Shannon News FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 1927.

Shannon News, 24 June 1927, Page 2

Shannon News FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 1927.

On Wednesday the Manawatu river was bank high, resulting in a large quantity of water covering the locality preparations are being made for the erection of the new bridge, thus causing the suspension of operations for a day or two.

On Tuesday before Mr. E. J. S. Spencer, J.P., John Kinky charged with being drunk and disorderly was fined £2, in default seven days' imprisonment; and Peter Q'Loughlan who was charged with drunkenness was fined £l'.

Mr A. T. White, headmaster at the local school, has been confined to his bed during the week owing-to sickness. During Mr White's absence from the school Mr A. 11. Morgan is acting headmaster, while Mr Lamison, of Wellington, is relieving teacher.

Bcfdre commencing the choral practice last night, Mr A. Morgan moved a_ : vote of sympathy to Mr Hubert Gardiner, a former member of the Society, in the loss of his brother at Mangahao. The President also asked the secretary to convey this motion of sympathy to the parents in England, Mr and Mrs W. Gardiner. The' motion was carried in silence. - -

Before Mr. J. L. Stout, S.M., at Palmerston North, a commercial traveller from Wellington, named Stanilaus John Whiteford, was charged that he did drive a motor vehicle around the intersection of Plimmer Terrace and Ballaneo Streets, Shannon, at a speed gerous to the public. Defendant, who. did not appear, was convicted and fined £5 with costs 10/-.

While motoring from Palmerston to Shannon on Tuesday evening, and when near the.factory at Tokomaru, Mr. G. Mitchell's car.collided with a three-seat-er car occupied by some young ladies, which was proeeding from the side road at this point on to the main road. Fortunately the occupants of both cars escaped injury. Mr Mitchell's car, being the lighter of the two, suffered most, the wind screen and radiator being damaged, also the steering gear. The other car escaped with minor damage .

The committee of the Football Stall in connection with the Shannon Athle tic Club's carnival will hold a dance in the Parish Hall on Saturday evening. Valuable prizes will be awarded for the best hard-up dress. The music will be supplied by Mrs Butler's orchestra. As the admission charge is within,the reach of all and the object of the dance is to raise funds to carry out improvements at the Domain, there should be a largo attendance.

The enthusiasm of the Choral Society was shown last night, which was very wet, by the large number that turned up for the first practice of "Mcrrio England." They tackled the difficult work in good style. The last concert showed a credit balance and the society has a fund now in hand that will enable them to import soloists for "Merrie England." Arrangements were made for the visit of the Society to Mangahao next Wednesday. It was decided to hold the practice next week on Tuesday, instead of Thursday, when Mr Lamison will be the soloist at the interval.

Since 1906 the honorarium of the Mayor of Christchurch has been £4OO per annum. The City Council decided on Monday night that it should 'bo increased to £SOO.

A mouth-organ band has been formed at Timaru. The movement has the support of the Timaru Competitions Society, and Mr 11. W. Osborne, well-known band conductor, has been offered the conductorship of the new body.

The ratepayers of the.Tamaki Road District, adjoining Onehunga, have decided by poll to join the city of Auckland, the voting being: In favour, 894; agr.inst, 206. A Takapuna ratepayers' poll favoured rating on unimproved values by 1258 to 412.

A letter to a Wanganui retailer has just been received frorjn Czeeho'-Slo-vakia, addressed as follows: "Wonkui, Australasian Commonwealth, North Island." With such an obscure address the finding of the person for whom the letter was intended is remarkable.

A teacher asked her class to .write an essay on Louden. She was surprised to read the following attempt: "The people of London are noted for their stupidity." The young author was asked how he got the idea. "Please miss," he said, "it says in the text book that rhe population of London ia very toe -" ' /.^AiiJHK

"Are you in favour of closing hotel bars at the hours- when other business premises close?" was a question asked of Mr J. A. Young, Minister of Health, at Hamilton, the other njight. The Minister'replied that he saw no reason why hotel bars should not close at the same hours as other businesses. A voice: And have a late night on Fridays. (Laughter).

A well-known official of the P. and t/ Department in Christchurch was iiidtly aroused from his slumbers by the ringing of the telephone. After bruising his knee on aehair, lie reached the. phone. «< Hello,'' he growled./ < Are vou an official of the P. and 1. Depaitment?" asked the voice. "Yes what can I do for you?" "Tell me,' said the voice, "how it feels to get out of bed at two o'clock on a frostv morning to answer a wrong number.

The Stewart Island correspondent of the Southland News states that, when landing Mr Adam Adamson at his new ambergris camp at Doughboy Bay, Mr George Bragg picked up a bottle containing papers drafted by the Brisbane Weather Bureau, and signed by Clement L Wragge, to indicate the direction of ocean current. The bottle was thrown overboard from the s.s. Waihora by Captain Neville on June 2Z, 1895, near the Hobart coast.

The Manawatu School Committee s Association discussed the question of married women teachers in the schools and passed a resolution that the Education Deppartment be recommended that legislation be introduced providing for the ca;:>lovmont of married women only in ciibea where their husbands are unable to support them. A resolution supporting Mr Isitt's Bill providing for the introduction of religious exorcises in primary schools was carried—Palmerstcn telegram.

"I think we might inquire into the question of bringing down the commer_ cial charges both for illuminating and advertising purposes," said Mr C. Blenkhorn, at the meeting of the Horowhenua Power Board, to-day. The Chairman (Mr G. A. Monk) said that the Board would have to consider both commercial and community lighting; the engineer (Mr J. A. Smith) was preparing information on the subject now, and the Board would have something to discuss in the near future.

'' Have you received any complaint that the shops in Levin are not getting a bright enough light?" aaked Mr A. J. Petherick of the Horowhenua Power Board's engineer (Mr J. A. Smith), at the monthly meeting of the Board today. Mr Smith replied that he had" not received a>iy such complaint lately. Some time back there had been a complaint about the quality of the light in one part of Oxford Street, and certain alterations were made. No comolaints had been received for a long time now. Mr C. Blenkhorn remarked, amidst laughter, that as a new member he had not had any complaints brought under his notice by consumers.

The wealth and variety of ferns is a notable feature of the vegetation on the Waiopelr.i track and trampei-3 during the week-end were enquiring'as to the number of different species. ■ The answer is supplied by Mr V. C. Davies, managing director of Messrs Duncan and Davies, the well-known native plant specialists, of New Plymouth. •'New Zealand," said Mr Davies, in a lecture at Wanganui, is famed alt over the world for its beautiful ferns, and has adopted the fern-leaf as its national emblem. In this small country we have no less than 134 species, with an additional 30 varieties, a total of 164, of which 44 species and 16 varieties are found only in New Zealand."

A southern business man, who visited Willowbridge recently, was shown a 20acro crop of potatoes. Last year the yield was 18 tons to the acre, but this year it was only four tons to the acre. Some potato diggers in that district expressed the opinion that a block_ of 70 acres on which they were working would yield under four tens an acre (says' the Oamaru Mail). Jt has beenascertained, that these conditions are not peculiar to Willowbridge this season. In Kakanui and other parts the crops have also been light. One Oamaru man, who handles a large quantity of potatoes, says that it will surprise him if North Otago exports over 200 tons of tablo potatoes this season. The price of the tubers, he considers, must soon show a big advance.

j A meeting of creditors is scarcely the place where the display of much sentiment would be expected, but recently in Auckland it was manifest tjiat memories of mother remain strong with oven hard-headed business men. The Official Assignee had remarked that the bankrupt was a single man, and should therefore, be prepared to try to liqui-, "(Jate his deficiency, whereupon a gen' tleman pressnt said: "He may be single, but he has supported his mother. I happen to know that he has been a veiy good boy to her." That virtually ended the meeting. There was a moment's silence," and then the petitioning creditor said: "If lie has been a good •joii to his mother that is enough for me. I move the discharge of the bankrupt be facilitated.'' There was no dissent.

Two skulls peered through the dust as the first man broke his way through th ceiling of an old building next to the Bank of Australasia, in Auckland, when it was being pulled down to clear the site for a new structure. Skeletons haye- been unearthed in ■Queen Street excavations, but no wrecker is quite prepared to encounter human skulls beneath the roofs. Thoughts of a mysterious crime crossed the mind of the man as he crawled in to investigate, but the absence of bones and the pres-\ ence of,an old apothecary's scales and other paraphernalia of a laboratory y at once explained all. .The skulls were simply the discarded, dunnage, of a chemist's shop. The incident may serve the purpose of a moralist, and it will lose nothing from the fact that one of the skulls contained the ne*t of n mouse. Indeed, man in his time plays many parts.

At Wellington on Saturday three players in a hockey match fainted owing to the cold, one of thorn being in a state of collapse for a considerable lime.

New workshops at rhe Jubilee Institute for the Blind, at Auckland, built and equipped at a cost of £15,000, were officially opened on Saturday afternoon bv Sir Edwin Mitehelson.

A Departmental inquiry into the derailment of the.waggons attached to a poods train near Port Chalmers on Saturday has opened at Dunedin before Mill. P. West, District Traffic Manager, Mr C. M. Benzoni, District Engineer, and Mr A. L. Piper, Assistant Locomotive Engineer at Christchurch.

Magpies are being olcetroci.ted by the dozen at Kakaramea. This tragic condition of affairs among the feathered tribe was drawn attention to on Thursday, by a letter to the Wanga-nui-Rangitikei Electric Power Board, from Mr G. V. Pearve. Mr Pearce said that two wires placed close togeth- j er near his gate were proving a trap to the magpies. As the birds did a great deal of good by eating grubs on his farm, he would like the Board to attend to the matter. In Australia magpies were protected and there was a minimum fine of £5." The resident engineer (Mr H. Webb) said that at this point the earth guards were close helow the electric wires. The unsuspecting birds alighted on the guards, wiped their beaks on the wires and then departed this life. It was sugi jested that the guards be lowered, but The engineer pointed out that if fixed further down, a power line, in the event of it falling, would strike the telephone wire before it struck the guard with the result that half the people in the countryside might be killed. Members thought Mr Pearce would be satisfied with this explanation. Apparently tho only thing to do was to shorten rhe bird's beaks, or erect a "Warning to Magpies."—Chronicle.

Early in its career the Brisbane City Council appointed an official rat-killer at a salary of £6OO, and great was the protest which arose. The "killer," however, justified his appointment, but did not hold to his job long. There were other and still more lucrative attractions. He turned his attention to the destruction of flying foxes, crows, sparrows, starlings and their eggs, with such excellent effect that he drew in bonuses in one recent month from the Brisbane and East Moreton Pests Destruction Board no less a sum than £550 Flying foxes provided his principal source of wealth. He erected special batteries of artillery for their destruction, and had to enter into a bond of £IOO as a guarantee that he would do no damage. to property. The bond is now to be returned to him, as he has completed his work not. enly effectively, but harmlessly—except to the flying foxes. There are, however, others in addition to the council's late official "killer" in the pest destruction game. The Pests Destruction Board, aforementioned, have paid out during the past three months, a sum of £2lOl in bonuses for the destruction of. 4186 crows, 16,807 sparrows, 2149 scrub magpies, 24,252 starlings, 273 starlings' eggs, 84,252 flying foxes, and 7934 spariows' eggs.