Shannon News TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 1928.

Shannon News, 7 August 1928, Page 2

Shannon News TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 1928.

Mrs Hallam, of Stout Street, who has been on a visit to the Cook Islands, returned home last week,/after having spent an enjoyable holiday; •

A bus will leave Shannon at 0.10 p.m. on Friday evening for the performance of "The Country Girl" at Levin. Tickets may be procured at Harold Hook's.

. Mr R. Coley, Kingston Road, notifies in this issue that trespassers on his property, without written permission from him, will be prosecuted without further notice.

The fortnightly "five hundred'.' and crib tourney will be held in the Plunket Rooms, Ballahce Street, on Thursday evening, commencing at 7.30 p.m. Good trophies are being awarded, including a 201 b box of apples and a 251 b bag of flour. A points prize is to be given for the highest number of games won during the season. At the conclusion of the evening's play supper will be handed around.

A number of business men met in the Ballance Street hall on Friday evening to bid farewell to Mr J. Feetham, who for some years has been foreman of the Public "Works Department's transport at Shannon railway station, and who has been transferred to "the Hydro-works at Kurow in the South Island., A pleasant evening was spent in song and story, during which Mr Blackwood, on behalf of those prer sent, handed to Mr Feetham a beautiful travelling rug as a token of the high esteem in which he was held by the business people and others,' accompanied by .the wish for a happy arid prosperous time in his new sphere of labour.

Official figures published by the Soviet show that the consumption of alcohol is increasing at a great rate, and' that there i 8 considerable drunkenness among school children.

As indicating the of the dairy industry in the Gisborne district, a Frfcss Avire from Gisborne states that, 1220 tons were graded at that port during the past year, as compared with 868 tons in the previous twelve months.

"My husband i 3 a flaxworker, and has been- out of work for four and a-half months," said a distressed woman —the mother of several little children to a Foxton Herald representative. "He would willingly work for 10s a day if work could be found," she said.

A marked decrease is shown in the number of Palmerston district bankruptcies for the past month as compared with July, 1927, when six petitions were filed. Last month, only one bankruptcy was recorded, the liabilities being £l6B 17s 2d and the assets £lO, leaving a deficiency of £l5B 17s 2d.

5 ' Java is terra incognita to most people. It is a large eountry, thickly populated, and under Duteh administration. Most of its past history has yet to be revealed. Evidently it has been a hotbed for the propagation of an Eastern faith which was transplanted from In'dia. IThe Boro Boflur is a mighty Buddhist shrine, but it is only one of many fanes in that country, for Mr H. E. Anderson said, in his lecture at Levin last evening, when speaking of a plateau 8000 ft. high, in Central Java, that one could reach it either by pony or aeroplane, but in the latter case one could not land because of the danger of hitting a temple, these structures being so jgamerous.

A curious sight to come across in the interior of Java is a signboard with the skull and cross-bones aaid inscriptions of warning in Dutch and the vernacular. This stands at the entrance to "The Valley of Death," and particulars referring to it were related by Mr H. E. Anderson, in his lecture at Levin last evening. He stated that the sign was a warning to people that they must not go down into the valley, which is an old crater. Although the valley -is apparently full of vegetation, there are poisonous gases still issuing from it, and anybody descending into it would be dead in three minutes. Some years ago a German engineer ventured into the valley and did not rettjrp. In 1926 two natives thought th„#t it would be safe to descend into «the old crater, but they too remained as its vietims. Mr Anderson had a lantern slide exhibited from a photo which he took of the valley from a distance, showing a large tree standing right in the centre of the poison area, whieh comprises a few hundred square feet. Near the surface there is no vegetation; animals such as rats die if they wander there, and birds will not go" near the spot. All round the lethal zone, however, there is a luxuriant growth of tropical bush.

It is surprising to learn that Wangamii butchers are procuring supplies of fat sheep and cattle from Hawke's Bay. A local stock agent stated that he "was unable to account for the preference unless the prices of the Wanganui graziers were too high for the meat traders.

The lowest birth-rate yet recorded in New Zealand was that of last year, according to the annual report of the Health Department presented to Parliament last week. The death-rate was shown at 8.45 per 1000 of population, as against 8.74 in 1926. The infantile mortality rate, 38.74 per 1000, was slightly less than the previous year. '-'The'birth-rate of 29.29 per 1000," states the Director-General (Dr. T. H. A. Valintine), "is not satisfactory. It i 8 the lowest yet recorded in the country. This is*a matter of grave concern. *

A Dunediu business man, in the course of a talk with a Wanganui Chronicle reporter, happened to mention a conversation in which he and an Aucklander were engaged last week. The northcrnei good-humouredly referred to the-southerher aa coming from the city whore the only thing that the inhabitants spent, was an evening. "Yes, and 1 will tell you how we spend them," the southerner rejoined ."We occupy the time looking over the debentures and other securities of money we have lent to Aueklanders." The visitor from Dunedin told the Wanganui reporter that Auckland's indebtedness to Dunedin was £11,000,000 and Wellington's was £6,000,000.

A series of petty off fences occurred on Thursday night, suggesting the work of some young daredevil. Two cars were interfered with, but as the marauder was evidently a novice he could not get either ,of them to start. However, he seems to have absconded with a bicycle, and later the same night things began to happen at Ohau, a locality that appears to be specially favoured, by itinerant law-breakers. A hammer was removed from the black,--smith's shop, and the padlock on the Post Office door was broken. Nothing, however, was missed from the office. The police are attending to the matter

Both Mr and Mrs Walter Ingram, of Levin, were removed to the Palmerston Hospital on Saturday evening, suffering from an epidemic sickness. It is seldom that a family has such long-continued misfortune as has befallen them. Mr Ingram has only been out of the hospital a fortnight after an operation tfor appendicitis, while his daughter Joyce is still in the Palmerston Hospital making slow pro 7 gree after ji heart illness. The little son, who was also seriously ill, has made a good recovery, and is the only member of the family left in Levin. Mi- and Mrs Ingram will have the sincere sympathy of their local friends in their troubles, with' the hope of speedy and complete recovery.

At a meeting of North Beach residents at Christchurch the question of Bus v. Tram was being debated, when a woman lose to her foot. "Women who go into the town shopping can never get a seat on the five o'clock buses," she said. "A mother with a pram and her child lias to either catch the 4.20 p.m. bus or wait until after the a o'clock buses have gone. The five o'clock buses are crowded with men, and women can't get on." These remarks evoked some comment, and a man remarked, "Women" like that belong to the 'frying-pan' brigade. Any woman who has children should be home at five o'clock cooking the tea." (Cheers and applause from the male section of the audience.)

What promises to be an uncommon proceeding is likely to be seen in connection with the forthcoming session of the Supreme Court in New Plymouth. Provision is made in the Jur : ies Act that a Maori is accused of a crime the accused person may apply to be tried by a jury of natives. It is understood that such an application has been made in the case of Mrs Hadfield, who is committed for trial on a charge of manslaughter. A native jury panel "will be summoned and if the "trial'goes by this process, it will involve a lengthy hearing for .the whole proceedings will have to be translated from English into Maori for the benefit of the accused and the jury arid the Maori evidence will have to be translated into English for the benefit of the Court. This process will have to be followed also in connection with the addresses of counsel to the jury and the Judge's summing up.

The relation of modern machinery to unemployment may form the subject of heated controversy in countries where the wage standard is high, but there is no doubt in the minds of the Dutch administrators of Java as to the economic danger of factory methods of production where work has to be found for a dense population. This was made plain in the lecture given at Levin by Mr H. E. Anderson, who pointed out that in the country in question there were forty-five millions of people living in an area about the size of the North Island. In Java it was everybody's duty to do just a little work for a little money and food. The Javanese only ate two meals a day, and their clothing requirements were very small. So long as the Governm,enjt excludes up-to-date machinery, it can keep every man, woman and child employed. The rice Crop is picked stalk by stalk, and the grains are separated similarly.. There is no threshing, and no modern machinery.- However, Java does possess sugar factories, and it is claimed to have the most scientific system in the world in; this respect. Tobacco and opium factories are also in operation, but generally speaking, the use of machinery in the island is redueed to the minimum.