LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 54, Issue 90, 26 January 1934, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

With the object of speeding up sales, the South Canterbury Stock Auctioneers' Association has decided to increase bids for. fat stock from 2s 6d to ss, the las* bid to, count as 2s 6d In s step will bring South Canterbury auctions into line with those in other centres.

Two North Island memebrs of Parliament Messrs J. Linklater (Manawatu) and A. Stuart (Rangitikei), arrived m Ohristchurch yesterday, and spent some time with the New Zealand Wheat Purchase Board discussing questions aitectiiiK growers and millers in their districts. At present Dr. F. W. Hilgendorf, director of the institute, is in the Manawatu and Rangitikei districts inspecting the crops. Of recent years these districts have shown increased interest in. wheatgr owing.

An exceptional sight was witnessed on Saturday afternoon by a party or tourists while visiting the thermal area at Whakarewarewa when the frog pona of boiling mud became violently active and threw up a shot of mud and steam to a height of about 4.0 ft., states a Rotorua correspondent. The pond is more or less continuously active, throwing up small blobs of boiling mud, which give a realistic representation of jumping frogs. It is nearly twelve months since the pond has shown such activity.

An example of the strict manner in which the decision of the Christchurcii Tramway Board not to permit pets to be carried on the trams by passengers is reported. A woman boarded a train with a magpie packed in such a way that the contents of the package were not apparent. However, the conductor had his suspicions aroused and after the woman had travelled some distance he asked her if die was carrying a live animal, and on learning that she was. he requested her to leave the tram. She did so and had to complete her journey on foot.

There will be plenty of work offering for harvesters this a labour agent told a reporter of "The Timaru Herald" yesterday. The agent said ■that, due to the tangled state of most crops harvesting would be a long and slow business. The failure of the harvest in Marlborough had resulted in many men coming south and some of those had already made their appearance in South Canterbury. Although a start has been made in some districts with cutting wheat, it is not expected that the harvest in South Canterbury will begin in earnest for about a fortnight.

When his clothes caught fire in the emgineroom of the auxiliary vessel Margaret W., in the Bay of Plenty on Sunday afternoon, Mr E. R. Morse, the chief engineer of the vessel, jumped overboard to subdue the flames (states the "New Zealand Herald")- A rescue was effected immediately by a boat's crew from the vessel, which afterwards returned to Tauranga. There the. injured man received medical attention and was sent to the hospital. His injuries are reported to be Hot serious. The accident occurred an hour after the Margaret W. had left Tauranga for Auckland. Mr Morse was starting the auxiliary engine and was priming it with benzine. " The engine back-fired and blew a quantity of binning petrol over Mr Morse's clothes, which burst into flames. With great presence of mind Mr Morse 'sprang up the fewsteps of the emgineroom ladder and leaped over the bulwarks into the sea. Almost as soon as he reached the water the Margaret W.'s helm was put over and the vessel rounded towards the engineer.

Tho report Hi is week front the Luke Coleridge power station is that the level ot .the water in the lake is at overflow point, 1672 ft. It has been, in tho last three or four weeks, a little higher than that level. A year ago it was 1686.075 ft, nearly 6ft below overflow mark.

Private information that Mr George Bernard Shaw will not lecture during his coming visit to New Zealand was received in Auckland last week (states the . "New Zealand Herald"). Mr and Mrs Shaw will embark on a round trip to the Dominion by the motor ship Rangitane, which is clue at Auckland on March 15.

Judgment for plaintiff by default was given in the. following undefended civil case Tn the Ashburton Magistrate's Court this morning before Mr 11. Clark, J.P., and Mr F. W. Watt, J.P.: —James Brown (Mr G. C. IMicoll) v. Thomas Connolly, £3 2s Bd, with £1 7s 6d costs.

There is. still a steady demand for general farm labourers in South Canterbury, and the supply is only just sufficient to meet it. Farmers are continually seeking hands, and there is also a demand: for women in the country. A farmer pointed out to a reporter of "The Timaru Herald" yesterday that in many cases women were being paid as much as men to take country work.

There should be no shortage of grain sacks in South Canterbury this season for the Union Company's chartered vessel Narbada landed more than 900,000 sacks at Timaru last Saturday. Last year Timaru received only about 750,000 sacks and the shortage was so acute at the end! of the season that grain was shipped in flour bags. Had not a large shipment been taken from Timaru in bulk, the position would have been considerably worse. It i« expected that this year's harvest will be about 10 bushels an acre less than last year's yield, so the new shipment should be adequate fd(r all requirements.

Hakatere Lodge, 1.0.0. F., met on Wednesday evening, the N.G. (Bro. ID. Hunter) presiding over a fair attendance. Three brothers were reported sick and five were declared off the funds of the lodge. Two candidates were nominated. The quarterly and half-yearly returns were received and adopted. ' The position disclosed was very satisfactory, in spite of a heavy drain on the various funds. A hearty welcome was extended to a member of the Linden Lodge (Dunedin) who extended fraternal greetings from his lodge.

A number of harvest labourers arrived in Ashburton by the express train this morning but the prospects are not good in the country at present. Men seeking casual labour are experiencing an anxious time, the bad weather having held up harvesting operations. Up to this time last year one agency, in Ashburton had placed 40 harvesters but this year less than 12 men have been found work. It is stated' that now there is not the usual number of men about, many having gone on the road and, being unable to secure jobs, have left the district in desperation. One man walked the length and breadth of the County without success. There are prospects of a better demand for labour next week, however, following the more settled weather conditions.

The horse is coming into its own again as a power agency in the country, according to a farmer, who said yesterday that many South Canterbury men. were putting away their tractors and hitching up their old teams again. He said that the farmers had found that the cost of maintaining and running a tractor was too high and consequently they were sowing more oats to provide feed for their horses. Another example of, the decrease in the use of farm machinery was given, by a reporter by a labour" agent, who that there was a definite tendency for farmers to hang up .their machine shearing plants and to revert to the old blade method. During last season, he said, ho had not sent one machine shearer into the country, farmers insisting on blade shearers.

Some speculation and not . a little amusement has been afforded observant motorists on the Napier-Hastings road by the removal of the posts which for years marked the mile distances from Napier (says an exchange). The new ten-mile post is on a spot about a third of a mile nearer the Hastings boundary. The post formerly occupied a position near the end of the corner of the Karanm Crossing. Now, however, it has been transplanted to a place near the new bridge itself, and has been repainted. The length of a mile has not been altered since the post was first erected, and the question arises as to whether the ground has shrunk during the period since the post was first erected, or whether the motoring public have been inadvertently deluded.

At the conclusion/ of the inquest touching the death of Noel Augustine Smith, a boy of ten years, who lost his life by touching a live wire on the roof of his parents' house at Blenheim on Friday last, the Coroner, Mr E, J. Hill, said that the lesson of the tragedy should be fully realised by parents and school teachers, and the danger of contact with ; these wires should be emphasised again and again so that the lesson would sink deeply into the juvenile mind. It was not possible, it seemed ; to safeguard the wire beyond the ordinary insulation, which, as Mr Mac Lean, engineer of the Marlborough "Electric Power Board, had pointed out, became frayed by the action of the weather. It was for the parents to, see that the children were kept away from contact with the wires and that they should bo fully advised of the danger of going anywhere near them.

The view that employers in the country did not all treat youths well was expressed by Mr E. A. Wood at the meeting of the Napier Central Employment Committee for Youths (says the Napier "Daily Telegraph"). He quoted as an example the case of a boy who took on a farm job at 7s Gd a . week His employer insisted that he rise at 4 a.m. and because ho could not wake up at that time purchased him an alarm clock for 14s 6d, forcing the boy to pay for it out of his first two weeks wages. The boy objected to this treatment on the grounds that he could have bought a clock for 4s 6d, and as a result of a subsequent altercation, the boy was discharged. When; the boy asked for a week's wages m lieu of notice, the employer made him. take the alarm clock instead. "Surely that is an isolated case," remarked Mr G. Mitford Taylor. Mr Wood: "No, I could lay my hands on many other cases of harsh treatment. If farm work is made more congenial, I am sure we will get more hoys to go on the land." "What Mr Wood says is perfectly true," said Mr 0. Anderson. "The fault is that there seems to be no jurisdiction over employers." No action was taken.

The Loyal Ashburton Lodge, M.U.1.0.0. F., met last evening, the N.G. <Bro. A. A. Craighead) presiding over a fair attendance. Sick pay amounting .to £ll 3s 4d was parsed in favour of 11 members. One proposal for membership was received, a ballot on two proposals proved satisfactory and "one new member was initiated. Thfvsocial committee presented a syllabus for .the year, and this was adopted 1 .

An interesting canoe race was witnessed in the Waikato River at Hamilton on Saturday afternoon, when 20 canoes took part in an exhibition event which was photographed by. a film company. Canoeing has become very popular in Hamilton. Extensive additions have been made to the Hamilton Canoe Club's house on the river bank, and accommodation for over 60 canoes has been provided. A new club with its headquarters at the Hamilton lake has also been formed.

Taking advantage of the prevailing dry, windy conditions those engaged in farming the mountainous country bordering the Wairau Plain are busy at present in "burning off the mortgage," as the clearing of the dried grass is popularly known, says the "Marlborough Express.'' As a result, a pall of smoke envelopes the plain, in some parts even blotting out the hills from sight. The hazy conditions have also had a marked effect on the strength of the sunlight, which is of a curious reddish tint.

An affecting reunion between a father and son who had been separated for oyer 15 years took place at the Maori welcome to the visiting Rarotongans at Kohupatiki Pa, near Hastings. Many years ago a Rarotongan came to New Zealand and fell in love with a Maori princess, whom he afterwards married! Thtey had a family of eight childreni, and the time came when the Rarotongan went back to his home, leaving four of his children with his wife and taking the other four with him to Rarotonga. . The father, who is one of the party of visiting Rarotongan arikis, met one of his sons, who, in the 15 years that had elapsed since their last meeting," had grown t« manhood.