LOCAL AND GENERAL

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 242, 26 July 1935, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The air mail which left New Zealand on July 2 arrived in Britain last Sunday (says a Press Association message from Wellington).

Because of the delayed sailing of the Niagara from Vancouver t all mails loi New Zealand, with the exception of parcels, have been transferred to the Mariposa, due at Auckland on August 11. Advice to this effect has been received i)~v the Ashburton Postmastei (Mr W. J. Miuogue).

A three-day’s sitting of the South Canterbury Mortgagors’ Adjustment Commission was concluded in Ashburton to-daj 7 . There were 12 applications under the old Mortgagors’ and Tenants’ Relief Act and one case under the new Rural Mortgagors’ Relief Act was also heard by the Commission, the personnel of which is Messrs J. P. Steven (chairman), R. Sinclair and A. Gregory.

“I would rather hear a woman preach when she can, than a man when lie cannot, and I have heard hath,” said Dr. W. Russell Mai thy, a noted leader of the Methodist Chprch in England, in an* address to Auckland ministers. Dr. Maltby said he was responsible for the work of about 400 deaconesses, and Methodism did not possess' a finer body of Christian women. They did all a minister did, and some, he believed 1 , did it better.

According to an Order-in-Council contained in the current “Gazette,” the exportation from New Zealand of coined copper, save with the consent of the Minister of Customs, has been prohibited.

The members of the Ashburton representative Rugby football team were guests of the Kaikoura Football Club at a dance in the Drill Hall. There was a good attendance from all parts of the district.

Proposals to amalgamate the two Wanganui bands, Garrison and Queen’s Own, have reached a deadlock, in that neither band desires that such a step should be taken. The matter was .placed before the members of each band and they decided to oppose the suggestion. It is understood that the trustees will meet in the near future to decide whether any further steps should be taken.

As already indicated, Parliament is to re-assemble for its next session at 2.30 p.m. on Thursday, August 29. A proclamation to that effect was published this week in a Gazette Extraordinary. In the language peculiar to such business, legislators are constrained and commanded to appear at Parliament Houses on the day and hour fixed, “there to take into consideration the state and welfare of the Dominion of New Zealand and therein to do as may seem necessary.”

The Ashburton branch of the Mothers’ Union met yesterday afternoon, the president (Mrs A. J. Petrie) presiding. A motion of sympathy was passed with Mr Frank Curtis in the death of liis mother. A collection was taken for a missionary of the Mothers’ Union in Melanesia, and there was a display of work prepared by the Mission Guild of the branch for the mission fields. Mrs E. C. W. Powell, of St. Saviour’s Vicarage, Sydenham, gave an address on the presentday conditions of the Jewish race.

“New Zealand farmers as a whole are far more alert and progressive than those in the United States and Great Britain, and the problem of application of research is far easier,” declared Dr.. E. Marsden, secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, in a lecture at Wellington. “This is so, in spite of the wonderful research that is being carried out in the United States and Great Britain, and our farmers hold their own by their more ready application of research.”

The fact that no dwelling house can be erected in the country without a permit having beefi first obtained, was stressed by the chairman, Mr I). R. Hoggard, at the monthly meeting of the Hutt County Council recently. It was reported that a building in Parapa ran mu was almost completed beloi e the owner realised that a permit was required. The building was not being erected according to requirements. The owner wrote' stating that she had money coming to her when things righted themselves, and when she got the money she might be in a position to build a better house.

The fortnightly meeting of the Loyal Ashburton Lodge, M.U.1.0.0.F., was held last evening, the N.G. (Bro. R. W. Riggar) presiding. An invitation to the Mayfield Lodge’s annual ball on August 16 was accepted with thanks. The Methven Lodge notified that Wednesday, August 7, would be a suitable date for the Ashburton Lodge to pay an official visit. Sick pay amounting to £23 Is 8d was passed in favour of 18 members. One candidate was elected and two initiated. iP'.G. Bro. C. M. Innes gave an address dealing with the origin and development of the Order. After lodge, bupper was served.

Itinerant beggars who haunt the doors of suburban homes appear to have great faith in the credulity of housewives, and! perhaps a justified faith ; but a man who triedi his luck in Wellington on Monday would certainly! (says the “Evening Post”) qualify for a super-optimist. He carried with him lour letters, documentary evidence, as it were, of the bona fides of his application. The letters had to be posted, he complained, but he could not afford to buy the stamps. And here he stretched imagination a littlp far. He had lost £3OOO on his farm in Napier, he said, and had walked out on Saturday; and, although his appearance belied it, he had kept walking—trudging to Wellington. He had walked, he maintained, every inch of the way. It is not known whether this record—over 200 miles in 48 hours —will be officially recognised. ■

Captain E. V. Sanderson (president of the Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand) is the author of a, stern warning in the society’s latest bulletin as to the denudation of essential protective forests. Thousands of acres of land have gone to waste, he says,- other thousands have been burned or'over-grazed and thus lest to production. There is in New Zealand a great opportunity for some far-seeing Roosevelt who is great enough to over-ride petty individual interests and set about getting our land management on to sane lines ere erosion has assumed the upper hand. Our few remaining forests should be rid of all trespassing plant-eating animals at no matter what cost; protected from fire, and. allowed to revert to their primitive conditions. All land which lias gone out of production on steep hillsides and on poor soil should be abandoned for its hoped-for use, and treated as part of the protection forests, beside much high country now used for merino production. The plant life on any area of a decidedupon general steepness, cr above a certain stated elevation, should be conserved.

The extent to which a. motorist may be protected by insurance was demonstrated' by an accident which occurred at Broad Bay (Dunedin) early on Sunday morning. While a motorist was travelling in the direction of Portobello he was dazzled by the lights of another car coming from the opposite direction. Before lie could recover his vehicle had crashed! broadside on into a boatshed. The fact that, although the car-was almost completely wrecked, none of its occupants was injured, was not the only remarkable feature of the, mishap, for the boatshed, which contained another car and other contents, was pushed bodily off its supporting piles and fell into the harbour. As the driver concerned in the crash had taken out a policy covering any damage which he might cause to property, the insurance company is obliged *to pay to the owner of the car which was in the boatshed full compensation for the loss of his vehicle, which was damaged by salt water, and a. considerable sum for the loss of the contents of the shed. In addition it must restore the shed to its original condition.

A number of applications for assistance' from returned soldiers was considered at the monthly committee meeting of the Ashburton County War Relief Fund Society. Mr E. H. Orr

A Press Association telegram states that the Wellington Aero Club has purchased two British parachutes. It will be the first club in New Zealand to be so equipped. The parachutes will be used in aerobatic display and testing work. '

“There are no unemployed in Murchison,” said Mr J. A. Clements, travelling professional to the New Zealand Golf Council, who lias just returned to the North Island from a tour which embraced that district. Mr Clements said that there were 200 subsidised gold miners working along the Howard River, and they seemed to b,e doing well.

Speaking of the Cook Islands, Mr H. D. W. Brewer, who has just returned to Dunedin from a month’s holiday in the group, referred to it as “the gem of the British Empire in the Pacific.” It was an ideal place for a holiday at this time of the year, although he would not advise New Zealanders to make the trip later than September. 1 The natural settings were very beautiful and the native villages were remarkably clean. The inhabitants were a, finely l built race of a cheerful and carefree disposition.. Even the depression, which had seriously affected) the Islands’ trade, had not marred this bright spirit which was noticeable in work and play alike. Mr Brewer also referred to the admirable bowling greens and lawn tennis courts in Rarotonga. These playing areas were situated in a. natural amphitheatre of unusual beauty.

Entries for the Ashburton Competitions Society’s festival so far number about 625. At last year’s festival there were 805 entries, and it is anitcipated that when all are received for this year the total will almost reach this high standard. Entries have been coming in well during this week, and the secretary (Mr C. J. McEachen) received almost 50 this morning. There are more entries to come in before they close to-morrow, and all sections are expected to be well supported. The instrumental classes are not quite as strong as last year, but more vocalists will be appearing. The dancing section was particularly popular in 1934, ( and will again be well patronised. New sections are proving attractive, so far five one-act plays, six competitors for the prepared speech, two junior entertainments, and two action chonises, as well as about four ballets, having been entered.

The offer of Mr C. A. Whitney, the well-known Auckland sportsman, to make a gift of 75 pairs of wild mallard duck for liberation in New Zealand, and the Government’s refusal to allow the gift to be accepted, caused considerable discussion at the last meeting of the Te Aroha Acclimatisation Society. Explaining the position, .the president (Mr J. M. Cochrane) said that Mr Whitney intended importing these birds from America to ensure the correct type being secured. The offer had originally been made to the parent body in Auckland, where it had a mixed reception. It was contended that the mallard was in the habit of producing crossbreds or “mongrel duck” of an undesirable type., Since then, however, Mr Whitney had fairly conclusively proved that in its wild state the mallard produced oniy the pure sporting strain. Subsequently his offer had been made to the Paeroa Society, and accepted, but the Minister of Internal Affairs had since refused a permit for the birds to be imported. Mr Whitney was now seeking the support of all country branches in pressing for the permit to be granted. After considerable discussion * members generally, agreed that it was in the interests of sport that the birds be allowed to enter the country for liberation, and it was resolved to petition the Minister asking that a permit he granted.