LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 50, Issue 152, 9 April 1930, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

[file Lincoln College Board lias received from Mr Job Osborne, a pioneer farmer of Ellesmere, a gift of £SOO to lonnd a scholarship tenable at Lincoln College.

The following are a couple of Maori names which challenge one recently instanced. The first is the name of a j oint in Haw, kip’s Bay, where mystic sounds are supposed to be heard from laumata’s Koauau or flute. The second is the proper name of Putiki: Taumata whakatangi hanga koauau attamatea. Putikiwharanuiatamataealiokaiwhenua a

The 20 parrots sold by Mr T. V. Whitmore, cabinetmaker, 624 Colombo Street, which were suspected to have contracted the infectious disease psittacosis have all been traced by the Medical Oiiicpr for Health for Canterbury and Westland, Dr. T. Fletcher Jelford (says a Christchurch message). J. wenty-five of the birds were traced on Monday, and yesterday Dr. Telford received information leading him to believe that the last of the parrots died from the disease on March 13.

The Longhead) Road Board met yesterday, when there were present: Messrs J. P. McQuilkin (chairman), W. J. Anderson, L. Maginness, H. Watts and A. Moore. It waS decided to erect bridges across two bad fords on Boundary Road, and .further to grade portion of the road between Graham’s and Terrace roads. The overseer reported that re-metalling was being carried out on Terrace Road where it was damaged by flood.

A farmer in the Pukeng'ahu district states that ragwort is prevalent on the farms in the district to a much greater degree than ever before experienced In hi s opinion, the soil favours the Growth of the weed. He men firmed that by ploughing the infested paddocks and sowing down'turnips he had found that the weed was practical!v eliminated, hi regard to the affected parts that were not accessible to the plough, he was only able to check the spread of the weed hv laborious cutting. The unseasonable weather conditions. he said, seemed' to favour the growth of noxious weeds. Ho believed that- the Californian thistle was introduced into a number of properties through the use of inferior quality, grass seed.

A petition in bankruptcy has been tiled by Joseph Smith, a labourer, of Ashburton, and a meeting of creditors lias been called for next Tuesday', to lie held at the Courthouse, Ashburton.

A Christchurch message states that it was announced in Court to-day that the ease, Drainage Board versus the trustees of Monica Park, concerning sanitation, had been settled, the required work to he started immediately.

The estimated loss hv fire in the Christchurch fire district from March 6to April 4 was £485. Insurances on buildings and their contents amounted to £7839, and the total estimated values on property on which fines occurred was £10,735. The brigade received 28" calls. Eleven were to actual fires on properties, five were to rubbish fires, five were false alarms, and five were malicious false alarms.

1 About 60 members of Methodist Young Women’s Bible Classes throughout Canterbury will attend the annual Easter camp, which will be held this year at Ashburton. Others, including several from the County, will attend the camp at Temuka. The men’s camp will be Held at Winchester, where, it is anticipated, between 30 and 40 from the County will he present. Those attending the conference at Ashburton will he billeted in the Technical School.

Fifty boxes containing £250,000 in gold coin comprised the most valuable portion of the cargo unloaded from the ivlaunganui soon alter the vessel’s arrival at Wellington from Sydney yesterday (says a Press Association message). The shipment was consigned to the Bank of New South Wales. The boxes, which were heavily constructed and about the size of a five pound box of tea, were carried down a gangway from the forward portion of the ship and loaded on to a motor-lorry, over which two members of the Police .Force kept guard.

After a recent sporting meeting a gate-keeper found himself £1 short in his takings. He could not account for it and the committee, never dopbting his honesty, concluded that in the rush he may have dropped a £1 note or given away too much in change. It was a surprised gate-keeper when a few days later a man approached him in the street and, after explaining how he had received tickets and in the rush failed to pay for them, tendered a £1 note. The gate-keeper was thankful and he went to £he secretary and paid the missing £1 which had caused him considerable anxiety.

The following paragraph appeared in the “Ashburtoif Mail” .of 50 years ago: The directors of the Town Hall Company have determined to carry out further improvements in order to make the present building a more profitable as well as a more suitable cue for the town. It is proposed to erect a verandah in front of the building, and two shops, one on each side of the main doorway. The present gallery will be dispensed with altogether, and several offices put in its place. The directors have also decided to reduce' greatly the charge for hiring the hall, a step which no doubt will be appreciated by those who are in> the habit of using it for entertainments.

Recently, Mr J. Ashley, of Otane, discovered a rare species of cricket in a limestone face at Argyll (Hawke’s Bay). He handed it on to Mr J. Mcßae, who in turn sent it to the Dominion Museum for identification. The director of the museum states that the creature is a mole cricket, being very rare, this being only the second specimen so far collected, the first being found in a waterhole at Pirinoa I*2 years ago. The species has not yet been named, but belongs to the family Gryllotalpidae. The museum authorities have been waiting for some time for a second -specimen to turn up. They wish to keep the specimen for the Dominion Museum.

In introducing Sir Michael Myers (Chief Justice), who presided at the annual meeting of the Boys’ Institute and Salvation Army Rhodes Home for Boys the other evening, the president Mayor of Wellington, Mr Cl. A. ■Troup) said it had been customary at the annual meetings for the Chief .Justice to preside, and Sir Michael was following an honourable succession. They had had Sir Robert Stout, Sir Chavles Skerrett, and iSir James Prendergast. One and all, he was sure, would extent a hearty welcome to Sir Michael Myers, one who had grown up among them and who had. by sheer ability, backed up by grit and hard work, attained to his' present high position. (Applause.)

An address book, lost in Milan ir 1924, has just reached its owner, Miss Mary Duncan, of Hills Road, Hillsborough (Christchurch). It was the most highly prized article in a handhag which Miss Duncan lost in the train while travelling from Milan to Venice, and she regards it as very strange indeed that it alone should have been recovered, as she has often expressed the wish, among friends, that she could have recovered the book, which is full of New Zealand, English, and other addresses. The letter accompanying'the hook bore a slip from his Majesty’s Consul General at Milan, dated February 14, 1930, stating that the book was lying with other 'papers to be destroyed. “As it contained Miss Duncan’s address it was forwarded to her. Miss Duncan, who is a daughter of the late Mr George Duncan, who nnived in Canterbury in 1851, says she has always impressed cn her friends who go travelling that they should put their addresses on their belongings.

Weasels and stoats are not on the list of protected animals, but enjoy a measure of protection from the Agricultural Department as enemies of the rabbit pest. “But the rabbits are no longer a pest,” said the secretary of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society to a “Dominion” reporter on Wednesday, “and where the forests are free from rabbits the Agricultural Department is easing the restrictions on’killing weasels and stoats.” Where there were no rabbits the weasels and stoats, and also bush rats, had to find food, and consequently! made havoc among the native birds. Of course many of these vermin were caught bv opossum trappers, not because they wanted to catch them, but because they got in the traps and were killed. Last vear 33,000 bush rats and over 2000 weasels and stoats wore caught in that way. The skins rarely fetched a price worth while to the trapper, unless they were white stoats, lut it was only above snow line, that stoats took on this colour consequently they were rare.

When ordering a gram and seed drill, be sure you get the best; drilling being the vital operation in p'nnting any crop. The Agricultural Department, after trying all other makes, both local and imported, found our ‘‘Star" Drill the only make competent to fulfil all their requirements, and to give the necessary accuracy in drilling test plots. During the last ten years the Department has purchased six seven-coulter Drills from us for that ourpose. They know the best.—P. and D. Duncan, Ltd., Tuam Street, Christchurch. and Aahburtor. — Advt.

A case was c-alled in the Napier Police Court the other morning in which a wife was taking action against her husband. It was explained to the wife (states the “Telegraph”), that the police had been unable to find the husband to serve him with the summons. The woman said that she thought the police should have taken her husband when she asked them to. The Ma gistrate explained that a policeman could not interfere between man and wife unless clothed with the necessary authority. “I think it is disgraceful to Napier,” the woman said. “Is that so?” mildly Commented the .Magistrate. “Well, you tell the police all you know about where vour husband is and the police will bring him here and make it disgraceful for him.”

There are now 350 men working on the Gisborne end of the Napier-Gis-borne section of the east coast railway, between Muriwai and the 126 chains tunnel which leads from the Tikowhata into the Kopuawhara. The men are scattered along many miles of line, and a number are labouring out of sight in water-drives and headings. The result of months of work is barely evident in some sections, while in other sections the quantity of dirt moved presents an interesting matter for speculation. The scars on the hillsides tell a story of progress (says the “Poverty Bay Herald,”) but tile work in out-of-the-way corners of the loading valleys is as important, though less evident.

It is not often that steamers have to come all the way out from Britain to New Zealand in ballast, but, owing to the falling off of shipments from England to Australia, both the Mahia and the Majmoa, Shaw., Savill steamers, are coming out empty to the dominion. They are wanted to pick up produce here for Britain. If times were ordinary, they would bring out merchandise for Australia, and then come across to New Zealand in ballast, but owing to the temporary slump, Australia’s imports are not what they, used to he. The Port Sydney is also coming out from England to New Zealand in ballast. Of course, the two Shaw, Savill shouts and the Port steamer are additional to the regular traders in the New Zealand-Britain trade.

The Alleiyton School Committee met on Holiday evening, when tliei'e were present: Messrs R. Houston (chairman), E. C. Bathurst, H. Silverwood, J. MeElhinnev, 0. Solway, C. Maynard, G. Harris and H. Greaves. The headmaster (Mr E. S. Chambers) reported that the roll number was 225, with an average attendance of 210. The sciicol was visited during the month by Messrs Johnston (agriculture instructor), McLeod. Brunton and Irwin (inspectors of schools and Webb (physical .instructor). Arrangements have been made to commence a piano teaching class in connection with ftlie school. This class would be held after school on Thursdays. The headmaster was given permission to arrange with Mr Petrie to address the children on the evening before Anzae Day. Permission was also given him to arrange for a concert to be held on May 7, the proceeds to go toward the purchase of aV gramophone. The Visiting Committee reported the school grounds in good order.