Replicas of Maori Treasures.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 46, 22 January 1938, Page 8

Replicas of Maori Treasures.

As the result of a movement initiated by Lord Bledisloe, casts of a number of priceless examples of Maori handicraft,. the originals of which belong to the British Museum, London, have been received by the Dominion Museum, Wellington. Expenditure Opposed. An emphatic protest against the expenditure of an additional £16,000 on the Dannevirke Hospital above the £25,000 already raised was made at a meeting of the Dannevirke branch of the Farmers’ Union. The . following resolution was passed: That this meeting makes a protest to the Dannevirke Hospital Board with regard to the extraordinary expense they, are involved in at the present time, and requests the board to go into the matter with a view to reducing the cost of the present building programme.

of Roadsides

Recently the Manawatu County Council' purchased a mower, which is used for cutting the grass, along the sides of certain roads, and at the monthly meeting of the Horowhenua County Council, yesterday, Cr A. J. Gimblett urged that a similar procedure be adopted in Horowhenua. On his motion the subject was referred t’o the works committee for a report. Pond-Shooting of Dupks.

Condemnation of the practice of tile pond-shooting of ducks because of the heavy toll on bird life and the detriment to stocks of game, was expressed at the conference of South Island Acclimatisation Societies. After a long discussion the conference decided that societies should he urged to concentrate on ranging, and that the Minister of Internal Affairs (Hon. W. K. Parry) be advised of the evils of the practice.

Boy’s Painful Injury. A painful accident was suffered by Gordon Atkins, the 11-year-old son of Mr and Mrs R. C. Atkins, of Takaro, Palmerston North, this week when he trod on a tent peg left in the ground at the camping area at Manawatu Heads, tearing the skin off one of his feet. The peg had been left by a camper when the site was vacated, and was on the side of a sand-hill. A local anaesthetic had to be administered by a doctor at Foxton to allow the wound to be cleaned.

Napier Mystery Solved. After a fruitless search extending over six years, the mystery of the missing head of Napier’s South African War Memorial has been solved by its accidental discovery on the bank of the Tutaekuri River in George’s Drive. Lodged in a quantity of spoil which was being moved in the course of extensive re-modelling operations on the bank of the river, the head was found in a remarkably good state of preservation by a Napier City Council workman. Grass Seed On Roadsides.

“There is certainly something wrong; there is a lot of good grass seed on the roadsides,” remarked Cr. A. M. Colquhoun, when the engineei (Mr J. T. M. Brewster) reported to the monthly meeting of the Horowheuna County Council yesterday that only two tenders had been received before the holidays for the right to cut grass seed on county roads. Since the holidays the rights on further roads had been let, but the financial return was very disappointing. , ‘ Homer Tunnel.

The men employed in tunnelling the Homer Saddle to open up the Milford Sound area to motor and other traffic are progressing on the' average 10 yards a day. This is considered very satisfactory in view of the fact that the tunnel slopes to the Milford side and the water which seeps from the roof tends to collect at the fiace where the rock is blasted or hewn. Recent visitors to the tunnel state that the scenery is magnificent and when the project is comnleted it will attract visitors from all over the world.

Ideal Holiday Weather. Not for many years has such, brilliantly fine and warm weather prevailed for summer holidays in the Manawatu. Throughout Christmas and New Year conditions were ideal, if one disregards the oppressive heat. Anniversary Day, observed to-day, was favoured by a continuance of this weather. There was a cloudy sky early in the morning, but it did not appear to portend rain, and many parties set out for beacli or river to make the most of the holiday. As the day passed the thermometer rose steadily till at noon' the heat was again oppressive. Winds Hamper Barque. Light to moderate winds from south to south-west continued to prevent the entrance to Auckland of the Finnish barque Pamir, which is presumed to be standing off to the north of Hauraki Gulf waiting for a favourable wind to run into port. Four days have now elapsed since the Pamir, which is from the Seychelles Group in the Indian Ocean, was sighted about 140 miles fi om Auckland at sen off the Bay of Plenty. A remarkable feature of the delayed arrival of the barque is that she has been reported by only one ship since she neared the New Zealand coast.

Mount Egmont's History. Geological observations on the volcanic history of Mount Egmont and the surrounding districts have been made during the past fortnight by Dr G. D. Osborne, of the department of geology at the University of Sydney. The work, which is not yet complete, is being done in association with the New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. Dr Osborne would not give any expression of opinion about oil in Taranaki, but he pointed out that it wns clear that New Zealand would see a great recrudescence of interest in the search for oil in commercial quantities. Sealing of Roads. Reporting to the monthly meeting of the Horowhenua County Council, yesterday, the engineer (Mr J. T. M. Brewster) said that the county roadsealing programme was well up to schedule for this season. While the contractor was not in such an advanced position with work at Waikanae. he had it well in hand. The council works include operations on the Waitohu Valley Road, the Waikawa Beach Road and the last coats of sealing for the.Manakau township road and Fairfield Road, involving in all about a mile and a-lialf. The contract work includes two and three-quarters miles of the Waikanae Beach Road and a mile of the Waiterere Beach Road. Fire In Cemetery. t

The Palmerston North Fire Brigade was last night summoned to extinguish two fires. The first call was received at 6.10 o’clock and was to the Terrace End Cemetery. A fire had broken out in the grass on the railway property, at the western end,” and had spread to the grass in the cemetery. Apart from a few fencing posts being destroyed, no damage was done. When the rubber tubing of a gas ring caught alight in a house in Taonui Street at about 11.15 p.m. the flames quickly spread to the kitchen wall. The fire had not gained much of a hold when the brigade arrived, so that no great difficulty was experienced in extinguishing it. The damage was confined to the kitchen.

Obdurate Tax Objector. An instance of the strong opposition of Morrinsville farmers to unemployment relief taxation was seen in the Morrinsville Magistrate’s Court this week, when a farmer from a few miles from Morrinsville was prosecuted for making default for more than one month in payment of the instalment of tlie unemployment registration levy due on November 1, 1935. In reply to the Magistrate (Mr S. L. Paterson) defendant said: “I prefer prison to paying.” The Magistrate said he could not imprison defendant, who would be fined £l. Recently the Morrinsville branch of the Farmers’ Union initiated a movement to get members of the union throughout New Zealand to refuse to pay any more instalments of unemployment tax, and several messages of congratulation were received from farmers in other parts of the Waikato and Bay of Plenty.