Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1928. LOCAL AND GENERAL

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3751, 7 February 1928, Page 2

Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1928. LOCAL AND GENERAL

At the inquest at Wanganui yesterday, on a boy who could not swim and who had been using an inflated motor tube in the Corporation baths and who was drowned; both the custodian of the. baths and the Coroner commented upon the use of inflated tubes and wings as being dangerous and only encouraged ,those who could not swim to take risks and get into deep water.

The total number of births registered in the 14 urban areas of the New Zealand during the year 192(5 was 13,334, a figure which is (100 in excess of the total of 12,728 for 1925. It is of interest to note, states he Government Statistician, that while the birth rate of the Dominion as a whole fell, slightly in 1926, the rate for the urban areas showed a definite rise. The urban birth rate for 1926 was 19.24 per 1000 of the mean population, as ngainst a rate of 18.95 for 1925. A number of monkeys escaped from a circus which was trekking on the Turakina Hills last week, near Wanganui. The circus vans were negotiating a hill when a mishap to one of them released a number of monkeys, to their obvious delight. They were joined by dogs, birds, and other small members of the menagerie, and the circus hands were kept in active pursuit for some time in retrieving the truants. This troublesome task was eventually completed, and the circus went on its way. The claim that he can plant hair that'will receive sufficient flourish - ment to remain alive permanently was made by a Professor in New York recently. Describing his method of operating, the professorsays that he has perfected a needle which can insert a very fine gold spring in the scalp to serve as an anchor for the new hair. Baldness, he claims, can be completely overcome. A prominent London hairspecialist, asked his opinion, said: “I don’t believe a word of it. Of course, one cannot judge without knowing full details, but on the face of it it seems impossible.” The manager of a well-known firm of hairdressers said “Absolute rubbish. You will never be able ■to make hair grow on a bald head.”

Comment on what he termed a butter war that was going on at present in Gisborne was made to a Herald reporter by a business man who was brought into close touch with the local market. He pointed out that during the past month the retail price of butter in Gisborne had been reduced by 3d per lb., bringing it to lid below the London parity and 2d under the price of anywhere else in the Dominion. The “finest” butter was now selling there at 1/0 per lb., and first grade at 1/4. The “war” was being waged by two or three companies doing the largest local trade, and he pointed out that while the public was securing cheap butter the suppliers of the companies Avere suffering. The fact that, sharks have been seen near the Waikanae beach at Gisborne has given some uneasiness to bathers, but the divers employed by the Harbour Board on the breakwater work are not troubled by thoughts of the sea monsters. A few days ago a shark estimated to be ,12ft. in length, swam lazily around the end of the breakwater just as the divers were preparing to go down, but its presence did not delay the work. Men working under Avater in rubber and canvas suits find their best proteclion, it is said, in the discharge of spent air through the valves of their helmets, Avhieli makes the divers ob-> jects of dread to the normal shark. 'Sir Alan C'obham states that flight at an altitude around 50,000 feet will enable a ’plane to attain speed bordering on 1000 miles an hour. This means crossing the Continent betAveen lunch and dinner, and 'circumnavigating the globe in a day. Perhaps, says a Avriter, one cannot picture man ever rising above 50,000 feet, but certainly Ave shall have “soundings” taken far beyond that figure Avithin the next few years. Macready’s Avork above 30,000 feet lends some hope that these wild dreams may one day be realised. He had flotvn comfortably above Dayton, Ohio, in temperatures 80deg. beloAV zero.

The Manawatu County Council is empowered to borrow £5500 to meet its share of the cost of the Manawatu River bridge and approaches. The Palmerston North Borough Council has instructed its borough engineer to report upon the driving of artesian wells to supplement the town water supply.

Parents and adults will be supplied with hot water and milk free of cost at the school picnic to be held on the Ashhurst Domain tomorrow.

At Palmerston North S.M. Court yesterday Lye Gee Lang, an elderly 'Chinese tobacconist, was fined £SO for being in possession of opium suitable for smoking.

Prize-winners at the last Labour Social Club’s euchre tournament were as follows: —Mrs. W. Neville, Misses I. Rout and C. Sharpe and Messrs W. Brown, G. King and C. Coley. Old residents state that they have never previously experienced such a continuous dry spell as the present. To-day the sky is overcast, and the weather is much cooler. A shower was experienced at dinner time.

An elderly man, George Partridge, was knocked down by a mo-tor-'car at the corner of Colombo Street and Lichfield Street about 11.35 a.m. on Saturday, and died from his injuries in the Christchurch Hospital in the afternoon.

Because the Christchurch City Council has set up for a tenant a butcher’s shop in the Municipal Market, the butchers of the city, it is stated, have decided to boycott the Municipal abattoirs and have their stock slaughtered at the freezing works. For every bullock slaughtered at the Palmerston North Abattoir during January no less than eight cows were killed, according to the abattoir report. Probably herd testing accounts for so much cow beef on the market.

• The body of Horace Humphreys, who has been missing since January 27, was found in Lake Okareka on Sunday by Mr. James Gordon, states a Rotorua message. * The body was naked, the clothes being found in a neat bundle under a hedge nearby.

At. the Auckland Supreme Court yesterday, Christian Harton, formeYly secretary of the Te Kuiti Racing Club, admitted appropriating £202 from the Club’s funds and was sentenced to two years’ reformative detention. Failure to eradicate hawthorn on a property within the Palmerton N. fireblight area cost Catherine Wilson £2 and costs at the Palmerston N. Magistrate’s Court yesterday. The orchard inspector for the Department stated that defendant was the only one of 160 owners who had not complied satisfactorily with the notices sent out.

There is a project afoot to revive the scheme for running the “Great White Train,” which is to advertise New Zealand industries, through the Wellington province. It is proposed that the cruise of the train shall last about six weeks and commence on April 17. It is to run from Wellington to Wanganui, where it will stay for three days, tosPatea, where it will stop for one day, and to New Plymouth, and then back again and up to Napier, where it will be for two days. If the train proves a success in Wellington province it will be run through the South Island also.

The latest official estimates of population, including; Maoris, of the various cities of Ne\v Zealand, show that Auckland and suburban districts have a total of 202,400, Wellington 126,750, 'Christchurch 122,000 and Dunedin 83,250. Included in Auckland’s total is 23,130, made up from the populations of Mount Roskill, One Tree Hill, Mount Wellington, Panmure township Tamaki, Orakei, jmd the residences of the urban area. According to statistics supplied by the Government Statistician, the population of New Zealand proper on July 1, 1927, was 1,437,107, Cook Island and Niue 14,178, Tokelau Island 1,033, Western Samoa 42,028, making a grand total of 1,494,406. The population of the North Island at that date was 917,127, and that of the South Island 420,853. Auckland province alone contributes 484,346, whilst the largest provincial population in the South Island is Canterbury, with 219.597. \

“Most of the harm from pipes is due to their foulness.” Thus wrote Sir Robert Armstrong Jones, a distinguished authority, recently in the Britism Medical Journal. Sir Robert might have added that the main cause of pipes becoming foul is the use of tobacco heavily charged with nicotine. Such tobaccos may (and often do) cause nerve trouble, eyesight trouble, heart trouble, and chronic indigestion. Happily here in New Zealand ailments occasioned by excess of nicotine in tobaccos are becoming rarer. This is owing to the growing popularity of our New Zealand tobaccos which thanks to their comparative freedom from nicotine may be indulged in freely without any fear of consequences. , That’s why doctors recommend them. Another point in their favour is that the leaf is toasted (something new). Hence their delightful fragrance, and le- ■ licious flavour. You can get them of any strength. There are several varieties. Leading lines are: —“Riverhead Gold” mild and aromatic; .“Navy Cut” (Bulldog), a choice medium; and “Cut Plug No. 10” (Bullshead), a fine full flavoured sort. Any tobacconist will supply you.

A message from iMiami, Florida, says that Tex Rickard has confirmed rumours that Dempsey has been eliminated from further consideration for another match with Tunney and probably will never fight again. It is understood an injury to an eye and heavy punishment in the last two fights with Tunney are Responsible.

Magistrate Barton, at Wanganui yesterday, informed a young man who was in arrears of maintenance Jor his illegitimate child that if he didn’t pay up regularly he would he arrested and gaoled. The Magistral te continued: “A baby has to be fed several times a day, and you atil your mates at a bach paid £1 3/6 a week for your own meals. You have not done badly by yourself, I am satisfied of that.” f * •