Shannon News FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 1923.

Shannon News, 24 August 1923, Page 2

Shannon News FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 1923.

An exhibition of boxing will be given by Mr C. Young’s pupils in the Druids Hall m about two “ weeks’ time when eight bouts will be staged. A meeting of supporters of the Sports Queen will be held i n the Council Chambers on Monday evening njext at 7.30 p.m. '

At a meeting of the Shannon Bowling Club last night it was decided to lay down a croquet lawn on the site of the present tennis courts, the work to be put in hand immediately. The tender of Messrs J. w. Fisher and Co., of Palmerston North, of £IBO has been erected for the erection of the Soldiers’ Memorial opposite the Shannon station gates. The monument. i s to be ,24ft high.

As it is desired to get a complete list ot the names ol' all soldiers I'rom this district who served in the Great War, for inscribing on tile Soldiers’ Memorial, the contract for Hie. erection of which has been let, relative and friends a.re requested to forward names to Mr J. T. Bovis, Town Clerk.

Tlie members of the Maori land String-, Band have kindly offered to ffive an entertainment towards naismg' funds tor the Soldiers’ Memorial. The entertainment which will ,be given in the Maoriland Theatre on Thursday, :13th September, will consist, of. musical items, monologues, singing, poi dances and bakas, and <as the natives are noted for their high class entertainmjpnts and tile object, is such a, worthy one we feel sure they will be rewarded with a bumper house. Previous to the commencement of the Borough Council meeting on Tuesday the Mayor (Mr Murdoch) referred to the loss the Council had sustained by the death of Mr Jas. Dalziel, the Borough foreman, and moved that a. vote" of sympathy be passed and a letter to that effect be forwarded to Mrs Dalziel. The motion was carried in silence. The Engineer (Mr Edwards) in speaking to the motion, .said he had always found the late Mr Dalziel a. very aide and conscientious worker and that he felt sure he would he a hard man to replace

Yesterday afternoon the New Plymouth express had to be pulled up at the crossing opposite McKegg’s hotel owing to a couple Of horses wandering on the line. At the Miranui Ball last night Mr A. Seifert informed the gathering that twelve months ago the outlook of the flax industry did not look promising, but the was now pleased to say, as a result of the experiments earned out and the new method of cutting, the industry was now on a good footing, there being plenty of good flax available.

At the Council .meeting on Tuesday night Cr. Gunning stated that at ,; he Power Board meeting .held that day he had been informed by the Engineer that the cost of the street lighting of 40 lights in Shannon would be £3 12s 6d per light per year with a service up to midnight or £3 17s. 6d for an all night service, the Board to erect and maintain and supply power.

The l'uneral of the late Mr _ Jas. Dalziei took place at Palmerston North on Wednesday afternoon and was largely attended, jtnahy .journeying from 'Shannon to pay their last respects, among whom were representatives of the Borough Council and staff. A most impressive service was conducted at the Methodist Church and graveside by the Rev. Rugby Pratt and also at he graveside by Mr Casey, of the Oddfellows’ Lodge, of which deceased was. a Past Grand Master.

With the coming of the fresh in the Manawatu River, whitebait, in considerable quantities, have put in an appearance once more and some good catches have been recorded.

Three lorry-loads of London Polytechnic students, dressed in all kinds of garments, halted by the Statue 01 King George 111. in Cockspur street recently. Two of them, placed a jockey cap on the top of the King’s head, tied a carrot in front of the. horse’s nose, fixed paper streamers to his tail—and labelled it “Town Guard.” A Wellington- business house has just taken out a policy of £20,000 with a mutual Hie assurance ’association in order to provide for superannuation and annuities for its staff. This (says the Post) is believed to be the first transaction of its kind in New Zealand, and is certainly unique in the Dominion in the experience of the association concerned. Confetti will be banned in future from all pleasure fairs at Burton-on-Trenf (England). This decision has been reached by the town council owing to the following statemeait that unscrupulous dealers shovel the uised. confetti out of the gutter and resell it. Consumption and -other diseases, it is contended, are t-lius spread. An orgjanised petition and protests from Labour members have failed to alter the council’s opinion.

The largest direct shipment of produce that has ever arrived at Auckland from Australia was brought by the Canadian Traveller, which arrived at Auckland last, week from Melbourne and Geelong. This vessel had over 3000 tons, including 70,000 bales of chaff, 3500 bags of onions, 1900 bags of bran, 1300 bags of flour, and 1000 bags of pollard. The novelty of seeing chaff packed in bales attracted some atttention .on the water front when the vessel commenced to discharge, and it was evident that much greater economy in carriage was obtainable by this method than by carriage in sacks. An English taxpayer, faced with the ordeal of filling in a mass cJ documents that make Magna Chart a and the Scrap of Paper-seem unimportant, sent the. following reply:— “I return the paper you sent me, as I have no wish o join the Income Tax. I am, already a member of the Hearts of Oak.” In New Zealand the quaint idea formerly obtained of fining a person for not. having an income. What was necessary wa,s to fill in a ream of paper to show that one hadn’t any taxable income. If the cashless one refrained from doing so the State fined him.

In an article descriptive of his impressions in the South .Sea Islands, Mr Geo. Harford writes: The wliari labourers unloading the ship were Fijians, a stalwart shock-headed, laughingi crowd of overgrown children, at least that was the impression they gave one, watching, them at work. If our labour leaders in, New Zealand saw the way those natives toiled, they would receive the shock of their lives. We were told by the officers of the ship t-Imt they will work 30 hours at a stretch, and keep going hard at that. They are the best paid labourer in Fiji, getting 4s a day, and sixpence an hour for overtime, but money is not the first consideration with them. Of course the company feeds them, and, it is a treat to them to get unlimited quantities of salt beef, potatoes, biscuits and strong tea, well sweetened.

In connection with the loan raised from the State Advances Office for street works, the Superintendent oi Advances has informed the Levin Borough Councii that no part of the loan can he used for the purchase of machinery or for land for a depot or buildings. The whole of the advance from his office must be expended on aetual street, work. The Mayor approached the Prime Minister through Mr Linklater. M.P., on the subject, but Mr Massey on going into it, replied that the superintendent had i;o option, in the matter as he was bound by statute. Mr Linklater added nut. from his experience on the Kairanga County Council he knew that, Slate loan moneys could not be applied for the purchase of machinery and the County Council had had to raise another small loan for this purpose, a course he recommended to the Borough Council. The Mayor said the amount involved would be about £2OOO and they would have to take up that much less from the State Advances Department.. No doubt they would have to pay a, slightly higlier rate for this small loan. Cr. Mortensen pointed out an advantage in that the Council would have the whole of the first year's advance from the State to spend on the streets instead of having to buy machinery out of it. Enquiries are -to be made with, a view to getting the money required on the best terms possible.

Mr G. A. Monk, chairman of the Horowhenua lilectric Power Board, ; was absent from the meeting of the ; Board on Tuesday through influenza, f “A loss totalling nearly £IOOO will [ he made by one bookseller in Napier ' as a result of the Government's de-! cision to limit the choice of school ! books to the products of one NewZealand firm” (reports the Napier Daily Telegraph). Other booksellers will also lose heavily, and the trade is much agitated over the decision of the Government. These losses will be multiplied all over the Dominion. The gall disease has spread with alarming rapidity through many of the bluegum plantations at Seiwyn (Christchurch). An examination reveals that even in the earliest stages of the disease the timber is adversely affected.

The directors’ life on the Cambridge Co-op. Dairy Company’s directorate is not altogether spent in a bed of roses. Just now the position has an added interest, in that Mr A. A. Brook lias served a, Supreme Court writ on the Company, to obtain payment, of wluit is commonly known as “that 31d.” As the sum involved to all suppliers exceeds £25,000, the action ranks as an important one to the whole com-munity-independent. There was no dearth of evidence to show the value of testing ami culling cows at a -meeting held in Carterton. One man stated that the first year of testing showed his herd only produced 1441bs of butterfat per head. In the second year they rose to 173 lbs, then to 2681b5, while last season they jumped to 3191b5. Another dairy farmer, testing and culling for two seasons, said his average rose from 180 to 2461bs in that, time and he expected to cross the 3001bs mark during the approaching season. The recent snowing in of sheep in Central Otago lias revived the idea that if higher hills were clad in heather it would furnish a. sufficient diet for sheep that coukLnot move about. In this connection it is pointed out that if ft be considered desirable, lor this or other reasons, to grow heathei in New Zealand, fresh seed of the highest quality can be obtained hi quantity without loss of time caused by importing. An expert nurseryman remarks that heather seed could he gathered by the bushel in Tongariro National Park, enough to sow all the hilly country in Otago, and he adds that if sown at this season it woulu - probably come in very well. People were in the habit of saying that the law was an ass, remarked Mr S. .Solomon, K.C., in an address on “Legal Reflections,” at Invercargill. This was far from the case, he continued; the mail who went to law was an ass. lie would tell his hearers in all sincerity and earnestness never to go to law until they had used very other means of dealing with the matter. It. was a better paying proposition to get £SO out of court than £IOO in court- The best, lawyers always endeavoured to keep their clients from going! into court. But apart, from this it. was wrong to say the law was blind. Lord Esher had said “Whatever was repugnant to com-mon-sense-was repugnant, to common law.” This was a great truth, and should bo considered by every mail before lie went to law. The latest acquisition to the Canterbury Museum is of topical interest. It, is a collection of railway tickets, issued o.n the occasion of the opening of each section of the line between Christchurch and Arthur’s Pass, and also a duplicate of the commemorative gold medal presented to the Prime Minister by Mr John H. Hoglund, of Springfield, Oil the opening of the tunnel on August 4. The dates and various events for which tickets were issued, are as follow: Halpin Creek, November 1, 1903; Ot'arama to Broken River, October 29, 1906; Springfield to Craigieburn, December 12, 1916, piercing Arthur’s Pass Tunnel, August 21, 1918; tunnel opening (invitation ticket), August, 4, 1928. With exception of the ticket to. the piercing of the tunnel, which bears the number of 90, all the tickets were the first issued. The collection \\ as presented by Mr Hoglund.

Traveller writes: —“ To travel long' distances by open car,teven in the cold est weather, when properly rugged, is pleasant and healthful. Seldom or never does anyone suffer ill effects from such a journey. On the other hand, the badly designed and badly ventilated railway carriage used in New Zealand is responsible for as much sickness and disease as are any slum areas in this country. The local carriage-buikler and his employer, the Railway Department, is as much bound by convention as the maker and the wearer of coats and pants; but with more evil results. The prevalence of catarrh and colds with their after effects is due mainly to the stuffy railway cars. Why in the name of commonsense and public health, it not for the pleasure and comfort of those who pay for it, can we not have a ventilator to bo opened and closed at will above the luggage rack ? Here is a chance for some practical member of the House to put a popular question.”

Sweden is credited with having made more progress in l'arm electrification, than any other country. According to official reports, one-third of the country devoted to agriculture is already on" an electrical basis. In the five-year period from 1917 to 1921, the electrification of tilled ground increased from 6.4 per cent, to 38.5 per cent. Current is used for a wide variety of farm purposes, including threshing. Considerable s.tudy has been given, with more or less success, to ihe application of electric power to ploughing. Where small farm lighting plants are installed, general use of electricity is hardly possible, since in most cases ihe sels have not capaeiiy enough to supply more than the necessary lighting. Real rural electrification therefore, takes place when electric power lines are built out through country districts of sufficient capacity to supply not only the lighting needs, bup all the power requirements of the farm. Sweden lias probably made greater progress along] these lines than any other country.