Shannon News FRIDAY, MAY 11, 1928.

Shannon News, 11 May 1928, Page 2

Shannon News FRIDAY, MAY 11, 1928.

Mrs T. King, jun., lias entered a Wellington hospital to undergo an operation.

Mr C. Thomas, stationmaster, who has been on his annual leave, has resumed duty.

Mrs J. T. Bovis and her little daughter are on a visit to relatives at I'atea.

The Buckley Drainage Board at a meeting on Wednesday, morning apportioned the general rate for the ensuing year. Particulars appear in this issue.

Mrs and Miss L. Gordon, who have been staying with the former's daughter, Mrs E. T. Moody, returned to their home in the South Island oh Wednesday.

Among the passengers by the Mamma, which arrived at Wellington from Sydney on Tuesday, was Nurse Norris, the Tlunket nurse for this district, who has been on a holiday visit to Australia. Nurse Norris will resume duty next week. Nurse Humphries, who has been relieving during the former’s absence, goes to the Hunterville district on relief duty.

A : local resident had a rather- trying experience on returning home a few evenings ago. During his absence his wife had heard noises about the house, anticipated burglars at least, and so secured a'big stick. When her husband returned later and gently pushed the door open, he got it on the head. Then his wife fainted. The result of the encounter is that he now wears a patch of sticking plaster.

“Seated on your right hand,” said Mr J. K. Hornblow, when speaking to the Minister of Justice at the Foxton Court House on Tuesday morning, “is Mr Francis Eobinson, our oldest settler, and a son of one of the Pilgrim Fathers of this Dominion. Some 60odd years ago, Mr Eobinson was empanelled as a juryman at an inquest in this building. It was found that Mr Eobinson was ineligible as a juryjman on that occasion as he was not 2k years of age. Mr Eobinson is now 82 years of age, so that will give, sir, an idea of the age of this building of which, probably, your files have no record. ”

On all hands* the shooting season is described as having opened less promisingly than any of its forerunners, and only moderate bags are reported. —Fielding Star.

Owii\g the excessive dry spell during the summer and autumn, feed for dairy cows has become scarce in the Waiuku district, South Auckland, the farmers having to make inroads on the winter reserves. The Government has decided, after an investigation, to give free railage in cases where farmers find difficulty in financing their requirements.

The apathy of wealthy members of the public toward the needs of charity organisations was referred to by the Bev. Jasper Calder at the annual meeting of the Auckland City Mission. “No man should have a memoriam service said for him, and no man should be the subject of complimentary references from the pulpit until his will has been read,” he said. “To my mind it is an appalling thing that so many people leave estates, some running into hundreds of thousands of pounds, without bequeathing a penny to charity.” The City Mission was being optimistically carried on, said Mr Calder, in spite of the fact that the wealthy public seldom helped it, a,nd it had never yet received a legacy.

Several properties have cjlmnged hands in Hunterville lately.

It was 17 years on Saturday since compulsory military training came into force in New Zealand.

A German chemist has invcn cd a fluid which will dissolve anything. It would be interesting to know what he keeps it in.—Punch.

To date, Raugitikei County Council has issued 287 motor drivers' licenses and 55 heavy traffic licenses for the current year.

The head of a Wanganui retail.firm reports that this season there has been an unusual demand for guns and ammunition. The demand was something like that of pre-war times.

The Highland village of Lochgair, Argyllshire, claims that its school is attended by fewer pupils than any other school in Scotland. There are only five names on the register.

A radio message, dated 4th May, received in Wellington from the Ruapehu, bound for Southampton, states that John Bevin, a passenger, died on Thursday.

Tom Heeney attended a charity carnival in aid of a hospital in Brighton, England, early last month and gave an exhibition with Captain Chandler, formerly heavy weight amateur champion of England.

A red-necked sandpiper,, a rare visitor to New Zealand, will be on view in the Christchurch Museum shortly. The bird'was taken from Lake Ellesmere. The sandpiper is a migrant from Siberia and Europe.

The growth of the British film industry is helping the building industry. It is estimated that at least £10,000,000 will be spent during the next 12 months in building new picture houses and improving those already in use.

Pork prices quoted in a cablegram received by Messrs Dalgety and Co., Ltd., from their London house, under date May 3rd, are as follows: —English porkers 80 to lOOlbs, lOd; N.Z. porkers, 80 to 100 lbs, 64 to 6£d; N.Z. porkers, 100 to 120 lbs, 6fd to 6£d.

Although it is quite good money, some of the Auckland shopkeepers have viewed \with deep suspicion the ornamental florin which has been circulated by the Commonwealth Government to commemorate the opening of the new Parliament House at Canberra.

The last grim reminder of the Sydney ferry disaster was removed when the vVreek of the Greyeliffe was blown up by the harbour authorities. It had been beached’near Taronga Park, but failing to obtain a purchaser the Sydney Ferries, Ltd., arranged for the demolition.

Collett and Son, of Dannevirke, have received orders, from the New Zealand Government for the erection of Dutch ovens at the new railway workshops at Addington and at Otahuhu. In addition to destroying all the refuse, the ovens supply the steam required for the shbps. ,

Pedestrians in the Square, at Palmerston North about 7 o’clock last evening stood aghast as a motorist mounted the kerb of the band rotunda enclosure, drove through the hedge and out .again by way of the entrance adjacent the railway line. And he got away without anyone taking his number.

To-morrow will be a big day in London for New Zetalanders —the wool sales, affecting the income of many of our sheep farmers. < Cabled advices are that only 29,000 bales will be available, instead of the .usual 30,000 to 50,000. This shortage in the New Zealand supply is, of course, caused by the heavy selling at the auctions in the Dominion, growers being content to accept the high prices then obtainable. It is considered probable that the) tion in the offerings at London may lead to a slight iiierease over the prices ruling at the March sales.

It is not often farmers will admit that they have had a prosperous year. Such, however, was admitted at a meeting of the Hawkes Bay Farmers’ Union, when Mr G. Priest stated that this had been the best of the past six years for the farming community. Another admission was made by the president, when two resignations from the union were read. He expressed the opinion that the resignations were due to the prosperous year, a prosperous year being the worst thing possible' for the keeping up of interest in the Farmers’ Union.

A young boy’s antics on the river in the vicinity of Aramoho the other morning attracted the attention of pas-sers-by, who for some time thought the lad was in danger. He was playing on & log which had been brought down by the flood, and when it drifted out from the bank lie lost his balance and fell into the water. The lad made several attempts to regain the log, which rolled over and over he attempted to get “aboard. ” the log was carried into the bank by the current, and the boy scrambled ashore looking little the worse for his experience. He did not even appear to be frightened.

Railway traffic has continued active of late and especially so is this the case on the Main Trunk railway, where the express trains have been running to capacity ‘business practically all the time since the Easter rush set in. One such train from Auckland on Saturday morning consisted of fifteen carriages in place of the usual eight, and the passengers numbered nearly 400, whereas at normal periods there are seldom more than 150 aboard. Such heavy loads invariably mean that the trains get behind their schedule in spite of the strenuous efforts of the railway officials.