LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3690, 13 September 1927, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Asparagus has already appeared on the Auckland market., During last week Tongariro was active.

At last night’s Borough Council meeting accounts amounting to £1940 5s 4d, were passed for payment.

In the New Zealand badminton championship played at Wanganui last yeek, Mr. N. Banks, of Foxton, and Mrs. Austin (Wanganui), annexed the mixed handicap doubles.

During the four months April - July inclusive, the new mortgages registered in Taranaki totalled £529,(532, while in the same period mortgages to the amount of £523,482 were discharged. “If there’s one thing I hate it’s class distinction in a cemetery. I detest with all my being the buying of a plot —they should all be free.” With these words the Mayor of Wanganui (Mr. W. J. Rogers) expressed his disapproval of a corporation running a cemetery as a commercial proposition.

In the year ended March 31 last (lie Government Printing Office printed 7,839,930 railway tickets, of which 1,235,727 were printed in November. It now takes £1 12s fid on the average to purchase what could be purchased for £1 in July, 1914, according to information contained in the monthly “Abstract of Statistics” for August.

Good progress is being made with the erection of the swimming baths. The retaining wall is now complete and the site enclosed in a corrugated iron' structure. The excavation work is well in hand and is providing work for a number of local unemployed. A little “toddler,” exploring a cupboard in her new •home, accidently spilt some whisky (says the Taranaki Herald). When discovered she was contentedly dipping her fingers in the liquid and sucking them, with the result that, for the rest of the day—and some of the night —she was in rather a jovial frame of mind.

Over 200,000 feet of film, which had cost originally about £IO,OOO was burnt by the management of the Majestic Theatre, on a beach at Auckland on Saturday. 'Comedy drama pictures from France, the United States, Italy and England went out in one red burial. All that was saved was the silver used in making of the films..

A Christchurch cycle-rider who apparently was too tired to pedal, “whipped behind” a motor truck the other day (says the Sun). Everything went well until a dangling hook swung out and caught the cyclist’s clothing. So cyclist and cycle were dragged along, the rider holding on to his machine grimly. The cycle was not running on its tyres. It was dragged and scraped along the road, machine and rider sampling the potholes. The man’s cries for help resulted in the lorry coming to a standstill. Although Nelson will he producing many hundreds of acres of tobacco next year, city dwellers will be unwise to entei’tain hopes of presents of tobacco from friends in the country (says the Mail). The Customs has a close ovq on the industry, and is not unmindful of its revenue. The grower can supply those under his own roof with free smokes, but no others. The leaf has to go holus bolus to the recognised dealers, who are known, of course, to the Department.

A Wanganui resident ,who recently returned from Sydney was impressed by the manner in which the newsboys and messengers in the principal streets of Sydney “jump the street cars.” They leap on the running hoards of trams which are travelling fast and cling by any object that- presents itself, and when a newsboy has worked a car lie will leap to another which passes often going at full speed. The conductor took no notice of him, he said, and apparently they had found it little use interfering with them He is quite an ordinary looking Maori but nevertheless he is known in Wanganui as a real hero (says the Chronicle). His heroism lies in the fact that out'of a paltry sum received as rent for certain native land he supports 1C relatives. He himself does no work and he also finds living expenses for his wife and six children, his aunt and her husband, Ills' grandmother, his dau-ghter-in-law’s cousin, and several others whose relationship with the benefactor is even more complicated. Needless to say the family lives cheaply.

Riding two 4.8 h.p. motor cycles, Captains G. Malins, and F. Oliver pulled up at the G.P.0.,, Melbourne, on August 25th. These motor-cy-clists have completed over 15,000 miles of a round-the-world trip, and although many more thousands of miles have yet to be covered, Captain Malins intends to drive bis cycle up to the Marble Arch, London, on Christmas Eve. The side-cars attached to the cycles were specially made in pontoon style, to enable them to be floated over rivers. These cyclists are touring the world in the interests o£ the British film indus try, and after leaving Melbourne they will go to New Zealand, thence back to London via Canada.

A resident of Henderson, Mr. Edward Hallett, claims to have discovered a remedy for all fruit pests (says the Auckland Sun). It is said to be a simple device, and consequently can be. applied with a minimum of labour. Spraying is unnecessary. Mr. Hallett asserts that lie will guarantee to keep a clean orchard free of brown rot, leaf curl, and any other pest. It any of these pests are already in an orchard, however, it would take at least three years to get rid of them. Mr. Hallett contends that the Government inspectors are wrong in their opinion that brown rot is caused by hawthorn, and consequently it is a great pity that these hedges should be destroyed when they do not convey the disease. It is his firm conviction that the cold winds are the contributing agency. For the device it is also claimed that, as spraying is no part of the treatment, all possibility of arsenic poisoning from sprayed fruit is entirely eliminated. In this connoc lion,’ Mr. .Hallett said that reports from London were alarming—in i’act, there was no market for foreign fruit. Mr. Hallett is hopeful of enlisting the Government’s sympathy, as the remedy would prove a boon to orchardists, eliminate a deal of the labour at present expended in spraying, and also cut down to a minimum the work of inspecting orchards.

The price of bread in Otaki has been reduced I to Cd.

The local Disrict High School reopened to-day after the term holiday.

Martinborough, which up to the present has been under the administration of a town board, has now been elevated to the status of a borough, notice of which will be gazetted at an early date.

Those present at last night’s Council meeting were the Mayor (Mr. M. E. Perreau), and Crs. Thompson, Ross, Spring, Cowley, Rangiheuea, Lucinsky, Rand, parkin. An apology for absence was received from Cr. Walker.

A professional boxing match between Johnny Leckie, of Dunedin, feather-weight champion of New Zealand, and Darby O’Connor, of Australasia, for a purse of £IOO, took place in His Majesty’s Theatre, Dunedin, last night. Leckie won in the 12th round.

At the Magistrate’s Court at Dunedin yesterday, Donald William Stronaeh, sheepfarmcr, was fined £lO for being in a state of intoxication while in charge of a motor car. His license' was cancelled, and he was prohibited from driving for two years. It was shown that defendant knoekecVa man down.

While three trimmers danced in an uptown dance hall, two hundred passengers on board the Maheno at Auckland one evening last week waited patiently for the steamer to .sail; when the trimmers had finished their dancing and returned to their ship the vessel departed for Sydney. The two-year-old son of Mr Thomas Walsh, of Rawhitiroa, Eltham, was found by Mrs Walsh on Saturday afternoon suspended from a loop in an electric cord which had been tied to the head of the bed. At the inquest a verdict was returned that death was due to fracture and dislocation of the servical vertebrae, caused by the child accidentally falling from the bed.

It was at the “old time” dance last night. The music struck up for the mazurka. The floor space was vacant for a time. Presently one, whose head was crowned with the snow of many winters, stepped out with his partner and led off in the old time dance with a grace and dignity that put the modern jazz shuffle to shame. Other couples followed and for a time the old dance held pride of place.

By last mail we received a letter from Mr. S. H. Poole who, together with Mrs. and Miss Poole of Foxton, are on tour in Italy. Writing from Venice under date 30/7/27 Mr. Poole says: “Have now visited Genoa, Pisa, Rome, Naples, Florence and have an interesting day before ns here. We are at the Lido and as I write the bells are ringing across the Grand Canal. Weather very hot. You know what the train journey is. All well. Kind regards.”

An amusing story in which those who do not go to church because they consider the congregations are •for the most part composed of hypocrites, was told at St. Andrew’s 'Church, Palmerston North, by Rev. C. W. B. Seton, one of the visiting preachers for the Simultaneous Mission, last evening (says the Times). “I went one day to a house where only husband and wife were living,” he said, “and before I left I was told by the lady of the house that she and her husband never went to church because so many hypocrites were among the congregation. To this I replied that there was always room for two more; and she, having a sense of humour, brough her husband along the next Sunday.” A mean theft was perpetrated at Stratford on a visiting motorist last week. A commercial traveller from Auckland put up at one of the hotels and garaged his expensive car in some premises at the rear. When he visited the shed on Sunday morning to continue his journey, he found that someone had removed his five tyres with their rims and bolts. The car was left on the jack, but a thorough search failed to reveal any trace of the missing tyres. At first a practical joke was suspected, but as no information regarding the tyres could be found, the matter was placed in the hands of the police. Other thefts from cars in Stratford have been reported lately. Last Aveek two overcoats were removed from parked cars, while other motorists are lamenting the loss of rugs. One motorist lost a parcel of magazines and books.