LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 284, 18 April 1929, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Owing to Anzac Day falling on Thursday, our publishing ciay, tne Putaruru Press will be published on Wednesday, April 24. Some much-needed and greatlyappreciated maintenance work is being carried out on the Putaruru streets. It is understood this is preparatory to the permanent work shortly to be put in hand. “What did he say in the letter?” asked the Magistrate of an applicant for maintenance from her husuand at the Wanganui Magistrate’s Court tile other day. “He said all sorts of nice things but there was no money,” was the reply. Mr. F. Naylor and Mrs. Wilson, who were recently injured in a collision between a motor cycle and a motor lorry on the Arapuni road, are making excellent progress towards recovery. Mr. Naylor has recovered to such an extent that he has left the Waikato Hospital. The positions of the queens in the Putaruru Bowling, Croquet and Tennis Club’s queen carnival are as follow : Croquet queen 2598 votes, tennis queen 2140 votes, bowling queen 1880 votes. The carnival closes on May 2. The many friends of Mr. “ Mick ” Brown, the well-known footballer, will regret to learn that his leg is not progressing as well as could be wished for. Mr. Brown, who is still an inmate of the Waikato Hospital, was up for a few days, but he has had to go back to bed again. The Bishop of Waikato, the Right Rev. C. H. Cherrington, spent a busy time in the Putaruru district on Sunday. He visited Arapuni in the morning, preaching in St. Michael’s Church at 11 o’clock, at Tirau in the afternoon and at Putaruru in the evening. His Lordship left for Hamilton by car after the evening service. Benzine thieves were said to be operating in Arapuni and vicinity during last week. One bowser was depleted of 18 gallons of benzine, while an attempt was made to drain the tank of a road roller used by a contracting firm. This attempt, due to the lack of knowledge of the mechanism of the tap, proved abortive. The Arapuni school children, accompanied by their parents and friends, journeyed from Putaruru to Rotorua by special train on Saturday. On arrival the party were taken to Whakarewarewa, and after seeing the sights there they adjourned to the lake front for luncheon. After lunch a visit was paid to the fairy springs and oh. the return afternoon tea was provided. The picnickers left Rotorua at 4.25 p.m. and it was a tired but happy band that arrived back in Arapuni.

The Matamata and the Main Trunk lines are not the only ones on which trains run late. Referring to the late running of trains at a' meeting of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce, Mr. F. E. Tyson said he had had to meet a number of trains lately, and on nearly every occasion the train was late. It was a disgrace the way things were going on. Mail trains should always be up to time. He suggested that the Railway Department be written to to see if some effort could not be made to run trains to time-table. Mr. A. H. Allen suggested that a committee shoijid wait on the district traffic managef to ascertain the cause of the trains running late, and if no satisfaction were obtained the matter could he brought up at the next meeting. The suggestion was agreed to.

When the general business stage was reached at the meeting of the Matamata County Council on Friday the chairman (Mr. Anderson) brought up the question of having the Horaliora and White’s roads declared main highways. Owing to certain difficulties likely to be faced in having both these roads made highways the chairman thought it would be good policy to ask for only White’s road to be treated as such, for there was a good chance of this being done. Cr. Judd here interjected, “ Very diplomatic of you, sir.” Mr. Anderson went on to remark that the council’s proportion of main hignways was one mile out of every four miles of county roads. Some councils were in a bad way in respect of highways. He instanced Coromandel, where the proportion Was infinitely small owing no doubt to the roads passing through such poor country. One other county only had one mile in seven and a half miles as highways. The council decided to adopt the chairman’s suggestion that only White’s road be asked for as a highway.

St. Paul’s Anglican Church at Putaruru has undergone many improvements both inside and out during the last 10 months. The ground immediately surrounding the church has been cleared a rough state to that of lawn-like appearance, it having been levelled and grassed. A fine concrete path has been laid down and the front entrance to the church has been made attractive by the erection of a neat wire fence. A trelliswork fence also has been erected at the back of the. buildirig, so that St. Paul’s now stands in attractive surroundings. A spire and a bell have been added to the church. All the above work has been done by voluntary labour, and it speaks well for the vestry and the vicar (Rev. S. R. Wareing) that they are ; together with friends, so interested in the welfare of the church that they have goge to such trouble to make the church and grounds so up to date. Inside the church there are also evidences of the people’s interest and generosity. Two beautiful candlesticks were recently donated to the church, while a new pulpit has been promised and will shortly he installed. There are now nine electric lights instead of the two original lights.

The annual meeting of the members of the Church of England at Lichfield was held on Tuesday, there being a good attendance. The report disclosed a satisfactory year s working and the balance-sheet showed that after paying £2l Is Sd into Putaruru there remained a credit balance of £9 2s sd. Both documents were approved and adopted. The election of , officers resulted as follows : Secretary, Mrs. Allwood ; committee, Mesdames Dodd, Lowe, Kells, Baldwin, Messrs. Tetterell, Vincent, Addenbrooke, A. Vincent and Baldwin.

An amusing incident was recounted by Mr. X. Parker, who recently returned from a trip abroad, at the Hawke’s Bay Acclimatisation Society’s monthly meeting in Napier, says the Haw lie’s Bay Herald. When telling members of a pheasant farm visited in England, Mr. Parker recalled the rather embarrassing generosity of the owner. After lunching at the farm, Mr. Parker and a friend were not allowed to leave without accepting a box of eggs as a present. When the narrator and his friend reached London, the box was opened and discovered to contain 14 dozen eggs. Mr. Parker did not enlighten members as to the eventual destination of the eggs, but he assured an inquirer that pheasant eggs weie highly edible. An important general meeting of the Putaruru Bowling, Croquet ana Tennis Club was held on Friday evening, when it was decided to wind up the queen carnival on May 2. Mesdames Alcom (convener), Francis, Leggatt and Hooper and tne mothers of the respective queens were constituted a special committee to arrange fhe coronation ceremony to be held during the dance. Arrangements were made for a special dance to be allotted to each queen’s committee, which will provide the prize and take the entrance fees in aid of that queen. Messrs. Davis and Fred Beca were appointed joint dance secretaries and it was decided to ask Mr. C. H. Clinkard, M.P., to perform the coronation. Mr. A. C. Thompson was appointed convener of a committee to arrange the decorations.

On a recent Sunday afternoon, when the Veronica was open for inspection (reports the Wanganui Herald), a sentry was stationed at th 6 gangway with instructions not to let small boys aboard who were not accompanied by their parents. Two resourceful boys from Gonville, keen on inspection, were disappointed at being turned down at the gangway, but soon found other means of climbing abroard. Later they were met by the sentry, who wanted to know what they were doing there. “ Looking for dad,” promptly replied one boy. The sailor smiied and passed on his way. Later in the day he again met the boys in the crowd on deck. “ Still looking for dad?” he queried. “Yes,” replied the boys. “ Well, I think he must be up in the crow s nest,” said the sailor.

A sheep dog that was a good sailor and had served his apprenticeship before the mast was mentioned at Tarata when the wind-up of the Sheep Dog Trial Club’s annual competitive meeting was being celebrated on Friday nignt. The description by the owner who had also served his younger life at sea before he took up land in New Zealand, was one that highly amused the gathering (states the Taranaki Herald). The dog was sent out by an English shepherd, and on the way learned “to get away to starboard,” “ get away to port,” “ full ahead,” “ hard astern,” or “ steady your helm ” in place of the orthodox shepherd’s terms. That dog, the gathering was assured, could work, but the difficulties were that not only was the sailor-owner the only man for whom the dog would work efficiently, but all the other shepherds gave up their erstwhile tasks to watch the fun.

“ I know of twenty boys who have just left school, or who are wanting to leave, wno would jump at the chance of getting in my office at £1 per week,” observed a Blenheim ousiness man when discussing the shortage of openings for boys desiring indoor occupations. He added, says the Marlborough Express, that trade apprenticeships were also scarce, all the available vacancies having been filled, and boys were encountering the utmost difficulty in finding suitable positions. The only way the problem could be met, he felt, was by placing farm apprenticeships on a similar basis to those of trades, and giving education a more direct bias towards agricultural training. New Zealand boys, he contended, should be trained and provided with an incentive, in the shape of permanent employment with regular wage increases, to go in for farm work. Then there would be no need to bring farm lads out from England.

For the purpose of preventing fireblight, Canterbury fruitgrowers are anxious to see all hawthorn hedges cut down to a height of four feet, and a remit from the association for consideration at the Dominion conference will ask that this be made law (states the Lyttelton Times). Mr. E. Freeman, who moved the remit, said that they should do all possible to prevent fireblight from spreading to the orchards. The Department did not seem to be taking very much trouble about it in the North Island, for little or nothing had been done about *lhe destruction of the hedges there. It was during the flowering season of the hedges that the danger was greatest. Mr. L. Paynter, orchard instructor, explained that if hawthorn hedges were cut down they would bloom very little. The planting of more hawthorn hedges was already prohibited by law. Asked later about the outbreak near Kaikoura, Mr. Paynter said that no reappearance of fireblight would be in evidence till October next, when the hedges would flower. The hedge where the outoutbreak had been discovered was being cut down.

Mr. J. M. Allen, of Piako, is sland- I ing for tiie Thames Valley Power j Board as representative of the Morrinsviile borough. Crs. H. Rollett (Matamata riding) and E. J. Darby (Putaruru) will nut be seeking re-election to the Matamata County .Council. The next meeting of the Matamata County Council will be he d on the 22nd May. The works committee have been empowered to deal with any urgent matters arising between the present and the date of the elections on the Bth May.

A good performance has been put up by a grade Jersey cow in the herd of Mr. A. Ross, Mangateparu. Under test by the herd-testing association the cow produced 5271 b of butter-fat in 269 days, the figuie being for the season to date. Last month she produced 451 bof fat. It is anticipated that the cow will top the 6001 b mark for ■‘he season.

At Saturday evening’s meeting the Morrinsville branch of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union passed a resolution reaffirming its previous protest against any alteration being made in standard time. Mr. J. M. Allen, who opposed the resolution, said that the half hour compromise had worked out well. The president, Mr. G. Pirrit, said he had found it worked out quite well. The interest of the people of Arapuni in the Church of England there has been well exemplified during the past few months. The grounds have received attention and new paths have been made, while the lighting both inside the church and outside has been attended to. A very fine notice board has been donated. In the church five new pews have been installed, together with a new lectern. and the altar fittings have been abided to hv the gifts of an alms dish, altar candlesticks and six vases. Mr. J. R. O. Lochhead, of Putaruru, waited on the Matamata County Council at the meeting on Friday asking the council to accept dedication of about 15 chains of road running through Messrs. Carr Rollett Bros, property at Tokoroa. Mr. Lochhead pointed out that this road had been deemed to be a road for many years past but this small portion had never been legalised and for certain reasons it was now desired to have this done. The council accepted the dedication the chairman (Mr. Anderson) Cr. Judd and the clerk (Mr. Barton) being appointed to sign the documents.