LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 March 1922, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mails which left Auckland on February 22 per R.M.S. Niagara, via Vancouver, arrived at London on March 28. Mr. W. Goodfellow and Mr. W. Claude Motion, managing director and chairman respectively of the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company, Ltd., are in Wellington on dairy business. On their way back they will confer with South Taranaki dairying interests with respect to the marketing of next season’s produce.

A meeting of the Band Contest Accommodation Committee was held last evening. It was reported that preliminary arrangements have been made with hotels to accommodate 300 bandsmen, while suggestions were made that would enable the balance to be housed in temporary quarters if lodgings were not available. Messrs. R. Day and G. E. Roper were delegated to make further inquiries, and to report to a future meeting.

Piles and timber for the New Plymouth Harbor Board were brought from Australia by the Kaikorai, which, berthed yesterday. The piles and some of the timber are for wharf repairs, whilst a quantity of the heavier timber is for the work in connection with tne construction of the overhead railway bridge at the foot of the wharf, a task which has been hampered for some time owing to the non-arrival of this timber. Now it is expected that the work of completing the bridge will be put in hand immediately.

The aftermath of the war boom in farms is now being experienced (notes the Dannevirke News). Several cases have come under notice recently of farmers who sold their holdings during the boom and came to Dannevirke to live, who have had to resume possession or shortly will do. In one ease in which a former owner is faced with this possibility the farm has changed hands five times since he quitted it, the purchase price on the last occasion, having almost doubled the figure at which he sold.

At the meeting of the Tawhiti School Committee on Tuesday evening, Mr. H. W. Jackson, the headmaster, referred to the action of Master Leslie Walker, a pupil of the school, in saving a boy whose life was imperilled by a boating accident at Ngaere Gardens. The boy who had been rescued might easily have perished, as he could not be seen owing to the muddy state of the water in the lake. Mr. Jackson said that a fountain pen had been given him as a prize from the school, and by the unanimous consent of the children the pen had been presented to Master Walker in recognition of his plucky act.—Star.

The Ohura district is very suitable for fruit-growing. Apples and stone fruit grown there have a flavor absent from the fruit grown in other parts of the North Island. This fact, was remarked upon by members of the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce who recently toured the district. In the opinion of the fruit expert with the party, it would handsomely pay a man to acquire a place in one of the snug valleys with which the Ohura district abounds and plant it with fruit trees, and later on he would reap a rich harvest. Not only‘ is the flavor of the fruit so good, but the size to which apples and stone fruit glow is unusually large.

An Awakino correspondent writes commending the suggestion made in a recent issue of the News that the Government should put on at ’once another 100 men and a second steam shovel on the lower Awakino road, which is proceeding at a snail’s pace and cannot be completed at the present rate of progress for years. “In the event of the steam navvy being supplied, however,” continues our correspondent, “it ought to be one suitable to our conditions. The last one must have cost as much to get -from Waitara to its work as its original price, anct when it reached its destination was sick for most of its time.” It may be reiterated that a good steam shovel and an extra 100 men would complete the road by the end of the year, and thus give access to half a million of acres, the trade of which is now 'forced northwards because of the barrier, the Taumatamaire hill.

A custom among the Maoris, which is stated to be a part of Te Whiti’s teaching, is being revived amongst members of the native race in Taranaki. Years ago there were four days in the year which were recognised as "holy” days, viz., the 18th of March, June, September and December, on which days the natives assembled at their pahs for the purpose of discussing matters of importance to the tribes, renewing acquaintances, and expressing sympathy with the afflicted or congratulations to the successful, as the case might be. In the earlier days gatherings of such a nature held at PaHhaka attracted natives from all over the North Island. With the object of renewing this custom, a visit to Waitara, Parihaka and Moturoa lias just been made by Mrs. Henare Kaihau and family, of the King Country. Mrs. Kaihau is the widow of Mr. Henare Kaihau, who was elected to Parliament in 1902. and later on defeated by the presens native member, Dr. Pomare. The present visit of Mrs. Kaihau is the first she has made to Taranaki since her husband’s death, and on Monday last a number of Maoris assembled at Mr. Atua’s house at Moturoa for the purpose of welcoming the visitors and expressing regret at the loss of her husband, who was held in high esteem by the Maoris throughout the Dominion. Many speeches were made, during which the principal theme was a strong expression of loyalty to the Empire and the desire that the kinship between Maori and Pakeha should be more close.

The dance which was to have been held at Mahoe Hall to-morrow night has been postponed until April 5.

Residents of Fitzroy and district may now receive skilled attention in hairdressing, shaving, etc., at the Diggers’ Inn, Fitzroy. The saloon is fitted out with sanitary appliances and is in charge of a skilled manager.

A cable from Sydney last night stated that the position as to the elections was unaltered.

The Feilding Star says: There is still ft keen demand for breeding ewes in this district. Up to £1 a head is being offered, whereas a few months ago they were fetching only 6s per head in some cases.

A young man, who was charged at Wellington with the theft of bicycles, was wounded over twenty times while at the front in the late war. He was remanded for a medical examination. “Unfortunately we have a Labor Government in New South Wales,” remarked Mr. R. Abrahams, a member of the New South Wales Justices’ Association, at a meeting of the Wellington Justices’ Association. “They are making justices whether they can read or cannot read. That is a thing which I am up against tooth and nail.”

A ne\ vehicle for hire has made its appear nice in Dunedin in the form of a motor-cycle with a high, square, saloon body in place of the usual sidecar. The body is comfortably upholstered, seats two, and is equipped with luggage grid on the roof and box carrier at the rear.

A notable landmark on the Otaki beach, the last mark of the wrecked Hyderabad, fell during the recent heavy gales. The Hyderabad was wrecked on the beach in 1879, 43 years ago. She .was an all-steel boat, and had two hollow steel masts. In the sand hills almost opposite the wreck two visitors recently found the lid of a coffin rough hewn from &tara timber. The lid had been fastened with copper nails. Nearby were a few bones, a button, and some decaved fabric. The locality is probably the site of a Maori settlement of many years ago.

Some interesting facts in regard to the flshmongering business were brought forth during the hearing of a case in the Magistrate’s Court at Blenheim. A witness stated that with large fish, such as conger eel, the loss of weight as a result of smoking was about 25 per cent. In addition to this, a conger eel weighing 251 b. had a head weighing 41b. or 51b., and this had to tube cut off, while the backbone, which was also lost to the fishmonger, weighed about IMb. Altogether a fish lost between 40 and 50 per cent, of its weight as a result of smoking. Another witness, with lengthy experience; stated that a “green” blue cod weighing 41b. would, after smoking, weigh only 2Mb. “Auckland is a beautiful city, but mainly beautiful from a human standpoint,” remarked Mr. William C. Atwater, an American corporation president, to an Auckland reporter. “By that I mean it is not as beautiful as Paris or Rio. but in a different sense. You see, you have not the marked contrasts o-f either of those other cities. You have not the millionaires, on the one hand, and the pitiable poor on the other. There does not appear to be any industrial slavery as far as I have been able to gather in New Zealand. You are a very happy and fortunate people. If you have the arrogant rich, they certainly do not appear to' advertise themselves. I hope to come again and Bee more of this wonderful country.”

The recent business slump was very sore on the boot trade in New Zealand, employers harassed with all kinds of perplexities, workmen scratching on with half-time or a little better, many out altogether (states the Dunedin Star). By slow stages the position has improved, at any rate a-s far as Dunedin is concerned. Very few boots nnd shoes are being imported, orders for winter goods are being freely sent in to the factories, and there are not many hands now employed. One manufacturer said the other day that he had plenty of work to keep his staff going for three or four months.

“I must apologise for being a little late,” said Archdeacon A. M. Johnson on rising to speak at a meeting in the Wesley Church in connection with the Methodist Centenary, “but it is a grouch rather than an apology I want to deliver. I must say that I do not like night weddings; I*protest against them. They are all right in Australia where it is hot, they are all right in America where everyone is in a hurry, but they are not wanted, in New Zealand. Night weddings are exceedingly unpopular with the clergy, who have to work overtime, and naturally do not make speeches quite so nice as they do at day weddings. Just a word of advice to you young women who have still to be married; brides cannot look their best at night; they need the stained glass effect to set them off.” The audience was serious for a moment, but there was a twinkle in the archdeacon’s eye that started a hearty laugh. R. H. Clifford Martin, of Iroquois, Canada, writes: “I would like to get in touch with anyone in New Zealand who would like to exchange snap photos. Anyone who sends me good, clear prints o,f anything they think would be of interest will receive an equal number of prints typifying Canadian life and scenery, and I have a nice collection to choose from.” If anyl of our readers desire to take advantage of the offer they could get in touch direct with the Canadian correspondent. It was ten years ago yesterday since Captain Scott and his two companions, Dr. Wilson and Lieut. Bowers, lay dying- in the frozen Far South. They were due back at Hut Point on March 10 from their dash to the South Pole, but the loss of the ponies on the outward journey to the Pole and the gales and blizzards had hampered them. On February 17 Petty Omeer Evans died at the foot of the Beardmore Glacier, following concussion of the brain due to a fall. On March 16 Captain Oates, who had been taken ill and was delaying the party, walked out of the tent in the midst of a blizzard and was never seen again, sacrificing himself so as not to hamper the other three. They pushed on and made their last camp on March 21, with fuel for one hot meal, and two crays’ rations. Only eleven, miles further north was a food depot, but they were fated never to reach it, as a blizzard raged for nine days, and in their exhausted state the party were unable to advance. It was not until November 12, 1912, that 'a search party from the Discovery found the tent and the bodies and buried them beneath a cairn of stones, anrt on February 11 the news reached New Zealand. Curiously enough announcement of the fate of the explorers was conveyed by wireless to the Governor, Lord Liverpool, just as he was conducting his speech at the unveiling of the memorial to Captain Cook at Ship Cove, Queen Charlotte Sound, at the very spot from which that great navigator set out on June 7, 1773, and sailed south to make the first crossing on record of the Antarctic Circle and to dissipate for ever the old theory of the geographers that, a great habitable southern continent must exist to balance the land areas of the Northern Hemisphere.

Particulars of a farm for sale at Bell Block, now occupied by Mr. Walter ißislmD, are advertised in this issue.