LOCAL AND GENERAL

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3908, 16 February 1929, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Broom (Cy.tisus scoparius) and hemloeikhiave been declared noxious weeds in the Feilding borough. A southerly gale raged at Akaroa on Thursday, so that the Sanders Guj) race was postponed after four boats had capsized. There is on exhibition in Mr. G. F. Smith’s wndow to-day a beautiful display of dahlias grown locally by Miss Hughes. A number of local Territorials left by train this morning for Waverley, where they will undergo a week’s military training.

During the last two years 300,000 rabbits have been taken, off properties in the Omarama district in North Otago, where rabbits are still numerous.

A safe in the premises of Messrs Grey and Menzies mineral water factory in Auckland resisted a charge of dynamite, which badly warped the door. The burglars missed £SO by a small margin, as they were unable to lever the door open. The Methodist Ladies’ Guild met on .Wednesday last in the. schoolroom when Mrs. M. 11. Walker was the hostess and there was a large attendance of ladies present. An interesting competition was won by Mrs. S. E. Cowley. It was decided to hold a shop day on March 16th. Mr. Hornblow, member of the Wanganui Education Board, presented the prizes in connection with the Bainesse and Taikorea schools annual picnic at the respective localities yesterday afternoon. Both outings were thoroughly enjoyed by parents and scholars. The catering and prizes were on a liberal scale. The appointment of Commissioner Higgins, .present Chief of Staff to the position of General of the Salvation Army, has aroused world wide interest. Local interest will he aroused when it is noticed per advertisement in this issue that the Founder, General William Booth, will speak at the local Salvation Army Hall on Sunday evening. The Shannon iCo-operative Dairy Go’s, pay-out for butter-fat supplied during the month of January will be 1/6 per lb. A total of £15,810 will be distributed among suppliers. For the eorresponling month last year l/3£d was paid out. In addition, production shows an increase of six per cent, compared with the same period, 1928.

Mr. A. Walsh had a narrow escape from injury while riding a motor cycle at midday yesterday. He failed to negotiate the turn out of Whyte Street into Johnston Street with the result that the cycle careered into the footpath in front of Mr. T. W. Hunt’s property. Fortunately the rider was not injured out the bike was considerably damaged.

The Niuean language is a mixture of Tongan and Samoan, said Mr. C. M. Cronquest during til ecoursc of his address to the Foxton Lunch Club on Thursday. There are only 13 letters in the alphabet.

Frederick Arthur Hayward Penfold, an Amberley farmer, was found guilty at Christchurch by a jury of stealing wool valued at £22, the property of neighbouring farmers.

The daily average of occupied 'beds at the Palmerston North Hospital during January was 172. There were 218 patients admitted, 219 discharged, while 11 had died. Five scarlet fever cases and three of diphtheria were admitted, leaving 14 in isolation at the end of the month.

Reporting to the Palmerston N. Hospital Board on Thursday upon the position of the accounts, the secretary, (Mr. A. J. Phillipps) stated that at the end of the financial year maintenance expenditure was likely to be £ISOO in excess of the £54,000 estimated. Patients fees collected amounted to £7958 as against the estimate of £7961. It seemed that at the end of the financial year the surplus would be greater. Charitable aid recoveries were also slightly ahead of the estimate.

The Niuean is a particularly friendly and courteous person, said Air. G. AI. Oronquest at the Foxton Luncb Club on Thursday. Whenever be meets anyone lie always exchanges a friendly greeting. He is very peaceful and scrupulously clean. He religiously bathes twice a day and even the smallest infant is subjected to a bi-daily tub. He is, like most other members of Native races, very superstitious. He will not venture out after dark alone for anything but will, after some persuasion, accompany a European at night time because he considers the white man is immune from the spirits. A decrease in charitable aid in January was reported to the Palmerston North Hospital Board on Thursday, by the charitable aid officer (Air. F. Aislier). He had issued 178 rations to 26 persons at a cost of £44 .145., compared with 193 rations at a cost of £49 12s in December. In January, 1928, there were 164 rations to 31 persons at a cost of £4l 18s issued. Prospects of employment about the district seem to be favourable, and the number of men on the road calling on him had decreased. He had assisted 11 at a cost of £2 12s, compared with 14 at a cost of £4 16s in December and 9 at a cost of £1 18s in January, 1928. In the course of his address on Niue at the Foxton Lunch Club on Thursday, Mr. C. Af. Conquest, who has spent several years.on the island, said that the chief pastime of the white people there was shooting Hying- foxes. These mammals were very numerous on the island and of an evening Hew over the bush in thousands. Armed with a shot gun, the shooter would wait on the tracks through the bush and as the night prowlers flew overhead in the twilight they were shot.- The shooter had to be careful to get a direct hit and to see that the fox was shot immediately over the track or else it was impossible to retrieve it from the hush. They were not used as food by the Europeans but the Natives treated them as a delicacy. The flying fox was particularly hardy and had wonderful recuperative powers when shot up. It was possible for this particular species of the bat tribe to heal badly lacerated wounds within 24 hours by licking itself. I cannot understand people referring to the Islanders as ignorant and unintelligent people, said Mr. C. M. Cronquest during the course of his address to the Foxton Lunch Club on the island of Niue on Thursday. In support of his contention he submitted several samples of particularly fine Native hats, fans, mats and dresses, which in design compared more than favourably with some European articles. These articles, said the speaker, were made from the lofi leaf which was taken from the tree, put under the sea for three days, taken out and dried in the sun and then dyed. The material was then woven into various articles by the Native women who used no models of any kind, with the exception of, perhaps, a block of wood. They were an isolated people and scarcely ever saw traders, with the exception of the one or two whites on the island, and yet their designs and the articles they made were of a particularly high order and did not bear out the statements that they were an unintelligent people. “Funny how tastes change in pipe tobaccos,” remarked an Auckland tobacconist to a pressman, the other day. “Formerly the demand was all for the imported, but to-day it’s New Zealand tobacco that is all the rage, and for every ounce of imported I sell, I dispose of a pound of New Zealand. It certainly is ‘the goods.-’ I fancy it’s th etoasting of the leaf that mostly accounts for it’s fine flavour and aroma. It’s the only toasted tobacco on the market, so far as I know. Several doctors who are amongst my customers will smoke nothing else. They say there’s so little nicotine in it that its by far the safest to smoke. Well, it must be admitted that those foreign brands often contain a dangerous amount of nicotine. Oh, yes there are several -brands of New Zealand. Perhaps I sell more “Navy Cut No. 3” (Bulldog) than anything else, but “Out Plug No. 10” (Bullshead) full flavour runs it pretty! close. Then there’s a “Riverhead Gold” a mild aromatic, which also has a big sale. But they’re all good.”

Oustanding rates owing to the I'eilding Borough Council at preseJit amount to £446.

There are no criminal eases listed for the Supreme Court sessions in Wanganui. It is over 40 .years since the criminal calendar was a blank. Mr. Justice Smith had the pleasure o!f receiving a pair of white gloves. Plim'merton people are looking forward to the time when the new railway tunnel through the Johnsonville hill will be completed. This improvement will bring the beach within half an hour of Wellington. W. Cameron, New Zealand 100 yards swimming champion, participated in a carnival at Gisborne on Thursday night and won the 100 yards in 57 seconds, but was unplaced in the 50 yards handicap, which was won (by R. Richardson (1 see.) in 27 3-ssecs. The representative cricket match between Southland and Otago was concluded, resulting in Otago winning by an innings and 90 runs. ' A .piece or original ribbon, 60 years old, that was used when the first train went through the Lyttelton tunnel was sent by Mr. Clarkson, of Linwood, to the manager of the New’ Zealand Railways. Says the Christchurch Star editorially: The purchase of an estate at Feilding for closer settlement is an earnest of the intention of the Liberal Government to put land settlement in the forefront of its programme. This estate is onl^ , a beginning. It will lie subdivided into 10 or 12 dairy farms and will provide a good living for that many new settlers. It will come as a disappointment to those interested in athletics to learn that Miss Margaret Ban-on who has been selected to compete in the Dominion ladies running championships, will not be a contestant at the New Zealand Olympiad. In conversation with our representative we were informed by Miss Bar-i-on’s parents, that the time required for training, etc., would militate against Margaret’s sdhooling. They pointed out that probably next! year she would be able to give ibe time required to training. The only engagement she will fulfil will be at Palmerston on March 2nd.

A rat which had found its way into one of the miniature water tanks in a sprinkler fire alarm system was responsible for the raising of a false alarm which brought the Invereragill Fire Brigade out shortly after midnight one ngiht last: week. The call was registered on the alqf’in system at the fire station, but when the brigade arrived at the premises no sign of fire could he seen. The deputy-superintendent made investigations and found the rat, still alive, under the Jlnetal coveiyof the tank, where it had apparently crawled through a small hole to get at the water, and had come into contact with the electric contact.

As an indication of the severity of the winter in England, strange scenes were witnessed recently in Piccadilly from midnight to dawn, when twenty fire engines and a hundred and thirty firemen were fighting a fire in the Trocadro Restaurant. The firemen's uniforms were frozen stiff, and huge icicles formed on the face of the building, and from the seventy-foot water towers used to combat the flames the water seemed to freeze after it left the hoses, and fell on the fire, like hailstones. The damage by fire was confined to the upper story of the restaurant, though there was much destruction by water.