Shannon News TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1929.

Shannon News, 17 December 1929, Page 2

Shannon News TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1929.

The children of Mangaore will hold their annual Christmas Tree and treat at Mangaore this evening.

Mrs Finnerty, who underwent an operation in the Palmerston North Hospital about a month ago returned to her home on Friday.

The pupils of Miss Agnes Aim, L.A.8., will give ; a pianoforte recital in the Parish Hall on Thursday evening.

Mr Boy Rawlinson, who left Shannon about two years ago, and who lias been residing in Sydney for some time, was in Shannon during the Avcek-end on a visit to his mother and brother.

Mr C. Tregurtha, of the Public Works Department, Mangaore, who has received an appointment as an assistant engineer to the Newcastle City Council, leaves for Australia this week.

The “breaking-up” ceremony for the Christmas vacation at the local school wil .take place on Friday at 1 p.m. A cordial invitation is extend; ed to parents to attend.

Mr Alvan W. White, M.A., assistant in Musselburgh 'School, Dunedin, son of Mr A. T. White, late headmaster at Shannon School, has been appointed an assistant master in the Stratford Technical School.

Mr H. C. Jones, the local postmaster, advises that the Christmas rush at the Post Office, has set in early, and the public should post any packets and parcels this week to ensure them being delivered before Christmas Day.

For the second time the School sports, which were to have been held on Saturday, had to be postponed owing to rain. It has now been decided to hold them after the Christmas holidays.

A successful shop day was held on Saturday, by the committee of the Girl Guides, and as a result their fund will benefit. . During the day two' competitions were held the winners being:— Mr C. W. Saggers (Mangaore), dinner; Mr C. P. Grey, cake.

On Friday evening the Mangaore Ping Pong Club held its wind-up evening. Mr A- - Blackwood occupied the position of chairman until thepporerw r er line caused'the genial “Archie” to return to work, when the duties were taken over by Mr W. King. The games were fast and furious and a happy evening was spent, interspersed with musical items by Mr A. Campbell. In the evening’s tournament the North Island representatives defeated the South Island by a fairly comfortablemargin. Mr Tregurtha proved to be the dual winner of the 1929 handicap annual tourney -,and Mr King’s trophy for the Yankee tournament, whilst Mr Hartley Avas runner-up for the championship. Mr Henry’s prize for the consolation handicap Avas Avon by Mr Parish. Opportunity Avas taken to bid farewell to Mr Tregurtha, who has been appointed an assistant engineer to the Newcastle City Council, Australia. The guest of the evening Avas Mr A. J. R. Ridler, of Wellington, now occupying the position of office inspector to the Public Works Department, who was formerly clerk at Mangaore.

The. Foxton Herald says: We are informed that private letter box holders at the local post office are to have the sorting of the evening south mails delayed for upwards of half-an-hour, to satisfy the request of one or two rural box holders between Ldvin and Foxton to have the mail sorted at Levin prior to the mail cai J s departure. This will necessitate extra work for the office staff at Levin and a delay to the Foxton box holders which cannot be justified. A protest is to be made to the Department against the innovation.

Following on the granting by the County' Council of the request by five ratepayers at Ohau for the installation, on the basis of a special works rate, of an electric pump to supply their properties with water, the County Engineer reported on Saturday that a pumping jllamt had been installed, which was giving an ample supply of water. At a special meeting of the Council, held at noon, a special order was made levying a rate of l-10d in the £ annually to provide the charges for electric power and any necessary repairs and attention, also a special vcorks rate of id in the £, as an annually recurring rate for a period of five years, to defray the cost of installing the scheme.

It was reported to the County •Coun- * cil by the Engineer, on Saturday, that when a concrete pipe culvert was being put in on the Hokio Beach Road at the back of the racecourse, to carry the water-race water, an obstacle was met, being a water main, apparently put in by the Levin Borough Council. On account of this water pipe being in such a position, it meant that the culvert had to be lowered considerably and so also the race for a considerable distance from the outlet of the pipe. The Engineer could not find any record where the Borough Council had applied for permission to instal the, water pipe along the County road. The extra cost of installing the culvert on account of the water main was £2 2s. On the recommendation of the Works Committee, it was decided that the at-" tention of the Borough Council be drawn to the matter. '

The County Council decided on Sat- - t urday, on the recommendation of the Works Committee, that the residence of the overseer (Mr R. W. Goldsmith) be connected with the telephone

“All the paving metal for three miles of the Levin-Foxton Main Highway has noAV been crushed and is on the ground,” stated the County Engineer, in his report to the lloroAvhenua Council on Saturday. “I expect to commence paving on this section immediately after the Christmas holidays.”

One of the speakers at the Wanganui A. and P. Association meeting last week said, “If a whirhvind came along and deposited half of the leading men in Wanganui in Palmerston North and the other half in Hamilton, or some place like that, they Avould know’ the meaning of progress Avlien they came back.”

When members of the Humanitarian and Anti-ViA’isection Society voted unanimously at their meeting in Christchurch for the adoption of a set of aims Avhich include the discountenancing of the practice of Avearing furs and feathers, they hardly realised that 10 miuutes later tne of 'their number Avould point out that several furs Avere being Avorn at the meeting, and that all members .were Avearing leather boots. The effect of this utterance was upsetting.

Under the imposing heading, “Ngav Zealand’s call to the men of the North of England,” the Manchester Daily Despatch, a copy of Avhich is hoav in the hands of a Napier resident, states that grocery assistants are badly Avanted in NeAv Zealand, and appeals to young men in England to consider emigrating. The paper states that openings exist for 15 assistants in *‘ an oldestablished firm in Palmerston North, Wellington and elsoAvhere. ” The paper also states that “grocery assistants in New Zealand receive £4 los per week, Avith more for branch managers.”

An interesting tale comes from Raetihi. A Maori cropped a fair area Avith potatoes,. dug and heaped them Avith earth pending bagging. His neigh hours thought about a raid, and one moonlight night, armed with bags, they set about such a purpose. The “fly in the ointment,” so far as they Avere concerned, lay in the‘fact that bad neAvs travelled quickly. The oaviicv of the crop heard all about tlie raid beforehand. He viewed activities from afar, and when the time Avas ripe, struck. A Avild yell from a nearby hill was all that Avas necessary to scare the raiding party out of sight, leaving behind them four or five fully-filled bags of potatoes. “That’s cheap labour if you like,” the OAvner declared, as be hauled the sacks in.

Some idea of the value of an established tourist traffic to a country may be gathered from figures published in the Auckland papers with reference to the Malolo’s visit. By no means all of the visitors Avent to Rotorua, but those Avho did spent £832 on train- fares and luncheons. Motor cars cost them £6OO in Rotorua, and another £6OO Avent the same Avay in Auckland. Besides these amounts, some hundreds of pounds Avere paid out in hotel expenses, Avhile the visitors bought largely of rugs and blankets. These figures look large, but they do not by any means tell tlie Avliole story, for hundreds of pounds’ Avorth of fresh provisions and fruit were bought in the northern capital. A feAV more such \fisits Avould do Auckland business people a poAver of good.

The old question, <f Who won the war?” was responsible for a life-size battle in a main Auckland thoroughfare the other day. The combatants were six large firemen from a British steamer and a similar number from the American tourist steamer Malolo. Prohibition has not, apparently, killed all alcoholic cravings in American sailormen, and some of the Malolo’s crew were doing their best to satisfy a longstanding thirst when a tactless question precipitated trouble. When the trouble was at its height an eA r en halfdozen were in action on either side, and the crowd which soon gathered had a free show of an apparently most satisfying brand. The fight raged furiously for a good ten minutes' before half-a-dozen constables and a sergeant arrived to act the part of peacemaker, and the 12 good men and true were induced to return to their respective ships. Patriots will be glad to know that on this occasion at least British pugilism more than held its own.

Eltham, we think, took the lead in instiuting legal proceedings against Captain McGregor for plying for. hire with his flying machine on Sundays. Whether that is anything to be proud of depends upon the mental bent of those who give the question any consideration. Certainly the Sunday flying, and taking payment for passen gers, was against the law, and that being so the police had no option in the matter, but had to prosecute when complaint was made. But, in spite of court cases, Captain McGregor pursues the even tenor of his way and -wafts delighted passengers through the ' air and duly receives payment therefor. He has been convicted on three occasions and escaped with a small fine. The smallness of the fine appears to indicate that magistrates do not view the offence very seriously, and small wonder. If it is no offence to run excursion trains, steamers, motor-cars and charabancs on Sundays, and charge for hire, than it does seem a bit invidious to prosecute the man wdio takes people for a fly on Sunday. However, the. law says that they are committing an offence,’ and the Sunday flier must take the consequences. It seems to be certain that one of the results of next session’s work will be to place flying machines in the same category with trains, steamers and motor conveyances. —Eltham Argus,

Woodville has four hotels, but it is recorded that there has not been a single arrest for drunkenness in that place so far this year

Tlie intermittent rain of the past few clays has hampered the picking of cherries and gooseberries in the commercial orchards of Greytown.

■ The Education Board on Wednesday decided to make application for an immediate authority to proceed with an addition of two roms at. Paraparauniu School, the case being considered as one of first urgency. The Department is prepared to recognise it as such.

There was a somewhat strange coincidence at the Woodvillo races on Wednesday. Tiro horses were saddled up for a. race with the. No. 9'cloth. The owner of the horse that had made the mistake appears to have had ample justification, for the amine of the animal was "Benign.”

A White Leghorn hen among the flock belonging to Mrs. Kerr, of Invercargill, was spurred to an unusual effort in egg production the other day and laid an egg weighing four and threequarter- ounces. It was no less than three inches long with a circumference of H inches.

It has come to our notice (reports the Taranaki Herald) that several tui’s nests in various parts of the borough are being robbed by small boys, who are probably not aware that this bird is absolutely protected, and that a. big policeman might make some inquiries if he came to hear of it. Bird-lovers will doubtless do their best to protect any nests of tuis that they know of.,

One of the methods of advertising, adopted at the New Zealand office in London, did not appeal to Mr Harding, of Woodville, on the occasion of his recent visit to the Old Country. Ho found that the dairy cow of New Zealand was represented by a life-sized Hereford, which to him was very remarkable.

"The proportion of motor-cars to population in Auckland City and suburbs is second only to that in the United .States and is equalled only, by that in ’ said Mr. G. P. Finlay, in addressing the Auckland Harbour Bridge Commission yesterday. Mr. Finlay said there was one motor-car to every eight persons in Auckland. Later, the total number of cars was given as 25,728, an increase of 81 per cent, during the past three years. —Herald.

A portrait' in oils of the late Chief Justice, Sir Charles Skerrett, was unveiled by the lion. M. Myers, Chief Justice, in the Supreme Court at Wellington, to-day in the presence of a large gathering of the Bar, states a Press telegram. The portrait is a gift to the Law Society by the members of the late Sir Charles’s family, and was painted by Walter Bowring, of Wellington, a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters.