Shannon News TUESDAY DECEMBER 4, 1928.

Shannon News, 4 December 1928, Page 2

Shannon News TUESDAY DECEMBER 4, 1928.

Mrs W. Butler is at present spend ing a holiday in the Taranaki dis trict, where she is visiting old friends

The public are reminded that the Fire Brigade’s dance will be held in the Druids’ Hall on Friday evening.

A party of local fishermen spent the week-end at Kapiti, where they had some fine sport among the hapulia, landing quite a big haul.

The friends of Mrs J. T. Bo vis, who is In hospital, will be pleased to hear that she showed an improvement yesterday. •-W«Sr

Mr Frank Duncan, or the Shannon railway staff, who has been transferred to Wellington left ;for there on Saturday. Hig successor at Shannon is Mr Harvey, of Palmerston North, who has taken up his duties here.

‘The rainfall in Shannon for the month of November was 4.22 inches as compared with 5.69 inches in the previous month. Rain fell on eleven days, the wettest day being November 10th, when 120 points of rain fell. The average temperature was 66.27 F compared with 64.7 of October.

A successful “shop day” was held on Saturday by the Ladies’ Guild in aid of Yen. Bede’s Church, A. good number of donations of , produce and useful articles were received, all of which were disposed of. During the day competitions were held, the results being as follows: Sucking pig, Messrs T. Ingley and A. Jamieson, each guessing the correct weight, 241bsj cake, Mr J. Better, shirt, Mr Lester. In the evening a dance was held, which proved both enjoyable and successful.

The committee in connection with the New Year’s Day Picnic and Halca and Poi Championship, are moving along nicely The catering Im been let and all is being made ready fo\‘ the many r Native teams that are competing. They tare* expected fdom Rotorua, Taupo, Ratana, Ngaruwahia, Otaki, Foxton, Te Kuiti and Shannon. These teams shquld give a great display and it will be a very interesting sight when they all . have their war paint on. Last year the Poi Shield was won by a team from Taupo and they are hoping to retain it. The local "team -who. have held the Haka shield for two years, are not too confident, as other teams have been practising hard. In fact to use a common term they “have the wind-up.”

“People talk about railways being hard-up and not paying dividends/’ said Mr A. W. Hutchings, when presiding over the monthly gathering of the iLevini' Chamber of < Commerce Lunch Club, on Friday. “In the early sixties the Railway Department were faced with the .problem of getting the bailiffs off. The * contractors for the Invercargill-Bluff section had not been receiving their payments as promptly as they should have done, so the'y sent six bailiffs along and planted < one in each carriage, and no trains were run until the Government paid up.”

A story with a sting in the tail was told by .the station-Master, Mr S. B. Stedman, to the Levin Lunch Club, on Friday. It was on the following lines: —An old lady came to the ticket window, and after making many enquiries about the time trains left, remarked on the presence of a new booking clerk, to whom she related the good qualities of the officer who had previously attended to - her requirements. Tlie new clerk explained that his predecessor was dead.- The old lady expressed deep regret, and asked what was the cause of his death. The new official replied that the other clerk had died suddenly—“a lady had come along, stated what ticket she wanted, presented the right change, and asked, no questions.” The moral was immediately'apparent to the ’ gathering, who showed their appreciation of it by laughter 'and applause. .

Recently a “commerce” train was organised which took Auckland business men to the various parts of the district of which Auckland is the centre. It has been suggested that a similar train might be organised to cover the southern portion of the North Island;, visiting the Manawatu, Taranaki, Main Trunk, Hawke ’s. Bay, and the Wairarapa districts. A joint committee from the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, and the Wellington Manufacturers’ Association will shortly consider the proposal, and it is possible that a trip might be arranged for next March. It is understood that a minimum of sixty passengers would be required. The train would contain sleeping accommodation, shower baths, lounge, etc., and other comforts for the passengers: telephone connections would be arranged at stops so that no participant in the tqur need be out of communication with his headquarters. The cost per head for a tour running into nine days, inclusive of four refreshments per day supplied upon the train, would be £ls, plus some small expenditure f?r side-trips costing up to* about £3. The proposal has been very favourably received by the council of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce.

The Manakau Hotel has changed hands, Mr. Richard Bevan having sold’, to Mr. Primmer, of Helcnsville, who takes over on January 21st.

The second representative cricket match of the season in this district will be played on the Levin Park Domain on Wednesday, when Horowhenua will meet Manawatu. The match commences at 10.30 a.m.

“The spelling of pupils in our schools is in a deplorable condition,” said the senior inspector (Mr N. R. McKenzie) at a meeting of the Taranaki Education Board this week. “For some reason or other it is very far short of what it should he.” The inspector was speaking in regard to an application from the Teachers’ Institute for permission to conduct a resurvey of the achievements of the pupils in Taranaki. Mr McKenzie said that if this were carried out it would show •where the fault, was. It was decided to ask the Department to make a grant towards the cost of resurvcy.

“It is a. psychological fact that th n train whistling as it passes here makes people ring up the station,” said Mr S. R. Stedman, Levin stationmaster, in his address to the Lunch Club. He narrated an incident that had occurred in another place, where he had firsthand evidence of the effect of a train whistle during his visit to a certain household, a member of which immediately rang up the station to ascertain if “Uncle John had sent the case of fruit.” In that case the.telephone call could not possibly have been answered, owing to the simultaneous arrival of the train and the necessity for attending to a. number of duties connected therewith. People complained about not being able to get an answer from the station, but the truth was that every time a tram came in the telephone bell rang furiously..

News from Samoa, states that the palolo—that mysterious coral worm which rises to the surface for a period of one hour in a whole year—made its appearance on the morning of Sunday, November 4. Several big catches were made at different points along the coast, but the Samoans themselves did not participate in the fishing to any great extent, owing to the fact that the day was a holy one. Sunday observance is very strictly adhered to by the natives. The rise of the palolo is described by those who have been fortunate enough to witness it as a most wonderful spectacle. The surface of the ocean is covered by 'a mass of wriggling worms. They are highly esteemed by the natives as a great delicacy.

“Buy your tickets well ahead of the train” was a piece of advice offered by Mr S. R. Stedman, stationmaster at Levin, in the course of his address at the Lunch Club’s gathering on Friday. Ho remarked that if a person intended going on a long journey, it might generally be assumed that lie knew about it a few days beforehand. A ticket could be purchased a fortnight before the trip was made. If <i ti-aveller' wanted to go to the South Island, the railway officials would secure him a. 'berth on the steamer, provided that they were given sufficient notice. Luggage could be forwards! a day or two ahead of the passenger; it could be cheeked, and the office would arrange to have it delivered *to the bedroom of an hotel, if necessary. If the officials were satisfied that the person applying had a pasenger ticket, they would check his luggage to its destination.

Mr E. Sutton, of Foxton, accompanied by a friend, while making an inspection of a flax swamp at Koputaroa on Sunday came across what might possibly be termed a : “shaggery. ” They were proceeding through the swamp, knea deep in flood wat%r, when about 150 shags suddenly flew up near at hand. The two men decided to investigate the cause of the congregation of such a large number of the birds and came across a willow tree which was literally loaded down with shags nests. All the limbs were weighed down with nests, ranged side by side on the branches, and all of them contained eggs,, as many ias five being in the nests in some instances. Mr Sutton and his friend decided to destroy the eggs and in doing so counted 482, thus ridding the district of a large number of shags within a few minutes.

■A novelty which should prove of great interest to the public at the Horowhennua A. and P. Association’s Show will be a steer-riding contest. In; order to see such a competition in progress and obtain full particulars of it, Mr C. H. Bould, a member of the Horowhenua A. and P. Committee, visited the Stratford Show, and he had ample evidence that the feature was a popular one. Sixteen competitors were engaged, and it is estimated that' the contest was watched by 15,000 out of 20,000 persons attending the Show. The riders were amateurs from the district, and it might be thought that their stay on the backs of two and three-year steers in fresh condition w’Ould be extremely limited, but fully half of them kept their mounts till the whistle was sounded, and in some cases the steers were ridden to a standstill. Only dehorned animals were used, iand nobody was hurt. The modus operandi is worth describing, as local aspirants to cowboy honours will then know what to expect. The animal is driven from a yard into a race, where it is fitted with a, rope surcingle. The rider mounts, the gate is opened, and the steer makes a bound for the ring, where its ca'voiting and careering are in the true rodeo style, the rider meanwhile holding on by the surcingle and getting an additional grip with spurs that have had the rowels , removed. The event a* Stratford lias achieved a wide,celebrity, and it,is expected'that its introduction at the Levin Show will be amply justified.