production. Obviously lie has got his geography mixed up and is mistaking New Zealand for Queensland. A few days in Stratford at present would dissipate any idead.about there being a drought. v

A statement in a recent Police Court ease that pillaging of cargo at Auckland during the past 12 months had resulted in a loss of almost £4OOO was commented upon in a report from the traffic manager, Mr. W. Golden, at this week’s meeting of the Auckland Harbour Board. The statement, in his opinion, was liable to be misconstrued and damage the reputation of Ihe port. The opinion of representatives of shipping companies was that not five per cent, of the pillaging occurred at Auckland. The greater portion was done at the port, of shipment or on the high seas.—Herald.

A body favouring the exclusion of Asiatics from New Zealand lias been formed in Auckland under the title of the Anti-Asiatic Society (says the Herald). The organiser, Mr. P. L. Fowler, and the secretary, Mr. E. G. Stewart, stated recently that the chief aims of the soda y that the chief aims of the society were to prevent, the admit-, lance of coloured people into New Zealand, and to secure preference in employment for white-men. As to Asiatics already in the Dominion an attempt would tic made to educate them and give them a higher economic standard.

The waters of Cape Runaway are famous because they contain good slocks of the mold, a fish that is held in high esteem by both Maoris and pakcha (says the Opotiki Guardian). According' to Maori tradition it is useless to attempt to catch the mold until a certain star appears. This year the star appeared on June 15 and on that day Mr. Ernest Kemp and party'secured 10 of these fine fish. Other fishermen made attempts to capture mold a few days before the 15tb, but their efforts were unsuccessful. Apparently the Maoris have found by long experience that there is good reason for declaring, the mold Inpii until a particular morning star appears.

The unsolved mystery of the Burwood murder and the robbing of Peter to pay Paul style of drawing detectives from other districts where they are already overworked through shortage of staff in the Police Force (says the Wanganui Herald) again brings under notice the advisability of the police being supplied with properly trained hounds for tracking purposes. The use of those animals by police in Queensland, South Africa and other parts of the world for tracking down criminals is convincing proof of their utility, and yet New Zealand lags behind in this respect. The police as a rule are the first to lie supplied with the information when a crime is committed, and if the hounds were used before the public get time to congregate and obliterate the trail, there is every reason to believe ' less criminals would escape. There are two murder mysteries yet to be cleared in Wanganui, namely that of Chow Yat at Tongarere and Mrs Oates at Avamoho. In each of these instances trained dogs would have been invaluable.