Shannon News FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1922.

Shannon News, 8 December 1922, Page 2

Shannon News FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1922.

A shock of earthquake, was felt in Shannon at about 3.30 yesterday morning.

On Tuesday a large number of bacan pigs were railed from the local station to Palmerston North.

Harvesting has commenced in this district, but owing to The unsettled weather some difficulty is being experienced in getting the crops into the stack.

The Bowling Club hope to complete the first round ol' the singles and pairs championships this week. It was intended they should be finished on November 29, but owing to the unsettled weather the time was extended.

Election day in Shannon showed that great interest was being taken in the different issues, as from the opening of the booths right up till closing time there was a steady flow of electors. All day the town wore a busy appearance, the supporters of each party working hard to get ihe electors along to register their voles, practically every motor-car ni the district being requisitioned to assist in the work.

Word has been received that at the recent examination held in Dunedin, Miss Mary Butler, daughter of Mr and Mrs Butler, of Shannon, passed with honours both in music and elocution. Miss Butler is a pupil of the Sister of St. Dominic College, Dunedin.

Another of New Zealand’s early settlers passed away at his residence, “Homewood,” Otane, Hawke’s Bay, in the; person of Mr Robert Evans, a well known Hawke’s Bay sheep farmer. The deceased gentleman was the lather ol Dr. Owen Evans, of Shannon, who will have the sympathy of a large number of friends in Shannon in his bereavement.

'The Salvation Army’s Levin Band will play at the First Camp (Wainoni), Shannon, on Sunday afternoon. A good crowd of Shannon residents are expected to be present. , A prosecution has been ordered by the . Hamilton Borough Council against a certain firm in the town for allegedly interfering with an electric meter, by attaching additional wires, causing it to under-register,, thus robbing the borough of revenue. The borough solicitors have been authorised to press for a heavy penalty.

“Since the postage on newspapers was doubled, the revenue from this source has actually fallen by 50 per cent,” was the remark of an experienced postal officer to the Manawatu Times. This, of course, indicates clearly that the numbers of papers now posted has decreased by 75 per cent on account of the prohibitive charge. •

During a discussion at a conference of farmers at Wairoa, tree planting was advocated for overcoming- the blackberry pest in many waste areas. One speaker stressed the value of the silver poplar, and said that when it was 15 years old or over the tree was a splendid asset to the farmer. It was thoroughly dry, and when cut up for posts was every bit as good as the best sappy totara. At last meeting of the Manawatu Cricket. Association, a letter was received from the Horowhenua Cricket Association, stating that the Tararua sub-association had written them re possibilities of a match, and the association wished to know if it would be possible to secure a wicket on Palmerston grounds on January 22, or if that date was inconvenient, January 1. A wicket on the Sportsgronnd on January 22 was granted.

A Christchurch firm of boot manufacturers keeps a safe in its factory. There is no secret about the fact, and the other morning (relates an exchange) the sale was laborously broken open with a drill and a chisel. The work ot forcing it must have entailed at least an hour’s hard toil. The sale contained the office cash books, ledgers and account files. Disgusted with the unlucky haul, the burglar evidently departed without discovering that one of the books contained about £<l worth of postage stamps. The irony of the whole business is that the safe was not locked in the first place. A twist of the handle might have saved the industrious intruder a good deal of time and perspiration. Otaki has its own .way of doing things. According' to the Mail, Mr and Mrs A. W. Tews, who were recently married, entertained a number of “tin-kettiers” at their residence, Tasman Road, an evening or two ago, and were rewarded (?) by having sevral valuable articles, including a gold watch, revolver, silver watch, razor, and a radium-dial clock, removed. Unless the articles are returned by Thursday, the MaiLsays, the matter will he placed in the hands of the police.

Mr T. Webb, of Palmerston North, and formerly of Stratford, was presentat the annual meeting of the Taranaki Agricultural Society on Friday afternoon, and referred to a matter which has been the cause of considerable discussion at shows, viz., the question of milking cows entered for competition, on the evening previous to the show. He expressed the hope that all societies would look into this question, so that they would all be working on uniform. lines. He went around the shows and said that many of the cows as the result- of their not having been milked for soma timei before so that they would be making a big show, were in agony. He had been told of cases where cows bad not been milked lor three days prior to a show. This was not right, and ha hoped the 'Taranaki A. and P. Association would impose a condition that all cows had to be milked out before the stewards on the evening preceding the show. It was pointed out by several speakers that so far as this district was concerned the practice of milking the cows out the previous evening -was generally followed. The chairman said that all societies in the North Island were now considering the question of adopting uniform rules for governing their shows and this matter could be gone into at the first, meeting of the executive that had been appointed.

Speaking at Carterton, Dr/ Cockayne (Government Biologist) mentioned that in California the feeding of soft turnips to dairy cows had been prohibited because the authorities could not induce ■ farmers to feed them properly—directly after milking and to be followed by another feed—and' they did not want a tainted produce; If the farmesi of this country sling this gold mine away because of similar carelessness,” said Dr. Cockayne, “then they deserve all they get.” At Onga Onga the other night Mr W. E. Fremantle presented Sir Geo. Hunter with a piece of wood, suitable for making a walking stick, that is of great historical value, being a portion of a plank taken from a Danish 'Viking warship which was burned at the time of the: Danish invasion in King Alfred’s reign, more than 1000 years ago. The wreck was lying in the H amble River, a tributary of the Southampton harbour. There was a memorial erected in the main street of Winchester a few years ago to commemorate the reign of King Alfred, and the then sold this wreck to "the people of Winchester for 2/6. When King Edward was crowned he was presented bv the townspeople with an inkstand made from a piece of the planking taken from trie wreck. /