Shannon News FRIDAY, MAY 28, 1926.

Shannon News, 28 May 1926, Page 2

Shannon News FRIDAY, MAY 28, 1926.

The fortnightly dance held under the auspices of the .Ladies' Guild, will be held in the Parish Hall on Tuesday evening next. The Maori' Orchestra will supply (Jlhe music and patrons are assured of a good evening's enjoyment.

The second evening of the .series of the Gribbage and. Chess Club's games was held last night, when there was a much larger attendance than on the opening night. A progressive cribbage tourney and euchre and chess was played, and a pleasant time was spent by those present. The winners of the .various games were: Gribbage tourney (ladies), Mrs Hennessey, (gents) Mr Hudson,- euchre, Miss M. Butt; chess, Mir' T. Thwaites.

'Mr and Mrs K. Bishop, who took part in the Manawatu' Competitions, did particularly well, seciu<ring a place in\practically every class they, entered for. They secured first place in the duet foir lady and gent, while Mrs Bishop was first far vocal solo for ladies, restricted to those who hajve never won a prize. Mr Bishop was first in the tenor and humorous sections, second in the operatic and baritone, and also tied for second place in the sacred solo class. Shannon is fortunate in having such splendid talent in its midst and all will join in congratulating Mr and Mrs Bishop in their success.

At the Shannon Police Court yesterday morning before Messrs W. H. Gunning and E. ,]. S. Spencer, .T.'sP., two Maoris named Taanati Rangi and. Charles Radu were charged with the theft from a local resident of a 'scarf valued at 15s. The'farmer pleaded not guilty and the latter, guilty. The evidence showed that the owner of the scarf left it in the pocket of his overcoat which he left in the smoke room, of a local hotel, while he had his tea. On returning he found the article missing. As the two accused had been seen to leave the room, they were questioned by Constable Blaikie, who arrested them. Later the scarf was found thrown over the fence near the picture theatre, the accused statt ing that a pakeba friend had thrown it there. The charge against Rangi w:as dismissed, and Ratu, who had pleaded guilty, was fined £2, in default fourteen days' imprisonment.

Mr G. A. Monk was yesterday unanimously re-elected chairman of the Horowhenua County Council and thix* enters upon his twelfth year in that position. He has been a member of the Council since 3911.

The effect <otf growing 'Motor traffic on the County roads is indicated by figures quoted by the County Chairman (Mr Monk), who said that in 19-22. £9600 was spent on the maintenance of Horowhenua roads, while jn 1926, the amount had increased to £13,760. He thought all that extra money had gone on to the main roads.

The total Maori population in the Honowhenua County is 848, comprising 457 males and'39l females, independent of boroughs. Dwellings occupied by natives number 173. In addition to the above there are 231 males and 203 females, or an aggregate of 434, '.who 'live in the boroughs of Shannon, Levin and Otaki, bringing the total Maori population, through. out the County, up to 1282.

At the annual meeting of the Horowhenua County Council, Or McLeavey expressed concern at the way i\i which the top-dressing operations on the main road were being delayed and said it seemed avpity that roads wore being held up. The Chairman said that as soon as the first spoil of dry weather came, the work would be continued. The Engineer said the work would soon be finished if there was only a little suitable weather.

Acting upon recommendation of the Health. Department, the Clivistohurch City Council last night decided to call a conference or local bodies for Friday for the purpose of setting up an organisation to combat any possible outbreak of influenza. A recommendation has been made by the Department in view of the outbreak in Australia and other placpe. Gr. Agar said that while he did not wish to he an alarmist,, he was in >a position to state that the Health Department was of opinion that all local authorities should be . in a position to set up working committees within for freight hours.

A curious feature of the Hoirowhenua County census figures is .the preponderance of males, over females. Of taie 10,467 people resident in the CJoiiDity, there are 700 more mules than females. The figures are: Males 5583, females 4884.

A set of new posts and hags, the latter -with, the correct rep. colours of the Horowhenua Rugby Union, has been presented to the Union by Mr J. Rose. At the meeting of the management committee last night, a cordial vote' of thanks was passed to the donor lor his generosity.

That the Management Committee of the Horowhenua District Rugby Union does not intend clubs to lightly consider any rules laid down, was exemplified at last night's meeting of the committee, when it was resolved that, even though it might mean a temporary loss of gate-money two clubs should be suspended if their insurance fees are not paid within the next few days. "Clubs must be disciplined,"- said the secretary (Mr Casey), a remark which was strongly supported by the committee.

Thirteen nationalities arc represented by the crew 'of the British steamer Mariston, of Glasgow, which is now discharging Nauru Island phosphate at the King's Wharf, Auckland. The officers of the ship are British, but included in the deck and stokehold hands are Greeks, a Lett; an Argentinian, Norwegians, a Maltese, a Bussian, an African, a Dane, an Italian, a G'erman, a Swede, and a Japanese. Truly a mixed crowd to be commanded by the officers, 'who'are mostly Scots.

"Wc do not want loss of life through any neglect on our part," remarked the chairman of the Wanganui Education Board at its last meeting, when the question of electric lines in school grounds was under discussion. It was reported that in one of the country schools the inspector had seen children using power polos as goal posts. It was decided that the inspectors draw the attention of children to the danger that existed through tampering with, electric lines. ■

At the Farmers' Union conference in Wanganui instances of land aggregation in the Wairarapa were given by Mr. H. Bennett, who said that- along one stretch of 50 miles of road there were only 12 settlers. In another place, -where there were formerly 19 settlers, there were now only six. Mr. Bond (Rangiotu) supported a remit which urged preventive measures, but Mr. R. Parley (Wanganui) opposed it, on the ground that there was already too much land going begging. The remit was earried.

."I confess I do not like a jury of four, but with a jury of twelve you get the good average commonsonse vipw of Englishmen," remarked his Honour Mr. Justice Alpcrs at the sitting of the Wanganui Supreme Court last week, wh'en commenting upon the advantage of the jury system of trial. He added that the two other jury cases over which he had presided in Wanganui had added to his strong appreciation of the hon'est earnestness of the juries of this country.

The senior inspector of the Wanganui Education Board (Mr., N. Lambourne) remarked at the last meeting of the Board that, although he had only been in the district for a fe\y weeks, he had visited many of the schools, and he was struck with the well-kept appearance of the buildings and grounds. Mr. W. H. S. Law also spoke highly of conditions as he found them during the short time he had been on the inspectorate. He found that the teachers were willing to co-operate with the inspectors for the benefit of the children.

Attached to the supply of the city markets of Melbourne and Sydney are some highly interesting facts, stated Mr. R. A. iNocdl, who recently returned from a trip to Australia, to a "Standard" reporter. Country produce growers, he stated, often travelled in their carts for two clays and nights, perhaps more, on the journey to market. The horse-drawn vehicles travelled on a special track by the side of the main highway so as not to interfere with tli'q general traffic, and tho drivers' seats were not infrequently constructed so that the driver could not fall off if he went tolslcep en route.

! Wonderful examples of Serbian crafts displayed by Dr. Stanley at Auckland last Aveek included the full bridal robes for a bride and her bridegroom 's dress. The bride's dress was a very wid'e divided skirt made of gorgeous' scarlet satin loaded with heavy .gold embroidery, richer than that worn by the admirals of the British Navy. The wajstc.oat was stiff with gold thread' embroidery and everything about it was woven, dy'ed and sewn by Hie wearer. The man's dress was of thick white felt cloth decorated with black. The shoes for a luuti were made of a piece of goat skin and lattic/ed over the foot by the fibres of animals. The socks were knitted in Siberian conventional patterns, patterns so fine that tt looked like weaving. Head dresses were shown, of fine hand-woven linen, beautified with delightful designs. A pair of men's stockings'were decorated with designs in beaded roses across the instep. Some of the designs were in cross stitch, some in a running pattern on the flowing S line, and some in small floral embroidery, which looked just as beautiful on both sides. A tobacco pouch a hundred years old, and a porridge bowl made of zinc upon copper, as well as examples of filigree jewellery work, were shown. A splendid-rug, very finely spun and then woven, of wool was coarser than from our sheep, more in the style of goat hair, and the rug was beautiful in deep reds and harmonious colours.

The census papers have been the moans of causing much amusement, and the latest to be heard would take a lot of beating. The form was filled in this way: Married?—Never. Children';! —Hardly any. Occupation? —Makingbig ones into little ones (quarrying), i Nationality?—Pig rooter. Religion*— Calithumpian Bush Baptist. Salary?— None of your —business, or 2s an hour if lucky enough to have a boss.^ An unsual sight was seen at Lyttelton last week, being the funeral of a Lascar member of the crow of the steamer Sussex who died while the vessel was on her way there from Wellington. As the coffin left the ship the deceased man's messmates sang a chant of mystic meaning, its significance I known only to themselves. The funeral procession then proceeded to the cemetery, where one of the .crew, conduct-' cd'the funeral service, according to Mohammedan . custom, . including the singing of dirges and the performance of many symbolic gestures. ,