Shannon News TUESDAY, JULY 23, 1929.

Shannon News, 23 July 1929, Page 2

Shannon News TUESDAY, JULY 23, 1929.

Mrs H Knowles, Vance Street, is at present on a holiday visit to Wellington.

A visitor to Shannon on Saturday was Mr A .Dinrile, of the Public Works Department, Napier.

.Miss Camp, of Buckley, who has ben an inmate of the Palmerston North Hospital for the past month owing to an injury to her leg, expects to be able to return to her home this week.

The contributions to date towards the earthquake relief fund total £79. Included in this amount is £5 5s from the Shannon' Co-operative Dairy Co., Ltd.

A first offender charged with drunkenness and disorderly conduct appear ed before Messrs Taylor and Clayton, J.'sP., at the Shannon Court yestermorning. He was convicted and fined £1

The fortnightly dance held in the Parish Hall on Friday evening in aid of the alteration fund was conducted on this occasion by the young people. There was a good attendance, the function proving most enjoyable. The duties of M.'C. were in charge of Mr P Cole, whilst excellent dance music was supplied by Mrs Butler The Monte Carlo dance was won by Miss Small and Mr Moody.

In the House last week the Prime Minister gave a deputation an undertaking that the question whether Saturday should be the universal halfholiday in New Zealand, would be discussed by Parliament this session. Following this announcement a petition is being largely signed by Shannon business people entering an emphatic protest against Saturday being made the universal half holiday, they being firmly of opihion that Saturday is unsuitable to them. They urge that each community be allowed to judge for themselves and fix on a day that suits local conditions as at present.

No fewer than 47 applications have been received for the position of town clerk of the borough of Grey town.

A Maori in a Packard ear drove to the relief works in the Eketahuna district quite recently, and applied for work. He did not get it.

It may serve to reassure nervous people to note that the records of the 1855 shake in Wellington show that after the first big shock the earth trembled with very little intermission for over six weeks. Since then, during the 74 years, there has been nothing to alarm anyone.

One of the most persistent superstitions about the weather, Government scientists have found, is the false belief that the moon has some effect on crops and also that better or less favourable results will be. obtained it planting and other- operations are performed at certain times wken the moon is in a particular phase. According to legends, if the horns of the new crescent moon tip downward, it is a ‘‘wet” moon, indicating rain. the weather bureau points out that, on any given date, the position of the crescent moon is always the same in pla£6* having * same latitude.

The General Manager of Railways told the Hastings people ; that the total cost to each of the Southland farmers of doing a journey of 1300 miles by steamer- and rail was only about £B.

It is rumoured in political circles in Wellington that Sir Joseph Ward purposes leaving for England in October. According to London papers he is likely to visit England before the end c..' this year.

The s.s. Himatangi iy considered to be the best cattle-carrying vessel on tne coast and it is possible that a large number of cattle will be shipped to Lyttelton via the Foxton port this year. The first shipment should gj forward in time for the Addington sail early next month.

It is understood that a contract has been let for the Wilding of. a new 120bedroom hotel on the Marine Parade, at a price on toward the £IOO,OOO figure. The hotel is to be of most modern design and appointments, calculated to " attract the tourist traffic.— Napier correspondent.

Heavy mortality among the Rhesus monkeys at the Auckland Zoo has resulted in an order going forward to Calcutta, for another five dozen to augment the population of the big pit. Dysentery and influenza were the principal causes of the deaths. The victims were in a consignment of 42 which’ arrived in January.

At Edendale, Auckland, recently the temperature was down to 22i degrees of frost. The blackened hedges and shrubs, especially those of the tccoma variety, were evidence of the severity of the cold, the effect being similar to that of a severe hailstorm. Water in exposed receptacles remained frozen for two days, and before being entirely thawed became frozen over again.

“I’m off to ’Frisco to-night,” said a habitual sailor man at Auckland recently. “One thing that cheers me up is that I won’t see Westport for four and a-half We’ve coasted for the last month or two, and it’s been the rottenest time I’ve ever spent at sea. I don’t wonder that Greymouth itself is shaky; the ecal workings run right under the town. Miners working in the pits can hear us sailor people drop our anchors.”

The amount of food consumed at the Maori tangi at Morrinsville gives a fair indication of the large number that attended at the Morrinsville pa to pay their last respects to the late chief Taingakawa Tamahana te Waharoa. To feed the concourse (states the Waikato Times) eight bullocks were slaughtered. as well as a number of pigs; 800 loaves of bread were ordered, ivliile the standing order was 100 loaves a day. Other items were six tons of potatoes, half a ton of sugar, a ehes 1 ! of tea, two crates of cheese, two cwt. of butter, a case of jam, and 14 cwt. of rice The cooking was done in the open in four large open cooking fires.

Heavily mounted in silver, an antique Norse drinking horn has been presented to the Auckland War Memorial Museum by Mr John Bolen, of Parnell. It is the only one of its kind in the museum and is probably centuries old. Another gift is a small piece of piping which is claimed to be part of the water line from Hampton Court Palace, and is thought to have been laid in 1515. .The alloy is believed to contain a certain amount of silver, and it is thought that the main supplied water ?o Cardinal Wolsey and his court. The donor was Mr A. E. Hyde, of Matakohe.

Initial reports of the earthquake damage intimated that the well-known landmark on the West Coast route, the mountain known as the “Old Man of the Buller, ” had been shaken down. This very human-looking profile has always been pointed out to travellers, and regret was expressed that it would no longer be seen. But, according to Mr F. W. Furkert, Government engin-eer-in-chief, the landmark has not been lestroyed. All that has happened is ;hat a slip has . taken place just, below hat portion of the mountain which iorms the old man’s nose.