THE OTAKI MAIL. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1922. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Otaki Mail, 13 November 1922, Page 2

THE OTAKI MAIL. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1922. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

* The Oiaki Band visited the Sanatorium yesterday and played an enjoyable programme of music. A report from Hastings states that, the fullest preparations are made tor tha New Zealand tennis championships. Fifteen courts will be available, and three "ill be specially prepared for championship play. A full programme of entertainments is being drawn up. Accommodation is already being booked, and one or two of the* hotels are fully booked.

' ' Sentence of three years' imprisonment ioi stealing ki«es from Mis? Daisy Stagwnld. a charming yoxmg £7"* Quentin girl, has been passed On Charles Guyton at Los Angeles. The prisoner held up the girl, it i- said. ' at the point of ;h • revolver, took fivei pence from her bag, and afttr Kissing her returned the money with the remark—"lt was worth it." He was ! "shown tfl }:fi an incorrigible character. Speaking at Pukefcyhe the PrimeMinister quoted figures showing the aumber of dwellings erected by the Groverarasai, and the total cost. In rig three par-- up to ifarcfc 21st last, tea P.ailTrs.y Department .completed 183 houses ax a cost of £220,154. the State Advances 6252 houses., costing- £3,246,610: the Housing Department. 340 houses, at a cost of £409,335; the Bischarged Soldier 1 ;* Settlement Account. 3300 house-s at a cost of £2,567,000. This made a total of 10,110 houses, at a total cost of £6,542,119.

The prospect? of cricket in Otaki this season appear bright. The Tainui Club having, joined in with the Otaki Club, it seems pretty certain that the combination will be able to put two teams in the field. A Railway Club has also been formed, and if either Te Horo or Macakau can muster a tide, the southern competitions should provide some good play. A fourth team is required, however, to provide two matches per week' and prevent a bye, and for that reason it is hoped u fourth team will fee forthcoming,

iii consequence oj. wm]»«'»i= «» •■- the damage caused, or likely to be caused by the elusive opossum, the Department of Internal Affairs has decided not to sanction the capture or liberation of these animals in any district; at all events not at the present time % | A female witness- in a court case at 1 Auckland upset the cross-examining I counsel, who was attempting to show . that she was a strong, healthy woman and was therefore was able to work ( and maintain her little girl. "Yes," | ; said the woman: "I look well enough; but you should see my inside! " ; With a view to encouraging boys to I do a little patching on their clothes ' (or know how to do it if the necessity arises) special prizes are being offered] for any boys at the Grey town School; doing the neatest patch in cloth (states the local Standard). The work is to be done under the supervision of the ■teachers. It is an excellent idea. An Arbitration Court ward, affecting I the whole of the Dominion printing I and allied trades has been filed at I Auckland. Wages in the printing. j typographical, book-binding and machinist trades bear an all round reduction of Us a week. Other conditions I remain practically the same as before. ~K ve"rr sSvei'C storm with thunder .and lightning, occurred at Hazelburg j on the Fairlie line last Thursday, states i a Timaru message. At 7.30 p.m. a ' search party came upon the body of ■ Dan Pierce, a farm labourer, who had ' | been killed by a falling tree. Pierce ! had taken shelter below the tree during 1 the height of the storm-.

' Speaking at an election meeting at Kltliam Mr O. .1. HawkiMi, M.P., referred to a remark by the chairman as to the lengthening of the life of Parliament to liv »• years, and staled that it ! coincided with his views. As it was : now. no sooner did a new member "get into his stride' 7 and become useful. than he had to light another election. . He intended, if he were re-elected, to ; a press fur a live years' I'arlt out. I Edward Calvert was sentenced at , the Supreme Court in Auckland last ! week to 1- months' imprisonment with 1 hard labour <>n each of six charges of ' being a rogue ami a vagabond, in that I be obtained money by falsely repre- ! senting that he was authorised to col- ! lect for the Blind Institute. He was I also sentenced to three months' im- | prisonment for attempting to escape ' from a police cell at Maungaturoto. "Sydney does not know what to expect next," writes the Auckland Star correspondent. "A woman was smoking a pipe on the deck of H.M.S. Nar- ; kunda when she arrived last Saturday morning. And included in the cargo : of the same vessel was a consignment .of ladies' pipes. Some of them are ' studded with diamond-, and the stems are adorned with a gold band. The 1 pipes will be on the market shortly. One of the passengers on the vessel '' said that in England and on the Continent it is not uncommon to see women | smoking pipes. Most of the women in \ the hotels and restaurants indulge in the practice." i The Maoris have a belief that when ' the kowhai blooms early floods may be

looked for. and as the kowhai has already finished blooming, a -pell of wet weather is being anticipated by the native-. Usually, the Maori forecasts based oti the early or late blooming of native fauna arc correct, pays an exchange, and it has been noticed that when cabbage trees flower profusely the Maori foreca&e of dry weather is always borne out. A year or two ago the cabbage tree-- in this district flowered more profusely than they were ever known to do before, and a re- ' markably dry season followed, | For a woman to walk over the Otira Gorge in 145 minutes from Arthur's Puis station to Otira station i-- a very ! line performance (say* a Greymquth paper). This distance is a little over j ten mile-, and the road is very rough ]on the higher slopes. Mrs A. D. Ford. Mayoress of Riecarton. accompanied by her husband, after lunch, left Arthur's Pass railway station at 1-40 p.m.. and walked the jihole distance to Otira station, arriving there at >-0 p.m. This performance is stated to be the record for a lady walker, unfavourable weather conditions making it all the more remarkable. Salvage operations are still t,cing conducted in connection with the Wiltshire, which was wrecked at the Great Barrier, and those engaged are meeting

- with a fair success. Two divers are 1 employed, and new diving apparatus which is fitted with telephones and 1 ' ek-raric Sigh*. *»£ s .s»t to the Barrier. • No. 5 hold has been worked; but *. 2 ">a :; . hull i- considerably broken In this, vi- ■ einity the cargo is somewhat damaged. ' A better class of cargo, c&nsistinz of •j oils and paints, U being recovered ; from No. 6 bold, which is on 'an even keel. The cargo is put into coal baskets, which are lowered from Sjjowe to the divers, and it is then hauled to the BHrfa.ce and subsequently taken to Tryphena, where it is stored until such a time as it can be shipped to Auckland. , Probably the average New Zeatend- . er has only a vague notion of the amount of materiel which was blown tip 'in tie Taraw?TS emotion. Dr : Cotton, ' in a chapter on "Volcanoes and igneous Action," in his new book, states: , "The Tarawera eruption blew out a rift or line of elongated pita, forming

a nearly coatinaoßS trench about nine miles long, with a mean width of about two hundred -and twenty yards and a depth varying from three hundred feet to. fourteen hundred feet. The rift passes across the top of Mount Tarawera, which is a mesa of volcanic rocks, and continues in a south-wester-ly direction for some distance, becoming wider asd shallower, aud formiug the basin of the preseut Lake hana. which "is much larger than the laiie of the same aaas axi&iisg tefor* tfc* ftrpitios/' ,

Owing to the small attendance at the meeting of the Otaki Cricket Club on Friday evening, it was decided to postpone it till this week, the date of which will be duly notified. Taranaki has several up-to-date dump trucks which automatically spread each load of metal as it is dropped. These are said to be largely responsible for the good condition of their roads. They are costly, but save much hand ; work. I The Levin Horticultural shew will , be held on Tuesday, Jsovember -8, and I a well-endowed schedule ha been comI piled. Copies will be available at the ' Otaki show to-morrow or will be for- ! warded on application to the Hon. SecI rotary, Box 19, Levin. By the accidental breaking of a radium tube at the London Hospital, a bit of radium smaller than a pin's head was lost. The insurance company admitted the hospital's claim, and has paid £147 compensation for the loss of the "mighty atom.'-' The flax in the neighbourhood of "Maketu, East Coast, where there is a flaxmill, is very badly affected with

the disease that has caused such devastation in the "Manawatu district. Much of the flax is yellow in the leaf and stalky, and many bushes are dying ■ rapidly, In reference to the visit to Otaki of Mr Presswood, optician, he comes here favourably recommended with testimonials, and is well regarded in the ' many localities between Wellington ' and the Thames, the A ucklaud province and Hawkes Bay. Mr Prosswood's visit will extend over <l>; lays, and lie may be consulted at Mr Dunn's pharmacy.

An electoral canvasser, Ivy Goodyer, pleaded guilty at lite Magistrate's Court ;it Wellington on I'ridny to siynhig enrolment applications as witness without seeing the applicants sign. The forms were left with the wives of the applicants and collected later when the defendant signed them. Defendant was tlned £•") and costs on each of two charges. Tli,- death Occurred at the Otaki hospital on Friday of Mrs Jenkins, wife of Mr George Jenkins, who lias resided in this district for several years. The deceased is survived by a husband and family of seven daughter- and one son. one of the daughters being Mrs Walter Fairley, of Te Horo. Much sympathy will be felt for the bereaved family in their loss.

So pungent are some of the Japanese sayings that our equivalents seem flat in comparison. For example, where we say. "Accidents will happen in the best of families." the .laps have it, "Even a monkey will sometimes tall from a tree." "The more haste, the less speed," becomes "If in a hurry, go round." And where we say. "Oil and water will not mix,'' they say, "You can't rivet a nail in a custard."

A lady employed in a Wanganui office, who has a great fascination for horses, left her pony tied up m u vacant section (relates the Herald). Heturning later -he states that she found the pony licking a continuance poster. She was not sure whether the pony had turned prohibitionist and desired to obliterate the trade advertisement or whether an imaginary thirst attracted him towards the poster. Replying m Auckland to a deputation from the Provincial Agricultural Committee, Mr Massey expressed sympathy with the request for the use of the Kuakura Slate farm to instruct boy- in agriculture after they left school. He said he would consult the Minister of Agriculture, and hoped to | accede to the request. Hut for the •-" ar. : it was his intention to have established a School of Agriculture in the North Island ycaj-s ago. Tine.- woolbuyer*, representing English unns, H(b visaing Marlborough, and the Blenheim Express UsliePe» that this season will see a good deal j more direct business done than la > past years. It is reported that one of j this year's merino clips, has been sold i tor ild bar locks, and that for some , well'known dips offers have been marie up to V, The '•••tiers of coarse ) woo) are also being- invited to do oufci- j rie*s on the 'improved price.-. Recent investigation- by officers ol j the State Forest Service in regard to i ' the relationship between deer and tor- j lest regeneration have led to the conelusion that the many State forests in I 1 the Dominion are over-stocked with j 'the animal- and that regeneration ie j being seriously interfered with. Some ; recent observations by a forest ranger, f Mr Crowley of Palmerston North, I would appear to indicate that even the , I übtynitous rajifaij '>. pc-t altogether) (blameless in this respect. Thong* he does not usually attack the conifers, j 'the depredation* of 'his animal, par- j ticularly in forest land adjacent to ] tsss&ck country, are sufficiently serious to warTAiu furthei inquiry An advertiser wishes to purchase two 1 broody hens. A string of yellow bead:-, lost on Sat- j I urday eight, i; advertise.) rot. Ac advertiser wants w exchange a | first-flatus sheep dog for r. psttle 'log. ■ A further list of Mr W. H. Field's eiectic-u meetings appear; ::: to-day's r- (i-iff--: " I issue of the' ±I~~i On account of the Levin races being j held on Wednesday, the Otaki sale this t week has been postponed till Thoisday. I Christmas renoystions are cow in full Fwing. Let the C. I£. Boss Co~ i Ltd.. help you freshen up yojr home. Their large stock of furnishing- <aii quoted at lowest net cash prices) makes j selection a purchase. summer is here tga:n, and if yon require a pair of white shoes, we have a ; large selection of tennis, walking, bowl- j isgj or cricket boot* and shoes at town J prices. Irv Irvine's Shoe Store, Omii., "iifikfc J