Shannon News TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1926.

Shannon News, 24 August 1926, Page 2

Shannon News TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1926.

It is stated by a Moutoa settler that it; is five weeks since the punt has been in operation' over the Manawatu river at Shannon.

Mr C. Gronquest, who .underwent an operation in a Palmerston North Hospital, has returned home. He is making good progress.

At an early hour yesterday morning the death occurred of the eleven months/ old son of Mr and Mrs J. McCloy, of Ballance Street. The little one had been ailing for some time.

On Thursday evening at Mangahao the question “Is Continuance preferable to Prohibition?” will be debated by the Mangahao and Mangaorei Debating Clubs. Messrs Thwaites, ißrann and E:. T. Moody have been asked to act as judges.

Gr. Spencer and the Town Clerk |are. representing the. Borough Council at the conference of repesentativies of local- bodies being held in Palmerston North to-day, to discuss the Manawatu-Oroua River Board’s scheme to strengthen the Manawatu ■river. "

, The ladies’ cominittee of the Methodist Church held a successful Shop. Day on Saturday, the sum of £8 3S Id being raised. The committee express their thanks to the, pulblic for their support and also, to Mr H. Hook for the use of the shop. Mr Pettit won the dinner and Mrs Waring Taylor the table centre.

To facilitate the handling of heavy goods at the Shannon railway yards, the Department has decided to provide a traversing block and tackle to lift weights up. to 15 cwt in the goods shed, also a cart dock. These facilities will be much . appreciated by those who have to handle goods at the local goods shed.

A conference of delegates representing the Palmerston North and Foxton Boroughs, Kairanga and Manawatu Counties, and Manawatu Drainage Board, was held in Palmerston North on Friday, to discuss the question of united action in connection with the opposing of the Manawatu-Oroua River Board’s scheme for controlling the lower reaches of the Manawatu river. The Mayor (Mr F. J. Nathan) presided, and after a lengthy discussion, the services of Mr R. \y. Holmes, engineer, was engaged, and he was instructed to confer with the solicitor representing the local bodies at the forthcoming commission and prepare a. defence, the bodies mentioned sharing the cost.

A copy of a letter forwarded to the Minister of Railways has been received by the stationmaster, Mr C. Thomas, from the Superintendent Engineer of Jas. J. Niven and Co., Ltd., Wellington, expressing his appreciation of the great assistance and courteous treatment extended to him by tiie railway officials at Shannon, Paid menston North and Woodville. The letter states that on the 26th ult, the waiter left Wellington by car for the North via the Manawatu and w r a's held rip by the floods at Shannon. He then decided to rail his car from Shannon to Palmerston North. On arrival at the latter-station he learned that the Gorge, was blocked by slips, so'continued by rail to Woodv.ille. The railway officials at each of the places mentioned did everything possible to expedite the conveyance of his car over these sections not negotiable by road, and in the loading, shunting and unloading of the waggon. The writer stated that one is inclined to kick and growl at railway officials often without very much justification and it therefore gave him the greater pleasure to convey io tile Minister his expression of appreciation of the great assistance, courtesy and consideration extended to him.

'G. Boyle, tailor, Ballance Street, notifies in this issue that lie is not the C. Boyle who was sued for debt in the Magistrate’s Court at Levin, last week. Also that be purchases the necessaries of life, where possible, locally.

Tlie annual meeting of members ol' the Shannon Croquet Club will be held in the Pavilion on Wednesday.

A large crowd gathered at the railway station on Saturday (to ibid the Govternor-Giencral, Sir (Charlie For* gusson, farewell; cheers being given as the train left. In wishing those present good-bye His excellency said he would pay another visit to Shannon, accompanied by Lady Fergusson.

A Foxton resident met with a startling experience the other evening. Being unaware of a leaking gas pipe in one of the rooms of his residence, he went in search of something with a candle. An explosion followed which resulted in tire unfortunate person receiving head injuries. The window of the room. was blown out.

“With an area less than that of the Auckland Province, Denmark has 320 daily newspapers, with a- circulation of 1,100,000 and 750 weekly and monthly technical perodicals,” said Professor Riddet, Professor of Agriculture at Auckland University, in an address to farmers at Matangi. “In fact, the Danes know more about New Zealand than colonials know of it themselves,’’ added the professor.

are 90 entries—a record—for the New Zealand Amateur Boxing Championships to be held in Napier on"the 26th, 27th and 28tli of August. Jim Evaus, of Levin, is to represent Horowhenua and Manawatu in the bantam-weight class. Levin spoilsmen will wish their representative tlie best of luck in his endeavour to bring the title to this district.

The Prisons Rt-j ort says mm crime among the New Zealand born has shown practically no increase in tlie past few years, and in relation to population there has been an actual decrease. It is also noticed in connection with crime registered against New Zealand born, offences against property and minor offences predominate. The statistics again show that the incidence of crime is most heavy -between the ages of 30 and 50 years.

“It is strange that! I, who was here at the birth of our system, of education, should also- be here at its. funeral,” said Sir Robert Stout in the Legislative Council, when predicting the destruction of our educational system .by the introduction of religious exercises into the primary schools. “I warn you, however,” he went oh, “that if you have this Tuner al, do not think the matter will be settled by merely having one bill. There will still be fights and fights till the State recognises that its function is not to teach religion.

A fisherman who for the last 20 years has fished Rotorua's lakes and streams states most emphatically that the fish are not all they were in the past in the lakes, says the Rotorua Chronicle. During the last few days he has walked the waters of the Utuhina, Ngongataha and Waiteti streams from mouth to source. Save in occasional pools and at the extreme headwater, fish are now not to be seen, but in previous years these streams at this season swarmed with trout. He is of opinion that it will be some time before the matter is remedied. Stocking cannot produce results in a year.

A farmer at Dyervjlie, near Martinborough, was recently topping trees near the school when a bough fell on the- electric wires and carried a live wire on to a fence which runs round the school. About twelve of the school children who ride to school had left their saddles on the fence, and at lunch time, as it began to rain, rushed across to take the saddles in out of the wet. The current from the electric wire was running through tire fencing wires, and the children were caught by the current and received shocks. Luckily these were not severe enough to do injury.

A curious case was heard in the Magistrate’s Court at Dunedin when Joseph Patrick Mahoney, an employee in'the Hillside railway workshops, was charged with having been found iby. night without lawful excuse in the engine sheds and manipulating levers* and brakes of an engine. The evidence disclosed that accused had no malicious intent or any desire to interfere with the working of an engine. His excuse was that he desired, as a mechanic, td examine a certain type of engine, and it had been his practice on the West Coast, where he recently lived, to visit the sheds there for the purpose. The magistrate imposed a fine of 40s, in default seven - days’ imprisonment, and stated that drink evidently was the cause of the action.

Mysterious circumstances surround the loss of a herd of pigs at On aero, North Taranaki, on the property of Mir M. Jonas. Early last week he procured a quantity of buttermilk from the dairy factory and divided it into two lots, one lot for the pigs on his part of the farm and the other for those on his mother’s part. Hie was dismayed when later in the day lie found his pigs in a bad way, some indeed being dead. He was not able to arrest Ihe trouble, the consequence being that finally between 50 and 60 pigs were Inst. The Government vetrehiarian- expressed the opinion that arsenic by some means must have got into the buttermilk, for undoubtedly that poison caused the death of the animals. The pigs of Mrs Jonas part of Ihe farm suffered no ill-effects, so it is presumed that the portion of the buttermilk fed to them was free from poisonous substance.

Zealandia Chambers, in Dowling Street, Dunedin, has been purchased hy the Dunedin Savings Rank Trustees for £25,000, a little over £3OO per foot.

The attendance at the Ranfuriy Shiely match between Hawke’s Ray and Wellington at Napier last Saturday totalled 13,742 and the gate receipts amounted to £lslß 4s—easily a record for Napier.

MOst people have a tendency to overfeed. It is astonishing to those from the Old Country to see so much nibbling between meals, common in New Zealand. Children, in particular, should be restricted to three meals a day. You cannot possibly raise healthy children if they are eating every hour or two of the day.— Dr McCredy, Health Officer in an address at Cambridge.

The secretary of the Horowhenua Rugby District Council, Mr J. Casey has received a letter from the Hawkes Bay Union which states that in return for the Bebbington Shield match played about three years ago the Ranfuriy Shield holders will play Hlorowlienua before starting on their Northern tour. The date of the match lias not yet been arranged.

The American craze for giving motor cars names has reached England. Two cars, both of the smart' semiracer aluminium type, were recently seen in Piccadilly with names painted on the outside.. One car was called “Atta Boy,” and was driven by an obviously American young man, but the occupant of “The Nonsuch” was a pretty English-lqoking firl.

A resident of the Pukekohe district went to Auckland to buy, among other things, an electric smoothing iron. He was shown two, one of German make costing 17s 6d, and one of British origin priced at 30s. He purchased the German-made iron, and. after using it for a short time the meter reader came along and was surprised to see how the consumption of electricity had increased. He immediately investigated and found that the German-made iron was consuming three units per hour. A comparison was then made with an iron of English make and it was found that it took an hour and threequarters to consume one unit of electricity, and at 8d a unit housewives would soon decide which was the cheaper and that their, purse, and patriotism could run hand-in-hand.

A reduction of 40 per cent, in railway freight on all fertilisers will come into force on August 30th. In announcing this to the House of Representatives, the Minister for Railways stated that it applied to truck lots, and that the. deduction would be 25 per cent, foir lesser quantities over one ton. The cost of the concession will be boime by the Agricultural Department to the extent of two-thirds, the remaining portion being carried by the railway, revenue. It was explained by Mr Coates that in view of this concession and the important bearing on production of a. supply of cheap fetilisers, the Government had conferred with all the interests concerned in its manufacture and distribution to. secure their co-operation in reduction of charges. Two conferences had been held, and the manufacturers had agreed to reduce their price by Is 6d per ton, freezing conpanies giving a similar' reduction, while various harbour hoards had made concessions in wharfage. As distributors margins had recently been reduced they were unable to make any further concessions, but all parties agreed to pass on the full benefit of the railway reductions to the farmer.