LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3443, 24 March 1920, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A meeting of the Pirate Football Club will be held in the Fire Brigade Hall on Friday next at 7.45 p.m.

Two small drafts of soldiers will reach New Zcaland shorfly by the Tainui. due at Auckland on April 2, and the C‘.orinl'hic, due at Wm-llingfon on April 6.

The Taihape Bowling Club is sending a team to Hunterville to-mm-1:0-W to contest. for the Hm-n Cup. The names of the challenging team are: Messrs McKenzie (skip), Wrightson (3), Neagle (3), De Luen (lead), The team will leave by the 10.25 train.

A big deal in property has taken place in Auckland, the recently completed Imperial Buildings being sold to Messrs Phillips and Impey. The frontage 'io Queen street is between 50 and 60 feet, and the price paid. is in the neighbourhood of £90,000.

The whole, of the Waihi mines are now on strike, the number of .men idle approximating 900. The minimum rate of wages conceded by the com. panies is 13/ per shift underground, and 12/3 for surface hands and ha‘?tery workers. The men demand an all-round minimum wage of 16/6 per shift. '

The winner of the sheep-guessing comDe€itioll ill connectiofi with the sports meeting at Taihape on 17th March was’ Mr J. Howell, Sem.. of Frasertown, Wairoa. Owing to the name having been misread, the winner was previously stated to be Mr J. Hobbs. Hr Howell guessed the exact weight ofthe sheep: namely, B@;lbs.

’l‘he old saying,"“a thing of beauty is a joy for ever,” has a concrete exemplification in‘ the splendid selection of solid silver and electroplated good-sa now being displayed by‘ Mr H. D. Bond. He speaks with some authority on the choice of a wedding gift, stating that he has the finest selection of gift goods in town, «and invites inspection by the general public.

Thieves were at work on the race train between Wellington and Masterton last Saturday. 'At the Opaki -siding at Wellington man I'larl £lB taken from his -pockets, and while a game of cards. was being piayed at another station one of the players is said ‘to have walked away with £l5O belonging to another player in his possession. Search proved fruitless.

The railway station at Waimarino was broken into and £ll ‘s~bolen. "As the result of inquiries, an Indian, who refused to give his name, was arrested and brought to Taumarauui, where further investigationsare being made regarding his possible connection with the burglary at Fanthox-pe's drapery shop. Accused was 'brou,2‘,'ht before the Court and remanded.

When Bishop Cleary arrived at W'<hakata.n’e during his recent flving tour to the Bpy‘ of Plenty, the seaplane was anchored by an aged Maori named Rini to the identical rock which, tradition asserts, was used to moor the first canoe brought into the Whakatane River by Rvini’s ancestors when they landed there ‘several hundred years ago.

There was rather a sing-.llar :«.no=u—aly in the remark “first ofi"e~'!dex"" applied by Senior-Sergt. McNall.:l.ra. td a case at the Auckland Police Court on Monday morning. Though con~ victed and discharged accm-cli.ug to the summary treatment of first cffenders the delinquent ‘in’ this case had no fewer than 85 :)revio:ls convicL'ol.s. Owing to the fact that non»: of ‘them had been recorded mthin the fast. six months, he was technically a first ntfender, and be-lefi“>.d acC(i:'dinr.l}'.

The Goverrx.-max: has cmnpleted the purchase of tll-~r»=> 11-3-2': of native land—tWo areas =.-f 10,630 acres and 2092 acres in ‘Nh:m3yll!lLm2,a. i:-‘.u.k, and zxnbthex-‘of 2609 acres :11 Rangitoto Tuhua'block-311 in that area popularly known as the. King Coqnlr,v. The Wharepuhlrmgzm largd is ‘not ‘Far from the place where the head works of A_l-:lDun_i 11yd1-o-e‘u2ch'ic scheme ‘~.vil'l be established. All the f-.an.l is open fem country. The next step towav-ds releasing this land for _~—,ettle'mr;n’r, is to gazefte it Crown land, and this will px-obably be done in a “Gazette” this week.

What. the ultimate cost of footwear will be is hard to state. -A Star reporter was shown on l\_’[onday morning a pair of boots made in Auckland from leather tanned in New Zealand. These boots are of the type sold for youths. In consequence of the rise in price following upon the increase in leather since the prohibition of the export of hides was lifted. -these boots have advanced 11/ per pair wholesale, which makes the cost to the retailer 32/ landed in the shop. Girls” College [shoes have also been raised 4/9 per [pair. With youths’ boots at about !40/ per pair retail, and girls’ shoes 28/, the family man is likely to have Fa hard time this winter.

On her recent visit to the Ccc-.k Strait lighthouses the Govemment steamer Hinemou called at Stephens Island. where it was found a st]-a_v homing pigeon had landed. ./\l,l(-.'l.; pts to entice the bird to leave proving ineffectual, it was brought back to “Tellington and liberated, when it flew straiglit to its »Cwner’s loft at E‘{el'!lalnpore. The owner, a member of the \Vellington Homing Pigeon S(=ci(-ty, states that the third‘, a young one, about five months old, was Jne of :1 batch of 85 liberated from Taumara.nui on the 28th February A strong southerly wind and dirty weather prevailed at the time, and only about 20 birds- got home on the day As the distance to be flown is about 140 miles, it is presumed that the carrier was blown otf its course to the island, which is 140 miles from the starting point

Next to the immigrants themselves (says the N.Z. Times in an editorial article) the prime needs for a sound and .x-uccessful policy, are, undoubtedly, land and houses. Indeed, we

are by no lneans sure that we ought. not to put the land and the houses flrst and the immigrants second, for, given the solution of the land problem, so great. are the natural attr-ac~ tions of New Zealand -in the way of an equable climate, beauty of surroundings, and an abundance and variety of resources, that immigrants of the very best would undoubtedly flock in thousands——yea, in tens of tlmusands—--to our shores. But, to invite immigrants -to come here without first so lossening the fell grip of the land aggregator and monopolist as to provide ample land, at economic prices instead of the prevailing monopoly prices, for Bur returned toldiers and for all other would—be settlers, would simply be asking foftrouble.

Reports from Waipukurau state that a local woman who has by no. means had an easy life, recently received word that an uncle of hers had died, and had left her £500,000.

The London newspaper Fairplay says the majority of the ship-owners believe that a fall in freights is imminent, despite the amount of shipping held up by labour troubles.

Thirty-two acres of land in the Tauranga district. on which 500 lemon trees are growing, recently changed hands at £lB7 10/ per acre, :1. price which is believed to be a record for the Bzgy of Plenty.

A returned soldier about four weeks ago lost between Ta.iha.pe and Pukeo~ kahu, a pocket wallet corrtaining his discharge and other papers. The loss of the papers is a verz serious matter to him, and a reward of 1-0/ will be paid to anyone returning them to the “Times” oflice.

It is reported (says the Guardian) that one Of the Ashbu:-+..on bakers is not satisfied that the charge -for delivery of bread should be increased so much, and that he is contemplating delivering the bread at least id {or lb less than the other bakers, his charge over the counter being in conformity with -his fellow-tradesmen.

In Arabia, a plant is called the laughing plant, because its seedrs; produce effects similar to those caused by laughing gas. The natives dry the seeds and -reduce them to powder, a small dose of which has curious effects. It causes the soherest person to dance and laugh excitedly -and to makei a fool of himself for nearly an hour. By this time exhaustion sets in and he falls asleep, to Wake up after several hours with no recollection of his antics. ‘X

The Harvest Festival Sale will be held in the Methodist Sclxoolroom on Thursday. Advantage will be taken of the function to tender a farewell! social to Rev. W. H. Hocking, who is - leaving for the South Island shortly. Mr Hocking has made many friends since his sojourn in Taihape, and all are cordially invited to be present. The time of commencing the social is ifixediat 8 o'clock. Lady members of; ithe congregation are reminded that a.‘ basket would be acceptable. ‘ _Which is the “naughtiest_” of all the foreign nations represented in the United States? The fairest record is held by Switzerland. Only 0.31 per cent. of the Swss n the Unted States have been to prison. Mexico is the bad boy of the family, with 2.3 per cent of the Swiss in the "United States land is only a. firactionibetter, 2 per cent. and Scotland is third from ‘bottom with 1.2 per cent. Following these, each country beingbetter than _the last, come ‘Austria, England, and ‘Wales, Canada, France, Italy, Russia, Denmark and Germany.

During the past few weeks, owing to the Marine Engineers’ strike, the Dunlop Rubber Company were unable to continue ‘the xnauufacturc of their mur3.h-songht—aftol' ‘ ‘ Railroad ’ ’ motor

cover, resulting in a great slicsrta-3:0. Now that the mills are in full operation again, the company is quickly making up leeway, and motorists who have been waiting for these popular covers can now obtain their requirements. Although the “Railroad” has only been on the market. a colilpa.ratively short time, its popularity amonst Australian motorists is such that it is easily ‘the most sought after tyre. in this country.

The Hon. D. H, Guthrie (Minister for Lands) referred on Thursday to the fact that, as the latest returns: shows, some fourteen million sterling have been expended up to date by way of advances to and in the settling of (returned soldiers. The first and second years, stated the Minister. might with justice be considered the most diflicult so far as the soldiersettlerg were concerned, but the financi:‘. position disclosed by the latest returns was aboslutely satisfactory. “The amount involved in postponement of the payment of rentals, instalments of mortgages. and -in‘ the remission of rent on that large expenditure,” he added, “totals only about £40,000, showing that every confidence may be placed in the future success of the returned soldier settlements.