LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 September 1922, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A young man was arrested in New Plymouth yeetrday on a charge of assault on another man in -Brougham Street. He will appear in Court this morning.

A motor accident took place yesterday afternoon in the vicinity of the railway accident, near Ngaere, when a motorcycle and motor-car came into collision. The dccupants escaped with only slight cuts and bruises, but the car was considerably damaged. The hearing of the. claim of Hannah Gavin for £lOOO as damages against Elliott Edward . Snowball, for alleged breach of promise to marry, which was included in the civil list for hearing at the current session of the Supreme Court at New Plymouth, was yesterday adjourned till the next session of the Court.

In the Supreme Court at New Plymouth yesterday His Honor Mr. Justice Chapman, sitting in divorce, granted Hilda Georgina Lydia Davy a decree absolute from Frank Reginald Davy. Permanent alimony was granted at the rate of 10s per week each for the petitioner and the .four children in her custody, while reasonable access is to be given Davy to see the children, and also the petitioner to visit the child in respondent’s custody.

Mr. S. G. Smith (Taranaki) asked the Postmaster-General: What is the reason for the State Postal Department forwarding material and stores from Wellington to New Plymouth by the Union Company’s steamers instead of using the State railways’ (telegraphs our correspondent). The Hon. J. G. Coates replied that the department sends material and stores from Wellington to New Plymouth by sea or rail, whichever offers the more advantageous despatch. Reference was recently made to the splendid results being obtained.by Mr. H. Purdie from his farm of 91 acres on the Waitara Road. It was stated that he was running 71 head upon the place. Besides that number we find that he has young stock and horses equivalent to a further nine, or 80 head on 01 acres. Mr. Purdie states that each of his cows (purebred Jerseys) have averaged 350 lb. of butter-fat over the past ten years, which is a great record considering that the average production per cow in Taranaki is 188 lb. and that for New Zealand 160 lb. It also goes to shdw what can ibe done by systematic testing, breeding the right kind of animal, the provision of shelter and adequate feed.

“I defy any commissioner to come to New Zealand and not take an interest in its trade,’’ said Mr. R. W. Dalton. H.M. Trade Commissioner, who is leaving New Zealand, with emphasis to the Rotarv Club, Wellington, on Thursday. “I have a true love for the country, and nothing I could do would give me greater pleasure than to forward the prosperity of New Zealand. When a man is offered promotion in his office he must take it, but I have never been so happy as I have been in New Zealand, and, outside London, I don’t think I would be as happy anywhere else! You got me as a Trade Commissioner, and now you will have me as a Continental advertisement! ”

Mr. F. N. Bartram (Grey Lynn) is asking the Prime Minister whether Jie will bring down a short Bill this session to ensure uniformity in the size and color of banknotes, particularly tenshilling notes. Many complaints, stated the hon member'on Tuesday, have been received concerning the difficulty of easily distinguishing the denomination of various notes: for instance, the Commercial Bank note for £1 being often mistaken for the ten-shilling note of other banks. It is suggested that this mrtht be easily obviated by legislation to provide for 'the ten-shilling notes being of uniform color (say, red) and size. For bank-sorting purposes the name of the bank might fee printed on the note in a special color denoting the bank.

Sunny spring days and the school holidays have combined to make Kawaroa Park the popular rendezvous for children and adults alike. Here the youngsters find unending pleasure in the various contrivances provided for their amusement, whilst the beach near by is an additional magnet. Daily for the last two weeks the park has been populated with happy children, who will no doubt creep unwillingly back to school next Tuesday. Family picnics, a sign of approaching summer, have also made their re-appearance and a walk through the park at lunch-time yesterday revealed a surprising number of adults and children having the mid-day meal out-of-doors beneath the shade of the trees or with their tablecloths, provisioned with good tilings, spread out on the grass.

Yesterday was the “washing-up dav of the New Plymouth session of the Supreme Court, and this morning will see the completion of the remaining cases The session has been unusual, not only as regards its duration, having lasted over three weeks, but also for the large amount of civil litigation. The criminal cases were disposed of on the first dav, and, up till yesterday, the remainder of the time was occupied with ” r uses before a jury. The list was a formidable one, but it shrank into three actions for alleged misrepresentation in the sale of farms and two arising out of motor collisions, the remaining cases being settled, struck out, or adjourned till next session. In the land cases the verdicts went to the defendants. once after a. disagreement at a previous trial, while in the motor litigation both defendants were also sueeegsfuL

Almost four out of ten of the children who enter the elementary schools leave at the age of fourteen or fifteen without having completed the course, j ne Minister of Education on Tuesday assured the House of Representatives that Lis' department was earnestly endeavoring to find a remedy for this state of affairs. The solution, he thought, lay in the provision of a special type of instruction for the duller children who failed to obtain sixth standard certificates. The junior or intermediate high school would help to improve matters.

“Marks —4000 for £l,’” was the announcement on a Wellington sharebroker’s blackboard on Tuesday morning. On inquiry it was learned that there had been a good deal of speculation in German marks in Wellington during the last fortnight. “Why,” said one broker, “it’s been easy money! Some speculators bought when marks were 7600 and even 8200 to the £l, and now they’re down to 4000, and we’re selling the lotf” France has agreed to the Reparation Commission’s terms, and it has had a stabilising effect, even on the volatile mark!”—Dominion.

“Yes, she married me under false pretences; said she was only 56 years of age, when she was 66, and I was not long in finding it out,” declared a hale and hearty man of somewhere about 65 years who came before Mr. J. E. Wilson, S.M., at Auckland on Friday on his wife’s petition that he should show cause why he should not pay her maintenance (states the Star). The lady, a rather frail looking body who coyly admitted to 73 years, stated that although her husband had a house of his own, it was characterised by many steps and a. low-lying position, and she submitted a medical certificate that the state of her heart precluded the exercise of climbing. Consequently she preferred not to accept the husband’s offer of a comfortable and happy home, but to live by herself on a level plane, with assistance from one of her (not his) sons, and a measure of support from the husband. “Married me under false pretences, and then put me out of the home,” persisted the man, who had obviously a strong personality of the primitive kind. “I can’t imagine that woman putting you out if you didn’t want to go, ’ retorted the Magistrate, who ordered the man to contribute £1 a week to his wife’s support. At a meeting of the New Zealand Friesian Society at Palmerston North on Friday a motion was enthusiastically carried congratulating Mr. Vernon Marx, of Mangatoki, upon the great record established by his Friesian cow Alcartra Clothilde Pietje, which was the first cow of any breed in Australasia to produce 1000 lb. of butter-fat in one season. No cow of any other breed had produced a similar amount of butterfat in twelve months whereas Mr. Marx’s champion had given slightly more than 1000 lb. of fat in ten monhts. The chairman stated that he had recently inspected this fine cow in the company of Mr. W. D. Hunt, the president of the New Zealand Friesian Association. She promised to give about 30,000 lb. of milk and about 1140 lb. of fat in the full twelve months. Moreover she would calve again within 30 days of finishing her test. This cow had never been housed, but ran out with other cows on her owner’s farm throughout the year. Under the conditions of this test, her performance was a world’s record for all breeds. It was decided to endeavor to arrange with the owner to have his cow on exhibition at the Manawatu spring show. Mention has been made of the fact that a heifer in Taranaki, which had milked in only three-quarters throughout the year promised to finish up her year’s test with a production of about 800 lb. of fat. This would also be a record for all breeds, and was an astounding performance under the circumstances.