LOCAL AND GENERAL

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 293, 24 September 1935, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A ewe belonging to Mr L. A. Oakley, of Mayfield, which had teen left m a paddock by itself when the flock was removed, gave birth to four lambs. All the lambs are doing well, but unfortunately the mother died about three days afterwards.

Many thousands of annuals have been pricked out and are making good .growth in the glasshouses at the Ashburton Domain. The boxes already filled take up a large amount of space, and there is still a good deal of this kind of work to be done. In seveial other directions the Domain staff is preparing the reserve for the suiiimei.

Dugouts in various parts of Auckland, for sheltering children in the event of war, were suggested by. ailed Cross nurse who served in the Great War, in a letter to the Auckland City Council. She suggested as a suitable place the old Parnell _ School site. In the meantime, she said, sites such as this could be used to grow ferns and flowers, and the charges for admission could lie used to maintain the dugouts. The letter was received.

There has been a marked revival of interest in the work of the St. John Ambulance Association in Ashburton this year, no fewer than 33 people attending last evening at the lecture class, which was the first of a series. Of this number 28 were new members, and others will attend the next lecture. Not since the end of the war has there been so large an attendance at the classes. The lectures will be given by Dr. Cl. I. Miller.

Commenting on the sending of flowers packed in ice from Auckland to Australia to compete in a show there, Mr J. Linklater, M.P., remarked at a bulb shew at Rongotea last week that soon, as well as having national shows, there would be also international shows. New Zealand, he said, could grow almost every kind of fruit and vegetable, and the shows held by the various horticultural, societies demonstrated what a wealth of beauty there was in the gardens of the Dominion.

The fortnightly meeting of the Star of Ashburton Lodge, U.A.0.D., was held last evening, the A.D. (Bro. R. M. Chambers) presiding. The bards reported on visits to members on the funds, and sick pay was passed. Two maternity claims and one funeral allowance were passed fer payment and one funeral claim received. Letters of thanks for attention to brothers on the sick list were received from the Rose of Palmerston and Triumph lodges. An invitation to attend a games evening was received from the Success of Ashburton Lodge, and was accepted. It was decided to held a social evening on October 7 and to invite the Ladies’ Lodge. The Grand Secretary advised that the application of a member' for superannuation had been granted. At the close of the lodge Dr. G. I. Miller delivered an instructive lecture on vitamins. The lecture was listened to attentively, and the speaker was thanked. Before dispersing, supper was handed round.

Acceding to a request made by the headmaster (Mr S. G. Macfarlane), tiie Ashburton East School Committee last evening decided to write to the Department of Education making ail inquiry regarding the establishment of a class for backward children.

The ponds in the Domain are gradually filling up. They had been empty for some months to permit of cleaning operations to be carried out, but this work had to be stopped some .little time ago in order to allow time for the refilling of the for Labour Day, when the Gala will be held.

Over 1000 pupils and teachers from the Ashburton schools attended a special showing of the talking film, “David Copperfield,” in Ashburton yesterday afternoon. As the number who attended at the Majestic Theatre was greater than .the seating accommodation, an overflow showing of the film was made at the St. James Theatre, the reels of film being transferred from one theatre to the other.

In preparation for a coating of tar which is to be put down before the cycle spel ts on Labour Day, the track round the Oval in the Domain is being swept and repaired. In places wide cracks have 'appeared in the asphalt surface, the frost of each winter giving a great deal of trouble in this connection. The work now in progress should give a good cycling track for the Gala sports.

Representations are being made to the Prime Minister by the Canterbury Employers’ Association for an early election date, so that the December shopping period will not he interfered with. The association is thus giving its support to its sister body in Wellington. It is argued that an election in December would have an adverse effect on the pre-Christmas trade, and the Canterbury association, in its letter to the Prime Minister, has suggested Tuesday, November 19, as a suitable date.

Valuable foods used extensively overseas, but neglected in New Zealand, were mentioned by Dr. G, B. Chapman in a luncheon address to the Overseas League at Auckland. Certain types of seaweeds were eaten at every meal in Japan, lie said, and were also popular in Scotland, Ireland and Cornwall. They provided iodine in natural form. The coasts of New Zealand abounded in edible seaweed, and it was popular at one time with the Maoris. Lucerne was another neglected food. It was the finest leafy vegetable known for human consumption, being six times as valuable as spinach.. Uncooked cabbage, too, popular in America, Canada and Europe, was very little used in this country.

September is surely very early to see the pohutukawa in bloom, and it almost seems a freak, but the fact remains, flowering pohutukawa was discovered by a Mercury Bay fisherman, Mr Robert Hutchinson, on a bend of the river near Mill Creek, about three miles from Wliitianga a fortnight ago (writes the “Auckland Star’s” Wliitianga correspondent). It was Mr Hutchinson’s intention to exhibit a posy of the blooms at the spring flower show held recently as a surprise, but when he went to gather them he found that he had been forestalled. Taking this in a philosophic mood, he said, “Good luck to them.” This particular tree, it will he remembered, was the first to bloom last year, and is apparently a freak tree ; it is also a lighter green in colour than the usual pohutukawa.

The Ashburton Catholic Men’s Club met last evening, the president (Mr V. O’Donoghue) presiding over a large attendance. The final section for the Mitchell trophy for the most improved junior speaker resulted in Mr T. Hanrahan winning the contest, with Mr H. McCosker runner-up. An invitation from the St. Stephen’s Literary and Social Club to take part in a debate and ping-pong match was accepted, the club deciding to take the negative side on the subject, “Should there be military training in secondary sch ools ?’ ’ Messrs 0 ’Donoghue (leader), V. Crequer and C. Bradley were appointed as the debating team, and Messrs R. G. Ross, V. O’Donoghue, T. Taylor, F. Sehluter, V, Crequer, B. Cleary and C. Bradley as the ping-pong team. It was decided to hold a banquet for the final meeting of the season next Monday. Games were then played, and supper was served.

Apparently the common house-borer has been credited with more notoriety in New Zealand than is strictly its due. The annual report of the (Director of Forestry (Mr A. D'. McGavock), detailing the work done by the State Forest Service in the last year, mentions that in an effort to develop practical measures for the control and prevention of borer attack numerous inspections and examinations of infested material were made throughout the year. “While the common house-borer (Anobium domesticum) has undoubtedly been responsible for the greater part of the attack of the softwood timbers, it now appears that it has been erroneously credited with the attack of such hardwoods as tawa, taraire, etc., which are commonly infested with the powder-post beetles (Lyctus spp.). The insect now causing most damage, however, is undoubtedly the native two-toothed longhorn (Ambeodentus tristis), the ravages of which are being reported in increasing numbers from all parts of the Dominion. It cannot be emphasised too strongly that continual inspection of all woodwork is necessary if practical control measures of this and other wood-boring insects are to bo effected.”

A great deal of additional book-keep-ing will be necessary should the Government insist on the reduction in wages tax from lOd in the £ to Bcl applying strictly from October 1. With a. view to securing a slight relaxation in the date of the enforcement of the reduction, the secretary of the Auckland Employers’ Association (Mr W. E. Anderson) lias written to the New Zealand Employers’ Federation iii Wellington on the matter. .Mr Andersen is suggesting that the federation should endeavour to arrange that the new rate be made to apply to the first wage payments after October 1, which falls on a Tuesday. That will mean that on wages payable on, say, the following Friday, the present rate of lOd will apply'for the days” preceding the Tuesday, and the new rate of 8d for the remainder of the week. The operation of two taxes with respect to one pay would naturally entail a considerable amount of extra hook-keeping. Incidentally, the change in the unemployment levy will involve a considerable amount of work for the Post and Telegraph Department. When the tax was decreased from Is in the £ to lOd in October of last year 44,652 credit notices had to be sent out to persons who had paid in advance their tax on income other than salary or wages. . It will be necessary to undertake similar work on this occasion.

Sixteen, members of the Ashburton Tramping Club took part in an enjoyable outing to Peter’s Range, Montalto, on Sunday. The weather conditions were excellent, bright sunshine prevailing all day. The party spent several hours tramping over the hills.

Influenza, severe colds and whooping cough are prevalent in Ashburton at the present time, and school attendances have been considerably reduced as a result. Many adults are suffering from colds and a mild, but irritating, form of influenza, several office staffs having been depleted.

More than 600 hares and 2688 rabbits were trapped this season on the areas controlled by the Selwyn Plantation Board. The board’s superintendent, Mr R.. G. Robinson, reported that it had been necessary to employ an expert trapper to rid the planting enclosures of hares and rabbits. With so successful a catch, the prospects for a good planting season were greatly improved.

“I wish to congratulate you on the fine clock tower in Hastings. You are fortunate in having in Hastings city fathers who appreciate good architecture and who seek professional advice in any work they do,” said Mr J. A. Louis Hay at a recent meeting of the Napier Rotary Club when proposing a vote of thanks to Mr S. G. Chaplin, architect, of Hastings, who gave an address on the modern trend of architecture. “In Napier they have erected bus shelters, reconditioned the baths and the Mothers’ Rest and built improvements on the parade without seeking the advice of the registered architects, and they will be sorry for it some day,” said Mr Hay.

A note of warning against the oversanguine expectations of those who have gone in for afforestation projects is sounded by the director of forestry in the course of his annual report. No ether feature of forestry work, it is stated, is so susceptible to exaggeration. as the intensely practical problem of utilising the growth of indigenous and exotic forests. One writer estimates that the Dominion will have an exportable surplus of exotic timber within 10 years. Another ’ estimates that the insignis pine fopests alone will yield annually 1,200,000 foot board measure of sawn timber. All these are fantastic calculations which do not take into account the area of this species, and the not unlikely failures of still other species, against which the Government has endeavoured to protect the general success of its o\vn operations by the use of a wide diversity of species, most of them much slower-growing than the insignis pine. If, eventually, the whole of the planted areas of the Dominion produce an average mean annual growth of 100 cubic feet of wood per acre, the country null have achieved a result which has not been duplicated with exotics elsewhere in the world.