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Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 51, 30 January 1932, Page 6

It was definitely announced at Dunedin yesterday that a new shipping company, to be known as the Southern Pacific Shipping Company of New Zealand, .Ltd., hopes to have two steamers running about May in a direct passenger and cargo service from Dunedin to Sydney, and from Dunedin to Hobart and Melbourne.. The headquarters of the new company will be Dunedin.

With a view to ascertaining the present condition regarding locomotive rolling stock on the New Zealand railways, in so far as obsolescence and cognate factors influence the question of locomotive efficiency and economy, responsible officers of the mechanical engineering staff have made a comprehensive survey of the position and embodied their findings in a report. Following upon the recommendations of the engineers, the commencement of a programme of locomotive replacements has been authorised. A design has been put in hand which will produce an engine of . general utility and of a powerful type. The new engines are being designed to meet the special conditions obtaining in New Zealand, and will embody the latest improvements in locomotive practice overseas.

The liner Niagara arrived in Sydney from Auckland at 4.45 p.m. yesterday. -

; Michael Migounoff, who was found in the hospital grounds at Napier on Thursday -with a fractured skull, died late on Friday afternoon. An inquest will be held.

A rubbish fire, which temporarily got out of control at the Central School, yesterday, afternoon, was responsible for the Fire Brigade being summoned. The firemen’s services were not required, however, workmen having subdued the flames. As an economy measure'the Pongaroa and . Eketahuna Magistrate’s Courts are to be closed as from March 1. • The records in both offices will be transferred to the Pahiatua Court Judgments and orders pertaining to .those districts will be enforced from that Court. Advice has been received from Nightcaps, says the Southland Times, that Mr V. Pemberton, who has put dowfj some bores on the flat, has been successful in locating a large field of ooal varying from nine to 17 feet in thickness at a depth of about 65 feet below the surface.

An egg of a Black, Orpington hen, laid on a Qordonton (Waikato) farm recently, was an object of curiosity. Although the contour of the egg shell was only slightly misshapen, it was found on breaking the egg that the yolk was pierced by a hollow ring of shell, perfectly formed, ’ The Mayor, Mr J. P. McPhail, reported to the Birkenhead Borough Council that one relief worker at Birkenhead had been “stood down” for a fortnight as a warning for having made no attempt to establish a vegetable garden. All the other workers had plots under cultivation. • .A marquee tent is to be used to pro-, vide temporary accommodation for. children attending the Howick (Auckland) primary school until an additional schoolroom is built by voluntary labour in the district. A grant of £SO from the Auckland Education Board will cover the cost of materials. “

Considerable annoyance is felt by the Tourist Department in Rotorua concerning recent wholesale stealing of goldfish from the ponds in the Ward and Blue Baths. In some cases the fish have been caught and put back again, but this injuves them, and several- have died, while at the Ward Baths many of the fish have been removed, about 18 altogether being missing.

A quinnnt salmon weighing 191 b. was landed by Mr Jack Upritchard, of Domett, at the mouth of the Hurunui River. The. fish was caught in the breakers and was in splendid condition. The following day Mrs Gillanders landed a salmon weighing 241 b. The appearance of quinnat in the Hurunui this season is earlier than in past years, says an exchange. Forced to reduce speed and at times to change her course, the motor-ship Otaio passed through a field of icebergs in the southern Indian Ocean ofi her voyage from Liverpool to Auckland, via Dakar and the Cape of Good Hope. The Otaio. a vessel of 10,048 tons, arrived at Auckland this week. Some of the icebergs the Otaio saw on her course were 300 ft. in height and measured 800 ft. in length. A sealed bottle containing a message from Sir Douglas Mawson’s ship Discovery was found on the Punehu Beach, on the West Coast, a few days ago, by Miss F. Crofskey,' Opunake, and Miss V. Hall, Pihama. The bottle was thrown overboard off the Tasmanian coast on November 23, 1930. One of the objects of Sir Dougjas Mawson’s expedition was to study the currents of the southern seas. Two Otor.ohanga residents, when on a motoring tour of the Northland, nearly lost their car while travelling along the Ninety-Mile Beach. The car became embedded in soft sand at an isolated spot, and the driver, Mr D. Yeo, had to walk four miles tb obtain assistance. Upon his return he found that the tide was fast approaching the stranded car, and a t-otal loss would have resulted in another 20 minutes.

The erection of memorials, one over the common grave at Parke Island, where 84 persons killed in the earthquake were buried, and one on the Marine Parade, was fully discussed at a well-attended meeting in Napier representative of the clergy, tire relatives of those who lost their lives in the earthquake disaster, and other citizens of Napier. The holding of a thanksgiving service on February 3 was also unanimously decided uj>on. Abandoned farms —areas of poor, stony land, which have reverted to the mortgagee through the inability of the tenants to make them profitable or even self-supporting—are being put to excellent use in the Selwyn County, Canterbury. They are being occupied by unemployed men, engaged under the No. 5 scheme, on .the condition that they leave them in a condition better than that in which they found them. Several are available, but at, present only two are in use. It is hoped to use others' as the scheme proceeds. The parties concerned ' in the marriage of a young Dunedin couple, instead of spending another £SO or more in wedding festivities, gave the money to the Salvation Army to provide a dinner for the children of the unemployed. The success of their, thoughtfulness mav be judged by the fact that, after preparations had been made for seating 800 children from six to 15 years of age in the ballroom of the Early Settlers’ Buildings, applications were received on behalf of another hundred. They were all accommodated in relays, and it was a delightful function. A 6liot was fired at the south-bound Limited express about eight o’clock on Thursday night half a mile on the Pukekohe side of Pnorata. When the train arrived at Frankton Junction the occurrence was reported by a passenger. He informed the station officials, that he heard a shot, and, looking out of a window, saw a man standing close to the line armed with a rifle. An examination was made and a bullet hole was - found in the wall of a sleepingcar immediately below the window., There is a cutting in the vicinity and it is thought possible that the person who fired was shooting at a rabbit and did not notice the approaching train.

“All the demand that exists in New Zealand for lemons could be handled by Dominion growers,” declared Mr F. J. Nathan, president of. the Institute of Horticulture, speaking at the annual conference. at Christchurch. “We imr port thousands of pounds worth of this fruit each year, and if the industry were sufficiently developed in the Dominion this country would soon be in a position to export lemons in shell quantity as to take a large place in world markets. As to our lemon exports at present, some criticism has been levelled at the quality of the fruit, the grading and the packing, but these are faults which can be overcome. This industry can be rtiado a great channel for the outlet of energy and a souice of income to the country.”

Men 1 Do you, realise that you can procure a good navy serge suit for 75s at C. and C.’s Gigantic half-yearly clearance sale? They are made in New Zealand from a good quality English serge which is soap shrunk and fast Indigo aye. The suits are smartly cut and made with shape retaining fronts and were £4 19s 6d. Sale bargains at 75s each in all Bisea.—Collinson and Cunninghame, Ltd.—Advt,

Four bankruptcies were filed ri “ the Palmerston North dlstl 2F* f u pr f the month ended to-day. The eight notifications in January, 19 • A proposal to raise £40,000 ■will be submitted to the ratepayers or Central Power Board, Waikato, on Tuesday. The money will be devoted to extending power services. The long period of warm, fine weather continued yesterday at Auckland for the Anniversary Day holiday, lne principal event was the regatta, in which the Governor - General, Lord Bledisloe, participated, and the races at Takapuna.

The undercarriage and lower wings Of a metal Gipsy Moth aeroplane belonging to the Auckland Aero Clud were extensively damaged on Thursday, when the machine crashed into a fence at the Mangere aerodrome after the engine had stalled during a take-off. Neither the pilot, Mr K. Gould,. instructor to the Hawke s Bay '■ Aero Club, nor , a passenger 'in the machine was injured. • “No one can do good work unless ho has plenty of fresh air, good light and tonic encouragement from those With whom he works and lives,” said the Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe, at the opening of the Victoria League rooms in Auckland this week. “I believe that -conscientious work, coupled with faith and hope, is the surest source of the most perfect happiness which human beings can achieve.” \ ‘ ~ While walking across an old _ Maori camping ground on the sandhills at the southern end of Waikawa Beach a few days ago a resident, of Invercargill was fortunate enough to pick up a small greenstone object which proved to be an unusual double-ended carving tool. The tool, which is about three inches long and, half an inch in diameter, is sharpened like a chisel at,one end and has a gouge at the other. In this respect, says the Southland Times, it is uncommon, double-ended tools being unusual, while gouge-shaped tools are seldom seen amongst the relics of Maori arts.