LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 165, 26 April 1935, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The fortnightly meeting of the Daphne Lodge, 1.0.0. F., the Tancred Street Hall on Wednesday evening, the N.G. (Sister Cowan) pieriding over a good attendance.all the officefs being present. One jto »« reported sick, and two candidates were initiated into the Order. Supper was. served at the conclusion.

The Ashburton Mothers' Union met on Wednesday afternoon, when the president (Mrs A. J Petri*) presided and gave a devotional address. Mis Petri* extended a welcome to Sistei F Childs. who gave a very interesting talk on the work of the Church Army in England and in New Zealand. Afternoon tea was served.

One or two rate-collecting records have been broken by local bodies adjacent to Pttlmerston North recently, and now the Moutoa Drainage Board is seeking recognition by an announcement that while 94.64 per cent, otlast year's rates have been collected, there are no arrears in respect of previous years.

\ dead kiwi has been handed to the Waverlev School, Wanganui district, to be sent to Hull, England. The bird was killed by dogs before it could be saved, and Mr J. R. Morrison, conveyed it to the school for exhibition to the children. Some time ago a request for such a bird had been made from a school in Hull and it is the intention of the "Waverlev scholars to have the bird preserved, mounted and sent to Great Britain as a gift from Waverley.

There was a much more generous giving at the collection taken up at the Majestic Theatre yesterday afternoon during the Anzac Day service than was the case on Anzac Day of last year. The sum collected yesterday was £22 los 4d, compared with £l3 9s 4d last year. The money, which goes to the Ashburton Returned Soldiers' Association funds, will be used in subsidising wage's paid to unemployed men by private citizens, a work that the association has successfully promoted over a number of years.

A Press Association telegram from Wellington states that the Native Plants Protection Act. which was passed by Parliament last session, will come into force in a few days, announced the Acting-Prime Minister (the Hon. E. A. Ransom) on Wednesday. The list of native plants allowed to be taken, as it will be gazetted shortly, will he: Hutawai, or piripiri (bidahid), tutu firewood, kanuka, manuka, hard fern, tauhimi (two species), bracken, nettle, also all species of sea and fresh water weeds, fungi, lichens, liverworts and mosses. Mr Ransom added that the warrant, winch has been signed by the Governor-Gene-ral, declares that all native plants, with the exception of a few species which are commonly regarded as weeds, to be protected throughout the whole Dominion.

Summer time will end at 2 a.m. on Sunday, when clocks will be put back 30 minutes. It lias been in operation since September 30, 1934.

Members of the Auckland Council of the New Zealand Alliance enjoyed a [laugh on Monday evening wiien the secretary reported that a football trophy tiiat bad been presented to the Auckland Rugby Union some years ago was on display in the window of a local hotel, reports the ''New Zealand HerThe trophy bears the inscription, "The New Zealand Alliance (for Football Trophy." The council decided to suggest that the Rugby Union might arrange vor some more suitable place for exhibiting trophies.

Although ski-ing as a popular sport is a new development in New Zealand, a writer in the ''New Zealand Railways Magazine" states that skis were used in Ota go 60 years ago. He relates that when he was a bo.yt a party of Norwegian miners on a goldfield on that part of the Rough Ridge known as the Serpentine, a*, Heights between 3000 ft and 5000 ft, where the country was covered with snow for several of the winter months, made themselves skis. It was not long before the other miners on the field followed their example, and used skis regularly in the winter.

A motorist who returned to Auckland recently after an extensive tour of New Zealand commented on the fact that many "swaggers" whom he had seen on the road had discarded their rolled blanket swags, usually carried on their backs, in favour of small suitcases. The motorist questioned one of them on the point and was told that a man carrying a suitcase would often be offered a lift in a car. as his baggage would give the impression that he was going only a short distance, whereas a man carrying $e traditional swag would invariably be passed by.

A scene reminiscent of the earlier days of bad roads was witnessed on the Main South Road at Horotiu the other morning, when two transport lorries and a car were stuck in the mud (says the "New Zealand Herald's" Hamilton correspondent). The road is being reconstructed, and the surface has been scarified. Heavy rain fell during the night, and the traffic next morning soon reduced the highway for a few hundred yards to a quagmire. The vehicles which became embedded in the mucl were extricated with the assistance of a road roller.

The annual chrysanthemum and flower show of the Hampstead Memorial Society, .to be held this year on Ma3 r 11, promises to lie most successful. The committee in charge of arrangements met on Wednesday evening, Mr VV. Thompson presiding over a good attendance. A schedule was adopted, and it was agreed to include a class for handwork. Mr E. H. Childs was appointed to take charge of the naildriving competition, and Mrs H. Flatman was added to the show committee. It was decided to ask Mr J. Connolly, M.P., to open the show, and the Ashburton Silver Band to give a concert programme in the evening.

"I'm shot," exclaimed James Farquhar, a young man, as he collapsed while fishing on rocks at Rohotu yesterday afternoon (says a Press Association telegram from New Plymouth). A companion heard a pea-rifle shot and found that Farquhar had been shot through the shoulder and lung. He was taken to hospital in a critical condition. A party is believed to have been shooting in the vicinity, and it is thought that the affair was accidental. Farquhar early in the summer dislocated his neck while swimming, and for some time had been in plaster.

There was a gcod attendance at the monthly meeting of the Tinwald branch of the Mothers' Union on Wednesday, Mrs M. P. Cooke presiding. An interesting letter from the Bishop of Melanesia was read by the secretary (Mrs Bayliss). The speaker for the afternoon was the vicar (the Rev. D. Rankin), who spoke of the wonderful work of Sister Eva Hasell in the Far North of Canada, where she had instituted the mission caravans to assist the children of the sparsely-populated areas in religious education and bring comfort to the lonely people of those snowy regions. Proceedings were concluded with afternoon tea.

A rather remarkable record in rate collection has been achieved by the Flaxbourne Rabbit Board in its first vear of operation. The total amount levied in rates was £619 Os 10d, the demand being sent out on November 12 and becoming operative 14 days later. By March 31 only £62 17s 5d of this amount was outstanding, only six out of the 50 ratepayers being in arrears. No trouble of any kind was experienced, the money coming in spontaneously and freely. This extraordinary collection, coupied with 'the splendid record of the Marlborough Countv Council, which levied for £12,057 and collected £13,460, the extra £I4OO odd representing arrears, and of other local bodies, seems to indicate that the depression is lifting m Marlborough at least.

Unusual difficulties wiJl be met in a scheme which is being undertaken for the drainage of Ohinemutu, the Maori village at Rotorna. The Mayor (Mr T. Jackson), who cut the first sod, said the necessity and utility of the scheme were beyond doubt, but the difficulties to be overcome in carrying, out the work made it not only a unique undertaking but the most difficult municipal enterprise the Rotorua Borough Council had ever attempted. The drainage pines would run through ground beset with hot and boiling springs, running sand and mud of high and dangerous temperatures. The surface of Ohinemutu was notoriously unstable, a fact attested by frequent "blow-outs." Only Maoris, members of the Arawa tribe, and familiar with the locality, are employed on the work.

It is an unwritten law that golfers assist in protecting their courses, and everyone knows that non-replacements of divots (soil loosened in playing a shot) is a cardinal sin, There are many other ways in which players can assist in keeping the course in order, and carelessness in dropping paper, cigarette boxes, etc., is generally regarded as exceptional. An offender at the provincial championship meeting at Middlemore on Saturday was justly punished (states the "Auckland Star"). While standing at a bunker at the short tenth hole he lit a cigarette and dropped the tin in the sand. Several hours later, when playing the same hole in the second round, the player was again trapped in the bunker. On going to play the ball he found it half covered by the tin left there by him in the morning. His punishment was severe for the obstacle, (not being removable without disqualification) hindered the next shot and 1 cost him five strokes.

Reports to hand to-day on the state of the Ashburton County rivers indicate that the Rakaia and Rangitata are dirty, but that the Ashburton is clear.

When asked if any use was made of the observatory at the Ashburton High School, the headmaster (Mr E. A. Cockroft) stated at the meeting of the Boai'd of Governors this morning that these, interested in astronomy used the instruments during the winter months. Conditions were not suitable in the summer. Several members said they would like to see through the telescope. "I am always star-gazing," said one member, "and I would like to see things close up."

Riding along East Street on horseback yesterday afternoon, Trooper Stewart Hay, aged 17, of Flemington, a member of the Ashburton Squadron of the Canterbury Yeomanry Cavalry, was thrown when his horse slipped, and his right leg was broken, the horse falling on it. Mr Hay was to have taken part in the Anzac Day parade. He was admitted to the Ashourton Public Hospital, where his condition is reported to be satisfactory.

A Press Association telegram from Wellington states that the Cabinet has approved the appointment of 400 Justices of the Peace. In making this announcement the Minister for Justice (the Hon. J. G. Cobbe) said the persons concerned had been written to and asked whether they would accept office, and it was expected that their replies would be to hand in a few days, when a list of the appointees would be available for publication.

How he was once mistaken for the advance agent of a circus was related by the Hon. J. G. Cobbe (Minister of Defence), at the diamond jubilee celebrations of the Sandon Methodist Church, Manawatu district. The Minister said that it was his custom at Feilding to hire a horse and gig with which to proceed to Sandon for the church service, but one day he was unable to secure the usual turnout, so had to make Jhe journey in a gailypainted cart drawn by the most noted piebald horse in the district. At Sandon the stableman greeted him as the advance agent for Barton's Circus.