Shannon News FRIDAY JUNE 8, 1928.

Shannon News, 8 June 1928, Page 2

Shannon News FRIDAY JUNE 8, 1928.

Mr E. Gunning is at present on a holiday visit to Nelson. '

Mr J. V. Burns who recently disposed of his stationery business in Shannon, has purchased a business in Masterton.

A "working bee" of members of the Shannon Fire Brigade will make a start on Wednesday afternoon with the preliminary work of' erecting the new lire station in Plimmer Terrace.

;' An addition to the School Library of ten volumes of Chamber's Encyclopedia should prove a valuable acquisition. The School contributed £6 towards the cost, which was subsidised by another £6 from the Board.

At a meeting of- the Shannon Fire Brigade on Wednesday evening Mr J. V. Burns tendered! his resignation 'as secretary, which was accepted with regret. Mr 11. Hook was elected to fill the vacancy.

No doubt, in anticipation of the flaxmills running at an early date, there has been quite a number of enquiries in" Shannon for houses to rent. One agent reports having let four houses during the week to new arrivals in the township.

The list of local unemployed compiled by the Town,, Clerk shows that forty-eight names have been handed in, a big majority of whom are married men. This depression has been brought about by the closing of the flaxmills, but with resumption of work at the mills at an early date, the majority of the men will no doubt be in qmployment again. •

Mr J. Feetham, who has been .foreman of the Public Works Department's goods shed at the Shannon railway station for the 'past seve.n years, has received notice of his transfer to the hydro works at Kurow in the South' Island. Mr and Mrs Feetham have been residents of- Shannon for over 16 years and their departure will be regretted by a wide circle of friends. ,

Nothing like the rush that has been seen at Howard Andrew's half-price sale has ever before been witnessed in Shannon. Every day many people have been unable to gain' admission to the premises. Of course an event like this cannot last for ever and the final day is announced for to-morrow. The shop will be opened at 10 a.m. and will close at 8.30 p.m. Early buyers will have the best selection so do not leave it to the last minute.

Archdeacon E. Creed Meredith writse from Wanganui to the Press that he has opened a fund for Eev. P. T. Taylor. He adds: "The expenses caused by his unhappy accident must make his burden heavy indeed just now. We whose work he has bee;i doing in the poorer quarters of Wellington can at least shoulder this part of his load. Accordingly, I am opening a fund. My churchwardens have accepted office as hon. treasurers, and will receive donations. The matron and girls of the Girls' Friendly Society Hostel have already on their own initiative, subscrib-. ed £lO, and I have no doubt that Wanganui people of all denominations will desire to assist.''

People who are,contemplating a visit to Australia, or who have relatives and friends already on holiday there would be well advised to make arrangements regarding finance before they leave, or to look with suspicion upon any peremptory demand for money to be forwarded (says the Southland Daily News). Withtho last few days an Invereargill resident received a request for a sum of money to be forwarded to some relatives, who are spending a holiday in New South Wales. Not being satisfied with the genuineness of the request, and knowing that the travellers had made adequate arrangements regarding finance, he sent a cablegram through another source asking if money was required and received a reply to the effect that no request had been made for money to be wired. Apparently the "confidence" people had, in some mysterious way, become possessed of information, and were making full use of it in their endeavours to make money easily.

Great new hotels are being erected so rapidly in Canadian and American cities that the Gideon Society, which has a Bible, placed in every bedroom, is finding.its task exiremely difficult. In the last two years hotels have sprung up so'ifast that the society is now two million rooms behind.

The "Times" Paris correspondent states that a lower French death .rate is compensated for by a lower birth' rate in 1927 compared with 1926. The population is now 40,960,000, which is the highest since the war. Births in 1927 numbered 741,718, the lowest since, 1913, and deaths 676,666, compared with 713,465 in 1926. Marriages numbered 337,864, representing a progressive decline, being the lowest figure singe the war.

A quarter of a century ago the motorcar was quite a novelty in New Zealand, as the following extract from the Ashburton Mail of 1903 will show: "The public of Ashburton during the last few days have seen a novel conveyance in the -form of a motor-car running about the town. The car is of the most modern type, fitted with a Benz 3J h.p. engine, and has a speed gear varying from four to 18 miles pelhour. The engine is driven by vapourised petrol, fired by an electric spark from the-accumulators."

Mr Williams, a well-known Christchurch solicitor, on returning from a motor" trip to Gisborne, informed the Foxton Herald that'he desired to have a look at Foxton, "but if I had known of the condition of Jhe road between Sanson and Foxton, I would have given your town a wide berth. It was the worst road we traversed," he concluded. Mr W. E. Barber (chairman of the Manawatu bounty Council), has stressed the necessity for having this

i portion of the main highway treated with the deep penetration method. Me- > tal and appliances are now being placed in readiness for the work.

A young Wanganui woman, says the Wanganui Herald, "was short of a little ready cash the other week, so she looked up a money-lender and invited him to come to her house, as she required a modest £3OO on her furniture and household effects. She took the unsuspecting money-lender to a furnished home where the occupants were away on holiday and had no difficulty in getting a loan.. After paying one deposit, she promptly skipped the Tasman. The surprise of the mon-ey-lender can be imagined when he called at the house for his second deposit and learned that his lady client had no interest in the house or the furniture.

A witness in the Supreme Court in Dunedin recently made repeated use of the word "absolutely" in answer to questions put to him by counsel, and had to be asked by the Judge not to use it so often. Within a minute, however, out it came again, but the witness immediately expressed regret at its use. Some amusement was caused when one of the barristers, hi his address to the Court, also introduced the word in his third sentence, but, realising what he had done, ho repeated his statement and substituted "wholly and solely" for "absolutely."

The astonishing question: Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable? in spite of its seeming frivolity, has been the subject of serious deliberations.; by members' of the Australian House of Representatives and even some . famous scientists and botanists, but all to no purpose. The need for an answer to this momentous question arose from the discovery of a contradiatioii in the tariff schedule. This allowed'the importation of. tomatoes in pulp form as "vegetables" while demanding the higher payment of "fruit" rates for tomatoes in concentrated form. The question was first referred for decision to no less an authority than the Commonwealth' Attorney-General, who threw up his hands in despair and frankly confessed his inability to dispose of it.

Dealing with the rating of Maori tribal lands, Mr 6. Graham thus concludes a letter in the Auckland Star: "The ink was"barely dry on the Treaty of Waitangi, when the Maori leaders in various districts found themselves on their defensive to hold the Government to the bargain. The struggles—involving loss of life and all the sad results of warfare which ensued—beginning at Wairau and not ending till comparatively recent times—are all the story of the Maori on the defence against aggressive Governmental methods. These led also to wholesale confiscation of tlie lands he unsuccessfully defended. The residue thereof the penal clauses of the Rating Act are now acquiring Such a story does not tell of pamper—and such is the school the Maori has been taught in hitherto. Can it be at all wondered at that the effect of thisteaching has left indelible marks on i his mentality?" I

Efforts are being made to secure a visit from Major-General Sir .Andrew Eussell on the occasion of the annual reunion of the Levin Eetumed Soldiers' Association on June 23rd. At the annual meeting of the Association, last evening, the president (Major G. D. Hamilton) stated that in October last he met Sir Andrew Eussell m Wellington and told him that it would give the Association great pleasure if he could sec his way clear to be present at

the next reunion. General Eussell intimated that, if he could fit the date in with his other arrangements, he would try to be in attendance. The local secretary (Mr 11. G. Maekay) had since forwarded an invitation to Sir Andrew, who had not yet been able to make a definite.promise. Major Hamilton added that he would also communicate with General Eussell, and would ask him to give an address on the work of the E.S.A. throughout New Zealand.

A deputation of owners and breeders waited on the Minister of Finance, the Hon. W. Downie Stewart, at Dunedin with regard to the heavy burden, of taxation on racing. The deputation received a synvftathetic hearing, but the Minister stated that he could not give them much hope of a reduction in taxation on racing.

"During the past few weeks there has been a demand for small one-man farms, and the people inquiring for them have capital—anything from £SOO to £1500," stated Mr P. J. Crump, past president at th«' annual meeting of the Auckland Real Estate Institute the other evening. "If the vendor expects to' sell he must be prepared to do so at a figure that will give the purchaser a chance to make some profit," said. Mr Crump. "He should not be made to slave for the mortgagee. If people put impossible values on farms, as many of them are doing, how can'they .expect to sell them?"

It was a peculiar hand that Fate dealt' to the country unions in theft endeavour to secure Mr A. M. Ongley, of Palmerston North, a well-known Rugbyite and cricketer in the past, a seat on the. Management Committee, of the N.Z. Rugby Union, against Mr Roache, of Auckland, who was supported by the larger unions. /The country delegates' supported the Palmerstonian to a man, but his own union (Manawhenua) lost him the seat by putting in an informal vote. It seems a great pity that the headquarters body does not contain more members representative of the country unions instead of so many Wellingtonites, who-, perhaps unconsciously, are all for Wellington (states a Rugby contributor to the Gisborne Times.) !