Shannon News FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1926.

Shannon News, 8 October 1926, Page 2

Shannon News FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1926.

The fortnightly dance in thq,-Parish Hall on Tuesday evening was avcll attended and proved most enjoyable. A cylinder waltz competition was whi by Miss M. War man and Mr A. Merwood. . . • '

As a‘ result of the heavy rain over the week-end the Shannon-Fox ton. road was again under water. On Monday morning there was a good deal of surface Avater on {he loAv-lying porticos of the Borough.

The plain and fancy dross dance arranged by the Yen. ‘Bede’s \ estry to be held in the Parish Hall this Evening promises to be well patronise l, judging by the interest aroused the young folk. Prizes are offered for the most original costumes and the Shannon candidates for the beauty competition will be present.

An unfortunate mishap occurred at the Shannon School during the week, when a lad named Burling,-in sliding down one-of the supporting poles of the trapeze, struck himself on one of the bdlts, inflicting a se\ r ere tvound on the groin. He received medical attention at once, it being found necessary to insert eight stitches.

Splendid results are' being obtained by King Neutrodyne Avireless receivers throughout the Dominion. So great has been the demand that the first shipment has all been sold. Intending purchasers are asked not to go by hearsay, but to listen-in for themselves. The King 5-valve RliOO without the cabinet absolutely the same as £25 machines. The local agents W. H. Gunning and Co., Ltd., Avill be pleased to give a demonstration. . ‘

Between one and two a.m. on Sunday morning Constable Shannon arrested a deserter from the Wcraroa Training*'Farm from off a goods train at the Shannon railway station. The youth ! made his escape from the farm on Tuesday last, making his way to Wellington, where he is alleged to have stolen a bicycle and committed other thefts. When arrested he stated that lie was making for Auckland. The youth, whose name is Joseph tTohn Patterson, appeared on Monday morning before Mr E. J. S. Silencer, J.P., and was charged with the theft at Wellington of a bicycle valued at £lO. He remanded to appear at Wellington where probably other charges will be preferred against him.

A meeting of the Chamber of Commerce was held last evening. The president (Mr A. E, Hyde) -presiding. After transacting routine business the question of having published a tourist booklet of Shannon was discussed. It was resolved that a canvass be made for support towards the cost of same and if sufficient, inducements offer, the publishing of the booklet be proceeded with immediately. In respect to the question of holding of a social evening, to w-hicli members and their lady Mends of neighbouring Chambers are invited, it was resolved that the date for holding same he liked at the next monthly meeting.

The party of Shannon bowlers and croquet players who journeyed to Foxton for the opening of the bowling season there, had an unpleasant, experience on the return journey by being detained for nearly two hours' at the punt, owing to the Shannon Dairy Co.’s big lorry blocking the approach to* the punt on the Shannon side. It appears that as the lorry was being driven on to the punt the back wheels evidently skidded and with the front wheels on the punt, the rear wheels became embedded in the silt, it being impossible for the lorry to move one way or the other. After blocking jkyaflic from 3 p.m. till G. 45 p.m. the lorry was eventually, by the aid of block and tackle and the assistance of a couple of motor lorries, towed put, much to the relief of all concerned,’ v -

Thev’re different in flavour, in appearance, in every way, from any other biscuit. To taste them is a great adventure—Milderson’s Jam , Tit Bit Biscuits I/d per lb. from Aiteheson and Son.*

Nurse Banks, avlio is relieving at Mangaliao pending Nurse Wallace taking up her duties at District Nurse, arrived at Mangaliao on Wednesday. She will be the guest of Mrs Hutton for a few days, prior to occupying the nurse’s quarters.

Mr Walden, avlio lias been a member of the Shannon post office staff during the past twelve months, has been transferred.to Wellington, where he will take up the duties of relieving cadet. He has been succeeded at Shannon by Mr A. E. Lockett, late of Tolago Bay.

A very pleasant little function took place at the Shannon School on Thursday afternoon, when Miss Gordon, the very popular teacher in the infant department, was the recipient of various tokens of esteem from the pupils and staff of the school, on her departure for Pukehoii, Hawke’s Bay. The headteacher (Mr White), on behalf of the pupils and staff, alluded to the work Miss Gordon had carried out in the Shannon School, and then asked her to accept various handsome gifts in remembrance of the time spent at Shannon, the children of Miss Gordon’s class giving three hearty cheers for their departing teacher. Miss Gordon was then entertained by the staff at afternoon tea.

A review of Levin’s vital Statistics for the past three months, compared with a similar period in 1925, shows that there has been an equal increase in births and deaths. Thus there were 7 deaths in the June-September, 1925 quarter and 11 deaths during the second quarter of this year, while the numbers of births in the respective quarters were 18 and 22. There were three marriages in the quarter just past, and four in the, 1925 period.

Four Ouehunga firebrigadesmen met' with a peculiar accident while attending a tire at Epsom (states the Auckland Star). A jet of. water, struck an electric wire, and the current travelled down the conduit which the superintendent accidentally caught hold of. He was knocked on top of the foreman, the pair bringing down two firemen in their fall. One man sustained a cut hand from a sheet of iron, otherwise no injuries'were reported, but all suffered from shock.

The Palmerston North Borough Council has of late established a reputation for brevity ill the transaction of business at its fortnightly meetings, and that last evening occupied 0n1y.29 minutes, being the shortest oh record for a number of yearsj. It was humorously remarked iu the cloak lobby afterwards that, perhaps, the short duration of"the meeting was-partly accounted for by the fact that there was only one occupant of the public gallery—a representative of the. Hokowhitu Ratepay ers ’ Association.—Standard.

A curious fact about the wonders of radio was illustrated to a Daily Telegraph pressman by an ardent Napier disciple of listening-in. Quite calmly and logically he asserted that a Napier listener in to a speech broadcasted in, say, Melbourne, would hear the voice before a person seated in the back of the hall in which the speech was being delivered. Anybody could prove it, he said, by working out the distance, taking the speed of 'electric waves at 186,000 miles per second and the speed of sound waves at 1000 ft per second.

When- the Ovens Valley, Australia, was swarming with Chinese fossiekers, and before the railway was through to Bright, all prisoners "had to be taken to Beechworth to serve their sentences. Once, when a Chinese was being escorted through on a charge of gold stealing, the coach-driver and the policeman got off at Myrtleford for a spot. On their return the prisoner had gone. Not worrying they continued on their way, until at Stony Creek they- sighted another Celestial. Despite many “ Whatfors?’? he was bundled into the coach and taken along in place of his brother heathen, for whom he did his term.

An amusing story is told of an incident which occurred in Wellington. At a party in a house adjoining the railway line the decorations included a bright red lamp in the supper room. While the' party was at its height the merrymakers were surprised \>y a railwayman who asked that the' red light should be removed. It appeared that three or four trains from the south had refused to pass the light, for it seemed to be in the middle of the line, as the house was situated at a bend. In consequence the whole of the traffic from that direction was disorganised until the “danger” signal was removed.

A hint that the whole educational system of. New Zealand might be examined was given by the Minister of Education (Hon. B. A. Wright) to the Canterbury Education Board. Mr Wright said it was inevitable that the amount of expenditure should be curtailed. It would be quite easy to spend half the revenue of New Zealand on Education, but everyone would agree that New Zealand was not doing badly. During the time he had been in Christchurch, he could see that im provements could be made. The Government had to face the position by a thorough examination of the whole position in order to see that one phase of education was not being given too much attention.

At the last meeting of the Manavvatm County Council the traffic inspector exhibited the ioadometers, or lorry weighing machines, that the council had recently obtained to enforce the weight regulations in regard to ■ heavy lorries, These machines, costing about £l5O, are small in size but are extremely powerful, weighing loads up to 20 tons in weight. The method of procedure in regard tp their use is that the inspector, who has the authority to stop any lorry that he thinks is loaded above the maximum weight allowed, namely 10 tons, .places a machine under each of the front and baejk Wheels separately, and if the total weight exceeds the regulations the lorry owner is liable to prosecution.

< ‘ There are people who need a new parson every two years to keep them keen.”—The Rev. E. Lees, Vicar of Brentwood, Essex, in his parish magazine. v

“I have 30,000 soldier files alone in my Department, and I’ll bacn the soldier settler to .write letters with the best men in the country, ’ ’ stated the Hon. A. D. McLeod at the soldiers’ reunion at Masterton last week. •.

The first Californian grapes to be received in Christchurch for over three years arrived last week, when a shipment of 285 kegs was unloaded. They came on the Tahiti from San Francisco. Californian grapes have been prohibited iu New- Zealand for three years, but recent!v-'-the embargo was lifted.

' “And then)she started to learn jazzing,” complained a middle-aged husband defending an application for maintenance at the Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. She 'said she was going to a fancy dress dance and I thought she might have asked me to go with her.” “Do you jazz?” asked Mr. Orr Walker, S.M. “No,” replied the.witness, “but I thought it was my placo to go with her if she wanted an evening. She said she could quite well look after herself.” (Laughter).

A reporter, homeward bound at ablate hour the other night, glanced enviously at the “billy” of hot tea handed to the driver of the tram by a thoughtful better-half says the “Daily Telegraph.” "I wouldn’t mind attentions like that myself,” wistfully remarked the . tired pressman. “Don’t-you worry,” came the response, “this isn’t a general rule. It happens to be pay-night and the ‘missus’, is coming the soft-soap touch.’ ’ .

“Rats are everywhere in Wellington,” says a city inspector. “You can see evidence of the mtliroughOut the shopping area, one sign being the sink : mg down and breaking up of footpath flags as a result of the rats burrowing underneath and taking away the support. ” “During ’the last plague scare, ’ ’ said another, ‘ ‘ I was a member of the rat gang. In one butcher’s shop, we got 96 in a quarter of an hour and the second night a kerosene tin full.”

West Australia’s Education Department possesses probably the finest cor-, respondence school in the Common-' wealth. Comprising a teaching staff of a headmaster and twenty-two teachers, it caters for the education of over 2000 scholars. The facilities for learning in this department are extended only to those children who are beyond the reach of the various bush 'schools, and include all classes of -primary learning up to the junior University standard. The rapid'growth of the system can be gauged from the fact that the number of its scholars on the rollsi seven years ago numbered only 54.

Fifteen thousand trout eggs ■ from New Zealand arrived at Southampton recently and were dispatched by traiu for Scotland, to be put into the rivers at Howliestoun, near Stirling. Three years ago a similar number of eggs were sent from Scotland to the Dunedin Acclimatisation Society for testing. These fish grew to an enormous size, so eggs from these big fish have been sent to Scotland in the hope that the size of the fish in the original borne waters may be increased. The eggs were contained in fourteen trays, and during the voyage ice water dripped on to them at a low temperature.

In the Martinborough Magistrate’s Court recently T. Richards, charged with committing an assault by. stonethrowing, on Malcolm McLeod am 1 William Lewis, was fined £5 on each charge and costs, and Sam Kingi, charged with aiding and abetting and also with negligently driving a motor cur was lined £lO. From the evidence Reappeared that Kingi was working on the lawn at his house and some one in a passing car called out “Hey, Fatty Arbuckle, ” Kingi and his brother-in-law Richards, gave chase in the former’s car, and stones were thrown with more or less damaging results at plain .tiffs..

One of New Zealand’s most interesting criminals .was a faddist who spent a whole lot of his time at the Point Halswell Prison, when that penetentiary was a.general prison, and had two peculiarities. One was that all his boots and slippers were specially made for him”, and at the expiration of every term were placed in safe keeping awaiting his return. His other fad was that he always wanted to work about the prison kitchen. In this he was allowed to have his way also, because he was an excellent man for the job. Everything was in apple pie order when he left, but when he returned he w r as always disgusted with the way his tins were disarrange,cl. “A man’s not out of the place five minutes before they turn the outfit upside down,” he invariably protested.

Some people are luckier than others says the “Otago Daily Times,” and a man who motored along- Cumberland Street the other evening must be counted among the lucky ones. As most people know- a big main sewer is being laid at a great depth in Hanover Street just now r , and work is going on at the intersection of Castle Street. All traffic ’s blocked there' with the exception of tram traffic, the rails for wdiick are temporarily supported over a yawning chasm. The motorist in question keeping straight on the tram rails drove gaily past qll tjie big warning notices, past the red lights at the street intersection, and across the excavation. When he\ wap just across ho suddenly saiy what he had done, and realised what would have happened had the car for a moment left the rails; and it is said that he was sp qnnervod by the shock that lie is now taking a little spell from motor driving. Other motorists will be well atlvised not to emulate Ms feat. . 6 AVl!?**

Some husbands have a queer notion as to what a wife can keep a house on. At Auckland* (says the “Star”) p. man offered 30s per.week for the maintenance of his wife and three children. The Court soon convinced him that the half and half principle should be applied.

Since the Dargaville school pupils have taken on saving their pennies under the new saving bank scheme 116 new accounts, have been ope'hed in the local post office savings bank.

A meeting of the Cambridge Dairy Company, attended by about 60 supplier's, has decided to link up with the North Island Co-operative Pig Marketing and Exporting Association, whose headquarters are at Feilding.

The din of motor exhausts in Wellington is to be stopped. \The City Council has adopted a by-law prohibiting cut-outs and making compulsory the effective use of silencers 'on mqtor cycles and motor vehicles. An offer by the Motor Cycle Club to assist in stopping speeding and excessive noises was accepted by the council.

Acting on behalf'-.of Charles Duncan Ingle, Messrs Graham and Reed have issued a writ in the Supreme Court, Palmerston, North, claiming £3OOO alleged damages from Frank Winton Lethbridge, farmer'; of Waituna, for injuries received by plaintiff through being allegedly knocked clown by a car driven by defendant on the Aorangi road, near Feilding, on 31st July last.

At the conference of the Methodist Women’s Missionary. Union Oeiug held in Palmerston North, it was announced that, the headquarters of the Dominion Executive would be in Palmerston N. for the next three years. Nominations ware received for election to the Executive President Mrs H. E. Paeey, retary Mrs T. R. Hoddcr, treasurer Mrs T. M. Paeey. <

Messrs Elliott Bros., of Redhill, North Auckland, have 400 vines ..of passion fruit which are now i,n flower. They had one large vine which grew somewhere near 1000 dozen passion fruit last season. This is the third year for these vines. 1 At The present time the ruling wholesale price is 1/6 dozen, so there must be money in. theie delicacies.

It is a long- tim since there was such a dearth of fat cattle in Hawkes Bay as is being experienced just now (says the Napier Telegraph*). Local butchers are having to go as far ■afield as Wairarapa and Manawatu to fulfil their requirements. ,Cow r beef, especially, is in vtery short supply throughout the southern part of the island.

Two residents of South Canterbury who have just installed wireless sets jhad experiences out of the common (reports the Timaru Herald). The first message one received concerned the destruction, by fire, of his brother’s house at Akaroa, while the first time the other one used his he heard his brother singing in Auckland.

Some idea of the number of girls looking for work in Dunedin at the present time may be gauged from the fact that a drapery firm recently advertised for three hands, .there being nearly 100 applicants. A large number of these were shop assistants with three or four years’ experience (says the Star), and many others were young girls who had not previously been employed.

Apparently there is” money in good sheep dogs. A drover at Christchurch the other day submitted his dogs to auction as he is retiring. The pack were good workers and fairly wellknown, and they Were' keenly competed for by fanners who paid good prices for them. A six-year-old dog made £2l and another one much younger brought £22. An attractive-looking collie bitch was purchased for £ll. The mature dogs brought an average, of £l7, and some six-months-old pups up to £5. Dozens of farmers bid for the dogs.

' A rusty nail extracted with difficulty from a block of wood was worth £lO to C. Taylor, a competitor in the cycling race on Saturday from Hamilton to Auckland. During the journey Taylor’s chain snapped and he could not mend it. A passing motorist offered assistance, and Taylor said that a nail might serve the purpose. After a search t-lie motorist discovered a rusty nail in a piece of wood in his car, and with this nail the chain w r as jojined. Taylor then rode on and gained the second prize, £lO. But for the nail he would probably have had to abandon the race.

In this part. of - the province (says i the Wanganui Chronicle) the mouth of i September is, looked upon as being the l first month of importance in the pro- - duetion of dairy produce, and the fig- 1 • uies available from the Dairy Produce l Grader’s office show a very greatly in- ' creased output wiien compared with " last season. Converting cheese and I butter into butter-fat. equivalent, it is | found that there were 461,5451 b.. of ' fat in 1925, and 616,0501 b. in 1926, an ; increase of 154,0501 b., equal to a rise , of 33 per cent. A factor in this griat- | ifying increase is the receiving, this . year, of produce from a number of fac- , torics w’hich last season did not send their output through the port of Wanganui.