Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1927. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3723, 29 November 1927, Page 2

Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1927. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Levin has now formed a Fire Police corps.

Income tax was paid by 2,300,000 inhabitants of Britain in the last financial year.

The dance held in the Masonic llal'l on Saturday evening by the Matakarapa Maoris was well attended, and an enjoyable time was spent by all present.

The front wheel came off a motor lorry travelling on the main highway near Sandon on Saturday. The axle of the vehicle ploughed up the roadway for some yards before coming to a stop and the driver escaped unhurt.

James Patrick (aged 17) was found dead at the bottom of a cliff at Tomahawk, Dunedin, on Sunday morning. He had bought a new dog the previous day and was taking it for a walk along the top of the cliffs when he must have slipped and fallen. His body was badly mangled by the. fall.

On Saturday afternoon a “working bee” of the Foxton Football Club commenced draining operations in connection with the preparation of “No. 1 playing area on the racecourse. About two chain of drain was dug and a similar length yet remaining to be done will be executed by means of another “bee” one evening this week.

A pair of first penny postage stamps issued for New Zealand, valued at £l5O, has been obtained by an Auckland collector. The lucky philatelist is Mr. A. Brodie. There are only about 10 copies of the stamps in existence. They form a link with New'Zealand’s early history, penny stamps having been limited to letters “sent or received by sailors or soldiers of her Majesty’s Forces.” They were issued in 1855.

Already the proud prossessor of the largest eel, Inglewood has gone a step further and now claims to own the largest mushroom. The eel of 28.}1b5., which recently occupied a prominent position in a shop window was later displaced by a mushroom nine inches in diameter and 28 inches in circumference, with a stalk six inches long and 3$ inches in circumference. Another mushroom found in the same vicinity as this, measured eight inches in diameter. They are regarded as re;.v.rkable specimens for the unusual reason for mushrooms.

unusual occurrence, involving ;i. four-months old calf and a fivej.ound note and causing the fanner to lose the former in order to regain the latter, happened, at Weber, Hawke’s Bay, recently. The trouble commenced when the calf decided to dine off a sheaf of insurance papers to which the bank note was attached. It was a rash act, for the farmer, righteously indignant at having lost so valuable a piece of paper, seized his knife and made haste to recover the lost papers. The note was not much affected by its experience, but the other papers were well pulped. Two residents of Newmarket, Auckland, had a startling experience on a recent night. A man and his wife had gone to bed and were reading, using a lamp with a red light which the Fire Brigade mistook for a fire they had been summoned to. The firemen without iesitation placed a ladder against the wall of the house (it was upstairs), sealed up, threw open the window, and popped the hydrant through. The occupants of the bed received the full force of the water and their shrieks soon told the firemen they had come to the wrong place. Two very moist people had to find dry bedclothes before they could settle down for the night a-o-ain. The real fire was in a confectioner’s shop next door.

The Daylight Limited expresses between Auckland and Wellington will be reinstated on Monday, December 5.

Under the new motor regulations silencers are compulsory on all motor vehicles, “cut-outs” are forbidden, and also “undue noises caused by the vehicle being in a state of disrepair or by the manner in which it is loaded.”

At the New Plymouth Supreme Court on Saturday Albert Morgan Conroy was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment on six charges of indecent assault on males and six months’ imprisonment on a charge of attempted suicide. The sentences were made concurrent. Walter William Wickery, for driving negligently so as to cause the death of Otto Amlehm, was admitted to probation for two years and prohibited from holding a license for five years.

An accident occurred to a car on the Foxton-Levin road in front of Mr. S. .Jackson’s gateway at the end of the south approach to the Whirokino Bridge on Saturday evening. The car, which was travelling in the direction of Levin and which contained two men, swung out too wide on the corner with the result .that the offside wheels got into the soft soil at the side of the road and the vehicle capsized. The car did not appear to be badly damaged, but it is believed one of the men was cut about the face bv flying glass.

Mr. L. S. Amery, Secretary of State for the Colonies, was accorded a warm welcome by the citizens of Palmerston North on Saturday. During his brief stay of a few hours in the town, Mr. Amery spent a busy morning in the Manawatu, his itinerary including visits to the Flock Houses for boys and for girls at Bulls and Awapuni respectively, and an inspection of the Massey Agricultural College. To fulfil his day’s engagements necessitated leaving Wanganui at an early hour, and before departing for Wellington by train in the early afternoon, Mr. Amery had covered close on a hundred miles of travel by road.

Customs duties collected at the ports of New Zealand during the quarter ended September 30 totalled £2,107,11(5, compared with £2,172,204 for the corresponding quarter of 192(5. Of these totals, spirits contributed £371,520, and £325,84(5 respectively, the general tariff £l,332,311 and £1,358,652 and the British preferential tariff £(565,111 and £692,392. During the same qu,aider of excise duties amounted to £170,43(5, compared with £162,142 in the corresponding quarter of last year. Beer duty amounted to £136,739 and £137,948 in the quarters ending September 30, 1927 and 1926 respectively.

Good prices are being realised for medals issued to troops which served in New Zealand during the Maori, War, according to the latest catalogue from London. The high-est-priced medal is one described as very rare, which was awarded to a member of the 40th Regiment, bearing the date 1860 to 1864. Its retail priqe is £ls. Others range in price from £l/7/6 to £4/15/-, while groups of three medals, awarded to the one individual, are offered up to £B/10/-. More recent medals, such as the New Zealand Long Service and Good 'Conduct Medal, and an artillery rifle shooting medal dated 1903, bear a sale value of £4/10/and £l/1/- respectively.

A resident of Pleasant Point, Mr. W. H. Batchelor, when motoring through Burke’s Pass one night last week, had a peculiar experience, says the Timaru Herald. He was coasting down that is known as the Long Cutting, when suddenly something struck the windshield of the car and shattered it. Simultaneously, screams like that of a child in pain were heard, when it was seen that a hare had caused the trouble. Evidently the hare had been sitting on the roadside, and being frightened by the car, had leapt into the air to avoid it, but the lights of the car dazzled it, and it struck the wind-shield and went through it, landing in the car. Mr. Batchelor’s son, who was in the back seat, caught and held it. When the hare leaped through the windshield, a piece of glass struck Air. Batchelor on the forehead, inflicting a painful cut, which bled profusely. The hare struck Mr. Batchelor’s companion on the mouth, cutting it badly, and breaking a tooth.

Over one hundred years old, and “he thoroughly enjoyed his pipe.” That was recorded a while ago of Mr. William lieeves, who passed away recently at Knox Home, Tamaki, Auckland, aged 101. The anti-tobaecoites are never tired of telling us that smoking shorten life, but if anyone eared to take a census of inmates of these charitable institutions, they would discover that great numbers of very old men —yes, and very old women too, derive comfort and consolation from their pipes. Smoking so far from being injurious is really beneficial so long as the tobacco is good and does not contain a heavy percentage of nicotine. The imported brands arc practically all of them loaded with nicotine. Our New Zealand tobaccos, on the other hand, contain so little that they may be smoked all day without any ill-effects. They are full of flavour and fragrance too, sweet and mellow and delicious. Ask for “Riverhead Gold” if you want a fine aromatic, “Navy Cut” (Bulldog) if you like a good medium, or “Gut Plug No. 10” (Bullshead) if you prefer a grand full-flavoured sort.

The danger of leaving fish hooks lying about the grass was illustrated at Eltham the other day, when a Stratford woman met with a painful accident. She was walking through the grass toward her car when her feet became entangled in a piece of string, with the result that a hook attached to the string was flung against her leg with such force that it was deeply embedded in the flesh, necessitating her return to Stratford where an operation was necessary for its removal.

A settler in the Morere district, on the East Coast, recently had a most unpleasant experience. In an attempt to kill weeds he sprayed a portion of his land with sheepdip, little thinking that his milling cows, would eat the grass from that part. However, this evidently was the case and not knowing that the cows had fed from the sprayed weeds and grass the family used the milk twice. By this time the poison had taken effect upon the cattle and one died. The baby in the home ‘was also affected but fortunately it soon recovered. \

The body of Charles Lewis, a well-known resident and settler of the district, formerly an M.P., for Christchurch and Courtenay, was found outside the window of a room in his home,at Waipukurau yesterday morning, with a rifle between his legs, the shot having passed through his mouth and the back of his head. Lately he had been in a weak state of health. The family heard the shot fired about seven o’clock, death being instantaneous. Deceased leaves a widow, four daughters, arid three sons. An inquest will be held to-morrow.

As the fireman was cleaning the smoke-box of the s.s. Wairua on Tuesday, lie made a curious find, (says the North Auckland Times). A well baked homing pigeon was found among the soot and ashes. The theory is that the bird, in an exhausted condition, came to rest upon the edge of the funnel and perhaps affected in some way by the smoke, fell down into the smoke box. The leg ring, bearing the registered number of the bird, has been forwarded, together with parlie ulars, by the wharfinger, Mr. J. Penge'lly, to the Auckland Homing Pigeon Club. The newly-gazetted motor regulations appear to embrace provisions that will prove very embarrassing to motorists if the authorities insist upon their execution to the letter. For instance, a motorist makes himself liable to a fine of £SO if he blows the horn of his car while the vehicle is stationary. If he removes one hand from the steering wheel —unless the car is under full control —lie invokes the wrath of the law to the extent of a substantial fine; and lie 1 is similarly liable if he does not remove one hand from the steering wheel to indicate the direction in which he is turning.