LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 November 1919, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tlio opening of the Park Tennis Club's Season, which was to liave taken place yesterday afternoon, was postponed. A number of members were on the courts and spent ail enjoyable afternoon.

' Recently when being driven ,iear AVa/ingake (Uis'borne) a motor lorry, through engine trouble, hacked over a declivity and fell 800 feet, ending up ill a total wreck. The driver was not on ! the machine when it fell over the cliff. The New Plymouth Borough Council lias accepted the tonder of Messrs. Payne and Blanchard, £9351, for the construction of the intake and tunnel i for the new hydro-efectric extension. The contract is subject to slight modifications.

At the instigation of tho Mayor of Hastings the local people have decided to erect an emergency hospital and maternity home as a war memorial at a cost of £14,000 to £15,000 on an area of about seven acres. Tho Minister of Public Health has promised a. & for £ subsidy up to £IOOO. Lovers of the homely broad bean will regret to learn that the beautiful but energetic bumble bee is likely to cause tho crop to be a failure this year (says an exchange). The reason is that the bee punctures the blossom to extract the honey, with the result that the flower withers and drops off, which means no beans. One farmer states that an area he planted will practically not yield any beans this year, and in private' gardens, similar damage is being done.

New Zealand has benefited from some valuable gifts from the pdblic. Among a fow may be mentioned the bequests to the city of Auckland of Sir John Logan Campbell, amounting to over £250,000; the Dihvorth bequest for schools in the Auckland district amounting to £150,000; Mr T. Cawthron's (Nelson) gift of £240,000; the Turn bull (Il'awke.s Bay) bequest of £IOO,OOO, and others. The Prime Minister mentioned these figures last week.

A noticeable increase in the number of overseas visitors to New Zealand is reported by the officer in charge of the Auckland Government 'Tourist Bureau. Many Americans have recently arrived by the Vancouver boats, to make a tour of the Dominion. America is apparently undergoing the same experience as England with regard to difficulty in securing passages off overseas vessels, however, and the demand,by people desiring to visit New Zealand is much in excess of the accommodation available to bring them. The near approach of the Christmas holidays is also bringing a large number of inquiries, and there is every indication that record business will be done by the Tourist Department during the coming summer. A motorist at Blenheim was penalised to the extent of £ls 9s fid last, weelc on charges of failing to stop his car when an accident had taken place, driving at a greater speed than fifteen miles an hour, and driving on a public thoroughfare in a manlier dangerous to the safety of the public. The defendant's car collided with a cyclist, and instead of waiting to see if he could render assistance, he drove on. Mr P. C, Rollings, S.M., whin heard the ease, said it was the duty or every motorist to rtop when an accident had taken place, in the interests of humanity. It might be necessary to convey an injured person to the hospital or to go for a doctor. ' To drop over a declivity of 23ft., in a motor car, sweep away a oft galvanised iron fence, negotiate the trees of an orchard, pass on out into the fresh air of the roadway, and be able to say "it never touched me," is not what evory driver can say he accomplished when practising for his "ticket." Yet it has been done, and tho sceptical may see where the tornado on wheels made' light of the fence concerned by standing on Dyer's Pass Road above the Rhodes Covaleseent Home (says a Greymouth paper). By some means the motorist —he surely deserves the name—passed over the channelling and footpnth on the right-hand side of the road, in endeavouring to turn, and proceeded down the bank, at the bottom of which there is a galvanised iron fence. This obstacle was flattened for some distance by the impact, and the car went on, little "damaged, through the orchard. Notwithstanding the fact that the property boom in Wellington commenced as far back as 1910, prices appear to be still advancing.. Two instances may be cited of sales within the last feiv weeks. In one of these cases a suburban property "was purchased at £9OO, and as the owner was transferred to to another place he sold it within a couple of weeks at £llOO. The other case is that of a property in one of the outlying suburbs. It was sold at £I9OO, and resold a few weeks later at £2200. In one favorite suburb of Wellington the ruling prices for residential properties with freehold sections of about 40ft frontage, and houses of say six rooms thereon, run from £IBOO to £2OOO. Rents are also extremely high. For instance, a part of a house comprising three rooms with Use of kitchen,'' is rented at 37s tid per week, and this place is some distance from the city. The old girls of the New Plymouth High School were successful in raising a considerable sum of money last year for the purpose of buying books and pictures for the .scliool. These have now been obtained and will be formally presented on Saturday, November 29, when the old girls are holding a re-union. There will be a garden party during the afternoon, when they are to be the guests of tho present girls, while in the evening a dinner is to be held in the assemlby room. Auld's sale will he continued in the showroom only until Wednesday next, the other departments being now closed for stocktaking.--Advt. The formula of the already famous "Fairy Wonder" Cleanser for washing clothes is a closely guarded secret, and was the discovery of an eminent chemist only after years of research for a soluble ami active deterrent injurious 1o neither skin nor fabric. In addition, it has the wonderful properties of quickly bleaching snow-white any clothes that have become a had color. Every housewife should use it.

The Melbourne, Ltd., have opened out another shipment of boys' and youths' black school hose with red, blue and white bar turnover tops. Prices are as follows: 4's 3/0, ,Vs 3/11, o's 4/3, 7's 4/6, S's 4/9, 9's 4/11. These goods are best all-wool Colonial manufacture.

The best is the cheapest, and NORTH BRITISH GARDEN HOSE is best for wear. Costs no more than ordinary good, hose and lasts for nauiy years. 78