Shannon News TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1927.

Shannon News, 29 November 1927, Page 2

Shannon News TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1927.

The competition for** the silk shirt, held by the Shannon Choral Society, was won by Mr. G. Lester, of Levin, wiio guessed 19| yards, the length of tape being 19yds. 9 inches.

A plain and' fancy dress ball will be held on Friday hext. in aid of school funds. The committee are making improvements to the grounds among which will ’be the building of a septic tank, and the proceeds of this function will be used for this, purpose.

Tenders are invited for the Refresh ment Booth rights .at the People Picnic Sports to be held in the Shaii-

non Domain on New Year’s Day. The date of closing of the tenders is Tuesday, December 6th at 8 p.m. with the secretary, Mr. T. C. Thwaites.

The school committee are organising a poultry, drive in aid of their improve--'ment funds. Donations of poultry of any description will be greatly appre-, ciated and can be left at the school on or before Monday next. The poultry will be sent forward to the Wellington market.

A reminder is given of the meeting of members and intending members of the Shannon Labour Party, to be held in the Council Chambers on Thursday evening, at 7.30 p.m., when a candidate will be selected for nomination to represent the Party in this electorate at the next general election.- All sympathisers are invited. 1

Now that the programme is published for the sacred concert to be-given by the Shannon Choral Society on Sunday night next in the Theatre after the church .services, the public can rest assured of a very good concert. The Shannon Choral Society has always given excellent vocal entertainments and combined with the Wellington artists this should prove one of the best'.

Our representative had the unique experience of listening to the Russian station RFV, at Khabarovsk, Siberia, on Saturday evening last by courtesy of Mr Thwaitcs. The station, operating on a wave length of CO metres, was heal'd at good loud-speaker strength. An excellent programme was presented, which included the relaying of presumably a Russian grand opera and orchestral music, the latter coming from the studio. A feature of the programme was the long speeches made j by the announcer, in which he was heard to call London, New York and Berlin. The station is said to be under Communistic control. Mr Tlnvaites was employing a shprt-wave adapter, built by himself, plugged into his sixvalve Page set. This cuts out the R.F. stages, so that the Russian station was brought in on detector and three stages of audio frequency only. Station 2XAF, Schenectady (U.S.A.), was also heard at excellent strength, relaying WGY, New York.

The firm of Howard Andrew Ltd. have been fortunate to land a parcel of silk laces and insertions to match. This line has been very scarce lately and is much inquired for. The firm has it in pretty shades as well.*

The hardship imposed on small Central Otago hospital districts, where many, people suffering from lung disease take up their residence, was discussed by the Dunedin Hospital Board, it being pointed out that, , by the amendment to the Hospital Act making three months' residence a qualification, many people in other parts of the Dominion were treated in the v Waipiata Sanatorium; It was stated that whereas North Island Sanatoria ■ were run by the Government, South Island i ones were conducted by the Boards Press telegram.

A contract for the supply of three super-heated tank locomotives for the Government was signed at Thames yesterday witli the firm of A. and G. Price by Mr G. S. Lyndc, chief mechanical engineer, and Mr N. Ewart,, chief clerk of the engineering branch, who conducted the negotiations, says a Press message from Thames. It is expected that the locomotives will be delivered within the next six months for use on the main lines in New Zealand.

The Government does well out of racing. As a.result of the recent Levin meeting it .will take £1420 in taxation, apart from entertainment tax. The levy is made up of 2| per cent, of the. gate takings, 2J per cent, of the totalizator turnover, a 5 per cent., tax on dividends, 5 per cent, on the stakes, and 2£ per cent, on jockeys’ fees. If there is anything else that could be taxed, the revenue department would doubtless be glad to hear'of it; but it would be hard to find.

In regard to the death of Mr J. W. Poynton, S.M., a Dannevirke resident recalls an incident which occurred on the Grafton Bridge some years ago. While passing the magistrate and his dog on the bridge, a child accompanying his father flinched from the terrier. • Noticing his fear'Mr Poynton, in the middle of a stream of busy tratfic, called the little fellow and his dog, and for the benefit of the former put the latter through a series of tricks, quite, oblivious of the attention lie was' attracting, and then informed the boy that dogs would do him no harm if lie were kind to them. The result subsequently was that every dog that came that lad's way found a friend in him.

The annual report of the, directo-s of Messrs Pyne, Gould, Guinness, Ltd . auctioneers, etc., of -Christchurch, adopted by the shareholders,, said that after the year’s working and makifig provision for various contingencies, there was a .net balance of £15,668. Oui of this sum the following appropriations were recommended:—To land and income tax reserve, £1000; to general reserve (which will then stand at -£30,000), £10,000; declaration of a final dividend on ordinary share capital of 10s per cent., making a total dividend for the year of 5 per cent., £2500; and to carry forward the balance, £2168. -

The prices of dairy produce and vegetables in Sydney, as rbcorded. by. the Daily Telegraph in a recent issue were as follows:—Butter, 2s.ld per eggs, Is lid per dozen; cheese, Is 3d to Is 6d per lb; peas; 6d per lb; beans, 9cl per lb; cabbages, 9d to Is 3d each;-cauli-flowers, Is to Is 6d each; tomatoes, Is to Is 3d per lb; lettuce, 3d to 4d each; carrots, 5d per bunch; parsnips, 6d per bunch.; beetroot., 4cl to 5d per bund:; rhubarb, 4d to 6d per bunch; new potatoes, 4d per lb; potatoes, lid per lb; white turnips, Hd per bunch: cucumbers, 4d to 6 each; celery, 6d to 8d per bunch; brown onions, 14d pec lb; B white onions, 4d per lb.

“Stealing Marlborough’s thunder,” might well be applied to a recent issue of a North Auckland newspaper, and describing itself as the “organ of Progress and Democracy in the Northland” (remarks the "Marlborough Express). It makes a feature of “boosting” North Auckland, and as a part of this campaign publishes a large photograph showing a big harvesting of oats, the presumption, of course, being that the photograph was taken in its own district. Actually it is a Marlborough photograph, in which'five wellknown Blenheim settlers engaged in harvesting operations can be easily recognised. •

I was caught somewhat on the to- | baeco question, " said Mr J. W. Gibson, I in his lecture on Japan, at the Lunch' Club. He stated that in the Island Empire there was a duty of 355 per cent, on tobacco and cigars. Amongsthis luggage on arrival were some cigars, intended for presentation to relatives in England. The Customs official asked him for the duty, to which he replied that he did not smoke. ‘‘You smoke 'em yourself, you-no pay," said the officer. This‘was unwelcome news to a non-smoker, but Mr Gibson pointed out that the luggage was labelled "Southampton," and told the official to lock it and put it in the hold. ‘‘l lost an hour," Mr Gibson remarked, "but I 1 won the day."

| A visitor to Foxton (says the IlerI aid) recently expressed surprise that such a large area-of. land within easy distance of the town was allowed to remain in its natural state. "I have' ! seen much poorer country than this up north converted into good second-class land. You don’t want an aeroplane to top-dress your land and with shelter belts planted I believe you would not know the so-called wastes in ten years. Give a dog d bad name, applies to your so-called sandy country. Get your squatters to cut it up into 200-acre holdings and place it on the market at a reasonable figure—say Government valuation—and see what a difference it would make to your town. Your district is certainly lagging behind other districts in the matter of settlement on country much poorer."

Te Aroha sets something of a record for bazaars, says the Te Aroha News: “For the ; last night of the Catholic Bazaar the actual amount in cash handed over to the treasurer for that night alone was over £7OO. The total takings for the Bazaar amounted to £1450.

An outstanding novelty at the London Dairy Show is a machine for plucking fowls. It makes 604 revolutions a minutes and plucks a bird in 45 seconds by suction, the feathers being drawn into the machine by a fan then gripped and plulled out and are caught in a collecting bag without the possibility of tearing.the flesh.

In the course of his travels in Japan, Mr J. W. Gibson, of Levin, was astonished to come aeress a hostelry called the Otaki Inn. The establishment contained 34 rooms, and the management claimed that it was visited by a. million travellers in a year.

The Gisborne Harbour Board, on the chaman's casting vote, rescinded the resolution passed at the, last meeting to lower.the salary of the engineer and reduce the engineering staff.