Shannon News FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 1927.

Shannon News, 12 August 1927, Page 2

Shannon News FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 1927.

Mr Hugh Symons, of the P.W.D. staff at Mangaore, left on Thursday morning for Nelson, where he goes on relief duty.

Since* the beginning of March the Government have placed 3000 unemployed men on special relief work and have made provision for approximately another 1100 men.

Arbor Day will be observed at the local school on Wednesday next, by tree planting, which will take place during the afternoon. Parents are cordially invited to attend.

Good progress is being made with the formation of the new road to the Cemetery; which is being carried out by unemployed labour. Thirteen men are now employed and the Council are well pleased with the results being obtained.

At the Methodist Church on Sunday, instead of the customary order of service, there will be a song service. Wellknown hymns will be sung, and sacreci solos will be given, Levin vocalists assisting.

There was a good attendance on Tuesday evening at the weekly card party which is being conducted by the committee of the Women's Institute. The prize winners were Mrs'C. C. Franks and Mr. C. Pritchard. The competition for the cake was won by Miss M. Butt.

At Miranui last evening a send-off was tendered by the employees of Messrs A. and L. Seifcrt's, Ltd., to. Mr C. Perry, who is severing his connection with the firm, with whom he has been employed for the past three years, having been in charge of the office at Miranui. During the evening Mr Perry was the recipient of a case of pipes and a gold-mounted fountain pen as a token of the high esteem in which he is held by all, these being accompanied by the Lost of wishes for his future.

Under the auspices of. the Mangaore Educational and Debating Society, a social and dance was held in the staff "bach" on Wednesday evening. A very time was spent by all,, the dance music being kindly supplied by Mrs Morgan, Misses D. Spencer, and M. Butler and Mr Harry Blyth. Vocal items were rendered by Messrs K. S. Henry and D. Owen, Mrs Owen being at the piano. M.H. duties were in the capable hands of Mr 11. Symons.

The soloists for "Merrie England," to l>e given by Shannon Choral Society in October, will be as follows: —Bessie Throckmorton (soprano), Mrs Garde Griinshaw; Sir Walter Raleigh (tenoi), Mi' Garde Grimshaw; Karl of Essex (baritone), Mr J. I). Brown, of Levin; Long Tom (bass), Mr F. C. Lcramon, Levin. The controlto partsi will be taken by a lady from Palmerston North or Feilding. It is expected the choir will be augmented by a small orchestra and great progress has been made in the choruses.

The Borough pound is not always .'i good business proposition according to ;t report submitted by the Town Clerk io the Shannon Borough Council on Tuesday evening. Recently a horse was impounded and after being provided with food for some days and then advertised for sale was disposed of for ;~s, after costing the Council a total of .tl 17s Gd, Now the Council have been faced with a further loss of 19s 6d on The sale of a Jersey calf,'which only realised Bs. The Town Clerk informed the Council that if this sort of thing was going to continue the Council's finances for the year would soon be brought to a close. All the same, he said, he felt optimistic enough to say that a valuable animal might yet be impounded and offered for sale, that would realise a good price and thus recuperate the Council's losses. Without discussion the Council- accepted their losses, deciding to trust in providence for the future.

' Following a letter received from Mr J. V. Burns, asking the Council to move in the matter of getting improved postal facilities in Shannon, Cr. Thwaites informed the Council that he had taken the opportunity of placing the suggestions before an Inspector of the .Department, w,ho had visited Shannon last week, when he had stressed the point of a direct mail service between Shannon and Foxton . and the importance of sorting, the South mail on arrival of the nine o'clock train, pointing out that under the present avrungement, whereby the mail is taken on to Palmerston ind brought back by Fitdd's train in the morning, a" person loses a day in replying to any urgent business. The Inspector stated he. would report on the requests to his departmentj but he did not appear to be optimistic in lespect to granting the sorting of the evening mail. The Town Clerk itated he had received no reply from the Department to the letter forwarded to them on the matter. Cr. Curran said they should insist on getting back both services, Cr. Gunning adding that the position to-day was worse than 30 years ago.

The BoAvling Club's crib tourney, held last evening, was well attended, and a pleasant time was spent, the games being keenly contested. The winners were Mrs Merwood and Mr Laurie Eiehardson.

With the £lO received from the Patriotic Society to be used for employment of returned soldiers, the Shannon Beautifying Committee now have two returned (men; employejd in footpath formation in front of the plot in Primmer Terrace.

Arrangements are well in hand for the fancy dress dance to be held in the Parish Hall on Tuesday evening. Already there are rumours of very original and beautiful dresses in the making, and as patrons are asked to wear masks, many will be the guesses as to the owners.

The sight of two starlings flying from a neighbour's letter box carrying a letter between them surprised a resident of Onehunga. Eecovering from his astonishment, he threw a stone at the birds which dropped the envelope. Its contents were not valuable, but the owners of the box remain in doubt as to how much of their correspondence has already been converted into nest building material.

Always of interest to visitors is the lengthy war-canoe, Te Mata-o-Hoturoa, housed in front of-the Wanganui Museum. A visitor was recently interested in the fact that the. canoe, which, was deposited with the museum in 1924 by Mrs E. Hvpango, was over 125 years in age, and lie remarked upon the remarkable state of preservation of the totara timber. Embedded in the craft arc bullets fired at the battle of Puketapu.— Chronicle.

It was intended, if Sir James Carroll had been alive, tp celebrate his 70th birthday at Whakaki on August 2,oth (says the Wairoa Star). At Lady Carroll's request the big gathering will still take place, when the fine life-sized oil painting of the deceased statesman will be formally presented to his widow bv the Wairoa friends of Sir James. The Whakaki Natives are making great preparations for the event, at which it is expected a large number of pakehas and Maoris will attend from all parts of Hawkes Bay and the East Coast.

A Wanganui telegram says:—A loud report like a rifle shot startled a Castlecliff family as they were having tea in another room on Saturday evening. When the head of the house investigat: ed he found the kitchen full of smoke and flying soot. An explosion had occurred' in the fire box of the stove, and the force of it had cracked the top of (he range. A tin kettle had been crumpled and flung on to the floor. It is thought that a small amount of explosive had found its way into the coal.

Census-takers have discovered, far in the mountahs of Northern Japan, a village which was lost from the world. Its 152 inhabitants do not speak modern Japanese. They dress in style of centuries gone by, blacken their teeth, live entirely on fruits and vegetables, and none of them had ever heard of the outside world. Investigators think they have descended from the Heike elan, which was defeated by the warring Gcnji about 700 years ago. Its survivors fled and disappeared into the mountains.

The following is a passage from a modern geography book, printed at Home and used in secondary schools in New Zealand, referring to emigrants to Australia and New Zealand: "The destination of the emigrants is 'the bush,' which is the name given to the inland !>a:ts of the country. Many of them serve on farms for a year and then start farming on their own account. Phey clear the land of the native trees ind bushes, cultivate a portion of the clearing, fence it in and stock it with sheep and cattle."

An employee in Mr Powell's factory at Dargaville had a narrow escape last week from a serious accident. It appears that while bending over the gas engine to attend to a part his apron ■aught in the governor and he was being drawn into the machinery when he uekily managed to turn the gas off and stop the engine: As it was he haß his ipron torn off, also the buttons on his ,v r aist coat. His watch was also badly mashed. The governor was damaged ind the engine will be out of commission for some days until- it is repaired.

"Is there any necessity to continue paying out on three grades of cream, 1 ow that control has been abolished?'' was a question asked at a meeting of dairy farmers at Maungaturotb. "As the law stands, it will be necessary," nusAvered the chairman. "Not a paying proposition," said a voice. "Yes, it is," said the chairman, "because there has been a marked improvement in the quality of the manufactured article all over New Zealand since the differentiation in payments for quality was instituted." He lecommended suppliers to send in a good quality product iiiid so roup the reward of the highest price.

A m:m residing at Te Kopuru (North- ! era Wairoa) has a fox terrier which has I a peculiar penchant for searching for ambergris. After the recent heavy gales the man and dog visited the beach, where the terrier recovered several sections, the total weight being lib 120 z., worth £129 10s. This feat can be vouched for. Were it not for the dog's acute sense of smell the ambergris might wash to and fro in the surf without coming ashore, and would gradually deteriorate. So keen is the terrier's lecognition of the odour that, when pome ambergris was rubbed on a man's handkerchief in Dargaville, the dog. went almost frantic, in its efforts to find out where the scent emanated from.

The Wigram Shield for New Zealand Life-Saving Centres has been awarded this year to Wanganui, with Wellington second, and Canterbury third.

The 1928 Brass Band Contest will be held at Christchurch from February 18 to the 25th. Mr E. Jackson, Bandmaster of the Brisbane Municipal Concert Band, has been appointed adjudicator.

An example of the good results that can be attained by scientific feeding and personal attention to a small herd of cows is provided by a Levin settler, who milks fivce crossbred cows as a sideline. Eor the year ended June 30th, the amount of butter-fat which he supplied to the Levin factory was 22001bs—ari average of 4401bs per cow.

A large number of people attended the C.P.R. dance at Tokomaru last night, although the weather was very wet. Among those present were visitors from Levin, Shannon, and Palmerston North. .. The music was provided by a Levin orchestra, and an extra was kindly played by Mr Dave Nicholls. Mr Perry efficiently carried out the duties of M.C. Tasty refreshments were handed round, and a thoroughly enjoyable gathering came to a- close about 1 a.m.

In common with the other main centres of the Dominion, the Palmerston North branch of the Returned Soldiers' Association has been allocated £3OO by the Canteen Board, which has control of the accumulated funds of the N.Z.E.F., for distribution in. alleviating unemployment among returned men. The association is, however, a controlling centre and the smaller surrounding towns such as Feilding,. Woodville. Levin and Marton will also participate in the distribution. A meeting of the Palmerston North executive will accordingly have to be called to determine the basis of allocation. It is fully expected that the present grant will be but the forerunner of further ones to be directed towards such a laudable object

Mr J. R. Whyte, whose name has been associated with the Foxton Racing Club for many years, has now retired from the Presidency, and at the conclusion of the annual meeting on Monday, the members adjourned to the Club's offices to present him with a token of esteem. Mr W. E. Barber (President) referred to Mr Whyte's long association with the Club, extending over "a period of 40 years. Mr Whyte had filled the offices of stewards, secretary, judge and president, and in all these positions he had carried out his duties conscientiously and by his fairness and approachable manner, had won the esteem not only of club members, but of all associated with the local meeting. He had watched the club develop from obscurity to one of the leading country clubs in the Dominion. His services had been recognised by the club in that he had occupied the highest position that members could confer and was now a life member. He felt sure that Mr Whyte would continue to take an interest in the club. On behalf of the members, he had pleasure in asking their late president to accept a smoker's oak cabinet as a token of esteem (applause). Mr Jewell endorsed the President's remarks. Mr Whyte feelingly acknowledged the kindly remarks of the speakers and thanked, the club for its tangible expression of esteem. Mr Whyte then traced the history of the club and related some amusing reminiscences, after which the recipient's health was drunk with musical honours.