Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, JULY 19, 1927. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3667, 19 July 1927, Page 2

Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, JULY 19, 1927. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Central Otago is experiencing the coldest winter it has known for over 25 years. Gramophones are popular in the schools of Canterbury. Over 200 schools have one each.

Mokau’s new traffic, bridge should be completed within three months, and will be ready for next season’s holiday traffic.

The hire of the Wanganui Harbour Board’s dredge, Kaione, to the Wellington Harbour Board has netted £6040 8s 2d (says the Herald).

It is rumoured that an interesting industry will shortly be started at Babylon, a small township about 100 miles north of Auckland, where a German doctor intends putting up a plant to extract oil from kauri gum and wood.

The sum of £25 was voted by the Hamilton Borough Council as compensation to the owner of a horse which was electrocuted recently at Hamilton East. The horse came in contact with a power line which had Mown down in the night.

“It is a sign of the times,” said a commercial traveller, who told a “Chronicle” man recently, that he had taken orders in Wanganui to only a tenth of the value he usually received. One store which usually ordered goods to the value of £IOO, placed an order omounting to less than 30s, he said.

The common spelling of “ti-tree,” instead of “tea tree,” was vigorously condemned by Mr. J. W. Shaw, in a lecture on New Zealand pioneers at the Grey Lynn library. “Ti-tree” was an utter abomination,” he said. The Maoris never called the manuka that, but. it was so named by early pioneers because they used it in the making of tea. “Whenever you see “ti-tree” remember it is wrong,” Mr. Shaw added.

At Helena (Montana), an appearing lawyer for Mrs. Catherine O’Connor, of Wellington, New Zealand, is claiming a share-to the millions in the estate of the late Senator William A. Clark, a mining magnate. Mrs. O’Connor declares that her father, Mr. Robert Qlark, was a brother or uncle of deceased. Mrs. Clark is unlikely to benefit even if the relationship is proved, as the estate was distributed by will.

A mysterious raider is still at work on Mr. J. Mcßae’s sheep farm at Kai Iwi, and the number of sheep found dead with small wounds behind the ears is now over 60, says the Wanganui Chronicle. Mr. Mcßae is still of the opinion that the damage is being done by weasels or stoats, but although he has had a trapper on the farm for some days, and traps have been set for the full length of one fence line, nothing has been caught.

The children of despair are few, They seldom greet the public view; Distorted lines or lungs unsound, Deny them ease to move around. The children of despair are sad, Their lives know nothing gay or

glad; But when they coughs and colds en-

dure, Find ease in Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure. —35.

Five boys appeared a tthe Auckland Children’s court on Saturday to answer 5G charges. Four boys were up for setting fire to the Normal School on Sunday week. As under the Child Welfare Act the Children’s Court is powerless to deal with arson, all the charges were adjourned to the Magistrate’s Court. Mrs. Ferser, J.P., expressed the opinion that all children’s offences (under 16) should be dealt with by the Children’s Court.

“I yield to no man in my admiration of the journalist,” Lord Burnham declared at a London function. “One day he is standing on the steps of the throne, the next day he is on the scaffold; one day he is a welcome visitor in the boudoir of a duchess, the next day he is thrown out of a labour meeting; he is received by the Prime Minister one day and he may find his office door shut against him the next. The journalist is the scapegoat of civilisation.”

An interesting historical discovery was made recently by Mr. J. W. Price. While diggingjn one of his low-lying paddocks near the Wairau river, near Blenheim, he unearthed at a depth of about three feet, a Maori cache containing 26 stone axes. The axes are in an unfinished condition, and Mr. Price is 'of the opinion that he had discovered an ancient Maori axe-maker’s workshop or else a cache in which the ancient craftsman kept his stock.

An investment that will be considered rather better than Kawarau was recently made by a Waiwera farmer (reports the Clutha Leader). At a district clearing sale he purchased a sow for the sum of £5, and just the other day his investmen yielded him, 18 .little pigs, the number of which was reduced by the farmer to 15 to make life easier for the remainder. It is anticipated that i in about two months’ time, when the young pigs are keenly sought after, a profit in the vicinity .of £22 should result.

A romantic promise was fulfilled at the wedding which has just taken place, of Miss Doris Lewis, of Romford, England. Shortly after she was born, Mr. ,W. Baker, a public official, was the first to give her a kiss. He then promised that in return he would buy her wedding dress. Mr. Baker died 13 years ago, but it was found he had remembered his promise, and had bequeathed a sum to buy the dress. The bride carried out his wishes, and appeared at the alter in a picturesque Old English dress fashioned in white lace.

, A mean attempt at a joke was played on a Wanganui girl last week (says the Herald). Her young man was in Christchurch and someone in the City of the Plains aware of tijis sent her a telegram stating that lie had passed away. • The young woman was put to the expense of sending a, telegram to the parents making further inquiries, but was overjoyed later in the day to receive a telegram from the young man wanting to know what all the fuss was about and intimating that his death had been grossly exaggerated.

When the matter of procuring poisoned grain for the killing of small birds was being discussed at the meeting of the Bruce County Council, a councillor complained that the last lot that had been purchased had not been very effective. “Have you tried it on your hens?” asked Cr. Driver, but councillors could not grasp the precise caning of the question until he explained that some years ago a resident had told the council that the poisoned grain he had been given was worthless. He was advised to go home and try it on his hens. “He did,” said Cr. Driver, “and he killed' the lot.” The fish story is ever with us, and so is the tale of the bird which pecked at the electric overhead wire, and the rat who chewed the end of a wax vesta and set the house ,on fire. But the rodent who caused a blaze under a motor-ear bonnet deserves a line to himself. A Taranaki motorist driving home noticed smoke pouring from the front of his car. Investigation disclosed a neat and ignited heap of striiw and paper on the top of the engine under the bonnet. Fortunately- the carburettor was dry and the fire was put out without damage’ being done. It is thought that the rat had found the engine warm on Friday, when the car was lg§t used, and seizing the opportunity had built its nest in what it noMoubt considered a choice spot.

P. T. Barnum, the famous American Showman, was once asked what invention or discovery had, in liis opision, contributed most to the source of human happiness and enjoyment. Without hesitation he replied : “The invention or discovery of smoking.” He wasn’t far wrong. Tobacco is like a good wife—it halves our sorrows and doubles our joys. But it must be the right kind of tobacco. If full of nicotine, as so many of the impoi’ted brands ai’e, habitual indulgence in it must be attended, sooner or later, with evil consequences. Heart or nerves may become affected. By the way, our New Zealand grown tobaccos are so pure and contain relatively so little nicotine that they may be freely indulged in with impunity. They don’t bite the tongue. The toasting of the leaf (quite a new idea) develops the flavour, which is peculiarly pleasant, and they possess a delightful fragrance of their own. No wonder they are capturing the market. Ask for “Riverhead Gold” mild; “Navy Cut” (Bulldog), medium; or “Cut Plug No. 10” (Bullshead), full strength. 42.

The Foxton-Palmerston North Road, most of which has been graded recently is now in fair order, with the exception of portion at Bainesse and Rangiotu. The s.s. Leviathan has completed her fiftieth crossing of the Atlantic. It has been admitted by the U.S. Shipping Board that she has lost money on every voyage.

The “Baron Jedburgh,” which visited Auckland last year, recently discharged no less than 7,700 tons of bagged wheat at Rotterdam in working hours. This is a world’s record.

Banking laws are as immutable as those of the Medes and the Per sians. A draft of £IOO,OOO was represented at a Christchurch bank the other day. The instructions were to deduct the re-presentation fee, which in this instance was 6d. So the clerk entered to the credit of a client’s account the sum of £99,999 19s Cd.

A valuable cow, belonging to Mr James Scobie, of Winton, was for Over a week unable to swallow its food, and it began rapidly to lose condition (says the Winton Record). He treated if and attempted to hand feed it, without success. Then Mr Scobie asked Mr C. H. Williamson, veterinary surgeon, to examine the animal. The veterinary surgeon put his arm down the cow’s throat and brought up a piece of jagged zinc about 3in. square, which had embedded itself in the flesh. The animal evidently picked up the piece of metal while grazing in the paddock. Death in prison was the sad end of an old man of 82 years, John Benjamin Alston, who has just died in Wanganui gaol. An inquest on Saturday revealed the facts that Alston, who was committed to prison in February, 1926, recently scalded his foot when he made unauthorised visit to the bathroom. Medical aid was obtained and the foot healed. Heart failure was stated to be the cause of the prisoner’s death, and evidence made it clear that the bathroom incident was not in any way responsible.