Shannon News FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 1922.

Shannon News, 28 April 1922, Page 2

Shannon News FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 1922.

? It is expected that the Miranoi mill will resume operations on June 1. Dpst from the scutching shed ai Miranui mill is being placed around the flax roots as a fertiliser. Mr G. Pickard, who leaves for Australia shortly, had a very successful sale of furniture' on Saturday. There was a large crowd present, and adding was spirited. The Shannon school children found a ready sale for the poppies on Monday on behalf of the Returned Soldiers’ Association, and a large quantity was disposed of. Word has been received by the/ Shannon School Committee that, the average attendance for last quarter entitles the staff to be increased. It is therefore expected to have the services of an' addtonal assstant teachier at an early date. “Judging by the attendance here tonight, the public of Shannon pre not very interested in the education of their children, or else they are quite satisfied with the work of the Comm.ttee for the past year.”—Mr J. W. Mur--ray at the meeting of householders. Mr R. Hayes was kicke/d while unharnessing one of his horses on Monday. The injury was not at first considered serious, but Mr Hayes gradually got worse and was removed to the Palmerston North Hospital for treatment. The Shannon Dairy Company produced 30 tons inore butter in nine months of this season than it did for the whole of last season—and lest season was a record. The company is contemplating building a large concrete building to keep pace with the growth of the dairying industry in Shannon. The Public Works Department has constructed a lot of new buildings at the bottom camp lately. A concrete mixer has been erected on the c’iff above the surge chamber, and the concrete mixture will be slid down a shute to where it is required. A lot of machinery is arriving of late, and is being hauled from the station hy a caterpillar tractor. Noel Gunning, son of Mr W. H. Gunning, fell from )iis bicycle on Saturday evening in Plimmer Terrace an 1 sustained a compound fracture of the leg. He was taken to the Palmerston North Hospital by car. The latest advice is that he is not progressing as well as he might, but it is hoped that an improvement Will soon be in evidence. A pen of twu-year steers offered M the Levin stock sale on Monday were found hard to quite. At length 47/<3 was offered, and the auctioneer looked enquiringly at the vendor. The lattfcr w.hs anything but cheered. “They are all off fern country,” he said to all within hearing. “Right,” shouted the auctioneer. “Had nothing but fern and scenery!” That decided it. ' The price jumped- by 5/’, the purchaser evidently considering the animals must at least have been good doers. Mr James Murdock, the Minister for Labour in the Canadian Dominion Government, who was recently elected by acclamation in West Kent. (Ontario), created amusement at the annual banquet of the Olfawa Board o! Tradej when , he mentioned in a. speech that he had only been twice in his constituency, the first time some thirty years ago, when he had been kicked off a train as a “tramp” and the second time when he was returned as a Minister of the Crow.i.

A dusky philosopher at Awapuni was asked yeste/day for some details ol the ailments, and the names of the patients alleged to have been cured ly Ratana in thousands. With that, capacity of the Maori which enables him to put, a world of meaning within the compass of a nut shell, he replied, “Aua” —I know not. Asked further as to who might reveal the secret, he said, “Etama! ko wai ka moiho?— I Te Atua, pea”—Man! Who does know?—perhaps God.— Times. Quite a number of Palmerston North housewives were the victims of a despicable trick perpetrated by a woman yesterday. The female in question is reported to have visited several streets, going from door to door selling poppies (of her own make) for ‘‘Poppy Day.” The fact that they were being offered at a cheaper rate /' than The advertised prices aroused the suspicions of one lady, who informed the officials of the R.S.A. A stormy interview followed, and the same dame, who, it is stated, worked the same dodge m Auckland and Wanganui recently, hastily consulted the railway timetable. Wellington papers please copy. The grocers’ award may be a lovely thing for the employees in that trade, . but is not much admired by the em-' plovers and the general public (says the Eltham Argus). Last Thursday in lilt ham the- master grocers made a gallant effort to attend, single-handed, to the requirements of the public. Being Thursday, the assistants had to get their full half-holiday, and as the award says they must also have a full holiday on Easter Saturday, the public were placed in the position of being compelled to get all their shopping done on Thursday. The great third part, the public, who have to find the money to pay thq wages of grocers, and everybody else, are not considered in awards. They must simply pay up and look pleasant. Speaking at the Farmers’ school on Monday, Mr E. Clifton drew a comparison between New Zealand and America. There the life of the farmer was one of servitude and misery. The summer days were devoted to the growing of feed for the stock in winter. The conditions were inconceivable to New Zealanders, yet he noticed one difference. The farmers there never met without some form of amusement after it. There was music, dancing, refreshment, or some enjoyment. These people, if they worked hard, • knew that it. was good to play a bit. Arid they brought their women folk to their This meeting, continued the speaker humorously, would be a great deal jnore civilised if they brought their wives, sisters and sweethearts with them. (Laughter.) “We need to realise,” he said, “that the wife on the farm is the best asset on it.” (Applause.) The Premier of New South Wales ,Mr Dooley) got even recently with a persistent interjector ! who had been troubling him at two or three successive meetings. He had been speaking lor over an hour on this occasion, and at jintervals the same rather squeaky voice kept drawling: “Hay, Jim, what about so-and-so?’.’ with monotonous regularity, and little to the point. In response to a final and bitter thrust from his tormentor, the ex-Premier gave a little cough, and looking straight before him, said: “I am quite willing to confess my past sins. Once upon a time I committed a horrible deed—(l killed a poor goat. I was only ,a small boy then, but 1 can still remember the hiding I got from my father. And I remember him warning me that the ghost of that goat would one day come back to haunt me!” Here his voice trembled, as, looking direct at his interrupter, he concluded: “And that prohpecy has' undoubtedly come true to-night!” The composer of the song “Funiculi, Funicula,” once neard with ex cruciating reiteration all over the globe, has died at his home in Maida Vale. He was Signor Luigi Denza. Born at Castellamare di Stabia, Italy, in 1846, he settled in London -in 1881, and since 1898 had been professor of. singing at the Royal Academy of Music, and he was also a director oi the London Academy of Music) He married in 1890 Miss Leila Dufour, the contralto vocalist, and one of his earlier pupils, and had one son. He was a Chevalier of the Orders of the Crown of Italy and of the Crown of Spain. He composed over 600 songs. His most famous one was “Funiculi, Funicula,” written in 1880, on ihe opening of the funicular railway up j Mount Vesuvius. Originally a Neapolitan dialect song, it has been arranged in almost every conceivable form, and has been translated, it is claimed, into the language of every civilised nation. Richard . Strauss, under the impression that it was a genuine folk-song, paid it the conjpUment hv putting it into his orchestral suit, Aus Italien.