LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 54, Issue 92, 29 January 1934, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Two more beams in the railway bridge over the Ashburton River were •eu aced yesterday and a further two ■new timbers will be placed m position on Thursday.

The inspection of crops jn the Ashburton County damaged in the recent hailstorm has been completed b> om c-ials of the Department of Agriculture and the details will ho passed on to the Government for use when applications for assistance are considered.

On February 1 there will, fall due an instalment (os) of the general unemployment levy of 20s per annum aiid also the fourth instalment of the emer gency unemployment charge 0 . neliny in each amount of Is 8d (Is in the £) of income other than salaiy or wages derived during the year ended March 31, 1933. An advertisement concerning tliese taxes appears elsewhere in this issue.

Although both the Rakaia and the Rangitata Rivers were dirty during the week-end, angling conditions were very good at the Ashburton Rnei. There were between 20 and 30 rods out at Hakatere and several bags of tno and three were obtained, the fish valying from .slb to BH> in weight. Mr J. W Keig landed a tjout which turned the scales at BJlb and a salmon weighing 281 b was caught by Mr H. Andeiton. Prospects at this river arc considered most promising at present.

The annual movement of sheep fiom the Gisborne district to the Bay ot Plenty and the Waikato is keeping the railways busy. A special train of 33 trucks, carrying over/ 2000 .dieep through Tauranga last week iiom Taneatua to Morrinsville, this bringing the total number of sheep earned from Taneatua to the Waikato m the past few weeks to over 6000. Anothei lot of 1100 sheep from Tolaga Ray was landed from the vessel Margaret W and was driven to Te Puna, there to be railed to Te Kuiti. Many other consignments op sheep are on the way oveiland from Poverty Bay to laneatua for trucking to the Waikato.

A meeting of the Ashburton branch of the Co-operative Rabbit Breeders’ Association of New Zealand was held 1 on Saturday evening in the A. and 1. rooms, Mr R. G. Morrison piesiding over ah attendance of ilO members. Messrs J>. Sifverwood and D. Good were elected members of the association. Mr Morrison was appointed the representative of the branch on the Ashburton Fanciers’ Society. A motion of sympathy was passed with Mrs F. Coldicott’in hec recent bereavement. It wa.4 decided to hold the next meeting on February 24. when a young stock table shew and a shearing demonstration would he given.

“Affiliated with the New Zealand Astronomical Society are several secondary schools which have their astronomical clubs, members of which take a keen interest in astronomy,” states the annual report of the society. The Ashburton High 'School, which possesses a six-inch reflector, is one of the three schools mentioned in the report; the other two being Wellington College and Southland Boys’ High School. At Wellington College a finely-equipped observatory with a five-inch Zeiss refractor is available for the students. “This,” remarks the report, “is a most pleasing aspect of the progress of the society, and it is hoped that still more schools will, on seeing the educational value, follow the example of those mentioned above. A number of those engaged in the teaching profession, are also doing good work in the astronomical line.”

“Wo are always being: told we are ‘turning the corner.’ The trouble is there are so many corners it is difficult to know which is the right one,” said Mr W. J. Holdsworth at a meeting of the International Institute of Accountants, Incorporated, over Avhich he presided at AucklancJ..

Nearly 800 people travelled to- Timaru from Christchurch by the excursion trains yesterday, the first one being particularly well patronised when it arrived in Ashburton. It was a very long train and among the passengers were many people from the south who had been visiting Christchurch for the New Zealand Croquet Championships which concluded on Saturday.

Fourteen members of the Erewhon Mountaineering Club held an excursion to Feel Forest during the week-end. Tne party intended to climb Mount Feel but heavy rain and l dense fog prevented the attempt being made. However, three outings were made in the vicinity of Bland's Wood and an enjoyable time spent in spite of the inclemency of the weather.

The embarrassing experience of having one shoe slip from her foot and drop down a grating above a stormwater drain near the corner of Khyber Pass ltoad and Mountain Road, Auckland, befei a, woman on Wednesday afternoon. Vain efforts to lift the grating and recover her shoe were made by the woman, in the presence of a small hut highly interested crowd. The grating was eventually lifted by a tramway motorman who noticed the woman’s predicament: He succeeded in reaching the shoe, which was dried and returned to its owner.

That the recent sensational rises in the price of wool have been caused by fear of war in the East is the opinion of Mr J. C. Sidebottom, a passenger on the Eemuera, which arrived ini Wellington oil Saturday. “I don’t think the war scare directly concerns Europe; it is the East that business interests arc becoming worried about,” lie said to a “Dominion” representative. “All I can say is that about three weeks ago Vickers took on 3000 more employees to keep up with the demand for armaments and munitions. And Lucas, the big English dynamo firm, has liad orders from those at- its head to turn out dynamos for aenplanes to the greatest possible extent.”

An indication was given on .Saturday by Mr W. Machin, chairman of .the committee set up by the Christchurch City Council to investigate the schemes for providing Christchurch with better access to its port, that the presentation •of the committee’s* report is a matter of a comparatively short space of time. Mr Macliin said, that the committee was getting a little nearer the end of its work. “There are sundry little difficulties to clear out of the way,” he added, “but it is possible that we may have the report completed in a week from now—it just depends on getting the matters I refer to cleared up. The committee met on Saturday to consider further the subject of its inquiry.

The Kakariki' railway bridge tragedy mis apparently not provided a warning to otner children (says the Kangitikei •‘Advocate”). Un inursday afternoon on the railway bridge across the Tutaeniu Stream, below the Wellington road crossing, there was almost another accident involving three children, only the presence or mind of the eldest child averting a) tragedy, vlt is the practice of many children to gather coal from the lino in this locality and apparently these children were thus engaged. They were on the bridge when the north-bound express came into view, and the repeated warning whistles of the driver caused occupants of a nearby house to look out. The elder child picked up the smaller one while the third ran for safety and got clear. The train was? travelling very slowly, and the other two had time to get oh the bridge, but, as a safety measure, lay down at the approach, the train passing within a lew inches of them.

Tliat tho selling of eggs by weight would be of benefit to the poultry industry was the opinion of Mr P. A. Cornish, Tinwald, when .the question was referred to him by a representative of the “Guardian" to-day. Tile Poultry men’s Conference . recently agreed that the feasibility of selling eggs by weight, instead of by the dozen, should" be given tho fullest possible consideration. Mr Cornish said it would encourage poultry farmers to produce bigger eggs and to rear only the jowls that layed the best eggs. He had been of this opinion, for some considerable time and was glad some action had been taken in the matter. The selling of eggs by tho pound might make things somewhat difficult for the retailer, however, for his customers could only serve whole eggs cn the .table and might prefer a number of small ones instead of a few big ones. If apples could be sold by the pound, he could not see that the difficulties regarding eggs could not be overcome.

The venture by the Paramount picture people under which possible screen artists from the Englisn-speak-mg world were given a try-out at Hollywood is of to iNew Zealand, and of particular interest to Dunedin, because Mr Colin Tapley, a native of Dunedin, achieved a great success. Linder the plan 15 male and 15’ female artists ‘wore brought to Hollywood and given a chance to show their acting ana histrionic abilities in a play written for the occasion—“ln Search ol' Beauty.” Four male and two female artists were to be selected for their artistic work, and Mr Tap icy was one of the four males .Who were successful. He has now been engaged by Paramount for six months, with the option of re-engagement for each succeeding six months over a period ol seven years. It will thus be seen that Mr Tapley has gained a great distinction and, moreover, he has brought some fame to New Zealand, a-' he is known at Hollywood as “Colin Tapiey, of New Zealand.” In the circumstance, one can sympathise with the Dunedin youth in ‘his disappointment that he did not receive one congratulation (apart from those of his family) Com anyone in the Dominion. Writing u his brother (Mr Guy Tapley), Mr ’Taplev expresses .this disappointment. He says that it was different in the ..case of the South African who was selected, as be received cablegrams of congratulation from the Mayor and citizens of his home town, from the repertory societies, and many other bodies, apart from personal cablegrams. The Americans' selected had more congratulations still, so i as Mr Tapley states, one could imagine he felt rather out of things." To crown the disappointment the officials at Paramount asked him what ailed his country. One can understand that this remissness was of a character which would certainly not lie understood by a citizen of the United States. It may he added, with some significance, that the South African artist secured the 1000-dollar prize for the best performance in “The Search for Beauty,” and that Mr Tapiov was the runner-up.

The practice of sending a telegraph messenger'' on board outgoing Vancouver mail steamers to receive telegrams and letters is to be given a further trial before a decision is made whether it shall he extended to other passenger steamers, according to a letter received from the chief postmaster by the council of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. “This is the only port I know where it is not, done on all departing steamers,” remarked a member.

Preliminary arrangements for a trip to the Cameron River next-month, an outing at Lake Rubicon m conjunction Avith the Canterbury Mountaineering Club on March 11, and a visit to Mount Somers toivards the end of March were made at a meeting of the committee of the Erewhon Mountaineering Club on Friday evening, when the chairman (Mr E. R. Easterbrook) presided. .The Alpine Club, London, wrote asking for particulars of the club’s rules and membership. It Avas agreed l to supply the information. Reports of their activities Avere received from the Hutt Valley Tramping Club (Wellington), Alpine Sports Club (Auckland), Ruapenu Ski Club (Wanganui), and Tararua Tramping Club (Wellington).

The annual trek of sliepp from the Poverty Bay district, via Upotiki, to the Waikato and other northern districts, is iioav in full swing, thousands of sheep having passed through Opotiki in the last feAV days. It is anticipated that betAveem 50,000 and 100,000 sheep will be taken north tins season. Owing to the closing of the WaioAveka Road against travelling stock, the old Motu route is being used by the drovers. The majority of the sheep are only being taken by road as far as the Taneatua railhead, Avhere they are being entrained. Large numbers of cattle are also being taken north. It is probable that several mobs of sheep from the Hicks Bay district will be driven around the new East Coast Road, yia Cape Runaway, as ,this"route is much shorter than via Gisborne.

It is surprising that a country which lias sent at least three expeditions to the Antarctic Circle lias spent hundreds of thousands of dollars aio exploration in that region can still be guilty ot the geographical faux pas which come to notice from time to time with regard to NeAv Zealand and, its proximity to the South Pole. A motion picture producer, not so long ago had a him n> which the hero returned from what seemed certain death in the Antarctic only as a result of the kindly ministrations of the natives at the South Pole. Such ignorance Avas ludicrous, but forgivable on the screen, more especially as it Avas “pre-Byrd,” but there seems to he small excuse for the curious address inscribed on a letter Avhich a hopeful postal official included in the “(Daily Times” mail on Friday. The letter, which bore a Philadelphian postmark, Avas addressed: ‘ The Antarctic Times, Dunedin, New Zealand. Not only is Dunedin regarded as nestling in the shadow of the ice barriers, but the colourful imagination of the American scribe has pictured a newspaper office somewhere in the snowy Avastes of a country in Avhich his countrymen have spent more than a yeai at a time, because, once in they cannot get out. ,