NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LI, Issue 4417, 20 February 1930, Page 4

NEWS AND NOTES.

Tlie new two-storey block at the Palmerston North Hospital is nearing- completion and should be ready to be taken over from the builder in about a month’s time. The building' will be officially opened by the Minister of Health.

A contract has been let to the Hansford and Mills Construction Company, Ltd., for the erection of the new St. Patrick’s College at ; Silverstrearn, near Heretaunga. It is understood that the price is approximately £95,000. The new building is to be completed within twelve months.

There was an average of 142 occupied beds in the Palmerston N. hospital during January. Peticnts admitted numbered 221, while 151 were discharged and 12 died. Nine cases of diphtheria and four of scarlet fever were admitted during the month.

In connection with the question of the use being made by the public of the facilities which are provided for maternity cases at Otaki, (lie Palmerston North Hospital Board has decided to have a statement prepared showing the number of births in the district and further details which would enable this matter to be more carefully considered.

Prosecution under Hie Gaining Regulations in the Waikato Police District since the middle of December have resulted, through the convictions recorded, in the Treasury being enriched to the extent of £l,lOO. Of the 15 convictions for boqkmaJking, six have been in Hamilton, where the lines totalled £020.. A. further £145 and costs accrued as the outcome of convictions at Hamilton of defendants for betting.

An incident which caused no end of amusement to two of a party pi three small boys occurred at one of the .many places m Napier where free air is obtainable for the inflation of pneumatic tyres. AJ.L three boys, the possessors of push-bi-cycles, decided that a little air would improve their tyres, and for tiiis purpose rode to a free air station. As so often happens with boys an argument ensued as to who should have the honour of replenishing Ins supply first, and as usual the most domineering of the trio acquired that honour. With pride or place he leisurely unscrewed the cap of the valve, attached the tube and pressed the lever. From the events immediately following- it appeared that his judgment in thinking that he required air was at fault, for there was a loud explosion and the fabric was cast asunder in a thousand fragments.

Once again from Stewart island comes the tale of a strange marine visitor, and this time the iish has b(pn caught and sent to the main.ami for presentation to a museum. At present, for preservation purposes, it is in cool storage at Bluff, fathered from observation and re- . marks it is conjectured that the Jish belongs to the ribbon species. Lo- , cal lisheremn say that they have seen nothing like it before and cannot give it a name. The stranger is . a most beautiful specimen of marine life. Its length is four feet; at tlm broadest part it measures nine nn-lies and the maximum thickness is only one inch, it is of a bright silver hue, and along the back and on the body it has horny projections of about 1-Ilith of an inch, it is in shape not unlike a small .crosscut saw. It has a very small mouth, the tail tapers away for .about a foot, terminating in a delicate replica of a butterfly wing' or 1 a peacock’s feather, with ail their prismatic colouring. Tobacco, always a joy to the smoker, is never, perhaps, better appreciated than on a loiy>- railway journey when one has, perforce, to remain a prisoner for hours at a time. Such is the benelicent influence of the weed that it will relieve even the tedium of travelling. But on a long journey you want a brand you can smoke all day without tongue, throat or nerves suffering. ‘‘Where is such tobacco obtainable 1 !?” You may ask. Why at any tobacconist’s! Ask for “liivcrhead Gold,” “Navy Cut,” “Cavendish” or “Cut Plug No. 10.” They are ail good, ami the secret of their marked superiority is that, uni ike all other tobaccos, they are toasted. This process gives them their wonderful flavour and fragrance, and —more important still!—largely neutralises the nicotine in the leaf, tli us rendering them absolutely safe to smoke —even to excess! You cannot say that of the imported brands, all of them full of nicotine, and bound to affect the health if iisecl habitually, because, as any doctor will tell you, nicotine is a deadly poison.—Advt. 83. •