Shannon News TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 1924.

Shannon News, 1 April 1924, Page 2

Shannon News TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 1924.

The. usual fortnightly of the Borough Council will be held tliis evening.

The monthly meeting of the Council of the Chamber ol Commerce will bo .held in the Council Chamber on Thursday evening. Mr, J. 11. Fargher hus purchased a business in Napier fqr which place he will be leaving at the end of the week. .

The engagement is announced 'of Miss Mabel Furley, second daughter oi' Mrs H. Payne, Shannon, to Mr Dillon Mercer, eldest son of Mrs L. Mercer, Ada Street, Palmerston North.

A football match will be held on toe Recreation Grounds at Shannon on Saturday, next when a team, from Dalzell's mill at Makeruia will play toe Shannon Club's senior fifteen. Rev. Mr Boothroyd, of the Methodist Church, preacitied his farewell sermon at the Church on Sunday morning. Re.v. Boothroyd is leaving at an early date for Norsewood to which district he has been transferred.

A matinee will Ue given at the Maoriland Theatre on Saturday next when the special film "The Town that Forgot God," will he screened. This picture has toe reputation of being a first class one and will be shptwn ordinary prides. A social is to be tendered to Mr and Mrs Fargher by their friends at the Parish nail on Thursday evening, tickets for which are obtainable from the, secretary (Mr A. H. Morgan), the town clerk and members of the eomimttiee. Mr. ahd Mits Fa,rghe|r .are, leaving for Napier on Friday, where Mr Fargher has purchased a business.

Owing to some misunderstanding a team from Tokomaru and one from Moutoa turned up at the Recreation Ground on Saturday to. meet the juniors of the Shannon Fotball Club. The difficulty was overcome by toe local boys playing a combined team and after a good game the Shannon team won '.by three points to nil. At a meeting of returned soldiers held on Saturday evening to make arrangements for their taking part at the unveiling ceremony of the Soldiers' Memorial on Anzac Day it was decided thiey Wjould fall in at the school hi mufti wearing their medals and take their usual place in the procession ; also if Mr Clutiia Mackenzie, who is a returned soldier, should be staying in Shannon for the night they will make an effort to entertain him.

The locj|ll police are still continuing their crusade against persons using obscene language and .behaving in a disorderly manner, in public places, and ion Friday; last made tihree moijei arrests; the accused persons appearing before Messrs Spencer and Gunning, J.'sP., on Saturday morning and being dealt with as follows :—Denis Hev.er, for using Obscene language on the platform at Uhe Shannon railway station, was convicted and finied £5 in default two months imprisonment; Robert Duggan, charged with being drunk and disorderly in iPllmmer Terrace, was fined 3Qs, in default 48 hours' imprisonment; Michael Cunningham, for being drunk and using obscene language in Plimnier Terrace/, on the first charge, he was convicted and fined £l, in default ( 24 hours' imprisonment, and on the second charge he was also convicted and fined >£s, in default (two months' imiprisomment<. On Monday morning before Messrs . Murdoch and Spencer, J.'sP., Wm. j McFarlane McLeod, on a charge of j being drunk and disorderly, was com- i victed and fined 10s, in default 24 hours' imprisonment and a prohibition order issued for twelve montlis.

The Foxton Herald, is informed that the reprsentatives of a butter manufacturing firm visited Foxton this week with the object of inspecting a suitable site for the erection of a factory.

Authority has been given by the Hamilton Borough Council to a committee to have plans prepared for new municipal offices, and arrangements are being made to raise a loan of MS,UUU for the work. It is easy to make a slip of the pen, but one drunk at least has cause to be thankful that a slip concerning him was noticed in time before the J.P. toft the station recently, as he had entered on the charge sheet, "Convicted and fined £2, in dofaut 48 years' imprisonment.—Oamaru Mail. New Zealand will observe the following bank holidays at Eastertide this year From Good Friday the hanks will close for four days but will open on Easter Tuesday, owing to the number of holidays that week; close on the Wednesday, open on the Thursday, and close again on the Friday for Anzac Day. , . . Mrs Higgins, wife of John Biggins, who was recently sentenced ito death and later had his sentence commuted to confinement in a mental hospital, and her two boys, sailed from Auckland for Vancouver, by the Niagara, en route to her father's home in Viking, Alberta (Canada). ine New Plymouth Herald states that when the only lady competitor w. a swiming cup race the other day was finishing a porpoise \vas seen to be in the water beside her. When told ol her unpleasant position not a word was heard from the swimmer, who swam on to the finishing point, where she was loudly applauded her plucky effort.. A meeting of post and Telegraph employees at Hastings decided that, in view of the probability of the finding or the Railway Wages Board governing any increases granted to toe rest of the public service, they, protested against the p. and T. service not being represented on that Board to state the case for the service and they called upon the Posmaster-Gen-erai to stay proceedings until such representation can be arranged for. The following is an extract from "a letter received by' a Wangaiiui boy from a youth in Fargo, North Dakota, U.S.A.:—"I knew that New Zealand was on the map, hut wasn't sure of its position until I looked up my atlas. Are the newspapers written in English?" As an answer to this question, the Wangaiiui lad promptly folded up a Saturday's Herald and mailed it in time to catch the next 'Frisco boat.

One of Mr Masseyls characteristics is pronounced ability to quote Scriptural texts with facility (states an exchange). In the heat of debate in Parliament, the Prime/Minister often discomfits an opponerft with ani appropriate Biblical allusion, and the shaft often pierces the deeper when it is quite obvious that the subject of Mr Massey's correction is unable to reply in like manner, 'because of a limited acquaintance with Scripture. Last Saturday [aflternoofr, Mr Massey opened a new undenominational church in the Waikato, and in his address manifestly surprised the congregation with Ibis knowledge of Scripture. He r spoke of the great Christian mission of the British Empire for world peace. The keynote of ttiis remarks was a plea for a stricter observance of the Sabbath. The result of a visitation which is fortunately rare in this district is to be seen at the Boys' Training Farm, Werairoa, where a crop- of five acres of maize is standing with the whole of tine gpreen leaves stripped and only the bare stalks left. This condition is the result of a plague of caterpillars which passed though the crop from one side to the other, stripping it as they went. The caterpillars, which were of the small black variety, about an inch in length, first made their appearance in a crop of oats and grass in a paddock adjacent to the maize and speedily stripped these, but strange to say did not touch the' clovefr. When tfbleir - ravages were noticed the crop was cut to save what was left. Then, this caterpillars, of which there were millions, crossed over into the maize and in a fortnight worked right through it. Strange to say, since the completion, of this, no further sign of the pest has been seen. They have probably burrowed into the ground to go through the chrysalis stage- " The nearest thing to a miracle" was shown on a screen a King's College, London. First came a of a boy, dwarfed and almost hairless. A moment later the lad appeared again, inches; taller and of normally healthy appearance. That, said Professor Winifred Cullis, is the elect of thyroid gland treatment. Lecturing, at the Scientific Novelties Exhibition on "Monkey Glands and Others," Professor Cullis said the thyroid gland might be looked upon as the great controller of this speed of living. If we had a normal thyroid, wo had gone a long way towards the regulation of a normal rate of living. Speaking of operations to secure rejuvenation, Professor Cullis said they would not mean an increase j in longevity. All it would mean was that powfcrs would be utilised right up to the end.

The idea that It is lucky to find a horse-shoe is regarded by authorities as a Druidical survival. The superstition is peculiar to regions where Druidisin once flourished, and the Druidical places of worship, as exemplified by Stonehenge, made their inner circle of stones a broken, or open, one. The idea that a horse-shoe brings the best luck when you findti with the points towards you —the secret inner circle open to you, as it were —also bears upon this theory. Druidism passed, but the superstition survived —for a superstition outlasts v empires and religions; and when horse- : shoes became known in this country the superstitions found ready at hand a representation of the ancient symbol of the broken circle. The idea that in attaching the symbol to the house the points should be up had a Druidical significance which has bepn lost. People nowadays say it is "to prevent the luck running out." , j

From Ist April the poundage on money orders will be reduced to 3d for every £5 with a minimum of 6d. A London cable reports the death of Sir Charles Stanford, Professor of Music at Cambridge University; aged 71.

A Sydney cable says the first prize in the Firemen's Art Union, valued at £llOO, was won by E. Siddells, of Palnierston North.

Pptty thieving is still being carried on in Otaki but an amateur detective was the means yesterday morning of securing at least on© guilty person. A lady (?) entered a shop, fdled her pocket, and calmly walked away. Suspicion was aroused, and finally the goods were secured. A warning was also issued.

"I was astonished at the size of New Zealand," said Mr F. C. Glass, of Brazil, in Invercargill. "I had t)he idea that once a man got to Auckland the rest was a tram ride, and when I found that there were other laTge cities and that it would take three days' travelling before Invercargill was reached, 1 was simply staggered. I was also astonished to see-the Dominion so go-ahead. Them are little touches in it that put it. quite ahead of England." "Spell your name!" said a magistrate to a witness. The witness began: "O, double T, I, double U, E, double L, double » "Wait," ordered the clerk. Begin again." The witness replied, "0, double T, I, double U, E double L, double*o " "Be careful," said the clerk, "if you indulge in frivolity, you may be committed for contempt of court!" "What is your name?" asked the magistrate. "My name, your Worship, is Otttwell Wood, and I spell it O double T, I, double U E, double L, double U. double O, D.'"

At the last meeting of the Wellington Education Board a statement of the cost of installing electric Ugnt in schools and master's residences throughout the district was read, showing the total 'cost at £2568. It was stated that the work would be done as applications were made, the cost to be apportioned at the rate of £485 to be raised by voluntary contribution, £854 from the Government, and £1224 firom the Education Board.

The extent of the work done in connection with the local schools by the Wellington Education Board may be gathered from the mtantMy report submitted to the last meeting as follows .—works completed: Ohau, painting school outbuildings and residence; Shannon, top-dressing asphalt; Johnson ville, improved lighting. Works in hand: Porotawhao, new school; Otaki, somite class room; Levin n.H.S., additions to'secondary department; Paraparaunw, painting school and residence; Te Horo, painting residence. The Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould wrote "Onward, Christian Soldiers," nearly sixty years ago for a Sunday school Uestival at Horbury, the Yorkshire parish of which he was tlhen curate. The bishop of the diocese raised objections to the lines "With the Cross of Jesus going on before" as savouring of rituallism. .Whereupon tlhe, author suggested that it should read, "With the Cross of Jesus left behind the door." That only made theJMshop still more vexed. Dr. J. A. GoodMlow, formerly of Chesterfield and recently returned

from the United States after many years' absence, says his impression is that cases of goitre, or "Derbyshire nieick," are now more, numerous in Derbyshire than when he was in practice. He claims that by using iodine in the drinking water goiterous necks would almost disappear. In Rochester, U.S.A., a town of 300 inhabitants, iodine is added to the water twice a year for three weeks at a time. Lecturing in London recently, Professor Winifred Collis said experiments with iodine had been tried by the Swiss Government in one canton, and in twelve months the percentage of goitre cases had been reduced from 80 to 13. In an endurance swim by two schoolgirls fiemjarkablei performances were registered at the swimming baths at Hokitika last week. Lucy

Payne,, aged 15 years, and Alva Mcintosh, aged 12 years, attempted to beat the (previous bath record of two and a-qu»arter miles. Lucy Payne swam two and a-half miles, thus beating the record by a quarter of a mile, and then stopped. Little Alva Mcintosh kept on swimming and finishted up after going 214 lengths of the bath, a distance of three miles seventy yards covered in three minutes under three hours. Alva did not seem to-be the least bit exhausted, as she climbed out of the, 'baths after the long swim. Some very odd reasons have been given from, time to time for granting a school half-holiday, but one of the oddest instances surely happened up Rotorua way, where one ol the neighbouring schools was closed on the occasion of the recent Rotorua race lneetingi (states an exchange). When the Board of Education inquired into the matter the headmaster said that the secretary of the committee approved of the granting of tine holiday. The headmaster added that he himself did not attend the race meeting. It was decided to send on this explanation to thie local committee, which had been asking for information.

A tribute to the wholesome quality of New Zealand meals was paid by Dr. Francis P. Emerson, of Harvard University, who attended the medical conference at Auckland. "What im-. pressed us Americans," he said, "is the fact that you can go all over New Zealand with tftie assurance of having a good wholesome meal, no matter how small the township may be. You can always get good mutton, beef and eggs, while your desserts are wholesome, nourishing, and not made of fancy pastry." In America, he added, the automobile had .brought the country into such proximity with tihe cities that travellers seldom need-' ed to patronise the small town hotel, and the consequence was that meals in the country accommodation houses were often carelessly prepared, and scarcely fit to recommend' to one s friends'.

The Hawera Star understands that the Eailway Department has begun operations in the direction of providing a new railway station for Hawpra. The men employed at thp Mangahao hydro-electric works at the present tinig number 650, which is a good indication of the manner in which tlie Government

A number of racing pigeons liberated by the Onehunga Pigeon Club at Palmerston North on Saturday arrived at their lofts suffering' from shot gun wounds.

An exhibition of divining for oil was witnessed on a property at Dannevirko on Monday. Tne diviner claimed to have located live channels of oil on one place, and other streams on another. Mr Hobbs, a Foxton bee fanner, forwarded a-consignment of four and a-quarter tons of money, per rail to Wellington on Saturday, en route to the London market. The honey is tlie net result of 100 hives.

A Ford car, Otaki-owned, caused a mild sensation on thp Te Horo road at the week-end. By some means, unknown to the driver at the time, the works got out of order, and in record time there was a burst of ilani'e. Luckily matters were righted and the lire subdued just when it threatened to demolish the whole car.

There is pvery likelihood of a new coal mine being opened in the Whangarci district designed to produce from 500 to 1000 tons per day. It will be the deepest mine in New Zealand, being about SOO feet below the* surface, and the capital necessary for the development of the field will be principally Australian. An unusually large specimen of the gray nurse shark was recently pnclosed in the trawl net in a catch takeu off Tiri Island, Auckland, by a trawler. The shark is stated to have measured about lift in length, and the captain of the trawler, whek trawled for some years in the North Sea, states that the shark in question is the largest specimen of that particular species he has seen in New Zealand waters.

Hanging on the wall hi the social room of the Foxton fire station is an appropriately designed oak and silver shield presented by Mr Geo. Coley, member of the Foxton Fire Board, for a billiard tourney competition by the Foxton, Palmerston North, Levin and Feilding Fire Brigades. The insets for inscription take the form of silver hielmets,. which surround the centre device. Mr co-ley's generosity and interest in the social welfare'of

brigadesmeri throughout the district is keenly appreciated by the brigades. —Manawatu Herald.

A piece of banana that could not be broken by heavy hammer blows, a full kettle that boiled merrily when put upon a block of ice, and an egg brought to rpcklike hardness were among the curious things shown by Mr. A. J. Pkilpot, B.Sc, in illustration of a lecture upon "Liquid Air," delivered in connection with the Scientific Novelties Exhibition in London. A square inch of Wiltshire bacon which he immersed in liquid air came out a minute later in a quite unrecognisable form, while a thin, soft rubber tube quickly assumed' the hardness' of iron. A leaden bell was made to tinkte as clearly as bell metal, and from their ordinary form biscuits were changed into flaming fireworks. "Was there ever a time in the history of man when lie was so determined on being entertained? What was a luxury to our forefathers has become to us a necessity. In all our budgets we give. a place, perhaps the most important place, to amusement. We feel that we cannot Jive withont it. For one thing, ours ■ is a restless world. Cataclysms, such as wars and

social upheavals, have become so common that Nature herself seems to have become infected by the prevailing restlessness, and every now and then overwhelms man and his works with some dread visitation. The result is that the modern world is losing the old fixed ways of life and, finding that all is flux, is out to make the most of the fleeting moments. It would be in-

teresting to know how far thrift has become generally thrown overuuuid by this subtle sense .of the insecurity of things which is stealing over this generation;." —London Morning Post. _