NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3797, 26 May 1928, Page 1

NEWS AND NOTES.

The fees at the Hawera hospital were increased in the case of adults from 9/6 to 12/- by the board on Monday. 'Summerlike conditions still prevail at Waipukurau (states the Napier Telegraph) and with the shortest day only five weeks distant it is hard to realise that it is not mid-summer. As a result of the continued warmth tomatoes from outside are still being gathered ripe, whilst new i>otatoes, planted late in the season, are being dug. Nowadays we in New Zealand would seem lost ivithout our telephone system but on Norfolk Island, where the white population is increasing rapidly, no telephone system is installed and, moreover, settlers there exhibit a reluctaneo to establish one. They seem to be quite satisfied with the notice board and “tell it to your neighbour” system.

A woman in Christchurch recently found in a drawer some old papers and letters. These she burned, after retaining the stamp upon them. For a few shillings the old stamps changed hands, says the Wellington Post, ultimately finding their way into the possession of someone who really knew something about the value of old New Zealand stamps. He discovered among his purchase what every stamp collector dreams of discovering some day—a really rare stamp, in fact, a stamp hitherto not known to exist, a stamp which, now that, its genuineness is proved beyond all doubt, is worth £SOO, or perhaps even more, to its lucky owner.

The ferocity of the weasel was demonstrated on a farm at Manaia, Taranaki, recently. A settltr engaged in gathering wood saw an adult weasel carrying a young one in its mouth, and he attacked the pests with a piece of wood. Both showed considerable fight, and after the young one had been despatched, the old one ran under a log, where it continued its snarling and teeth showing. Later on it was found that the old one had carried off the dead body of the young weasel.

An Auckland business man (says the Herald), has received the following letter from a Maori girl who writes in the clear hand of an average girl of about twelve, uses capitals in their right place, and punctuates with care: —“Mr. —, Well Mr. —, lam sending you tins letter of mine, just to inheritage you this comfounded note of mine. Please your majesty, if this note of mine handed to you in safety, I want you to make up your mind to answer this letter of mine as soon as possible. Well, this the thing I want to know, is this I want to know from you, if you can agree to let me know, that, you got any full dresses or ready mades, anything, suit for a £l. I just want to get your answer in two weeks if I get that answer, plenty, you get lot for a £l. I’ll send you the £1 afterwards. I must end this to a conclusion, cherrio.” The scourge of. the chain letter has again struck Napier, one of these amazing epistles being exhibited to a pressman recently by a Napier business man, who had received it in his morning mail. The communications in question, which as an example of ealigraphy was lacking in some degrees, was headed, “Flanders Chain of Friendship,” and told the usual story of the American officer, with instructions to send four copies away before 24 hours, dire penalties in the way of luck to follow were the chain broken. The letter also remarked that the chain should go round the world three times, but in the case of this letter at any rate it got no further than Napier, for after a cursory inspection the communication was toni into small pieces and consigned to the waste paper basket.