Shannon News FRIDAY, JULY 22, 1927.

Shannon News, 22 July 1927, Page 2

Shannon News FRIDAY, JULY 22, 1927.

The next dance to be held by the People's Picnic Committee will be on Saturday evening, July 30th, in the Parish Hall; when new novelty dances will be introduced.

On Sunday evening next the Rev. J. D. McArthur, of Levin, will preach in the Methodist Church, Shannon, at 7 p.m. The Rev. McArthur is a very acceptable preacher and is the authorised lecturer of the W.E.A. in Levin.

Mr J. Garde Grimsliaw, of Palmerstoi North, teacher of singing and elocution has commenced teaching at the Parisl Hall on Saturdays from ten o'clock There f are vacancies for a number oi pupils.

At the weekly card tourney held by the Committee of the Women’s Institute on Tuesday evening, Mrs Hyde and Mr Allen won the trophies for the most games, the consolation prizes being awarded to Mrs M Taylor and Mr. King.

A pleasant afternoon was spent on Wednesday by the members of the local branch of the Women's Institute, yrhen Mrs Hall, secretary of the Levin branch, gave an exhibition of canework, which proved very interesting, with the result that a number of the ladies present intend taking advantage of the opportunity to learn the work. '

A notiee appearing in this issud states that the Okuku road bridge over the Tokomaru stream will be temporarily closed at an early date for all traffic during the time taken to dismantle and reassemble part of the bridge to permit the dredge to pass. The exact date cannot be given, but the Dredgemaster Avill further notify those who desire this information. ;

Lovers of dancing are notified of the Yen. Bede’s dance to be held in the Parish Hall on Tuesday next. As the. services of Mrs Butler’s orchestra have been secured the music will be of the very best; and as the supper will be in' the hands of the Ladies' Guild a thoroughly enjoyable evening may be looked forward to. Prizes are being given for various competitions.

At t-lie recent Carnival held by the; Shannon Athletic Club the tug-of-war contest betwen Curran Bros, representing Speights, and Baker Bros (Stand-; ard Brewery) has been the means of further augmenting the funds of the Carnival, a cheque for £2 2s having been received by Mr. Jas. Curran at, a donation toward the Club’s fund from the N.Z. Breweries, Ltd.’ (Speight’s branch), Dunedin.

An interesting historical discovery was made recently by Mr J. W. Price. While digging in one of his low-lying paddocks near the Wairau river, near Blenheim, he unearthed at a depth of about three feet, a Maori cache containing 26 stone axes. The axes are in an unfinished condition, and Mr Price is of the opinion that he has discovered an ancient Maori axe-maker’s workshop or else a cache in which the ancient craftsman kept his stock.

“There is one matter which I think the staff ought to be congratulated upon and that is in keeping the expense in connection with the visit of the Duke of York so low,’’ said Cr. Pryde at last meeting of the Feilding Borough Council, when the treasurer’s statement was being discussed. The cost of the visit was shown at £l3 18s lid. “If I remember rightly, it cost us about £3OO when the Prinee of Wales visited Feilding, ” added the speaker. 1 ‘ Great scott, what would it cost us if the King came to see us?’’ exelamed Cr. McCorkindale amidst laughter.

Attention is called by The Medical Officer, which circulates among the British Government and municipal services. to the danger which attends the wearing of “horn/' or “imitation tortoiseshell ’ spectacles of certain cheap makes. It says: “We know of two cases, c-f singed hair and eyebrows and superficial burns; quite sufficient excuse for serious injury from a source where it might not be expected. ” The manager of one of the largest British firms niflking tovtoiscslicll sp©cta.cl*3 fi’cinifis said that the buyer could always make certain he was not getting explosive frames. “If you suspect the framls are celluloid and inflammable, put a drop of methylated spirits on the frame and rub it. If it is dangerous there will immediately be a strong smell of camphor. If the material is non-inflam-mable there will be no smell. “

Brought out to New Zealand in 1358 and used Jn the capture at Lyttelton of Martin Cash, a notorious Australian bush-ranger, an old navy cutlas.s has been presented to the Canterbury Museum by Mr C. P. Butland on behalf of the late Sergeant-Major Rutland. Mr Rutland has also presented an old bayonet. used in the Maori War, and given to his father by a Maori at Rawini.

One of the men working on the road deviation, now in progress at Weka Pass, found an interesting relic, in the form of an old Maori earriug. The earring is made of light greenstone, and is about two inches Tong. Tradition says that tho Ngai-Tahu Tribe, on their return journeys from expeditions to the West Coast in search of greenstone, used to make this spot one of their camping grounds.

“The fire which recently occurred at the Tariki Hotel and which was stated to be probably due to a defective switch was actually caused by an elec trie iron which had been left switched on. ’ ' stated Mr B. H. Goldsmith, resident engineer of the Taranaki Electric Power Board, to an Eltliam Argus reporter Continuing, Mr" Goldsmith explained that with the intention of making a cup of tea, a boarder placed a kettle upon the electric grill and, as he thought, switched the later on. Finding after a few minutes that the water was not heating, he went to bed. As a matter of fact he had switched on the electric iron instead of the grill and it was the overheating of the iron which had caused the fire.

The adoration of sport in the opinion of Ignaz Friedman, the famous pianist is occult militarism. “We all know that to have a good and healthy mind there must be a good and healthy body in which it is housed,” he said to a Wanganui Chronicle reporter, “but sometimes, I think, pieople develop and strengthen the body at the expense of the mind. When I see this adoration of sport, it appears to me a means of providing a fit and healthy army for future wars.” Not ,that New Zealand erred moTe than other countries in this respect, said Mr Friedman. All the world over it was the same—the larger amount of public interest and sympathy was centred on baseball, football or horse-racing

Some legal documents that present an extraordinary appearance after having gone through the ordeal of a fire while locked in a safe have attracted some attention in Dunedin. They were recovered from the safe practically uncharred, the writing on them clear and legible, but the documents not a fourth of their original size, and presenting the appearance of a number of pieces of ivory discoloured with age. Fortunately, while original documents, they are duplicates, says the Otago Daily Times, and would be well worth preservation in the Otago Museum if this were feasible. They are most remarkable instances of the preservation of valuable papers from destruction by fire while at- the same time being so reduced in. size and changed, in colour as to present a very extraordinary appearance.

The heroism of the country nurses and the magnificent "work that they do is not realised in the cities (writes n correspondent to the Auckland Star). Not very far from Auckland there are nurses who'have to do all their travelling on horseback, and on the clay roads the horses have to be shod as often as every three weeks, as the shoes are pulled off by the deep, stiff mud. There was an occasion recently when a country nurse appeared in the city in her country attire.- sou’-wester hat. a Waterproof outfit, leggings, and heavy boors. People looked at her strange garb and wondered. The nurse had brought in an urgent case to a city hospital, and, as time had meant everything, she did not wait to change from a rig-out that is familiar enough just outside some parts of suburban Auckland. •

The abbreviation of the Fifth Commandment in the Communion Office of the Revised Prayer Book does not meet altogether with Dr. Sprott's approval. "One of the most pressing needs,” liesaid, "of our time is the redemption of national life from seeularity aud its inevitable concomitant—materialism, which makes nationalism so great a menace to the world's peace that many people would abolish nationality altogether. I therefore,think it is a pity to weaken any witness to the essential spirituality of national life. For this reason I could have wished that the Fifth Commandhent had not been abbreviated. It is perfectly true that reverence for parents does not insure long life to the individual. But I think it is true (and this is what the Commandment really meant) that the nation which has lost its reverence for rightful authority of which parental authority is the source and natural sypibol, and for its past, to which it is linked by the parental relationship—that such a nation has no future. Its career may be merry, but it will be brief,''

The brighter outlook for the primary industries was referred to by Mr Neil Campbell, in his presidential address to the annual conference of the Dairy Farmers’ Union at Palmerston yesterday. “Although it is of the utmost importance that during the coming season we make even greater efforts and exercise even stricter economy, I have every confidence in the future of the' New Zealand industry. Indeed I feel convinced, and I am sure many of you are of the same opinion, that we have

the worst time behind us and that the outlook for the coming season is much brighter than it has been for a long time. Last year’s increase in production should show us as to what can be done to make up for lower values. But we must give up depending on climatic conditions for increased production. We have commercialised for too long the many advantages nature has given us, and it is by better breeding and feeding that we must endeavour to reach that ultimate goal of the 300 lb. butterfat cow. With, such an average production and a well established export trade in pigs, New Zealand would become the most prosperous country in the world.”

The takings at the Solway showgrounds for the Ranfurly Shield match on Saturday were £1426. It is estimated that the attendance, which included scores who took “fence tickets” or walked in without paying, was in the vicinity of 15,000.

The report of the Health Inspector on conditions in the Horowlienua County during the month of June was presented to the County Council to-day. It showed that there had been a total of five cases of infectious disease, comprising two of scarlet fever at Waikanae, one of erysipelas and one of diphtheria at Te Horo, and one fatal case of tuberculosis. * .

It is marble time in Cambridge and every day groups of children may be observed enjoying the delights.of this age-old school period -game. The popularity of the game in i Cambridge this winter may be gauged from the fact that during the last month one local stationer sold no less than 26,000 of these popular playthings. ...

A mean attempt at a joke was played on a Wanganui girl last week (says the Herald). Her young man was in Christchurch and- someone in the City of the Plains aware of this sent her a telegram stating that he had passed away. The young woman was put to the expense of sending a-telegram to the narents making further inquiries, but was overjoyed later in the day to receive a telegram from the young man wanting to know what .all the fuss was about and liis : death had been grossly exaggerated.

The saloon railway ear which was used by the Duke of York during liis tour of the South Islaifd''ik at present in the Addington for tlfe purpose of being use as the Ministerial Car. The Jarge - lounge 'is being partitioned off‘at!,file kitchen end and a two-berth sleeping* cabin and a secretary’s office will be provided. There will still be a fairly large- lounge at the observation end of the car., When the car is ready for service again, it is expested that the old Ministerial ear which has been in use for many years will be used for other purposes.

The Pukeora Sanatorium, four miles south of Waipukurau, is no conservative institution, and in its efforts to stamp. out disease opens its doors tp all classes and nationalities. . In its commodious and welkke.pt dining-room there sit at one table: an.. Englishman, a -Serbian, two Australians', a South Sea Islander, a Russian, an American, and a New Zealander. . This cosmopolitan collection of races is known in the institution, appropriately enough, as the ‘ ‘ League of Nations, ’ ’ but questions of international moment are debarred from its meal-time debates.

From nine to twelve small cheese factories in the Wairarapa and Hawke’s Bay districts would be going into liquidation within a month or six weeks, said Mr E. W. Garner, secretary of the Lepperton Dairy Company, at the an-, hual meeting (reports the Taranaki News.) An authority who had just returned from those districts, had reported that the bigger co-operative concerns, with their smaller overhead costs, were freezing the little companies out, while the. proprietary factories were creeping in. There were several companies in the same position in Taranaki, too.

Taniwlia, a little soldier settlement 60 miles south of Auckland, and to the east of Te Kauwhata, has (says an exchange) been without a church. It was decided to erect a building of undenominational, character. A site was donated by one resident, and the necessary timber was cut in the bush by voluntary labour. The timber was carted and milled free of cost, and then delivered on the site by voluntary labour. The building is to be erected largely by free labour, as only a couple of carpenters will be employed’. In addition, the Taniwha residents have collected over £SOO.

. The sub-tribes of the Ngati Tuwhax4toa tribe, on theTokaanu side of Lake Taupo, have completed the erection of a sawmilling plant at the Native settlement of Waihi, for the purpose of cutting the large amount of timber grown in the vicinity (reports an exchange). The mill is to be worked oh co-opera-tive lines. There are about 300 shareholders, and the concern is called the Tuharetoa Co-operative Timber Company, Ltd. Electrical power to drive the machinery will be obtained from the Waihi Falls nearby. Preference for employment is being given to the shareholders, and the present staff are all Natives.

Despite the warning issued through the press by the Masterton A. and P. Association scores of people took positions on the top of sheds on the Solway Showgrounds, when the Ranfiirly Shield match was in progress on Saturday afternoon. Twice portions of the roof of one of the sheds on the east side collapsed, precipitating a number of people to the ground and seriously damaging motor cars which had been parked underneath. John Lasky, aged 22, of Wellington, a telegraph linesman, suffered a fractured leg as the result of the collapse of the roof. Lasky was apparently standing beneath the structure or near it. He was a visitor for the match and was admitted to the Masterton Hospital at the conclusion of the game.

A shepherd from Central Otago, who has had experience in, that part of the Dominion for over 40 years, informed an "Otago Daily Times'' reporter that the steady destruction of rabbits is having a marked effect on the regrassing of the land. Speaking with special reference to the work of the Rabbit Boards of benger and Roxburgh East, he said that the strychnine poisoning on methodical lines, as practised by the boards, had removed the pest to such an extent that the pastoral potentialities of the country have returned in a manner that must be satisfactory to the holders of the land. On all hands that fact was there is five times the amount of grass on. the mountainous country to-day that there was only two or, three years ago. The irrigation scheme on the east was also having a beneficial effect,

“I yield to no man in my admiration of.the journalist,” Lord Burnham declared at a London function. “One day he is standing-on'the steps of the throne, the next day he is on the scaffold; one day lie is a welcome visitor in the boudoir of a duchess, the next day he is thrown out of a labour meeting; he is received by the Prime Minister one day and he may find his office door shut against him the. next. The journalist is the scapegoat of . civilisation. ”

“ A well-regulated house has. its front door on the latch,” remarked SeniorSergeant Clarkson, at the annual meeting of the Blenheim Licensing Committee the other clay when mentioning that at times when the police visited, hotels, they found that either the front or the back doors were locked, and they were kept waiting for admission (says the Marlborough Express). The delays were usually sufficient to enable unauthorised persona to escape. “An hotel which has both its back and front doors locked is looked on with suspicion,” he added, “and you usually find trading'being carried on. ’ ’

A romantic promise was fulfilled at the wedding which reeijrtly took place, of Miss Doris Lewis, of Romford, England. Shortly after she was born, Mr W. Baker, a public official, was the first to give her a kiss. »He then promised that in return lie would,'buy her wedding dress. Mi- Baker died 13 years ago, but it was found he had remembered liis promise, and had bequeathed a! sum to .buy the dress. The bride carried out. his wishes, and appeared at the altar in a picturesque Old English dress fashioned in white lace.

A North Auckland farmer, writing to a friend i'ii' Christchurch-says:—hfMr. Coates has lost heavily over his Government’s treament of farmers’ politics, such as agricultural banking, and so on, u;Jiile the downfall of dairy control was :; "’a filthy • thing, and to-day he ‘ Would only have ah even chance at the poll in'liis" own electorate. In this district he had a runaway majority: today he couldn’t poll five votes; and I believe 'the’ same- feeling prevails right through the farming community in the north. Big : interests -have got him strangled so far as small farmers are concerned. ; *

“A father lias the right to choose his child’s religion and everything else, and if his wife does not like the decision she must ask the Court to decide between them, ’ ’ declared Mr May Halkett, the Marylebone magistrate, recentiv. A city merchant stated that he wanted to send liis seven-year-old to a boarding school, but his wife .objected. The Magistrate: You ask for a summons under the Guardianship of Infants Act, but you cannot have it. That is a ridiculous Act and places everything in the womhn’s hands. But you are the sole guardian at present. Send him , to school if you want to; don’t pay any attention to her. if she wants to. challenge your right she can do so under the Act, but at present you-can do as you like. You are master.”

The .wild' pig nuisance is becoming more acute in the back country surrounding Wanganui. Mr. Veiteh, M.P», has made representations to the Hon. O. Havvken, Minister of Agriculture, who states that a bonus of Is per snout will be paid during the current year, on lines similar to the bonus of the previous year. The Department is also experimenting with poison for destroying wild pigs. Experiments were carried out" on these lines last year at an up-river settlement, but with poor results, the pigs showing a high degree of-cunning. * Apparently 'what is required is something in the nature of a tempting bait to lure, them.

A young married woman summoned her husband at West Ham Police Station (England) for assault, and alleged that liq, attacked her because she slapped the baby. Mr St. John Morrow: Why slap a baby? The wife: Because she is continually pulling things off the table, and that must be stopped. The magistrate: Tt is rather drastic to beat a child. I suppose your husband got annoyed Avith'you then? The wife: How would you like a child to pull things off the table? The magistrate: You are'asking an awkward question. If it were marmalade, of course, it might bo unpleasant —but take my advice, give the child a sweet next tim'e. The wife: What! and encourage it? (Laughter). The magistrate: This ease will be adjourned—now, go home, both of you, and don’t be silly.