Shannon News TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 1924.

Shannon News, 4 March 1924, Page 2

Shannon News TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 1924.

The usual fortnightly meeting oi the- Borough Council will be held this evening.

: The monthly meeting of the Cqufncil of the Cliamber of Commerce will be held on Thursday evening.

Mr McCrae, chief postmaster of the Wellington district, was a visitor to the local office on Saturday last.

The following are»the vital statistics for Shannon for the month of February:—Births .7. deaths nil, marriages

Arrangements arc now in hand for the holding of the grand <S.t. Patrick's Ball on 'Monday, March 17th, the music for which will "be supplied by Smith's orchestra."

The many friends of Mrs J. 11. Roberts, of Stout street,, will regret to hear she,is at present an inmate of the Palmerston North Hospital, where she underwent an operation on Saturday last*

A team from the local Tennis Club played a match against Mangaore at the latter place on Saturday afternoon and a most pleasant afternoon was spent and after a keen contest the gia.me ended in a draw. The annual tea and prize giving to the pupils of the Presbyterian Sunday School will be held at the school tomorrow evening. The children's tea will be at 5*3Q ip.m. and the prizegiving at 7 p.m., to which all parents and friends are cordially invited to attend.

Another of thje popular socials held by Ven. Bede's 'Ladies Committee will take place at the (Parish Hall this evening. The early portion of! the evening will be devoted to a euchre tournament after which there will bo dance. This will be the last social before Easter.

On Saturday morning the 9.30 a.m. train ilroml Shannon to North was delayed at the, former place for nearly two* hours owing to the engine .bursting one of flhe tubes of the boiler. Another engine was procured, from Tokomaru, which was proceeding) north with empty metal tracks.

A local wireless enthusiast, ,Mr Spedding, who possesses a one-valve set plant, was able to listen-in to an entertainment at Oaklands, California, on Friday evening. The first time during the evening he picked up communication, every item could be heard distinctly, but later on it was not so clear. Tills, we understand, is unusual, to. ite able to listen-in at such a great distance with a plant of this size.

"Out of 329 men in Mount Eden Gaol to-day," said Mr J. Stewart, official viisitor to thle Auckland prisons, "no less than 60 per cent, have had secondary education, and some are universiity men." Dealing with the work of the institutions now operating for the assistance of men who have falljen. lyemporarily initio evil ways, Mr Stewart told of an Oxford B.A. who, after having served a term to, prison, is now living a clean and straight life in the country, thanks to tJhe assistance given to him by the officers of the Prisons Department, and is now making more moniey than ever he made ibefore.

A mile race between a motor cyclist W. Newman, and a roller-skater, A. R. Eglington, at Holland Park Hall, London, was won by the skater by 30 yards in 3min. 18secs. "I am not an engineer," said the Hon J. G. Coates to a deputation at Oamaru. "It took me a good number of years to become a small farmer, and I don't pretend to understand the technicalities of electrical engineering;." It has been, reported that negotiations are pending with the Government on, the question of admitting Canadian oaits'into- the Dominion free of duty. It was learned from a . trustworthy source the ojther day, however, that the duty will not be removed*

An old hoar which was put up for auction at a*clearing sale in the Ashburton district evidently was not wanted by any of the stockmen present. The auctioneer could not get a bid, not even a sixpenny one. Finally he pulled out a£l note, and planted it on the pig's back. "Now, aentlemen," he said, "what will you give me for the lot."- The boar and the note were sold for 18s. \

Something of a natural curiosity is to be seen at the Central Development Farm at present., Amongst the recent importations to toe Farm-is a Red Poll bull from England, which arrived in.the spring. Shortly after its arrival this lanimal ibegan to put on its winter coat and in the middle of siusmmer displayed a thick shaggy coat o| hair, considerably heavier than is usual in this country at midwinter. This is, of course, the result of the difference in the time of the seasons in. the northern and southern hemispheres, and will rectify itself ; . during the next year. The current issue of the New Zealand Worker says:—lf we were Mr J. McCombs, M.P., the laudations of the anti-Labour press would make us extremely uncomfortable. To ibe praised by the squatters' Dominion and the Tory Evening Post, as well as by the Liberal Lyttelton Times, is an experience which can hardly be described as pleasurable, and it should impel some severe self-investigation. In a connection, such as this, we should not like to have it said of us that people should be judged by the company they kteep. > A fairly large advertising sign to draw attention to a certain make of motor lorry has been erected on the ; slide of the railway line at the foot of St. John's Hill, says the Wanganui Chronicle. It does not harmonise with the surroundings where the Reautifying Society has put in a Jot of work, but more important still it has added to the dangers at the railway- crossing by blotting out some of the view for approaching traffic. In fact it is/ regarded as a menace to the safety of the travelling public. It is also curious that railway land can ibe used for the advertising of the strongest competition that the railways have.

Liord Suffliel'd jtells this anecdote ajbout plbor memories. Lord Mlark Kenr could never remember names. One day he met Kingi Edward in the street. His Majesty stopped and chatted with him, then took leave, and was some steps away, when Lord Mark called back, "I say, excuse me>, but would you give me your name? I know your face perfectly, but I can't remember who you are." One consolation to the peopile of poor memories who experience these social upsets is that the other fellow usually has a hearty laugh, over the incident. Imagine King Edward's joy in relating his experience with Lord Mark at his family dinner table that day-!

It is reported by -a London correspondent that Mr H. T. B. Drew, New Zealand's 'Publicity Officer, has made arrangieinenls with one of ithe big picture-producing films for the handling rand display of films of New Zealand throughout the series of theatres served by them. The grieat obstacle a,t the present time in regard to the display of New Zealand films is the high duty teharged In Britain. As soon as the films are brought into uiso in any theatre or picture palace at which charges for admission are made duty has to be paid at the rate of 3Jd per foot. The duty on a film o>f- a quarter of an hour's duration works out at nearly £ls. Consequently, Mr Drew is very pleased that the eminent firm: which he approached has agreed to show New Zealand films. •

A young French student has ju&t come into a most unexpected legacy-. He bought a "lot" of 15 books in a Paris salesroom for. 5 francs in order to obtain "Paul et Virginie," which was includejd with the 'others. He cut th© string) of the parcel at home, took out :the ibook he wanted, and, on turning over its pages, out dropped a sheet of notepaper on which was written, "Whjoeyer you '-be, main or woman; the faot of your reading this charming novel endears you to me. Gall with this message at (a solicitor's address was given) and upon' receipt of tttiis sheet of paper you will be banded the sum of 23,700 fr., which I have bequeathed to you without knowing you." The student put the paper to tne proof, and immediately was handed, the money which had been left in this eccentric manner by a Government official who lovied the novel so much that ho wanted to reward some other lover.

A 3000 ft. film or Tarar.aki is being screened at New Plymouth. A private screening was given last week, of which tftie Herald's reporter writes: "Those who wanted things in and pushed them well under the nose of the organisation responsible for the production of the film had the main say in determining the nature of what was to he shown. " Tha,t the film gives the impression that South Taranaki and Hawera*are really the only parts of the province which count is a tribute to thle energy of some of the people down thene. Film, has been Wasted on showing the main streets of (peonte oversijjis will think) the tin-pot town's of the province, which no .one elsewhere will be the least interested in looking at, unless it is to sn.y, 'What a frightful looking place!' " The film is intended for screening n.t the Empire Exhibition.

I Mr H. Grinstead, the Divisional Sec- • retary of the New Zeaknd Alliance is 1 conducting a fortnight's campaign in I the King Co.uiatry.

At Martoa yesterday, Robert White, a railwayman, was removing a swing at a picnic when he fell 20 feet, sustaining concussion of the brain and spine.

. There was an exceptionally lug'u tide at Opunake at tne week-end, t,ne sea washing right up to the cottages on the seairont, giving some oi the campers an anxious lew moments. In one case, when tne tide was at ,the full, a wave swept througn the lront door of one residence and rushed out the back door.

"A trip round my diocese involves a steamer journey of 12,000 miles," said the Bishop of Polynesia in Due course of. Ms addness at Paimerston. At a meeting held recently in Hawera a speaker drew attention to tne streets which must be unique in the Dominion, when he said that "there is no street not tar-sealed, except one in course of construction." The Wairarapa Power Board on Saturday afternoon, appointed MiGeorge Brownf clerk to the Waitomo County Council, Te Kuiti, secretary and manager to the Board, at a commencing salary of £7OO. There were 84 applicants and these were reduced to .four to personally meet the Board. .These were Messrs H. J. Beeche (Hamilton), J. F. Menzies (Taihape), and V. h. Johnston (Dunedin) and Mr Brown.

Hecently nurserymen in conference at Auckland .decided to urge that the State Forest Service should not be allowed to compete with the nurserymen, it being claimed that the latter could now fill all requirements. The Wanganuii Farmers' Union have decided to protest against the proposal seeing that the State Department were supplying the best of stock to farmers for shelter and timber purposes.

"The number of joy-riders wishing to take the air is seriously interiering witlh the training of tne pilots," said Captain Isltt -to a Lyttelton Times reporter." "The mechanical staff is wholly inadequate to cope with the demands that are being made upon our machines. We haw already taken ovjer 300 jjassengers up this month,. and there were well over 40 yesterday."" The difficulty of getting fat iambs lo uie. woiks NVitnout loss of weight „uu in good condition has been suivea locally by Mr W. A. Macdonald, of "Glenalaaale," Mahgamahu. This week two lorry loads, double decks, were sent in to. the. Wanganui Freezing Works, a distance oi over thirty miles. The. journey ysasf accomplished in a few hours and the stock safely avered in good order. Wairarapa sheep-farmers are reported as having found this method (highly saisfactory. A particularly good story is going the rounds just at present, and is vouched for by no less a person than the Minister of Education ihimself.- In a hack-blocks district in Tar a naki a social was given in honour of the Minister's visit and it was noticed by one of the party that a particularly pretty girKwho' was' present received very little attention from the local .youths. In fact, this lack of enthusiasm for the charms of the lady was go marked that the visitor was led to ; exclaim: "'I can't .understand you fellows. Why don't you all dance with that good-looking girl; what's the matter with her, anyhow?" "Huh!" retorted one gallant. "She's all right to look, at, but she can't milk." *

; Milking methods are developing on new lines as the result of the great increase of milk yield in modern dairy cows (says an English paper). First, it became necessary to milk the heavy yielders three times instead of twice a day. Now some cows are being milkied on both sides at once, two milkers operating simultaneously, an experiment which is being tried on Mr Findlay's famous herd of Friesians at GUisslaw, Stonehaven. The herd includes the first 3000-gallons-a-yeat cow in Scotland, Findlay Clara 'II. So far the double milking has resulted in one cow increasing her yield by half a gallon in three days without an increase of food.

( Incidentally to his address to the Auckland Rotary Club, Mr J. Stewart, official prison .visitor, sketched the great reformatory work which is being done in the North Island by the Waikeria institution and in the South Island by the Borstal institution for young offenders at Invercargill. The Waikeria prisoners, he said, broke in 1750 acres of land in the vicinity* of the institution, and last .season they milked a dairy herd of 200 cows, the returns of butter-fat, from which yielded £3500. T hie amtof xzflflffffl yielded £3500. The aim of the authorities was to enable these* men to become useful farmers on their discharge. The idea was to get as many of them as possible to take up virgin land in the back country. • At present the inmates of Waikeria were breaking in a large block of new land on the shore of Lake Taupo.

Many people, even farmers and market-gardeners, have possibly never heard of thermo-gen. It is a paper made from sugar-cane, the waste substance left after the sugar-producing juices havie been squeezed out. A JHjawaiian planter, named Charles Eckart, has found a use for this hith-er-to waste product of the sugar industry. Reduced to a pulp, and made into an asphalt-impregnated paper in rolls of immense length, it is put to a wise which is so surprising as to ?eem almost incredible. Two g<reat enemies have been the bugbears of the sugar-growers, weeds and torrential The first took the nutriment intended for the plants and the second washed the roots out of the sou and did intense damage. To-day there are machines which travel across the sugar plantations laying this new paper like a long carpet oyer the soil in which the roots lie buried waiting for the season of growth, it keeps the soil undisturbed by ram retains a proper moisture allows the heat of the sun -to percolate, and keeps away the flying seeds of enumerable weeds. The sharp spikes of ing, sugar-cane pierce the paper and the unusual sight is seen of a plantation free from weeds.

The niusjsuni at New York has puru ior £2OOO, General Robley's collection of thirty-live- Maori heads, which he acquired from men who fought .u xs'ew Zealand, and which the Briusn museum refused. X 1 walk, from Wellington to Auckland is reported to have been made recently uj ivtr. H. Ainiore, M.P., for Nelson. The distance of 495 miles is said to have been covered by Mr. Atmore in 14 days. . ' One of the big elephants from Messrs Wirth Bros.' circus went investigating in Cook's Gardens, Wanganui, on Saturday evening and fell over a bank into the back yard of a private hotel. Thj3 animal was taken in charge a few minutes later by its keeper witnout any dun ige being ..one. A visitor to Paimerston .North puts the prospects or our market lor beef m,a nutshell, "i am not a iarmer, but my opportunity for observation timing many thousands of miles on the road in Argentina and New Zealand, enables me to say that you must put the question of beef for export right out of your mind."

oap.~m .iiiuy ■ xUvbcrt, who, for a wagtei oi ikUUu ~nd proprietorship 6f an hotel, is walking round tiie woriu, landed ait .Lyttelton. tnis week and proceeded on root south. He worked his passage down in the terry steamer ALaori as second assistant purser and received his discharge on arrival. Do not cross your knorcs wuieii you sit down or you may develop varicose veins. Mr H. Dixon, M.8.C.5., in the Lancet, writes: "one ot trie earliest factors in the causailipn oi varicose veins of the legs is the habit of crossing one knee over the otuer. 1 can conceive nq position better calculated to retard the normal How of blood. . .. No. wonder the valves become disorganised in the course oi 'years." "Here in* Sydney Dliere is awful waste; women dress in most expensive clothes; sometimes new dresses for every mpal. , The war has made many classes. One is the spendthrift class. The women of this class smoke and spend money galore, and their hunger for clothes and finery seems msatiable. Yet, as wp wander from street to .street, the limbless and blind heroes of the war are begging or selling newspapers. Thousands of halfdrcssed men lie asljaep in the parksno no food, no beds.' '— A New Zealand lady visiting Australia. £JWheh opossums were introduced in- * to New Zealand the effect oil the fruit industry cannot have been taken into consideration , ''(says an exchange) New Zealand was blessed with jjoznparatively few pests when the white man landed here. The rabbits were let loose, also ferrets, stoats, weasels, hares, and opossums, to say nothing of soinp birds farmers and fruit could well spare. In the Penrose district opossums are doing damage to the fruit. One resident stated that they are clever enough to eat the xind of lemons but Ijsave the sour inside still on the trees. Apples, peaches, necJpxinesj and pjlunis are all welcome rood to the pest introduced from Australia.

The prevalence of goitre in Canterbury gives -special interest to statements By Protessor E. tt. Starling ur nis Harvein Oration entitled '-The Wisdom of. the Body," delivered before the Royal College of Physicians, London, at the end of last year (states the Lyttelton Times). Alter dealing with the action of the internal secretion of the thyroid gland, and the morbid, results of its excess or deficiency affecting tissues, the changes of food in the body, and mentality he states: "lodine is essential to the formation of the specific secretion of the thyroid gland. If iodine is completely absent from the drinking water and the soil, so that it is not contained even in minute quantities in the vegetable food grown in the district the thyroid undergoes hyperplasia,' in a vain endeavour to make bricks without straw, to produce its proper hormone without iodine. This seems to be the cause of the great prevalence of simple goitre in certain districts, especially in Switzerland and parts of the United States. It has been shown that goitre can be practically eliminated from these districts by the occasional administration of small doses of iodine or iodides. The Swiss Goitre Commissioner has recommended the adoption of this method of goitre prevention as a public health measure throughout the whole State.

Anyone who looks through the book shelves of a typical schoolgirl between the ages of about 16 and 19 will find that they are filled with the works of authors who are perhaps, but never great (writes a public schoolgirl in the Westminster Gazette). Few girls have the courage to admit that they enjoy the work of Ethel M. Dell or Baroness prczy. They have either been educated or shamed out of such a taste. Nevertheless, many of them desire the same sentimentality or romantic adventure, only they have them dished up with greater art by Barrie and Locke on the one hand, and Anthony Hope or Conan Doyle on the other. For Kipling only I do they forswear a love story. Many of them are "frightened off" the great writers by the ecstatic praise they hear at school or from their parents. They feel that Hardy must be unreadable when- they are told of his insight into "rustic psychology" and his power of conveying "atmosphere."- If girls were told that Hardy wrote a rattling good story they would read him and discover his Tustics and his Dorsetshire for themselves. The same applies to the other immortals. I, for felt sure that Samuel Butler must be abstruse and a. bore, because my father honoured him so greatly. One day I opened the "Way of all Flesh," and found same interesting dialogue. It decided me to read the book, and I enjoyed it. All the great novels ntuat hold something to interest and amuso girls, but too often their elders do not allure them with that bait, and only remember to point out what they themselves enjoyed.

Mr. J. H. Hickson," of tlie spiritual hjaaling mission, it at present in Auckland. .

An inmate of the Costley Home, in •Auckland, who is 93 years old, is ablj3 to read and write, without the aid of glasses. By 46 votes to 10 thp ratepayers of Marton Junction decided on Monday in favour of borrowing £.6000 to provide a water supply. Sparch is being made for huias which are reported to have been, recently seen in the forest reserve' between Paekakariki and the Upper Hutt. It is stated that MivP..L. Hollings, solicitor of Foxton, will contest the Manawatu seat at the next election in the Libjsral-Labour interests. It is reported that Sir Joseph Ward is likely to contest a Wellington seat, probably Wellington North, at the next elections.

Mr. Zane Grey, the author, whose Arizona stories are well known, is at present 'at Deepwater Cove, hussoll, ±say of Plenty, for the sword iishing. Mr. W. Bevan, who left for Christchurch last Monday to undergo special treatment, was accompanied by his brother, Mr. Richard Bevan, and Nurse Drake.

, The amount of benzine being carried on the country roads in various districts is known by everyone to be very large (remarks the Hawera "Star"), but the extent of it was enforced on the mind by* a statement of the president of the Hawera Chamber of Commerce when he said he had met recently at Paekakariki no less than live lorries loaded high with benzine.

In Auckland the wepk-end rain proved extremely beneficial and it is stated that the fall will be of inestimable value to farmers and gardeners alike. The total fall for the month to date stands at 3.5 inches. Reports from Hamilton state that the ram that fell towards the end of last Week relieved the pastures which are already picking up. "We want cheaper freights," was the remark made by Mr. William Goodfellow, a member of the Dairy Produce Export Board, to the Taranaki "Daily News." "To my mind the freight question is more urgent than that of despatch, which is pretty fair," he is reported to have said, '' although vessels, do sometimes ,loiter too long around the coast."

Coincidence was busily at work recently when Mr. W. Goodlet, who is visiting Southland, was recalling to passengers in a Bluff train the facts in con-

nection with a peculiar tram accident in Invercargill thirty years ago. On that * occasion a stormy night, the driver of the ear was run over and killed, the horse tram proceeding to town without him, so that his absence from the driver's seat was not discovered until the terminus was reached. Mr. Goodlet was recalling the accident when the brother of the driver who was killed passed through the railway carriage, heard the conversation and met Mr. Goodlet. The following day Mr. Goodiet, again speaking of the accident, found himself conversing with the . brother-in-law of the man who was conductor of the tram involved in the tragedy. - H6w the high quality of New Zealand butter had created for itself a market in China was told by the chief Government grader for the Auckland district, Mr. A. A. Thornton, a few days ago. Two years ago a Chinese merchant was shown over the grading stores at Southhampton, and was so satisfied with what he saw that he asked how he could obtain the quality of butter he had sampled for export to' China. He was informed that he could buy that s quality anywhere in the Dominion by stipulating for 92 grade and over. Since then that merchant had shipped about 10- consignments to China, each of about 700 boxes, or 350 cwt in all. "No doubt," said Mr. Thornton, "the butter is its own and best advertisement to Chinese consumers."

A Lancashire engineer, while installing wireless, into his home, hit on a plan of action that deserves to be recorded. He wanted his aerials to cross the floor to a gramaphone' cabinet, but he neither wanted the wires to be above ground nor the trouble of taking up the flooring. After considerable thought he cut a hole in the floor boards underneath the window, where the wireless entered this room, and another hole by the cabinet.. He then tied the wires to the family cat, popped it into the first hole, and stationed a child with a piece of meat at the second hole. The cat, after a little coaxing, walked with the wires to the meat, and the engineer proceeded with his work.

How many an attractive woman travel alone and avoid unpleasant attentions from men who may presume unprotected situation? A former actress, widowed and retired from the stage, who recently made a trip around the. world, tells her rules for an unescorted woman traveller. They are: Mind your own business; don't flirt; put 'fresh' persons in their places at once. These simple rules were sufficient to give the traveller an unmolested trip. They did not, however, it seems, prevent the • lady from receiving during her travels five respectful offers of marriage, three of them from sea captains about to retire, who "wished to spend their last days in peace and comfort.'' That was not her idea of life, the ex-actress told them, and the sea captains aite still seeking congenial mates.

The hopes that the Government housing settlement at Papanui would develop into a model suburb on modern garden city lines do not seem likely to be realised says the Lyttelton " Times." Fifly-three of the seventysix houses provided for in the'original plans have been erected, and no fewer than fourteen of them are unoccupied, while three others arc being used as dormitories for boys attending St. College. As an attempt to assist .in" solving the house'shortage in Christchurch the settlement lins beon a complete failure.