Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1929. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 40039, 14 December 1929, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1929. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Cabinet has decided to re-erect the Sir John McKenzie cairn on the top of Pukitapu, North Otago.

We are informed that local business premises will observe the following holidays during Christmas and New Year: —Christmas Day, Jloxing'Day, New Year's Day and January 2nd.

After recovering' a pocket book containing £BO, which had been dropped into the sea, and at the same time rescuing the owner, who had. dived in after it, the crew of the- Deal life-boat were handed 2/0 to be shared amongst them!

It is reported that /here is keen competition for the post of chauffeur to the Mayor of Christchurch. II: is stated, however, that no appointment will be made, and that on those occasions when 'the Mayor does not elect to drive himself, one of the'traffic inspectors will be detailed for the duty.

It is reported that Fritz Holland is shortly to open an Auckland gymnasium and boxing school. In an interview he said that he had intended, to settle in Auckland when lie first arrived in the Dominion from California in his palmy days.

The Western Electric Talkie system is being installed in the De Luxe Theatre, Levin, and the convenience of Foxton patrons is being catered for by the establishment of a local hooking office. This will be at Ball’s shop. Messrs Madge Bros, will run a regular service, to the talkies.

An impressive sight to be witnessed in Befrlin is that of war blinded soldiers being led about the city by 'trained Alsatian dogs, according to Rev. D. C. Bates, who returned to Wellington from Europe on Tuesday. These wonderful animals, said Mr. Bates, stood on the corner of an intersection where traffic was at its very busiest and watched both ways, like human beings*. As soon as the way was clear they would give a- tug and lead the exsoldier to safety. Three hundred dogs were employed on this work.

We are informed that private let-ter-box holders at the local .postoffice are to have the , sorting of the evening south mails delayed for upwards of half-an-hour, to'satisfy the request of one or two rural box holders between Levin and Foxton to have the mail sorted at Levin prior ito the mail car’s departure. This will necessitate extra work for the office staff at Levin and a delay to the Foxton Wx holders which cannot be justified. A protest is to be made to the Department against the innovation.

An interesting tale chines from Raetihi. A Maori cropped a fair area with potatoes, dug and heaped them over with - earth pending bagging. His neighbours thought about a raid, and one moonlight liight, "armed with bags, they set about such a purpose. The “fly in lire ointment;" so far as they were concerned, lay in the fact that had news travelled quickly. The owner of the crop heard all about the raid beforehand. He viewed activities from afar, and when the time was ripe, struck. A wild yell from a nearby hill was all that was no* cess ary to scare the raiding party out of sight, leaving behind them four or five fully-filled bags of potatoes. “That’s cheap labour if you like,” the owner declared, as he hauled the sacks in.

“The only party that you know is going to stick to a certain definite line,” said Mr. H. F, Johnston, Reform candidate for Hutt the other night, “is the Reform Party. If you support the United Party you will have exactly the same position of chaos which will continue until the next general election, as it did during the last session of Parliament. I cannot believe that is in the interests of the people of New Zealand. Let me assure you that after the mess and- muddle that is being made there will be a tremendous cleaning up. The longer we have to wait the worse it will be. New Zealand is not in the position for it to-day. Her credit in the past has been maintained through prudent administration, but we can no more afford to let a spendthrift Goyeryment continue than we can afford to allow into .power a destructive Government such as a Labour Government is.”

Edward Breckon, aged 73, left Hamilton on Thursday morning. He intends to cycle to Wellington. Ereckon competed in the HamiltonAuckland road race in 1927, covering the distance in 71ir. 25min.

One of the speakers at the Wanganui A. ap'd I*. Association meeting this week said, “If a whirlwind came along and deposited half of the leading men in Wanganui in Palmerston. North and the other half in Hamilton, or some place like Ifchat, they would know the meaning of progress when they came back.”

Questioned as to how he would vote on a bill to prevent married women working while their husbands were in employment, Mr. Harold Johnston, Reform candidate for Hutt, said he lyould certainly oppose such a Bill as being subversive of- British ideas. One sex had no right to restrict the earning capacity of the other. Mr. Walter Nash, Labour candidate for the Hutt seat, lias laid m the Magistrate’s Court, Lower Hutt, an information against the publishers of the Hutt' News, charging them under -Section 162 of the Electoral Act, 192-7, with publishing an allegedly untrue and defamatory statement concerning himself, and calculated to influence the*votes of the electors.

A carrier pigeon found sanctuary in a local resident’s yard recently. It was fed and cared for. Its favourite resting place was on th*e top of the canary cage and the occupants of the house thought that it sought the companionship of little yellow warbler, until they saw the visitor craning its neck towards the canary’s food container and filling its beak with the grain.

The first anniversary of the formation of the United Government fell on Tuesday last. Following the carrying 'of a vote of no-con-fidence by 59 votes to 28, the resignation of . the -Reform Government was tendered on December, 7, and on tlie evening of December ,10 the members of the United Cabinet, with Sir Joseph Ward as Prime Minister, were sworn in; The Prime Minister received many congratulatory messages. * One of the risks associated with the handling of shrubs is illustrated in the case of a young, man named William Hines, son of Mr. and Mrs. B. Hinds, of Levin and late of Foxton. - While lie was trimming an eleagnus hedge, on Monday, a branch swept across his face and the pointed edge of a leaf penetrated the pupil of ' one of his eyes. After a medical examination, it was decided that the case was one for a specialist, arid accordingly lie visited Palmerston N. As a result of the diagnosis there, an operation was carried out the same evening, in the-- Palmerston Hospital; poisoning had set in, and it was necessary to remove the eye. Mr. Hines is'still an inmate of the hospital, where lie is receiving specialist. treatment, says the Chronicle.