LOCAL AND GENERAL

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 21, 6 November 1935, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A social and gift evening in aid. of the annual sale to be held at the end cf November was conducted by the tot. Andrew’s Presbyterian Girls’ Auxiliary last evening. There was a good attendance, and the result was satisfactory. A vocal solo was contributed by Miss Acton.

One who did not realise that Saturday was New Plymouth s halt-holiday paid a visit to the shopping centre, but was removed by force. It was a Californian quail which, far ivom hidm in a sanctuary, defiantly strutted outside the windows of a Devon Street shop. It was captured without climculty and was later released in a clump of bush.

The British and Foreign Bible Society, which since its foundation Iras published altogether 464,000,000 copies of the Scriptures, distributed 10,970,609 during the last 12 months. A surplus of £2680 is reported on the year’s working. Publication is now being carried on in 692 languages, as compared with 424 in 1910, 14 new languages being added last year. _ (Ji these 142 are for peoples of the British Commonwealth.

A great many public and native schools throughout New Zealand will be used as polling booths on the day of the general election, Wednesday, November 27, and these, of course, will be- closed' for the whole of the day. An announcement in the “Education Gazette,” however, draws attention to the requirement of the Electoral Act, 1927, that all public and native schools not so used must be closed from noon on the polling day.

The recent tragedy at Devonport, in. which a boy was killed by the explosion of part of a shell, recalled to an Auckland resident the fact that on a visit to Rangitoto not long ago old shells had been pointed out to him about 150 yards from one of the tracks on the western side of the island. He estimated their length at about 16 inches and diameter at 4 or 5 inches. They were out in the open and easy to see, and he was surprised, he said', that they had not been removed by the Defence authorities. Another man know of three shells in different parts of the island.

Probate has been granted of the will of Sir James Coates, retired banker, of Auckland, whose death occurred on October 11. For purposes of probate the estate has been valued at under £90,000. The whole of the estate is disposed of to relatives and friends, with the exception of £IOOO which is left to the General Trust Board of the Diocese of Auckland free of legacy and succession duty. Of this sum it is directed that £SOO be invested and the income therefrom used to augment the stipend of the vicar of the parish of St. Paul, and, similarly, the income from the other £SOO is to bo used to augment the stipend of the vicar of the Cathedral Church of St. Mary.

The last letter an Auckland business man received from his mother, in England, informed him that in driving her own car she had “met with a slight accident,’’ having broken her wrist, remarks the “Star.” As she is a good deal nearer 80 than 70 (her eldest son is G2), lie was naturally anxious to hear how she was progressing, so. at the end of the customary period, as he did not receive a letter from her lie wrote, somewhat anxiously, to his sister. Her reply, which came to hand recently, said: “Mother is wonderfully well, and her wrist mended splendidly. At the moment she is in the Isle of Man. She flew over, and says how much she enjoyed the experience. She is keenly interested in aviation, and is now learning the technical side of it. She still swims, is not in the least deaf or infirm, and plays as good a hand at bridge as ever.” .

No provision ha,s been made for New Zealand members of the crew of H.M.S. Diomede to vote in the General Election, stated Mr F. Evans (Registrar of Electors at Auckland). Seamen may vote only between the issue of the writs and polling day, and there is no provision for voting by wireless, telegraph, or proxy.

A hoy playing near Upper Albert Street, Thames, last week, found an old Nordenfeldt shell. It was taken to Major T. McCarroll, wiio stated that although the cap was missing there was still a charge of explosive in the projectile,. which is being forwarded to the Defence Department for examination.

The re-opening of the scheme for the utilisation of unemployed labour in combating the rabbit pest was intimated by the Unemployment Board to the Masterton County Council yesterday. The board advised that it had decided to re-open the scheme generally to March 31, 1936, where eradication was carried out by fumigation and poisoning.

The Court of Review of Mortgagors’ Liabilities, comprising Mr Justice Johnston and Messrs A. Coleman and R. F. Chadwick, will commence a sitting in Timaru on Monday morning. The Court will deal with applications under the Rural Mortgagors Final Adjustment Act, and will also hear similar applications from the Waimate and Ashburton Courts of Review. It is three months since the Court held its last sittings in Timaru.

Approval of a grant of a sufficient sum of money to enable a survey to be made <jf areas suitable for irrigation in Marlborough has been notified by the Minister for Public Works (the Hon. J. Bitchener) to Mr E. F. Healy, M.P. Authority has .been given for a comprehensive survey, half the cost of 'which will be found by the Unemployment Beard. The survey will embrace all the schemes already proposed for the province, and the District Public Works engineer at Nelson !(Mr T. A. Johnston) will shortly visit Blenheim to make arrangements for the work.

Since the middle of October the sun has been comparatively active in the way of spot production, and there will not be lacking those who connect this activity with the, disturbed weather that has prevailed since then. On October 21 a large spot disappeared round the sun’s western limb and the same spot, or else another large one which lias taken the place of the previous one, has now reappeared on the eastern limb. It will be favourably placed for observation later in the week, according to Mr G. V. Hudson, of Karori (Wellington) who keeps a very regular watch on the sun’s behaviour.

A Press Association telegram from Christchurch states that the Board of Governors of Lincoln College yesterday refused to adopt the recommendation of the Director-General of Agriculture that the fees payable by hoarder students should be increased. Dr. Reakes suggested an increase from the present scale of £52 a year to £65. All the members of the board who spoke on the proposal were against the raising of the fees, declaring that it would inot be in the interests of the College or of agriculture if students were excluded by high fees. A motion that the fees should remain unaltered was carried unanimously.

The retrospective amounts due to civil servants because of the decision of the Government to restore part of the salary cuts is not all being paid at the one time. Some departments have already received the sums due, with the increments in salary as well. Others are still waiting for theirs. Immediately the decision was final all departments were circularised and requested to send in their vouchers for the new scale of wages. But for some of the larger departments this has been a long task, involving much intricate calculation ancl checking. So that any benefit the community generally will derive from the increases will be by a process of gradual infiltration rather than a sudden access of new money.

The Minister for Education (the Hon. S. G. Smith) announces that he has approved of the institution of bursaries in fine arts, for the training of specially-selected students to be teachers of art subjects in technical schools. Two bursaries, which will include provision for boarding allowance, where necessary, are to be awarded annually. They will be tenable at the Canterbury University College School of Art for a , total possible period of four years. It will probably be a condition of the award that applicants shall have passed the preliminary examination for the New Zealand University Diploma of Fine Arts. February 1 is proposed as the closing date for the receipt of applications (says a Press Association message from New Plymouth).

A serious motor accident occurred in the Waimana Gorge on Thursday, when a service car driven by Mr I’Y A. Marks, of Whakatane, failed to negotiate a bend in the gorge road and fell nearly 50ft. into the flooded river below, states a Whakatane correspondent. It appears that as the Opotiki-Whakatane afternoon service car had got out of action through water entering the engine, a spare car was dispatched from Whakatane in the charge of Mr Marks, who proceeded to Waimana, where he towed the disabled vehicle until its engine started, and then preceded the car into the Waimana Gorge. When reaching a bend near the junction of Stanley Road, the leading vehicle left the road and rolled over into the river below, and became almost submerged in the water. Mr Marks remained in the car throughout, and with difficulty managed to climb out of the door-win-dow and scramble on to the top of the cab whence he was rescued by the driver of the service car following.

Part of a. performance at Knox Church Hall, Fitzroy, at the social tendered to Miss Elsie Andrews recently, on the occasion of her retirement from the teaching profession (says the Taranaki Herald) literally brought the house clown.” A group of High School girls were giving a representation of old Cornish mumming plays. The boisterous element in these very amateur theatricals was realistically presented as the girls danced and capered, not only on the platform but down the aisles of the hall. The stage, however, was not intended for that sort of thing, and was a little unsteady, and an ornamental screen that stood as a “back cloth” rocked dangerously and then began to topple oyer. One of the young actors, however, with fine presence of mind, stood and allowed the screen to lodge against her instead of falling on to the floor of the stage. The chairman quickly appreciated the position, and he and some others came to the rescue.

Preparations are being made to bring Cain’s Hoad—the new highway to link Geraldine with the proposed Main South Road deviation at Rangitata —up to highway standard, Mr F. Langbein (District Public Works Engineer) said yesterday. Tenders ha.ve not yet been called for the deviation at Rangitata because the transfer of certain railway reserves has not been completed.

It appears not to be generally known that ferrets and weasles are protected in Marlborough, having .been declared the natural enemy of the rabbit, and it is therefoi'e illegal for anyone to destroy them without the consent of the Minister of Agriculture (states the “Marlborough Express”).' Sections 95 and 96 of the Rabbit Nuisance Act provide for substantial penalties for infringement of the protection; the fine, in fact, is not less than £5 or more than £4O. _ Persons are guilty of an offence wlio capture such animals or are found with the animals or their skins in their possession. Transactions in skins are illegal, and the penalty is drastic. The object of the Act is not to prevent the keeping of ferrets for rabbiting purposes, but to protect them and weasels from destruction in their wild state where they w’ould be of assistance in keeping down the rabbit pest.

For the first time in seven years there is a shortage of girls for employment in Napier factories, according to one business man, who said that he w r as experiencing the ntmost difficulty in securing the services of enough girls to handle orders. “Usually there is no need to ask twice, one announcement that girl workers are required being sufficient to send a whole queue of applicants round to the factory,” he said. “During the last few weeks, how'ever, we have been unable to obtain a sufficient staff of girls to cope with the orders we have received, and consequently have been unable to guarantee delivery in the time desired.” This is by no means an isolated case, for all the factories in the district are working at high pressure to cope with orders, and many have increased their staffs and are working overtime. The position cannot be put down purely to seasonal demand.

Mr E. Cholerton, of Messrs J. R. Procter, Ltd., Christchurch, arrived in Ashburton this evening, and may be consulted on all defects of eyesight at the Somerset Hotel to-morrow and Friday.—(Advt.)