LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 54, Issue 197, 2 June 1934, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

There were no notifications of infectious diseases in the Ashburton Boiougli or the Ashburton County this week.

Twenty-five applications have been received for the position of conductoi of the Royal Wellington Choral Union, made vacant by the resignation or Mi Jcim Bishop; who is now in Melbourne. The applicants include musicians m England, Canada, Newfoundland, Australia and New Zealand’.

A Press Association telegram from Taihape states that the winner of the second pdize of £4OO in the “Golden Chest” art union, Sydney, is Mr F. Evans, *i young labourer who is single. His father is a relief worker, who lives near Mataroa. It is a timely windfall to the family.

Working in unknown country, miles beyond" the reach of civilisation, eight men have been fighting to save New Zealand’s buslilands. Red deer, which have advanced far into the virgin country of South Westland, leaving a trail of" ruin and desolation behind them, have been the enemy. The 1933-34 season closed recently and in that time thousands of beasts have been shot.

Seven Methodist Young Men’s Bible Class members from Oamaru and two from Temuka will arrive in Ashburton this evening to attend a rally being held by the Baring Square young men’s classes this week-end. A social evening will be held this evening and to-mor-row afternoon young men’s classes of all denominations will meet to hear an address bv the Rev. W. E. Moore, of Rakaia. The Rev. R, McGregor, of Willowby, will assist at this service. One party will conduct a service at Methven to-morrow, one at Rakaia and one at Tinwald.

Advice- that it had taken action m support of representations made by the Associated Chambers of Commerce against the Parliamentary practice of embodying important legislation in “washing-up” Bills and rushing them through in the dying hours of the session with inadequate consideration was conveyed to the executive of the Associated Chambers yesterday by the New Zealand Society of Accountants (says a Press Association message from Wellington). The executive decided to take appropriate action during the forthcoming session, if necessary.

A neat point is made in the Wellington City " Council report upon street accidents: that the onlooker very often does not see as much as lie may think when an accident occurs. He may see .the accident, hut often he takes no interest until the cause of the accident is past and gone. A little reflection upon the length of time that elapses between the moment when one or both parties involved in an accident receives the final danger signal through ear or eyes and the moment of impact is sufficient to show that much may occur in a very short length of time, probably under two seconds, and unless both parties are already prepared for emergencies, the chances of avoiding the accident are remote, states the report. Also, during this small period of time it seems hardly possible that either party could gain a clear conception of the cause of the accident, As tiro cause of an accident occurs before the impact, and not at the impact, not very much reliance can be placed upon the views of witnesses as to cause, for the first indication of an accident to persons other than the: parties concerned’ is usually the sound of the impact or the squeal of brakes, and assuming that the final danger signal is two seconds before the impact, it is fairly safe to say that the actual cause occurred or commenced before the final danger was registered.

“While we may have every sympathy with the teachers, in that they may be affected either in grading or salary by the exclusion of the five-year-olds, i consider we meet to further the interests of the children and the school committees. The teachers have their own institution to safeguard tlieir interests,” said Mr Trounson at the annual meeting of the Waikato PrimarySchool Committees’ Association.

The fact that five large luxury liners would make holiday cruises to New Zealand next summer and that organised parties would visit the Dominion during the height of the season was mentioned by Mr G. W. Clinkard (secretary of ' the Department of Industries and Commerce and Tourist and Publicity Department) when speaking to members of the Palmerston North Rotary Club this week.

Residents of a small North Island town who gathered about a visitor the other day were incredulous, when, squeezing a pound note in his hand, he offered anyone the chance of buying it for 225. The visitor was told he was crazy, but he smiled blandly. Then when no offers were received he uncurled the pound note and showed the residents a Bank oF England £1 note worth 24s 6d in New Zealand currency. Though offers were plentiful after that he took none.

The annual meeting of the St. Andrew’s Anglican parish, Tinwald, was held on Thursday evening, the Rev. D. Rankin presiding. The balance-sheet showed a credit of £7 2s 6d. The following officers were elected: —Wardens, Messrs R. D. Robinson (vicar’s), W. S. Brady (people’s): vestry, Messrs Wilkinson, Cooke. E. Lowe, J. Clark, T. W. Woolley, J. Borwick (secretary); entertainments committee, Messrs Robinson, Gudsell, Mrs R. D. Robinson (cards), Messrs G. Sewell, E. Brown, D. Rankin, Miss M. Jennings (socials). Votes of thanks were accorded all w T ho had assisted the parish during the year, especially the retiring wardens Messrs J. Scales and P. J. Green and Mrs Seales (organist).

An instance of strict honesty is reported as the result of a totalisator investment on the last race at the recent meeting of the Rangitikei Racing Club at Bulls. A Palmerston North punter gave a visitor to the races a sum to invest for him, and the horse backed won. In paying out, the totalisator official parted l with £6O-odd instead of £3O-odd. Apparently the mistake was not noticed by the collector, who was merely acting as agent. He parcelled the notes up and handed them to the third person to hand to the original investor at Palmerston North, who immediately noticed the over-payment. He notified the racing authorities, and the money was thankfully received to make good the £3O shortage.

Two motor-cars collided on the Ash-burton-Mitcham Road just after 5 o’clock last evening, and as a result one was turned on to its side and considerably damaged. It belonged to and was driven by Mr D. Spence, of Laui'iston, who suffered minor head injuries received from broken glass. The other car, which was driven by Miss Richards, of Rakaia, was not seriously damaged. After evidence of identification had been given bv his son, Mr William David Cliing, the inquest into the circumstances of the death of Mr William Ching, aged 58, who collapsed at the Fairfield Freezing Works yesterday morning, which was opened at the Ashburton Public Hospital this morning before Mr R. Clark (District Coroner), was adjourned sine die.

"It has been estimated that the number of lepers in the world at present is 10,000,000. Of that number only 500,000 are being cared for at tne leper stations,” said Dr. Kennedy, S.M., when speaking of the work of the Sisters of the Society of Mary among the lepers on the Makogai Island station, at the foundation stone ceremony of the society’s new convent in Wellington. ‘"On the Makogai station are all the lepers from within the large area in the South Pacific, including New Zealand, which it serves, but ini other parts of the world there are 9,500,000 who are receiving no help or treatment,” he said. "If there are any young Catholic girls of this country who would like to devote • their lives to caring for lepers, there is plenty of work for them to do.”

From a study of accident causes, the parties concerned often have totally different views as to how the accident happened, and if one party has made a breach of a particular regulation this is often seized upon by the other party as the only or the primary cause, thus relieving the, latter party of all responsibility. If both parties have committed breaches of the regulations the case, seems to revolve into a duel to determine who has broken the" most regulations, remarks the Wellington City Council investigator into causes of street accidents in the city. It appears, he continues, that the failure to give'a correct signal is definitely more serious than travelling at 20 miles an hour when, under the circumstances, 15 miles an hour constitutes dangerous driving.

Some time ago the Maori "prophet” Ratana was criticised, by Mr It. M. Watson, ,S.M m for failing to appear m person when he was opposing a judgment order, and he came under lire again on Wednesday, when lie sent his* secretary and solicitor along to the Marten' Magistrate’s Court to endeavour to have a judgment upset. Drs. Harpu.r and Church had obtained judgment against the "prophet” for. £SB some two years ago, and when they sought an order the setting aside or the original judgment was applied for. The grounds were that llatana was not responsible for the debt., Mr J. L. Stout, S.M., who was on. the Dench on this occasion, said that he did not know Ratana. hut lie knew of him as a shuffler in regard to money matters. "I don’t like this sort of business, ' he said, "but I will reserve my decision to enable me to look into the legal aspect.”

While trawling off the Otago Heads on Monday Mr George Tullock caught a fish unknown, to him or otner fishermen ill Port Chalmers (states _ the "Otago Daily Times”). The specimen was sent to Mr David H. Graham , who identified it as the sandpaper or roughy. When first caught Mr Tullock saief it was brilliant crimson in colour, hut laded when lcit out of the watei. The fish is seven inches in length, with a skin similar to rough sandpaper. Hie vent is between the ventral fins and finite close to the head. Mr Graham states that this is the first record of one being caught alive m Otago waters A specimen was washed ashore at Portoliello in June, 1931, after a heavy rrale The only record of these fisn has been obtained after gales when the water has become exceptionally dirty. According to an English authority, they belong to water about 200 fathoms in depth. The previous records ot securing this fish are labelled 1884, one of Which is in the Otago Museum and another in the Canterbury Museum. It is known to fishery research workers as Patatraehichthys trailli.

A Press Association telegram states that during thq last few months a price war has been in progress between certain coal dealers in the eastern suburbs and householders have been able to buy at city prices. Negotiations to end the hostilities have been successful, and from next. Tuesday the dealers com cerned will charge according to the Wellington Coal Merchants’ and Dealers’ price list.

About 30 members of Court Ashburton, A.0.F., will visit Christchurch to-morrow to attend the church parade in connection with the centenary celebrations of-the Order. They will be accompanied by 30 members from Dunsandel and another 10 from Rakaia. This year marks the centenary of the present Order, but Forestry has been in existence certainly for 144 years, and probably for a great deal longer than that.

“My own opinion of Flock House is that it is one of the finest institutions in this country for taking care of the sons of returned soldiers,” said Colonel A. Cowles at the annual meeting of the Wellington Returned Soldiers’ Association. 1 “Not only do they learn the principles of farming, hut they receive an excellent character training, and they are turned out really fine fellows. There has been a very small percentage of failures.” He added that some of the boys who had passed through Flock House had saved enough money, to acquire an area of land on which they had established a communal settlement, and they were -on the road to prosperity.

The purchaser of an orange from the, Islands was distinctly surprised when the fruit was cut in two to find firmly embedded in the flesh a piece of shell, apparently from some sea-water mollusc (says the “Evening .Post’). How it got there is somewhat of a mystery, seeing that the skin of the orange, beyond a slight indentation and discoloration above the portion where the shell was embedded, showed no sign of any foreign body having penetrated it. The piece of shell was apparently thrust into the orange when the fruit was small and unripe, and as the orange expanded in the ripening process the shell became entirely enclosed and hidden from external view.