LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Putaruru Press, Volume VI, Issue 266, 13 December 1928, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mr. J. T. Hawke, of the-Te Mimi Estate, Morrinsville, has -purchased n block of 250 acres of Mr. R. Scott’s farm at Kurunui road. Morrinsville, for his nephew, Mr. Paul Hawke. A black Essex touring car, the property of Mr. Fred Harris, of Walton, was -wrongfully removed from his garage last night. The car, RMfMHp her of which is 37601, is Malijved td have gone towards Auckland. J The police have the matter An“iiand. The consumers nbvfc- connected to the Thames Board’s mains total 684®|p|J)ablucling the Te Aroha and -Thafefibs boroughs. Thames consumers numbe!r 1074 and Te Aroha .640. Twenty lighting and heating uimcrs have l . -i also 20' water .heaters, four electric ranges, and 11 motors on farms. There are now operating 1620 water heaters, 267 electric ranges and 2097. motors on farms.

“ I think, during the course of my short life,” said Mr. A. D. McLeod, at a luncheon at Greytown last week, “ that I have been associated with every governing body in the Wairarapa, with the exception of the Mayoralty of one of the towns. That is a position I am looking forward to.” Sir Joseph Ward perpetrated a j laughable “bull” when addressing the : House last week. “If we cannot dur- j ing this short session obtain author- j ity from the House to enable the j policy I have enunciated on behalf ofi the United Party to be .commenced J six weeks from now, we ..will not! ■ stand here and sit still,”?’said Sir Joseph. .._;J i; | After a speJJUSlff over a fortnight’s [fine ' weather rain started to fall shortly before dusk on Sunday. It was a warm solid fall and lasted throughout the night and at intervals on Monday. The rain has done a tremendous amount of good to pastures and gardens and has replenished tanks. Many farmers were caught with their hay cut but not. stacked* However, if the rain does not continue too long it will not do the hay much harm. Twenty-four Putaruru shopkeepers forwarded a petition to the Thames Valley Power Board on Tuesday protesting against interruptions to the lighting system. “ The loss of business,” stated the petition, “ is quite sufficient without the risk of petty thieving through having to depend on a temporary lighting arrangement.” The engineer, Mr. N. G. McLeod, said the trouble had been traced to unbalanced loading of current which had not been noticed by the board’s engineer in that district. The bittern, a species of heron, which is noted for the singular booming noise it makes by thrusting its beak into the mud, is said to be a remarkable prophet of rain. It is seldom that the bird is found in Morrinsville, but during the past two or three years one had made its home in a waterway at Mangateparu. A nearby farmer states that he has frequently seen the bird, and has come to regard its cry as a sure prophecy of rain. He ad led that he had been offered £5 by a man desiring the feathers for trout fishing to shoot the bird, but. had refused to do so.

A serious accident occurred on the main Hamilton-Te Aroha road at Piako, a mile from Morrinsville, on Saturday night. A car driven by Mr. Walter Tanner, of Waihi, and containing eight passengers, including Miss P. Walnutt, daughter of the Mayor of Waihi, collided with a new car driven by Mr. William Munroe, garage proprietor, Cambridge. Three of Mr. Tanner’s passengers were injured, Messrs. A. Broadfoot and Jack Hicks suffering seriously from concussion, and the driver being badly cut with flying glass. Mr. Munroe, who was the only occupant of the other car, was not injured. Both vehicles were badly smashed. Proposing what he characterised as the toast of the day, that of “ The Early Settlers,” at a luncheon at Greytown last week, the GovernorGeneral (Sir Charles Fergusson) said he imagined by that they meant not cnly those who came to the Wairarapa and began the work, but also their descendants, whom be congratulated on looking so young, and in such splendid health. “ I always feel in New Zealand, when I am asked the age of anyone, that I should put ten or fifteen years on to what I think it might be,” said His Excellency, “ because early settlers look 70 and I find they are 85,. or else they look 80 and are 98.” He paid a stirring tribute to what the spirit of pioneers had meant in the history of the Empire.

A business man went into a Stratford shop a few days ago, says an exchange, to pay an account of £1 9s and tendered a pound note and a halfsovereign. The assistant informed him that the money was short, her belief being that the coin was a sixpence. The money was taken to the cash desk and 11s change was produced, the cashier believing the coin to be a sovereign. It came out later that neither of the young persons in the shoo had ever seen any gold coins previously. A wayfarer came across an exM.P. on b's farm the other day. He extended his sympathy over his recent defeat: “ Don’t worry,” said the ex-politician. “ I have never felt happier or freer in my life. I can now attend to my own affairs instead of the nuhlic’s. and call my soul my own. This political game is a dog’s life, and I am pleased to be out of it. I never could have realised how sweet life can be working on one’s own farm, doing what one wants to, and living a care-free life. Politics are thraldom, nothing else, and 1 never want to enter them again.” And the wayfarer went on his way wqndering what it was that kept men in politics with all their restrictions, hardships and uncertainties. All interested in the formation of a public library for Putaruru and district are invited to attend the public .meeting in Yandle’s buildings nexh Friday night at 8 o’clock, when tlfl| Glee Club will hand over its, libra fl to a committee to be appointed at tnH meeting.* ’