LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 178, 11 May 1935, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A Press Association telegram from Westport.states that the Kanna, which was due to sail for New Plymouth last night, is held up owing to trouble with the crew.

A Press Association telegram from Wellington states that the Post and Telegraph Department advises that the air mail which left London on April 27 is on the Monowai, which left Sydney for Auckland at 4 p.m. to-day.

The Southland Education Board has decided to ask the Headmasters' Association the reasons for its resolutions which debarred the primary school children of Invercargill from taking part in the parade during the celebrations of the Silver Jubilee of the King.

A Masterton resident (says the "Age") wonders if there is another person in New Zealand Avho is the proud possessor of a piece of the material which was left over from Ins Majesty's Coronation robes. A distant relative of the resident assisted in the making of the robes, and over half a yard of lace and a small square of silk, which was left over, was sent to the owner nearly 25 years ago.

Seven cases of burglary in Devonport and Stanley Bay, which resulted in the thief obtaining sums estimated to exceed £'l6, were reported to the Auckland police. The offences, which were committed early in the morning, are believed to have been the acts of one man. He was pursued in one instance, but escaped. It is many months since an Auckland suburb has been visited to such an extent in one night by a burglar, although offences of this kind were not infrequent a year ago. Especially in the case of the North Shore has there been freedom from the attention of burglars.

Suggesting that two uniformed men be put" on guard at the Palmerston North War Memorial in the Square to prevent this sacred spot being used as a grandstand, an anonymous writer communicated with the Silver Jubilee Celebrations Committee at its meeting the other afternoon. "I have noticed at all functions herd at tile band rotunda that this sacrilege is committed, and I feel that it is time the citizens of Palmerston North realised the sacredness of this spot/' the writer stated The committee was of the belief that, although it could not take definite action, value might result from the public attention being dj;awn to thoughtlessness in the past.

"Health is an unconscious action or condition, and the less you think of it the better. Don't think about it or discuss it; just live it." This advice was given to the annual meeting of ' the Sunlight League at Christchurch last evening by the chairman (Archbishop Julius). "It is many years since I first presided at this meeting. Why I was chosen to preside, I do not know. I am not a specialist in health matters; my only qualification is that I have managed to live to a fairly good age. My ideas on health are these: a reasonable amount of common sense, a growing experience of what is good, the power of refraining from the bad, and avoiding too much appeal to the doctors."

The final figures for the Poppy Day appeal in North Taranaki make a total of £561, compared with £568 last year (says a Press Association message from New Plymouth).

It is now possible to motor on the Te Anau-Milford Read as far as Falls Creek, and construction work on the next two mile" is well advanced (says a. Press Association telegram from Invcrcargill). Tenders for the construction of a tunnel through Homer Saddle have now closed. It is expected that work on the tunnel 1 will commence in the spring.

It was stated at the annual meeting of the Wellington Film Institute that the "Wellington public libraries noticed a great demand for books on any subject when that subject was dealt with in a notable film being shown in the city. Dr. J. W. Mcllraith, chief inspector of primary schools, who later addressed the meeting on films in relation to education, expressed interest in this fact, which, he said, showed that films stimulated among adults a demand for a wider education.

"We hear a lot in the press about how New Zealand could capture the Danish butter trade," stated Professor W. Iliddct (director of the Dairy Research Institute, at the dairy factory managers' conference at Palmerton North last week. "Let me tell you that is all a myth," he added. "It is a much more difficult matter than most people think." Professor Riddet quoted instances of these difficulties, many of which were simply matters of custom. One grocer, for example, when asked to report, said the New Zealand product was very near Danish, but it was not in the same kind of keg.

Six hundred acres of the Ahurm Lagoon upon which the work of dewaterino- was commenced nine months ago have (says the "Napier Telegraph") been closely drained under the direction of the Public Works Department's engineers, and this area is ready for experimental cropping, whielx, it is understood, will be put in hand at the end of the winter. The area which has been completed is stated by those in control to comprise "tip-top" land for development, and should prove an encouraging incentive for the completion of the drainage of the whole 7500 acres as soon as possible.

An unusual situation arose at a recent meeting of the Manawatu-Oroua River Board when the members were asked to decide whether they were sitting as a new board, with the necessity of electing a chairman for the incoming term, or as the old board. All the members had been returned unopposed, and the observing of the regular date for the meeting brought it in advance of the actual election date. A perusal of the Act disclosed that the chairman had to be. appointed on or after the second Wednesday in May of the election year, and it was consequently decided to sit as the old board.

A hope that something would be accomplished by the Roadside Beautifying Association was expressed by Dr. Leslie C. L. Averill in an address to the annual meeting of the Sunlight League at Christchurch last evening. Dr. Averill said he had noticed when in America that trees were planted along ihe roadways, which were thus made to look very beautiful. "I understand a society has been formed here," he said, "and I hope it will be able to do something." He suggested that the trip to Ashburton, for instance, would be .very much more pleasant if trees were planted by the road.

Among those to whom the . King s Silver Jubilee medal has been awarded is Tarapipi Tamehana te Waharoa, ot Morrinsville, a notable Maori ot high rank who is a grandson -of the great warrior chief Te Waharoa, of Matamata, a noted figure in the Maori Tribal warfare nearly 100 years ago. Tarapipi is an elderlyi man who has been confined to his home at the Maori village near Morrinsville in recent years, owing to ill-health. He is a son of Te Waharoa's son, Tupu Taingakawa, and a nephew of the celebrated Maori leader, Wiremu Tameh.ana (William Thompson), who has been termed "the king-maker" because his influence resulted in the Waikato -chief, Te Wherowhero, being made the first Maori king in 1858.

ft One of the things that has grown out of the air mail trom England is the urge which some people have for doing curious things. Within a few weeks of the mail being established, poultry fanciers in Sydney haye been endeavouring to hatch out clutches of eggs laid in England. It does not seem a difficult thing to accomplish, for even the backyard poultry farmer knows that eggs can be kept a reasonable time before being placed under the hen for hatching or in the incubator. But it appears that the sudden changes of temperature which the eggs pass through in their few days' transit from England to Australia have a prejudicial effect, and so far the clutches have not hatched.

The necessity of exercising the strictest biological control in New Zealand was emphasised by Mr J. Muggeridge, B.Sc, of the research laboratory of the Agricultural Department at Palmerston North, in an address to members of the Palmerston North Rotary Club. He said that the transference of insect pests from one part of the world to another was not nearly so great in the days of sailing vessels. With much sjjorter journeys by steamer, the danger of introducing insects harmful to live stock or crops increased. Now that it was proposed to make 12-hour trips from Australia by aeroplane, they would have to be constantly on the "watch. There was, for example, the malarial insect—the mosquito. If he once got in they might not be able to control him biologically.

Three car-loads of police and detectives arrived about noon yesterday at a piece of reclaimed ground on the waterfront at Auckland, and the occupants leaping out, sprinted toward a group of about 30 or 40 men. The men were seated on poles arranged in the form of a rectangle. A scout gave the alarm and the group immediately scattered. The police had to run hard and tackle low, but about 15 men were detained and their names and addresses taken. Others escaped through neighbouring premises. Workers in adjacent buildings cheered the chase. It is understood that some of the men detained admitted that they had been playing two-up, and that in the ring the' police found a, leather dice-box and a number of dice, the latter being marked with spots and squares to indicate heads and tails.

There were no notifications of infectious disease in either Ashburton Borough or Ashburton County this week.

A gold-mounted whip has been presented to the Ashburton Trotting Club by W. Patching and Co., Ltd. and the club has decide;! to award it to the driver of the winning horse in the New Zealand Sapling Stakes, 1035.

When a juryman made successful application for exemption for service before Mr Justice Fair in the Supreme Court at Auckland on the ground that he was over the age limit of 60, another man promptly made application and secured exemption on similar grounds. "I am not sure that, having regard to the increased span of human life, the age limit has not been fixed too low," commented his Honor.

The unusual spectacle of a large motor-car doing its best to enter the narrow- doorway of a grocery store was seen at the corner of Worcester and Rolleston streets' yesterday morning. The car, in endeavouring to avoid a collision, crossed a culvert on to the north-east corner of the intersection, mounted two steps leading into the store, and rammed the left-hand doorpost, smashing it and breaking two plate-glass windows, as well as "smashing all the tites below the window. The front of the car was badly damaged.

Though the cost of the Mayoral, City Council, Hospital and Harbour Board elections in Christchurch has yet to be calculated with accuracy, it is expected that the sum involved will be at least £3OOO. The main item is the bill for wages, which amounts to well over £looo', while other expenses are incurred in connection with the printing of the rolls and ballot papers, the hire of halls and tents for polling booths, and many miscellaneous items. The increase in cost is largely due to/the increased number of voters.

Mr E. Cholerton, of John R. Procter, Ltd., Opticians, Christchurch, arrived in Ashburton this afternoon, and may be consulted at the Somerset Hotel.—(Advt.)