LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 28, 13 November 1934, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Twelve licenses were issued to motor drivers in Ashburton Borough m the last fortnight, making a total ot 81/ licensed drivers in this area.

In addition to those already published, the following awards were made at the Christ-church. Show on Friday and Saturday :—English Leicester ram, R J. Low, reserve champion ; feoutlidown judging competition, T. Weity 1.

Praise for the singing of the Maori choir at the Whakarewarewa Mission was voiced by Dr. S. H. Nicholson '(formerly organist and master of choristers at Westminster Abbey), who is visiting Rotor ua. The choir sang a number ot hymns and anthems. J>r. Nicholson said he was greatly impressed with the number of' good voices and wonderful blending of tone. Some of the hymns wore sung really beautifully.

Fishing at Lake Ellesmere on Saturday night, Mr Robert Hart, of Methven caught 20 trout in six hours. They averaged 41b each, and! were the maximum bag allowed under the regulations. But other anglers were not too successful during the week-end. Reports from Lake Lyndon state that only six fish were caught in the whole lake. The total for the two days was under a dozen. The fish taken were in very poor condition.

An interesting visitor to Napier the other evening was Archdeacon S. M. Johnstone, of Australia, who is engaged in compiling a biography of Samuel Marsden. He is the fourth successor to Sampel Marsden in the diocese ot parramatta. He said a few words to an audience in Synod Hall, stating that this, bis first trip to New Zealand, was merelv a firing visit, but that he hoped to return in about lo months tor the purpose of collecting material tor his biography.

"Christmas Eve is the one day m the year they should not have asked for " said a member of the Ashburton Borough Council last evening, when an application from the Women's Division of the Farmers' Union for permission to erect a tent in East Street for the sale of flowers, cakes and produce on December 24 came up for consideration. The council members were unanimously opposed to the date, and the application was declined. It was suggested that an earlier date might meet with approval.

The fortnightly meeting of the Success of Ashburton Lodge, TJ.A.'O.D., was held last evening, when the A.D. (Sister B. Wallis) presided over a good attendance, including officers and members- of the Star of Ashburton Lodge. The visiting bards' report was received, and sick pay was passed in favour of two sisters. The ritual competition for the A.D. charge was held under the auspices of the Royal Arch Chapter, No. 4. The winners were: Sister A. Hawkes 1, Sister Montgomery 2- Star of Ashburton Lodge. Bro. A. Gairiock 1 Bio. Miller 2. The judges were 8r0.'.0-Ives, P.G.P., Bro. E. Parkin P.D.IK, and Bro. G. Furby, P.S. 'At the close of the meeting supper was handed round.

Stock slaughtered at the Ashburton municipal abattoirs in October was as follows: —Cattle 164 (two condemned), calves 9, sheep 889 (one condemned), lambs 28, pigs 70.

In a paragraph published yesterday it was stated 1 that Mr W. Walker and Messrs Lane, Walker, Iludkin, Ltd., had donated a set of howls for the use of Waipiata Sanatorium patients. This should have read Ml* W. Walker, of Messrs Lane, Walker, Iludkin, Ltd.

The Ashburton Volunteer Fire Brigade will celebrate its diamond jubilee on Saturday, when the annual competitions will Ire held in the afternoon, with a special social function in the evening. Members of the Ashburton Borough Council last evening accepted an invitation to attend both functions.

Strange as it may seem, many taxpayers have forgotten the recent reduction in the emergency unemployment charge on income other than wages, which formerly was Is ill the pound, but is now 10di (says a northern exchange). The third instalment tell due on iNovember 1, and some inconvenience has been caused" postal officials by taxpayers making out cheques for payment ofi the charge under the former rate.

It does not fall to the lot of many schools to have 13 members of a family and their mother pass through it, but such was the case with the . Fernside School, the seventieth anniversary of which was celebrated yesterday. The family was that of the late Mr and Mrs W. Arnott, eight of whom were present at the gathering, and it was a source of regret that another was prevented by duty from attending. it seemed particularly appropriate that the family which had been so closely connected with the school should provide the handsomely-decorated three-tiered jubilee cake which was cut and handeu round at afternoon tea.

"It is an awful state of affairs if vandalism like this is to be tolerated," declared the Mayor (Mr W. H. Woods) last evening, when he moved that a reward of ' £o should be offered for information that will lead to the identification jof the persons responsible for damage to trees in the Ashburton Domain. It was reported that seyen chestnut trees, just coming into flower, had been broken down on the new roadway leading into the Domain from the north-east corner. The trees were planted when the drive was opened, and they had made excellent growth. The main leaders on each had been broken off and thrown on the ground.

Trout poaching appears to be somewhat rife in the streams of the Lepperton district, according to a letter received from the Lepperton Dairy Company at the monthly meeting of the council of the Taranaki Acclimatisation Society the other night. One case was mentioned- where, over 40 trout were taken in one night and used as fowl feed. The directors of the company suggested that the society should keep a strict watch on these particular streams with a view to dealing with the offenders.

Speaking in Dannevirke at the Rotary forum at Andrews on a recent evening, Ilotarian C. M. Bowden (Masterton) stated that the press of New Zealand was not controlled to the extent it was in Britain and the Unite" States. "The Times," the "Daily Telegraph,'* and the "Morning Post, of England, for instance, were excel : lent journals, but the majority o* papers that were read in England and other countries were of a lower standard, aimiug at a. more sketchy ana racy style of presenting current events. They in New Zealand weie fortunate in their press.

Investigations into- the possibilities of various sites for a, national and South Seas exhibition to mark Wei mglon's centenary in 1940 have been carried a step further. The Harbour Board, acting for the committee set up to consider plans for the centenary, has recently completed boring operations in Evans Bay to determine the feasibility of reclaiming a portion of the bay adjacent to the Kilbirnie recreation ground. The Harbour Board lias been asked to furnish details of the probable cost of a reclamation extending from the recreation ground to a point some way beyond the power-house. Borings to'test the nature of the bottom have now been finished, and estimates iu» the work will be supplied in due course.

An air of prosperity and optimism, and an entire lack of evidence of unemployment and depression were the features impressed upon Mr O. Hoist during a recent visit . to Australia. Speaking to members of the Wangamu Rotarv Club, he said that the streets of the Australian cities appeared clean and well looked after, the houses were well painted and the gardens neat and tidy. Shops were displaying not . only articles of the ordinary necessaries ol life, but also luxuries to an astoundina degree. It had appeared to him that the Australians were confident or the future, without being tic, considering that the depression had been a passing phase and that lite could be made easier by carrying on. That was what they had been, doing.

" The thing that distressed me while T was in Melbourne was the poor supply of information regarding New Zealand in the Australian newspapers,' said Mi 5 G Sullivan, M.P., in an .interview on his arrival by the Monowai from the Centenary celebrations (says a Press Association telegram from Wellington). "As a. matter of fact the Kalian press and public are not interested in New Zealand. Some people in Melbourne and Western Australia think that New Zealand is a suburb ot Sydney; It amounts to a positive Sandak I don't know at which end the fault lies, but I would not be surprised to find it is due to the Australian end, because of Australian parochialism, that is to say, it may be due to the same thing as the fact that the Sydney press and public take very little interest in Melbourne, Ihat applies to any of the other cities.

"It is quite true that New Zealand will face a shortage of white pine for her own purposes during the next few 'years and that the exportation of this timber to Australia and elsewhere is simply suicidal for the dairy industry of the Dominion in particular," stated a member of a Poverty Bay firm the other day. His company (says the "Poverty Bay Herald") is one which deals with large quantities of timber, and from a comprehensive knowledge of the timber resources of the Poverty Bay and East Coast district, he was able to state that in another eight years at the present rate of consumption, the district will lie using the last of its white pine..' He pointed out that New Zealand white pine is one timber which does not taint butter in transit over long journeys, and that when supplies of grown timber of this species are exhausted, the dairy industry will face a very serious problem in the matter of replacement. White pine is not a quick-growing timber, and welldeveloped trees are estimated to be 600 to 1000 years of age.

Permission to sell' buttonholes m the streets of Ashburton on November 30, in aid of the funds to send three Ashburton Boy Scouts to the international jamboree at Melbourne, was granted by the Borough Council last evening.

One of the boards erected m connection with the Canterbury Automobile Association's measured mile tor the testing of motor-car speedometers on the Fairton Road has been pulled down, broken up and thrown into a young plantation, where it was discovered by officials of the association. The matter has been placed in the hands of the police.

"Put them in the waste-paper basket," said Mr W. B. Darlow at a meeting of the council of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, when iihe president (Mr A. G. Lunn) remarked that the number of anonymous letters re-, ceiv'ed by the chamber has shown an increase lately. The president said the council should maintain its attitude of ignoring all letters from persons who declined to sign thennames to the communications.

The tedium of awaiting the verdict, of a jury weighed heavily upon spectators in the Supreme Court at Auckland on Thursday night. Most of those in attendance had followed the proceedings in a case throughout four days, and the climax 'was a protracted retirement of the jury, A bridge four was formed at one stage, and the (Press table in the upstairs Court formed a satisfactory substitute for the conventional table. Lack of cards no doubt prevented the players' example from being followed by others who had to wait for the jury's decision.

The first race at Ihe Whangarei Racing Club's meeting' started a fewminutes late, and for horses and riders it was just as well that it did, for, at the time due for the start of the race, a large swarm of bees flew across the course near the mile and a quarter post and took nossessicn. However, a very light shower of rain fell at this time, and the bees quickly made for coyer, eventually settling in a fig tree in a property at the side of the course. Some followers of the sport are wondering if some surprising times would have been recorded had the racing horses dashed through the swarming bees.

A stroke of luck recently befell a young woman who is on the household staff of an Auckland hotel, relates the "Star." Residents and guests of the house organised a sweepstake on the Melbourne Centenary air race, and over 150 2s tickets were taken up. The sweep was on the "sudden death" principle, that is to say, the ; whole of the entrance money to form two prizes, one for the winner of the speed event and the other for the handicap winner. Lucky Miss "Sunshine" was put in the sweepstake by one of the hotel guests, and she drew Scott and Campbell-Black Their decisive success in the speed event promptly wen her the first prize, and the declaration of the English flyers as the winners of the handicap section this week gave her the dual reward. So she has won two first prizes for nothing —odds that would make the most hardened racegoer green with envy.

Exception to a statement made in a. letter received by the Ashburton Domain Board last evening from the Ashburton Bowling Club was taken by Mr E. Buchanan. The letter was one o£ protest at the action of the Sports Association in doubling the club's assessment for this year, and it was stated that while visitors to Ashburton were welcome on the bowling greens they were not welcome on the other playing areas in the Domain under the jurisdiction of sports clubs. Mr Buchanan said that such a statement should not be made, as it was contrary to fact, at least so far as the Te Marae Tennis Club was concerned. Visitors were welcome, and heartily welcomed. The Mayor (Mr W. H. Woods) said that the reference in the letter was intended to convey the fact that visitors did not go to the other lawns, courts or greens to the same extent that they went to the bowling green.