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Shannon News, 21 January 1924, Page 2

Strong protest was made by the members of the Taranaki Education Board aft thie nation of the department in declining to- accept the considered opinion of the board with regard to the need for a new school at Wlhareroa, until an officer-of the department had examined the condition of affairs on the spot. “This is a piece of gross impertinence,” said Mr S. G. Smith, M.P., “and we are being treated like children. Wfei who know the local conditions, and give our time to the consideration of this sort oi thing, are told by an officer .of the department in Wellington, fwho knows nothing of local conditions, that the conclusions we come to cannot he considered until someone from Wellington come® up here to see the locality for himself. I’m coming to lhe conclusion that it’s a waste of time to sit on the Education Board.” Other members of the board 'expressed similar views, and the. question of framing a reply to the department’s letter, and also one referring to an application for a school at Turuturu, was referred to the chairman.

It is all very well to own a motorcar, but besides owning the car it is ne.cessary to have plenty of room to park it on one’s property. This fact was forcibly brought home to a Ponsonby resident on Friday >vhen lie thought he would take his wife ami children out for .on hour’s run. The passage-way at the side of the house happens to be only a few inches wider than the car, and, after pouring a gallon or so of'.benzine into the tank, the owner experienced great difficulty in hacking the car out of the passage. For something like an hour and ten. minutes he twisted and turned, and determination, coupled with some assistance rendered by a neighbour, eventually saw the car safely on the street. Then the wife and children clambered in, the cal’ started, but in a very short space of time it was back home—the owner had used all the benzine in keeping the engine going when trying) to get out of the passage.

Reference was recently made in Nature, the English scientific journal to the proposal that the public should provide money to enable Mr Spahlinger to carry on his work. Referring to a previous article, tire, writer said Mr Spahlinger’s claims were shown to rest on a series of categoric statements, of which scientific proof is still awaited. “'ln some mysterious way, however, the subject recurs like the seasons, and yet we get no further. We are now informed that he cannot produce the ‘goods’ because the Spahlinger family fortune, to the extent of £BO,OOO, has been spent in'the experipfents, and therefore more will be required before the public can taste much benefit. When it is remembered that such a sum would nearly maintain the Rockefeller Institute in New York for a year, it is difficult to understand why the result is so meagre. . . . It would seem advisable to know something about the remedy from the claims made on its. behalf.” To have sent a large circus organisation to New Zealand on no less than 50 occasions is the achievement of Mr Phillip Wirth, governing-director of Wittii Circus, Limited who .is on board the Niagara en route tc Australia. The circus is at present on its fiftieth tour of the Dominion, and Mr Wirth, while abroad was engaged in securing fresh material f or Austra’ia and New Zealand, A rather unusual inciueht occurred in the cricket mutch between Melbourne and Adelaide Univteirsities. 0119 of the Melbourne batsmen kept coming yards out of his crease when hacking up at the bowler’s end, and on' one occasion the Adelaide wicket-keeper, I Treloar, tried to run him out by i throwing the ball at the wicket. The | ball missed the stumps), and the batsi men ran a single. There was quite a i .discussion as to' how the run was ; scored, but the umpire settled all doubts by signalling a bye. Even then many were not satisfied, being of the opinion that the hail must, pass the wicket-keeper ’ere a bye could bo scored. But the umpire was right, as it could be nothing else hut a bye.