LOCAL AND GENERAL

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 727, 30 December 1933, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

No JPaper Now Year's Day. The "Morning Post" will not ihe published on Mofrday, January 1, New Year's Day, the nex-t issue being on Tuesday, January 2. Cold Conditions ■The cold and wintry 'conditions which prevailed in Rotorua yesterday were preceded hy a sh'arp frost which did considerable damage to vegetable gardens throughout the district. Carnival arrangements were considerably marred by the cold and blustery wind which prevailed dtring the day. .Probation Granted ' IBefore Messrs E. Griffith's and R. B. Nesbitt, Justices of the Peace on Friday morning, Joseph Te Kiri was charged with beingj a rogue and a vagabond and sentenced to a probationary term of two years. Artisjtic iMiake-Up An interesting' feature of the programme to be igiiven at the Majestic ; Theatre on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evening will be a demonstration of Max- Faotor's method o£ treating Hollywood picture starsPatrons of the theatre will be able to see just how the beauties of the stage are "made-up" to face the scrutiny of the camera. Frost at Reporoa The effeets of the frost on Thursday night were very severe at Reporoa. Potato' crops have been cut in many gardens and general havoc caused. As ari indication of how, severe the frost twas it may be mentioned that dishes of water left, out on the ground at one farm, were found frozen stiflf to the soil, while at another farm, the moisture between eabbage leaves was turned into thick ice. Rain and RaLbits A paper received by a Cambridge resident from the Wimmera district of Western Vietoria, tells of a recent deluge of rain, when six inches fell on as many consecutive days. The record for one day was over two inches, and on ariother more than an inch fell. Thousands of rabbits were washed out of their burrows by the flooding of the Wimmera River, and on one farm alone three thousand homeless rabbits were killed by the owner and his men. Land For Brides In New South Wales in 1828 a girl was able to receive from the Government a piece of land as a marriage portion — land being then plentiful and girls scarce. The custom, says Mr. Frank Walker, Fellow of the Royal Australian Historieal Society, was to grant reserves as marriage portions to the daughters of wellknown settlers. "This marriage portion — 20 sauare miles in area — was to be reserved," said Mr. Walker, "for the fortunate young ladies until young bachelors, lured by this added attraction, 'popped the question.' " The Rev. W. Cowper's daughter was the first to receive this marriage portion. Mr. Walker mentions that the present site of the. Sydney G.P.O.", where stood a building used as a police station, was bought by Governor Macquarie for £30 and a hogshead of rum. "Chinese Disappearing Years ago Greymouth possessed a Chinese quarter of considerable size, and with a population of some hun•dreds was located in the Gresson Street area- To-day Chinatown has disarppeabed, ;and the last buildinjgf occupied by them is now in process of demolition, three Chinese who were tenants now ibeing inmates of the Old People's Home. In the early days there were thousands of Chinese on the West Coast, being mostly engaged in goldmining. Thsy are, it was stated shipped across from Melbourne and were transhipped outside the bar, being landed in batches of 50 or 60. In those days the Chinese had their own mseting hall and theatre, where national plays used to be so long that it was not unusual for one to occupy a week. The hall stood on the site now occupied by a petrol store. Except for a few fruiterers and laundrymen, it is unusual to see a Chinese in the district rowadays. The "Placid" East Men and women are kidnapped, their possessions plundered, their homes and villages burnt, and no redress is forthcoming from the Go-vei-nment. Such is the state of affairs in some parts of China, according to Mr. E. S. Little, who has resided in China for 50 years, and who has ai'rived in Auckland to visit his property at Kerikeri, says the Star. Mr. Little says that the Communists, who are very strong, have caused considerable disaffection, but i the Government troops, numbering about 250,000 under General Chiang Kai-shek, are giving the Communists attention, but little progress has so far been made. On the borders of the Fukien and Kiangsi provinces fighting has been going on for a year. "Banditry is rife all over the country," said Mr. Little. "We spent the last few months of the summer at Peitaiho, and we had the protection of a British warship which was anchored off the beach. After the ship left the bandits. operated f reely, burning nearby villages. It was a pitiful sight to see long streams of refugees fleeing with their babes in arms and the few household goods they could manage to carry in order to escape the bloodthirsty bandits, who show no mercy."