LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 127, 11 March 1935, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

It was reported at .the Ashburton Hospital Board’s meeting to-day tliat the ambulance had made six trips dining February.

A Press Association telegram states that the Whangarei Railway station was entered on Friday night, and iLIUo was taken from the safe.

A donation of a croquet mallet from Mrs J, McElhinney for the use of patients at the Waipiata Sanatorium was gratefully acknowledged by the Ashburton Hospital Board at Its meeting this morning.

At a representative meeting of fruitgrowers at Hastings on Saturday, the following resolution was carried : ‘ This meeting views with alarm the fact that Munroe and Poupart are not handling our fruit, and that the Board should be. asked to make further efforts to persuade them to handle it.”

A proclamation in the current “Gazette” restricts the removal of gold from any port in the North Island to any port in the South Island unless duty has been paid to a Collector of Customs in the North Island. This restriction does not apply to gold in the form of plate, jewellery, or ornament, provided that such articles are not intended for export.

“If England fails, God help the world,” said Dr. Bernard Myers, speaking at a luncheon meeting or tRe Grammar Old Boys’ Club in Auckland. He said that the civilisation under the British Empire was greater than that under Greece at the time of Pericles, greater than that of Egypt under the Pharaohs, greater than' that of Rome under Caesar. It was the greatest the world had known. If England failed, then the world was going back to conditions that had existed centuries ago. He added that nowhere was that realised more than in America.

“The Mayor’s job is not always a bed of roses,” remarked the Mayor of One Tree Hill (Auckland), Mr 1. J. Goldstine at a meeting of the borough council. He reported tliat a few days ago a woman ratepayer telephoned him a few minutes before midnight asking him to arrange immediately for the removal of a dead rat which she had found outside her property. A few days previously he had been rung up before 6 o’clock in the morning with a complaint that there was a dead iowl on a footpath in the borough.

An astonishing example of the attraction of fire for some animals was instanced recently when a farmer at Stanway was burning .off a laige quantity! of wheat straw, some ot which was in a paddock in which were a number of valuable heifer calves, says the “Evening Post’s” Palmerston North correspondent. Five of these animals, timid enough at the best ot times, allowed their curiosity to get the better of them, and they found themselves between the fire and a fence, enveloped in smoke. An attempt was made to> drive them, hack, without result. A further effort was made to driv? them straight through and out at the other side, whereupon the five calves, far from showing fear of the flames, jumped straight into the burning mass and were destroyed.

Charitable aid dispensed by the Ashburton Hospital Board in February cost £53, it was reported at the Board’s meeting this morning.

An additional piece of land, 2 roods 26 perches in area (Tinwald Town District) has been taken over by the Government for the purpose of the new railway bridge over the Ashburton River, states the “Gazette.”

Returns supplied by the Post and Telegraph Department disclose that there are 72,844 householders in greater Auckland, in Christchurch, and 41,379 in Wellington.

Seventeen members of the Erewhon Mountaineering Club joined the Canterbury Club in its annual picnic at Sehvyn Gorge yesterday, there being about 45 members from Christchurch present. The weather was ideal and sports were enjoyed. The sports programme consisting of contests between Ashburton and Christchurch included a football match won by Ashburton.

A considerable improvement in the carrying capacity of the land at the Waipiata Sanatorium has been effected by irrigation, stated Mr W. Bryant at the"meeting of the Ashburton Hospital Board this morning. Where 300 sheep were run in the past, 1116 sheep, 32 mixed cattle, 35 cows and several horses are carried since irrigation work has been carried out.

The annual garden party of the Tinwald Little White Ribboners’ organisation in connection with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union was held at the residence of Mrs G. Clark, Tinwald, last week, There was a good attendance and an enjoyable time was spent. Mrs A. J. Petrie gave an excellent address.

The business of the last meeting of the Makara County Council commenced with Councillor E. Windley absent, and lu* took his seat about ten minutes late. The chairman (Mr R. W. Bothamley) remarked that it was the first occasion that he could remember Councillor Windley being late. This observation was correct, as Councillor Windley stated that it was the first occasion over a period of seventeen years.

“The four months from November to February have been by far the hottest in the history of the Dominion, and this is true of all parts,” states the director of meteorological services (Dr. E. Kidson) in a review of the weather. “Other occasions when the same months were very warm were in 189495, 1909-10, 1916-17, and 1923-24 seasons. On the present occasion, however, the average excess above normal is almost double the next hottest. Very few places have, however 1 , experienced their hottest individual temperature. Auckland is one of the few that has.”

A survey of the country along Taranaki rivers after the flood revealed that hundreds of trout had been left stranded as the waters receded, while large numbers had also been found in stili waters on paddocks which had been inundated. A large number of these fish had been caught and put back into the streams. On the other hand, some persons had been seen cut with pitchforks spearing fish and returning home with large catches. This information was conveyed in a report submitted to the council of the Taranaki Acclimatisation Society at a meetng last week.

“A realisation of how fortunate we are in Ashburton was one of the principal things made apparent at the conference,” said the secretary of the Ashburton Hospital Board I(Mr A. Prentice) in a report to-day on the Hospital Association’s 'Conference in Napier last week. He stated that the burden of hospital, taxation was not nearly so heavy locally as in other towns. The chairman (Mr W. G. Gallagher) said the satisfactory position of the Ashburton Board was mainly due to the pioneers who. had laid firm foundations in the early days of the Board and kept it free from debt.

Exception was taken by members of the Waikato Sub-provincial Executive of the Farmers’ Union recently to the privilege enjoyed by fishermen and aviators of a benzine tax rebate of; 8d a gallon, while benzine used in farm motors received a rebate of only 6d. It was pointed'but that the union had been opposed to the taxation of motor spirit used in farm motors since the taxation was introduced, as this was considered an unjust burden on the back-block settlers, who had not the advantages of electricity. The meeting decided to refer the matter to the Auckland executive, and to reiterate its previously expressed attitude against the taxation of motor spirit for farm use.

“I think it might surprise some of you to know what my actual vice-regal duties are,” said the Governor-General (Lord Bledisloe) at the civic farewell tendered to him at Auckland. “They consist in periodically opening Parliament, in presiding over the Executive Council, which is really identical with England’s Cabinet, occasionally bestowing upon favoured individuals the distinction which a beneficent Sovereign thinks fit toi award them, and finally to decide the fate of alleged murderers. That, so far as I know, comprises the whole of the really strict and inevitable duties of a GovernorGeneral in this country, but, curiously enough, you have not in your address made reference to any of them.”

“I was astounded at the rehabilitation of the town, since the earthquake,” said the chairman of the Ashburton Hospital Board (Mr W. G. Gallagher) when reporting to the Board this morning on the conference of the Hospital Boards’ Association in Napier last week. “Napier is probably the best laid out town in the Dominion,” he said, “and the wonderful progress made speaks well for the pluck of. the people.” Mr Gallagher stated that the absence of verandah ■ posts in the ■streets, tho rounded corners and the fine new buildings made the appearance of the town particularly imposing. The new hospital was also a splendid one.

A suggestion that, to relieve eyestrain, all white paper for school work should be replaced with paper of a softer ground surface, possibly a light green shade, was recently placed before education boards in New Zealand by the Taranaki' Board. At Wednesday’s meeting of the Auckland Education Board, the opinion of the medical consultant of the London County Council was received from the Education Department, states the “New Zealand Herald.” In this it was stated that while light green walls were invaluable for preventing eyestrain, the reading of print and writing depended on sharply-defined contrast, and a deep black letter on a white background was letter than on a tinted background for the avoidance of eyestrain.

Greenery around the water-wheel in the Ashburton Domain has been clear•ed and thinned during the week and a small waterfall built beside the wheel

One hundred and ninety-five unemployed men in Ashburton are registered for work under No. 5 scheme this week. The number to receive sustenance payments is 138.

In preparation for the winter, the ramps of the southern overhead railway bridge are being tarred and sanded. The surface has been considerably worn since the last coat of tar was applied.

There are many ways of getting rid of an undesirable tenant but it is seldom that it is necessary to use such drastic measures as had to be resorted to in Invercargill recently. The tenant of a. property was asked to leave but refused, so the owner was forced to demolish the living hut and adjacent sheds and thereby compelled the delinquent to leave the premises.

In addition to previous gifts, the Mid-Canterbury provincial executive of the Women’s Division of the_ New Zealand Farmers’ Union has presented three chairs to the Ashburton Public Hospital for the use of women patients in the Chalmers sunroom. The gift was acknowledged by the Board this morning.

Many members of the Ashburton Foresters’ adult and juvenile lodges, as well as guides and scouts, paraded to St. Stephen’s Anglican Church yesterday morning, headed by the Ashburton Silver Band. The Ven. Archdeacon A. J. Petrie preached to a large congregation. The lessons were read by Messrs W. H. Amos and R. W. Crowther.

Although the dry conditions this summer have had a disastrous effect on many gardens, some fine blooms have been produced jfl+i a little care An orange-scarlet dahlia of the Royal Flush variety, grown by Mr A. Clark, Cambridge Street, measured a foot across, and several other nurserymen have had equal success, it being stated that the season generally has been favourable to the growth of these plants.

Anglers’ luck was not of the best during the week-end. About a dozen fair-sized fish -are reported to have been landed at the mouth of the Rangitata river on the Ashburton side yesterday. They made up the first gcod catch for some time. There were few fish at the mouth of the Rakaia but a fair number came to the rods upstream. While the Rangitata, on the other hand, gave anglers good sport at the mouth, up-stream fishing was extremely poor.

A dramatic battle with flames at sea, while a gallery of man-eating sharks waited day after day for possible victims, was described by Captain Thomas after the disabled British tanker Valverda had been towed to Bermuda by two naval tugs. The flames gutted the engine-room and broke through the aft deck, destroying four of the five lifeboats. The third engineer was burned to death, and the fifth was severely burned. The crew fought the fire for three days. “It would have been bad for us if we had taken to the water,” said the captain. “We coidd see nothing but sharks around us—waiting and increasing in number daily, as' fire threatened the ship.”

Among the remits which will be presented to the Municipal Conference in Christchurch on March 21 is one from the Devonport Borough Council urging, “That the strongest possible representations be made to the Government with a view to the enactment of legislation to provide for the strict control of Alsatian dogs or to forbid their existence in New Zealand altogether.” In a note it is added: “This council has had brought before its notice many cases where these particular dogs have injured and killed other dogs and animals, and these dogs when allowed at large are held in fear by most people. They are considered a menace to children on our beaches and public reserves.”