Shannon News TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1927.

Shannon News, 27 September 1927, Page 2

Shannon News TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1927.

The local cyclist, Mr Ewan Barber, who is in training for cycle racing, rode through from Wellington on Sunday against a howling- gale all the way, making good time.

At the Shannon Police Court a first offending inebriate and an old offender named J. Boyle 'failed to appear to answer charges of drunkenness, with the result that their bail of £1 each was forfeited.

The result of the Tennis Club's competition for the doll, which has been held over for some, time owing to the list of names not being filled, was decided on Friday evening, when Mrs \J. Aim proved to be the winner.

Messrs Nahkies and Chapman, of the clerical staff at the local railway station left yesterday for Marton where they will sit for a'n examination. They are being relieved by Messrs McGregor and Conway.

The following nominations have been received for the. vacant seat on the directorate of the Shannon Co-operative Dairy Co., Ltd.,"caused by the death of the late Mr Brown:—Messrs W. T, Jewell, W. 11. Smith, B. J. Thompson and F. Woods. Voting papers will be posted to each shareholder, who is requested to signify the candidate they wish to vote for by scratching out the names of all condidates not wanted and leaving only the name of the candidate they wish to vote for. Voting papers must be returned to the secretary of the company not later than 5 p.m. on Friday, October 7th.

Building activity involving the lay of £11,019,389 constituted', a New Zealand record for the year 1926-27. ,

It is the intention of the Nelson City Council to plant with native trees the 170 acres recently acquired in the city watershed.

The rearrangements of the railway workshops are' going to mean the loss of 900 men and their families to Christchurch. It is calculated it would involve an annual wages loss of £225,000.

At the Dunedin Police Court, Marshall's Proprietary were charged Avith selling lime water under the standard prescribed in tht Sale of Food 'and Drugs Act and were fined £lO. —Press Association.

At a Wanganui school recently one brilliant pupil replied that "f.0.b." was short for "full of beer." Another was asked what was the name of the "dog star." Instead of saying Sirius, he boldly replied "Kin-tin-tin."

On Saturday no less than 2500 gallons of milk were sent from the Kahui factory to Wellington City, the amount being drawn from 32 suppliers. This is a record for milk taken from the factory to the City in one day.—Otaki Mail.

Many people are careless of the way they affix a postage stamp to a letter. A Gisborne resident received a reprimand on this point from a relative in Melbourne. "Don't fix your stamps on that way," he wrote, calling attention to a stamp placed upside clown on a letter. "That is what people here are doing who are against the monarchy.".

Kcfcrring to the Rugby differences, the Foxton correspondent of the Palmerston Standard says: "The rules of the Manawhenua Union, peculiarly enough, give power to the Horowhenua Council to prevent any such petition for separation reaching the supreme council,, i.e., give portion of the body greater powers than the main body itself. Thus Foxton, now being deprived of the right to place its grievances before the Manawhenua Council, is prevented from leaving the HoroAvhenua Council's district. As a result, a further public meeting will be held at which, in all probability, a resolution will be passed that Foxton players refuse to play for Horowhenua next season, and, being blocked from playing in any other ujnion, play inter-club games among the various teams and, further, that the controlling bodies be approached and requested to prevent the Horowhenua Council from using any grounds under their control for the purpose of playing matches in Foxton. The general opinion expressed locally among players and the public is that '' a horse can be taken to water but it cannot be made to drink." Horowhenua may block Foxton from playing \ elsewhere, but it cannot compel the ] players to play for Horowhenua. It is contended that good football will result locally; the clubs will have the benefit of all gates, and there will be no travelling expenses."

During the four months April-July inclusive, the new mortgages registered in Taranaki totalled. £529,632, while in the same period mortgages to the amount of £523,482 were discharged.

New South. Wales, has experienced one of the most agreeable winters on record. There has been very little rain and plenty of warnn sunshine. One Netw Zealand visitor who returned by the Marania from .Sydney last week, took over his golf clubs, tout ibefore long regretted that he had not taken his tennis racquet instead. He stated that Sydsaey people had foeen playing on,grass courts right through the winter months.

Giving judgment in a breach of promise case at Sydney Mr. Justice James said: "In this age it is difficult to discriminate between the young and the old, because of the mode" of dress of our women. It is hard to find any old ladies at all now!" (Laughter). "It reminds me," he continued, "of the story of the chauffeur who saw a lady as he was driving along. 'Hero's one of those 16-60's," he said. When 'he caught up to the lady he remarked. "I thought so; 16 behind and 60 in front!"

"Very weedy." This (says the Auckland Star) was the opinion of Mr. Hope Gibbons, of Wanganui, on the cattle that he saw during a visit to Samoa. The New Zealander said that the Samoan Here-fords were very small, and killed out at about 4001 b. The meat was sold to the butchers at 4d per lb. and retailed at Is per lb prime or otherwise. He considered that the Samoan cattle were capable of a lot of improvement, but it would not come about until good stock was taken to Western Samoa.

The chairman of the newly formed Flax Planters' Federation when addressing delegates the other day took as an example of the profit's of the industry the case of the old Whitanui Flax Milling Company which over a period of approximately 15 years, paid annual dividend's, the lowest of which was 20 per cent, and the highest over 100 per cent. -■•>. Besides investing in War Bonds in the year that this latter dividend was paid, an amount equal to about 50 per cent of its whole capital and paying war taxation equal to another 50 per cent of its'capital.

One of the most curious and most .interesting natural wonders to be found in Arizona is Montezuma Well. This strange lake is located about the centre of the State in an isolated community. The well itself is some 200 yards across and, as far as it has been possible to determine, is bottomless. The water in the well is absolutely clear and pure. It maintains a certain level all the time, which is unaffected by the dryness or wetness of the season. The walls;'that vise precipitously above these clear waters and reflect themselves in . them were at one time the homes of a populous community, for this is the very centre of what was once the cliffdwellers' stronghold in Arizona, a primitive people in the midst of civilisation.

The loading out of meat in the cold stores of the Waingawa freezing works was completed Monday, and the chambers are now empty. Consequently refrigerating has ceased, and the re : maining staff will 'be occupied! until next month in cleaning out it'h© freezing chambers and ,cold stores preparatory to the works .being handed over by the Wairarapa Frozen Meat ,Compa.ny to the owners. Further reductions, the "Age" understands, w r ere made in the staff at the end of August. It was ascertained, yesterday that the soap works will continue operations at Waingawa until the freezing works are handed over, but whether manufacture will continue after that 'date at Ngahauranga is not yet known.

Some time after a train left Manakau at 3.5 a.m. on Saturday, a motorist noticed that the subway bridge under the line, opposite the dairy factory, was on fire. He gave the alarm to the factory manager, M- Brown, who secured the aid of his neighbours, Mr and Mrs Willis. The party worked strenuously with axes and buckets, and by 5 o'clock the outbreak was extinguished without serious damage to the structure. A portion of the decking had to be chopped away, but traffic was not interfered with. The fire was probably due to hot ashes or cinders falling from the engine, and it was lucky that a ear happened to be passing at such an early hour of the morning, as the chances were that the bridge would have been partly destroyed before the outbreak was noticed.

A Maori who witnessed Wanganui's recent attempt to wrest the Eanfurly Shield from Manawhenua at Palmerston North, told a "Wanganui Herald" reporter how, according to an ancient Maori superstition, the defeat of Wanganui was determined from the start. "In the olden times," he said, "when a Native tribe was preparing for war, the warriors paraded before their chieftain in their full regalia to perform

their haka. If the men marched before their chief in unbroken file, those who were watching were confident of victory; but if, on the other hand, there weue any signs of confusion, and, the line was broken, this was a bad omen and defeat was almost certain." The old Maori said that when the Wanga-

nui and Manawhenua teams took the field at Palmerston North, he felt sure that Wanganui would not win the game because the men straggled on to the field, some walking, some running, while the opposing team marched on in unbroken file. "It's a sure sign," said

he with a chuckle. So it will be seen that some of the Maoris still retain the old beliefs and that some of the old superstitions still survive.

Some handy little pieces of timber or iron work or an inviting heap of metal, | the property of a local foody, is often known to have attracted the attention of a person who sees in the unguarded material an article suitable for some little job they have in hand. That is why a certain percentage of stocks mysteriously vanish and become a dead loss. But there was* one recently, whose action caused him some compunction, as, enclosing 4/11 in stamps, he wrote to the clerk of the Wanganui County Council as follows: "The enclosed stamps are in payment at full value for metal taken for private use i f ro.ni a convenient heap." There was no signature.