LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 156, 15 April 1936, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Manawatu County Council recently circularised local bodies oil a proposal to finance hospitals from the proceeds of art unions. Seven replies have been received, five of which opposed the proposal, one approved, and the other expressed no opinion.

As a result of a fall from the tree he was climbing when he was playing at the house of a neighbour yesterday afternoon, Gordon McGregor, aged 10, who resides at 159 Burnett Street, fractured his right wrist. He \\ as admitted to the Ashburton Public Hospital, where his condition to-day is reported to be satisfactory.

The preparation of cuttings by the Ashburton Domain staff lias been almost completed, with the exception of some special cuttings which were sent in. The cuttings were prepared from plants in the gardens, and have been boxed in a glasshouse, where they await planting out next spring. The number prepared is about the same as last year.

The appointment of a successor to Dr. C. J. Reakes, Director-General of Agriculture, who has resigned, was referred to by the Hon. W. Lee Martin, Minister of Agriculture, in Hamilton. Mr Martin said it was unlikely that an appointment would be made for several montlis to come. Mr A. H. Cockayne would act as Director in the interim.

“There seem to be thousands of deer and there appears to be little hope of their being exterminated/’ said a member of a party of deerstalkers which recently visited the hills at the back of the Ashburton County. He said the deer appeared to be increasing rapidly. The party had frequently seen herds of 10 or 12 and had shot seven within a radius of half-a-mile.

A five-day excursion up. the Ashburton Gorge and Cameron River was made by seven members of the Erewhon branch (Ashburton) of the Canterbury Mountaineering Club during Easter, and several peaks between 6000 and 8000 feet were climbed. Leaving Ashburton on Thursday evening, the head of the Cameron River was reached on Friday. Two members climbed the Marquee peak (8000 ft.), and two ascended Tent peak (7900 ft./ on Saturday. The party went over a high pass into the Ashburton River ■on Sunday, and visited the Ashburton Glacier. Three unnamed peaks (7789 ft., 7944 ft. and 6735 ft.) were climbed on Monday by the members, who divided , into three parties for the trip. The trip back to the Cameron River yesterday was made by another pass, which, like the other, had not been crossed previously by any member of the branch. The return journey to Ashburton was made last evening after an enjoyable outing in fine weather. Tiie height of Mount Onslow, climbed by Messrs J. Puttie and C. Denham, was 7561 ft.

The opinion that Wanganui is lying on a vast oil deposit is held by Mr C. McDonald, a well-known diviner, oi Woodville, who is there for the holidays (says a Press Association message). He says that the largest deposit in New Zealand is in the Manawatu. The main New Plymouth deposit, he says, is under the sea.

Encouraged by the fine weather, some local anglers spent most of their Easter holidays fishing at Hakatere, the mouth of the Ashburton River, but poor sport was offering. The river was inclined to, be too clear, with a result that only a few trout were caught.. Several .kahawai were landed from the sea.

Unsuccessful efforts were made by fishermen along the waterfront road in Auckland to catch a large shark whicn had interfered with fishing last week. The fish is believed to have been a companion of the 9ft. shark caught at Orakei about a, month ago. The other day a man fishing in the same locality had the experience of having a kingfish that he had hooked and was hauling in bitten in half by a shark.

Good progress is being made with the building of the new technical block at Nelson College. The. concrete floor is completed and the framework and principals of the roof are in position. The building, which will cover an area of approximately 972 square yards, is divided into six main classrooms, where instruction in woodwork, engineering, drawing machine fitting, forging, enamelling and metal work will he carried, out.

When Napier and the district were rocked and shattered by earthquake in 1931, ail that happened was not evu (states the “Hawke’s Bay Herald”). Nature offered lie.- compensations, and one was the raising of 7500 acres of seabed in the area known as the Ahuriri Lagoon For two years these acres have been the centre of activity of one of New Zealand’s biggest drainage schemes, and so much has been accomplished since May, 1934, that roads and ploughed fields are now appearing where yachts and launches sailed not more than five years ago.

W 7 hen heavy rain fell at Bluff recently, it was believed, that the shortage of water in the reservoir was no longer serious, but this is not so. Insufficient rain fell at the time to raise the level of water in the reservoir to any noticeable extent, and now, with more being used daily than is coming in, the supply is almost back to its former low level. The Mayor is again urging residents who depend on the reservoir to use the water as sparingly as possible (says a Press Association telegram).

Several charitable bequests are made under the will of Mrs L. M. Gostall, of Empire Road, Epsom, who died, oil March 12, leaving an estate that lias been sworn at less than £6OOO. The will provides lor several private bequests, and £2OOO to the Melanesian Mission Trust Board. The residue cf the estate is to go. in five equal parts to the Orphan Home Trust Board and to the Standing Committee of the diocese of Auckland for an institution for the maintenance of children, for the use of the Order of the Good Shepherd, for the Mission to Seamen, and for charitable purposes respectively.

The Resumption of business after, the Easter vacation (reports an Auckland correspondent) emphasised the upward trend that has taken place in the retail and wholesale-trade in recent months. The speiiding"during the Easter shopping period almost equalled the days before Christmas in its liberality, and on the whole merchants and retailers state that they have experienced, the best Easter trading for a number of years. Prior to the holiday the majority of ffhe firms were obliged to work a considerable amount of overtime to keep pace with the rush of orders that was received ->yight up to the last minute.

An unfortunate .oversight greatly inconvenienced a woman who intended to travel south from Ashburton' yesterday afternoon. After placing her luggage in the carriage, she could not find her purse, containing her ticket, and went out' to. complain to the stationmaster, thinking that it had been stolen. While she was assuring him that the purse was not in the carriage, the train, with the luggage on board, moved out of the station. While tiie woman was preparing to communicate with the police, Ashburton railway officials asked the train to be searched at Hinds, and the purse, together with the ticket, was found with the other luggage. The woman had to make new arrangements for her journey from Ashburton. '

“Quite a lot of the British products coming into, this country are secondgrade goods, and I think, as hoard members, we should spend the ratepayer’s money in the same way we spend, our own,” said Mr W. J. Major at a meeting of the Thames Valley Power Board. Mr Major moved the rescinding of a resolution that, in its purchases, the Board should give preference to British goods. “I say emphatically that the Old Country is not giving us value,” continued Mr Major. He contended that local bodies whose purchases were governed by preference resolutions were in grave danger of being exploited by English manufacturers. After considerable discussion the motion to rescind the resolution was lost by eight votes to two. In the meantime the Board’s power to purchase foreign goods, in view of its retention of the British preference clause, is to be submitted to, some competent authority for definition.

An Invercargill florist was somewhat surprised the other day when a lady telephoned to say that she must congratulate him on his beautiful window display of wreaths—such lovely flowers she, said, and such a change from artificial ones. Naturally, he was gratified, but not for the reason the flowerlover might have supposed; for the wreaths which she had admired were made entirely of artificial blooms. The enthusiastic lady was not the only one to be deceived, and her eyesight need not have been at fault-, for the flowers, made of a kind of paper, and recently imported from England have a remarkably realistic appearance. Although they arrive packed in flat boxes, a little skilful handling soon restores them to a form rivalling nature. Roses, clematis, white and, coloured Cape daisies, and dahlias, particularly when seen in an electrically lighted window would hardly be distinguished from real, and the effect is enhanced by the use of maidenhair fern as an embellishment,. But even the fern is not what it seems, for although it has the appearance of freshly picked sprigs, it is actually pressed and preserved by a special process.

Members of .southern hands who had been taking part in the annual pipe band tournament at Wanganui passed through Ashburton on the south-bound express this morning. Their national costumes gave the station a picturesque appearance, while supporters of the bands, displaying tartan ties and scarves, added to the colour of the scene.

A suggestion that a suitable memorial be erected to perpetuate the memory of two, pioneers of mountaineering in Southland, Messrs Grave and Talbot, was brought forward at the annual meeting of the Southland section of the New Zealand Alpine Club. In addition to recommending that the committee of the club adopt the idea, it was decided to make representations to the authorities to have the tunnel through the Homer Saddle named the “Grave-Talbot Tunnel.”

A consignment of 22 purebred Canadian Jersey cattle on board the Wairuna, which reached Napier recently, was responsible for the officers and crew of that vessel having an abundance of fresh milk and cream all the way on their voyage across the Pacific from Vancouver to Napier. The cows in the consignment had to be milked on the way across, and the complement of the Wairuna, benefited by receiving milk, butter and cream on their journey. They will he pxtermely sorry to see the cattle disembark in Australia, with the resulting return to canned milk.

A large quantity of kauri gum and the trunk of a large tree were uncovered during street excavations at Otaludiu (near Auckland). The discovery was made at a depth of fully 12 feet below the street level. The main sewer in Princes Street where the excavations were undertaken lies about 17 feet belcw the surface, and the workmen uncovered.' the gum some little distance from the sewer track when digging for house connections More than 701 bof gum was lifted, but practically all of it was in poor condition and unmarketable because of its exposure to the atmosphere and gases underground. The trunk of a well-preserved kauri tree was also found, and the workmen had to cut out considerable portions to carry out their sewer connections. The tree was about two feet in diameter at the point of- excavation. Several fronds and stems of fern were also uncovered by the men.