LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3688, 8 September 1927, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

After winning the R-anfurly Shield and staving off two challenges, Manawhenua_ succumbed to Canterbury yesterday at Palmerston N. by 17 points to G, after a spectacular game and under ideal weather conditions.

“Elastic Skin Joe,” one of the principal freaks of the Barnum and Bailey circus on tour at Battleicreek, Michigan, U.S.A., committed suicide one night recently by swallowing strychnine. He was' jilted recently by the “Tatooed Lady,” which caused him to become dispondent.

The man who was found dead with his throat cut on the Lake Summer Road above Hawarden on Monday, was named John Curran. He was thirty-three years of age and as far as is known he had no relatives in New Zealand. Curran had been working with men from the ranks of the unemployed who were engaged in repairing the road. They had a camp in the vicinity.

Lights on to-night and Friday between 7 and Bat the C. M. Ross Coy’s.—Advt.

The controversy between the Royal Dutch and Standard Companies concerning Soviet oil concessions has resulted in a cut-throat price war throughout the territory (says a Beyrout message to the London “Times.”) The Asiatic Petroleum Company has reduced benzine to 5d a gallon, ,the Standard and Vacuum Companies following. Lawrence Charles Seaton, aged 24, who was injured on May 8 through a motor-cycle he was riding colliding with a motor-car between Papatoetoe and Ohahuhu, died in the Auckland Hospital on Tuesday. Seaton sustained a fracture of the leg, and serious injuries to the head. For some time he appeared to be recovering but suffered a relapse.

Evidence that witchcraft still survives in South Africa was shown in an extraordinary case heard at King Williamstown, when eight youths were sent to 'prison fdr killing an old native woman, states a Press Association message. After a native dance the youths went into a hut for further rites, when the woman entered, and was alleged to have stated her intention to bewitch the boys. This greatly alarmed the boys, who beat her to death, believing it was the only way of saving themselves from a spell.

It is not very often a motorist has a Minister for Public Works to help pull him out of a ditch, let alone two Members of Parliament! Such was the case yesterday, however, when Mr H. Akers’ big car got a little too far off the metal on the Beach road and the. front wheel sank down to the axle, making it impossible for it to get out under its own power. A car was dispatched to town for ropes, but the Ministerial party, returning from an inspection of the river at This point noticed the predicament of Mr Akers’ car, and the Minister (lion. K. S. Williams), Messrs J. Linklater and W. H. Field, M’s.P., aiid others, “put their shoulder to the wheel” and had the ear on the road in no time.

A bank draft for £lO6 8s Gd was received by the Levin Borough Council, at its meeting last evening, from the Kairanga County Council, as the Borough’s share of heavy traffic license fees collected in No. 9 districts for the quarter ended June 30th, 1927 (says the Chronicle). The Mayor (Mr. Hobson), stated that the allocation had come in a little late; he understood that the distribution of the fees was delayed somewhat owing to a movement emanating from Foxton, which sought to have a different- agreement. Apparently Foxton was the only place objecting to the existing arrange mien t, and owing to the grounds of objection not being sufficient, that borough had had to fall into line! The Town Clerk (Mr. Jenkins), in reply to a question by Cr. Mortensen, stated that Foxton had accepted the quota provided. He quoted the returns of traffic fees for the quarter as follows: —Boroughs, £1068; Counties, £2137. The individual allocations to boroughs (to the nearest pound) were: —Palmerston North £591, Feilding £199, Foxton £G9, Shannon £42, Levin £lO7, Otaki £62. Mr. Jenkins added that Otaki was the best off among the boroughs in this respect, as it had collected £73 and received back £62.

Four out of every ten women smokers are being slowly poisoned by nicotine! So it was announced in the cable news the other day, on the authority of a famous London specialist who says the unmistakable sympton\s are: nervous debility, loss of vitality, head noises, throat troubles, and pflpitation of the heart. Well, excess of nicotine is well known to produce these effects. That’s why the smoking of American tobaccos (all of them more or less reeking with nicotine) is so injurious. If yop want really pure tobacco, all but free from nicotine, you should try the N.Z. grown brands. Sweet, cool, fragrant and satisfying, they appeal irresistable to all smokers and may be smoked all day, if desired, without causing unpleasant or harmful results. Any tobacconist will supply you. If you like a mild aromatic ask for “Riverhead gold,” if you prefer something stronger get “Toasted Navy Cut” (Bulldog) a beautiful medium, or' “Cut Plug No. 10” (Bullshead), a fine full-flavoured tobacco.