Manawatu Herald THURSDAY, JULY 26, 1928. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3823, 26 July 1928, Page 2

Manawatu Herald THURSDAY, JULY 26, 1928. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Scarlet fever is prevalent in many parts of the Dominion. Commissioner and Mrs Hay, Dominion Commander of the Salvation Army will visit Foxton on August 16th. A big salvation rally will be held locally on the occasion of the Commissioner’s visit.

The Japanese Training Squadron arrived at Wellington yesterday. Vice-Admiral Ivobayashi 'sent out a message of friendship and goodwill to the people of the Dominion.

The new bridge over the Manawatu river at Moutoa is nerrly completed and can be crossed by. pedestrians. It will be some weeks, however, before the approaches are ready for vehicular traffic. No date has as yet been fixed for the official opening. Te Aroha reports the heaviest floo.d since 1914; The local shipping office, timber yard and hide stores are under water; also some residences. Part of the bridge at Gordon Road was washed away. The rainfall was 5.50 inches in 24 hours to 9 a.m. on Tuesday, making 9 inches in 48 hours. Millions of locusts are threatening disaster to the cereal crops'®in the farming districts surrounding Shanghai, Paoshan, Woosung, and Pootung. Black cloudlike swarms, •some of the locusts being the. size of swallows, swept over the district, obliterating the sun like thunder clouds and terrifying the natives. Acres of rice crops were completely eaten. On charges of stealing 30 sheep valued at £4B, the property of James William McNutt, a farmer, of Waipukurau, and 100 valued at £IBO from Harry S. Hooper, owner of Arlington Station, George Perry, of Waipukurau, a drover came before the Waipukurau Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. He was remanded until July 31. Bail was allowed at £4OO. A British Official Wireless message states that as the result of continuous hot' weather, which at present shows no signs of a break, a state of drought is officially declared, 15 days having passed without rain. London’s sources of water, however, make the capital safe from any danger of water famine, though its normal consumption of water is 260,000,000 gallons per day. “The backbone of the country,” said His Excellency the GovernorGeneral (Sir Charles Fergusson), when opening the annual conference of the New Zealand Farmers’ ,Union at Wellington on Tuesday, .is as the Prime Minister of England, Mr. Stanley Baldwin, had recently said in Canada —the man who reaps and sows. He is indeed the backbone of the world. Our secondary industries, as the country grows, will become more and more important, but our primary industries will always be of first importance.” Referenre to scientific research was made by His Excellency the Governor-General (Sir Charles Fer,gusson), when opening the annual conference of the Farmers’ Union at Wellington on Tuesday. “In some quarters,” he said, “there is a tendency to undervalue scientific research. An ounce of practical knowledge, one is told, is worth a ton of scientific learning, but the scientist has taught the farmer many things. It has given him a better wheat yield and increased his other crops. It has shown him how to combat various scourges, but to mention a few of its achievements. We have our Cawthron Institute, to whom the farmer owes a deep debt of gratitude. Every country which is our competitor depends on scientific research, and it is always desirable to see what other people are doing.” Burglars have been unusually busy in many parts of New Zealand this winter, and surprise has been expressed that the “swag” secured has so often taken the form of tobacco. But tobacco, it must be remembered, is not nearly so easy to identify as most other things; also, it is saleable almost anywhere and readily convertible into hard cash — one more proof of the hold that smoking has got on the world. The habit is soundly abused by nonsmokers. Yet it contributes to the comfort and happiness of millions every day. If tobacco proves injurious it is because it contains an excess of nicotine. The imported brands are full of it. The purest tobaccoes of all are our New Zealand ones. Containing only a trifling percentage of nicotine, they may be smoked without fear of consequences. They possess a peculiarly delicious flavour and a most delightful aroma. Ask for “Riverhead Gold” (mild), “Navy Cut” (Bulldog), medium or “Cut Plug No. 10” (Bullshead), full strength. You can get these brands from any tobacconists.

The main roll for the Electoral District of Manawatu contains 5.146 names. The Farmers’ Union Conference decided to send a letter to the Prime Minister objecting to Daylight Saving and urging that it be not passed into law again. Mrs. Douglas Jennings, of North Sydney, has received cabled advice that she is included among fortyfive claimants who have established their title to £53,000,000 in Chancery under the estate of William Jennings, who possessed extensive factory sites in Birmingham, in addition to big holdings in the East India Company. The proving of this claim ends a lawsuit made immortal by Charles Dickens as the world-famous case of (“Jarndyco versus Jarndycc” in “Bleak House.” Two other Australian beneficiaries are living at West Wyalong (New South Wales), and in Melbourne. A narrow escape from injury was experienced in Palmerston North last week by R. S. Redward, painter, when he was engaged in painting a residence in Victoria Avenue. Mr. Redward and a •companion, a mason, "were working from scaffolding in front of the house when the former came into contact with an electric current, evidently from a wire leading to the house, and sustained burns to his hands. He was rendered unconscious. Prompt action, however, was forthcoming from the mason, who at considerable personal risk removed Mr Redward from his perilous position and applied first aid.