Shannon News FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 1927.

Shannon News, 25 March 1927, Page 2

Shannon News FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 1927.

It was stated at the Shannon Borough Council meeting that ninety pro peity owners will benefit by the Council’s fire fighting scheme.

The Mayor and councillors on Tuesday evening carried in silence a vote of condolence with Or. Hyde in his bereavement caused by the death of his brother.

A street stall organised by the Ladies’ Guild of Ven. Bede’s Church will be held in Plimmer Terrace on Saturday, April 2nd. Donations of fruit, veg - tables, produce and goods of any description will be gladly received.

When the Ranger’s account'was being passed for payment at' tb : e Shannon Borough Council meeting on Tuesday evening, Cr. Richards asked if the Ranger* always got half the fines. The Mayor, replying in the affirmative, drew from Cr. Richards, the remark that it w-as an inducement for the Ranger to prosecute people. The Mayor: “That is the idea.”

To-morrow the Methodist Church Harvest Thanksgiving sale of goods will be held in the shop lately occupied by Mrs J. S. Spencer, in Ballance street. Those in search of bargains are invitto inspect the goods offered, which include children clothing, fancywork, and produce of all rescriptions. There will be bran tubs loaded with gifts for the little ones, also competitions, etc. Light luncheons will be procurable, also morning and afternoon tea.

The card party held on Wednesday evening in aid of funds for the newly formed Women’s Institute, did not draw a very large attendance, the "rough weather which prevailed, no doubt, preventing many from venturing out. Those present spent an enjoyable evening playing cribbage and euchre, at the conclusion of which supper was lianded around. The following were the prizewinners:—Crib: Mrs Butler and Mr. Hensman. Euchre: Mrs Merwood and Mr. 11. Tremewan.

'Up till Tuesday evening the Town Clerk of Shannon had received replies from 26 boroughs to the Council’s request for their co-operation in sending a delegate and the member for their district to wait on the Minister of Public Works with a view to obtaining a subsidy towards the cost of constructing main highways through boroughs. They were all in favour of the movement . As more replies are expected it was decided to hold the matter over until next Council meeting.

In reply to the letter forwarded from the Shannon Chamber of Commerce to the local stationmaster, relative to the question of housing accommodation in Shannon, the Secretary of the Railway Board has written to the Secretary of the Chamber, stating that the Department is, at present, concentrating d'n a comprehensive house-building programme in localities where it is considered the housing question is njiost acute and until . this programme has been completed it is not proposed to proceed with the erection of any further Departmental houses at Shannon. It is regretted, therefore, that the Chamber’s request cannot be complied with in the meantime. At the Magistrate’s Court at Palmerston yesterday, reserved judgment was given by the Magistrate in -the case wherein Richard Matthew Lange, of Tokomaru, farmer, proceeded against Thomas Dalzell, of Makerua, fiaxmill manager, claiming the sum of £176 6s as damages for the loss sustained by plaintiff through two dogs, allegedly belonging to defendant, having killed and worried ewes and rams the property of the first-named. His Worship stated that he was satisfied that one of the dogs had had its home at the place of defendant, who was therefore the owner and liable for half the damage caused. The amount of damages claimed was excessive, said His Worship, who assessed the loss at £4B, stating that defendant would have to pay half that sum Costs were allowed amounting to £8 11s.

A salvage corps has been formed at Foxton and the members were sworn in in the presence of the members of the Fire Board and Fire Brigade.

“Let us cut out this incessant eating between meals, this five dr six meals a day business,” said Mr T. A. Hunter, director of dental services, at the opening of the Edendale dental clinic on Saturday. “Digestion is never stopped,” he added. “When are we going to'get back" to sane habits? Go on a railway journey, and you see people tripping out at every, station, hurriedly consuming a scalding cup of tea and sandwiches. Such habits cannot promote good health. ’ ’

The reliability of the modern motorcar was impressed on the occupants of the Taranaki Herald car which travelled on Thursday from New Plymouth to the Pihama racecourse and back. The number of cars on the road numbered hundreds, but in the whole 90 miles only one was seen to be in any trouble, and that only concerned a tyre. No doubt there were sortie other mishaps during the day, but this experience illustrated their comparative rarity.

The latest Gazette contains a new series of regulations dealing with the purchase of the fee simple of land comprised in the leases, under the Land for Settlement Act. These regulations supersede the old regulations that provided machinery for the freeholding of the leasehold lands in question, and bring, all the provisions* into line with those of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1926. which established the new “long deferred payment” tenure.

There is a man in Wellington who is richer by £1 through the visit of H-tM-S. Renown. When discussing the dimensions of the big warship, one man made the assertion that if the Renown could be upended on the stern, the beyv would be higher than Mt Victoria. His companion scouted sucli an idea, and ventured to wager £1 that statement was incorrect. Ho lost. Mt. Victoria is 648 feet in height, whilst the Renown is 796 feet long, so that if the vessel were upended the uppermost part would be 148 feet higher than Mt Victoria. The deception as to height of Mt. Victoria lies in the long slope by which it is approached from- almost any point of the compass.

Describing the efforts made to clear blackberry from the property as a farce, Inspector R. W. Skinner took action in the Woodville Magistrate s Court against W. Powell for failing to take the proper steps to edadicate the weed. The inspector stated that he had .visited defendant's property at Maharahara on three separate occasions, and only perfunctory efforts had been made to check the growth of blackberry. Inspector Rankin stated that no real effort had been mode by defend ant,to get rid of the blackberry. In imposing a fine of £2 with costs 10s, the Magistrate said' that defendant could look to a more severe penalty should he again-come - before the Court on such a charge.; -2*

Interesting developments are folloAVing an incident on the occasion of the visit to Wanganui of the Duke and Duchess of York* During the proceedings, a well-known retired school-mas-ter and member of the Education. Board, Mr J. Ait ken, who controlled the catering arrangements for the big gathering of children, was escorted off the ground by a policeman, allegedly on the grounds that he stood in front of the Duke and Duchess in order to photograph them. Mr Aitken subsequently protested against the treatment he received, and the reply was that he had bten warned by Inspector Till, of Wanganui. Mr Aitken denies this, and noAV states that he intends to bring the matter before-the Minister -of Justice.

Americans are very keen on tomato sauce. An Auckland business man who returned the other day from a visit to the United States said he was glad to be back so that he might be able to get food which was not plastered with sauce. Sometimes I would order a cocktail before dinner, and nine times out of ten it would be topped with a coating of tomato sauce—beastly stuff!’' he said, laughing. “Another peculiarity of the Americans is that they drink iced tea. Some of them have never heard of hot tea, and if an English person asks for it waiters look at him as if he is not quite normal in the mind. On one or two occasions when I ordered hot tea, I was served with a pot full of water, little more than luke-warm, with a tiny bag of tea on a saucer. It was impossible to produce a proper cup of tea in those circumstances, but I couldn’t make the waitress understand Coffee is the national breakfast drink in the States. In a San Francisco hotel one morning I ordered hot tea, md the waitress, a middle-aged woman, said it was the first time in her life she had received such an order.

How wet is the West Coast? was a question tha“t cropped up in the Arbitration Court at Christchurch..; Mr. E. C. Sutcliffe, who was appearing as advocate in a ease, quoted figures from the latest Year Book to show that there was no reason why outside work on the West Coast should be held- up on account of rain to a greater extent than in some other parts of the Dominion. He said that the figures showed that during the year there were 207 wet days in Invercargill, and that Hokitika also had the same number. His Honour Mr. Justice -Frazer: . That is surely-a libel on Invercargill. I understood that of recent years they had been having drought conditions down there. His Honour added that the figures quoted by Mr. Sutcliffe were not wholly reliable. These figures gave the days on which rain fell, with no reference to the amount which fell on ea.-l* day. The trouble on the West Coast was that when it started ,to rain it meant business. It was not a matter of scattered showers. When rain set -iii it rained the whole day. Mr. Sutcliffe: I have heard it said that it is so wet on the West Coast that children over there are born web-footed. On >the two occasions that I have beeu over there, there has been'beautiful sun shin®.

‘‘l’m very much impressed with the farmers of New Zealand—they can turn their hand to anything, ’ ’ said Mr R. R. Wood, of England. “At Home we have ploughmen, hedgers and other classes of farm workers. If you asked a hedger to take hold of a horse he would make, no hand of it at all, and if you asked the man who followed the team to milk u cow, I think he Avould fall dead on the spot.”

Women are not aware of it, of course, but it sometimes happens that at gath erings strictly for men stories are told that might fairly be described as “not for publication.” A'.new, danger at tending this practice was amusingly illustrated at a big men’s meeting in Christchurch last week. A gentleman highly esteemed in military circles had just convulsed the gathering with one of his rudest when someone coolly informed him that the whole proceedings weie being broadcasted. There was redoubled laughter this time at the speaker’s expense, but a hurried investigation revealed that the equipment had not been connected ur> at the time. Tim morals, of the children waiting innocently for their bedtime story and the reputation of the speaker had been saved, but it was a narrow escape. A very close and careful .watch" was kept on the broadcasting operal or for tlu-, remainder of the evening.