LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 207, 15 June 1936, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Youth Day services were conducted at the Ashburton Methodist- Church yesterday by the. Rev. Angus Meßenn. A Special children’s service was held in the morning, while young men and women were addressed in the evening. An anthem, “Sweet is the Work,” and. a solo: and male quartette were given.

What is probably the highest flag—staff in Ashburton was erected. at the Ashburton Hospital Board’s offices this morning. Comprising two very fine Oregon shafts, with a gilt tip and bolted to a hardwood base, the pole is 53ft 6in high. Hitherto, a makeshift pole has been usecL but it was considered by the Board to he unsightly.

The Ashburton Salvation Army Corps Cadet Brigade book a leading part in all services at the Citadel yesterday. In the afternoon there was :1 special service entitled the “Scale of Saving; Graces,” in which the musi(‘.:lil‘ scale wins used to illustrate. principles of Biblical significance. The readings in conjunction with the service were given by members of the brigade.

The executive set up last year at a conference of Canterbury local bodies at Ashburton to consider the eradication of gorse and noxious weeds on many waste lands, particularly near the foothills, will meet at Ashburton as soon as a suitable date can be arranged, probably this week. The suggested action at the conference was that an effort should be made to. have an Act of Parliament passed vesting all gorse-infected areas in loeaila bodies so that the land could be planted in trees to prevent the spread of the pest.

The 10—day mission for young people which is being conducted by Captain David Kee, of the Church Army, at :St. Stephen's Anglican Church, was opened on Saturday evening, when a reception service was held for the missioner. An address was given by the VOll. Archdeacon A. J. Petrie. There was a. very good attendance. of parents and children at the family service in the church yesterday morning, when an appropriate address was given by Captain Kee. A meeting for young people was held in the afternoon. Choruses were sung and an address on Church Army work was given by the missio-uer. Captain Kee also preached at the evening service.

At a. meeting of the Fairlie branch of the Farmers’ Union on Saturday night, it was decided that the branch should, through the Member of Parliament for the district (Mr David Barnes), draw the attention of the Minister of Agriculture to the defect in the Stock Act whieh did not make it compulsory to dip Short—woolled sheep. The matter was raised hy Mr W. Scott, who asked the inspector at stock at Fairlie (Mr G. l)‘. Shand), who was present by invitation, if it were a fact that the Act as it stood at present did not make it compulsory to dip certain types of sheep. Mr Shand replied that it was compulsory to (lip long-wool sheep hut not breeds with short wool. ,An inspector, if he had reason to do so, could have sheep dipped. Some discussion followed as to what breeds of sheep would be defined by the term “short-wool.”

Apparently haying had. trouble with; his tractor, which was (standing nearby, a farmerfiat Chcrtsey was seen on Saturday employing several cattle to draw a; lmrrow. The unusual sight attracted the attention of passengers in the sunth—buund. trains in the morning.

Development of education about cancer was reviewed at the annual meeting of the New Zealand branch of the British Empire Cancer Campaign Society in IWellimgton in the annual re—port. Thc necessity for better instruction in cancer had been realise: by the Medical School authorities. At the main hospitals the final year medical students attended in rotation the meetings of the Cancer Committees, and were brought into contact with large groups of cases of the disease in a way which would never be possible in ordinary hospital practice.

There is: {l, Bishop of Melanesia and a Bishop in Polynesia. The Bishop of Melanesia, the Rt. Rev. W. H. Buddeley', who is visiting New Zealand, when asked by an Auckland “Star” reporter to account for the difference illl designation, said he did. not know the precise origin, of the: two terms. He pointed out, however, that his diocese of Melanesia, although it embraced, including seas, about 2000 square miles, was more self~eontained than that of Polynesia, in that the latter included a number of different chaplaincies. This, he said, might be an explanation of the difference.

An unusual set of circumstances, in which the three sources of electricity supply for Paerou7 Auckland, were all out of action together, resulted in an interruption of power for several hours recently. Arrangements had been made for a “shut—clown” from Waikine, the usual source of supply, but the feeder service from Wailhou failed when an insulator broke at Mangaiti and the third source atiKerepehi failed through the breaking of another. The delay in restoring the supply was caused through the trouble-men having to regain contact with Waikiuo.

“So far as can be ascertained, the needs of the public as regards the denominations of Reserve Bank notes are adequately met by the existing notes,” states the report of the Board of Directors. “Therefore, it is not proposed to incur the expense of adding to the number of denominations of the original issue unless and until there is evidence of a reasonably widespread demand for notes of any ether denominations. The question of a change of design for notes of a more permanent nature has engaged the attention of the Board, but it is not proposed to take any definite action in that respect for the present.”

As the Kalingo is still occupying the floating dock at Wellington, there was no chance of the Maramn being docked last week—end, and it is intended to dock the vessel for cleaning and paint ing next week. This, it is hoped, will increase the Mammal’s speed, and ell- - her to complete the Wellington— Lyttelton run more quickly. As the Mammal, was- ne-t built for the express service, her speed is .not equal to that of the ‘i'egular vessels, and it is not to be expected that she will be able to make the trip‘ every day in the time taken by the Rengatim, \Vahine, or Maori.

When the Wangnnellu left Sydney for Auckland on Saturday, there was accumulated at the former port no fewer than four a‘i-r mails from Europe. Neither the Makura. nor the Monowai when they arrived from Sydney last week brought any ,air Inail,.*he connections having been just missed, and there have been no cargo beats in the meantime by which the mail could he sent. Much of the time saved by sending letters from England to New Zealnnd by air mail is lost again when delays like this occur. As long as the Tasman Sea part of the journey has to be accomplished by ,stveamer, such delays are always liable to occur when steamer connections are missed.

A provision of the «Pensions Act that if an old-age pensioner is convicted under the. Police Offences Act his pen~ sion is permanently cancelled, is con—sidered by the Hospital Boards’ Association to be unduly harsh. A resolu—tion of the: recent Dominion Confer—ence, which was submitted last- week to the Minister of Health (the Hon. I’. Fraser) Ali-y Mr W. \V‘alllace (president of the association), proposed that the Pensions Act should be amended so that a pensioner so convicted should he allowed to apply to a Magistrate after three years to have his pension reinstated. Mr Wallcae said that the Minister had gone further, and expressed the opinion that pensions should not be cancelled. automatically in such cases, since the ordinary penalty which the Court would. inflict was entitled to be treated as adequate. He promised to consider the request,

Something new in the use of aero—planes was introduced to Hawke’s Bay last week, when one of the ‘Hawke’s Bay and East Coast Aerez Club’s ’pla-nes was called on to assist in the matter of mastering some stray cattle, and also in the location of a. whare, the track to which had been lost sight of. The call for assistance came from the Ngamatea Station, which is about 20,000 acres in extent, and to reach the sta—tion by road takes about seven hours, but when the manager (Mr Roberts) asked the Aero Clu-hl to assist in the search, Flight-Lieutenant Ra‘wnsley made the journey in 30 minutes. He landed at the station, Where he picked up Mr Roberts, and them after a short period in the air, he located both the whare and the cattle, just beyond the Kaiwekas, from where the cattle were rounded up. During the search, the aeroplane party were able to see the head waters of the Mohaka and Ngaruroro Rivers, and it was between those two poimts that the search was conducted.

With a wing span of 10 feet and a total wing area. of 13 square feet, a model aeroplane, which is claimed to he the largest yet flown in New Zealand, successfully underwent its trial flight at the Mangere: Aerodrome recently. The machine, which is six feet long, weighs six and threeoquarter pounds, and is driven by a petrol engine of the two‘stroke type. developing one-fifth liorse-pmrer. It has a cylinder ahout the size. of a man’s thumb, which drives the propeller at 6000 revolutions“ a. minute. Built by two; members of the Auckland Model Aeroplane Club, Messrs I. Chiunery Brown and F. Macil)|onald, the model took nearly 12 months to cmnplete. On a. full tank it is eapahle of a flight lasting half an hour, but for testing three eye-droppers full‘of henzine were put into the tank. The machine behaved splendidly, circling the aero-(lrome at a height of more than 70 feet before landing in the mangrove swamps outside the aerodrome.

A memorial service to the late Mrs \V. Stevens was conducted in the Ashburton Church of *C'hrist last evening by Pastor W'. E. Vickory, who took as his text "I go to prepare a place for you.” Mr E. Williams sang a solo.

Two vehicles in the Ashburton Electric Power Board’s fleet which have been on the road for about seven years and have each travelled between 70,000 and 80,000 miles, are to be replaced by two new vehicles (lone coupe and one light truck), according to a. decision of the Board this morning. The Board also decided to adopt the annual replacement policy in: respect of these two vehicles and two others which the Board already owns_

On the area known in the very early days of Auckland history as McLean’s farm, near Westfield, the Automobile Association (Auckland) has erected a Sign to mark the site of what in 1860 was the depot for the Commissariat Transport Corps. During the three years of fighting against the Maoris McLean’s farm was the headquarters of the transport waggons which conveyed the necessary goods and stores to the troops, whose base was at Mercer. At one stage more than 1000 horses for the troops were stabled on the farm. The sign. erected will preserve one of the historic landmarks close to Auckland city.

“Generally speaking, the treatment of history still awaits a wider concep—tion,” ‘l‘clnarrks the annual report of the inspectors of the IWellington schools. “The time-worn procession of kings and battles is but tardily yield—ing to the more vital and more inter—est'ng pageant of man’ s social and educational progress down the ”centuries. In classes, where the teaching is limited to the text hook-end those appear to» be all too numerous—it is not surprising to find that the subject has been robbed of its natural appeal to children. Where, on the other hand, vital oral teaching, supplemented by such. visual aids as time charts, pictures, etc., has awakened a purposeful interest and a. desire to read, the sub—ject takes its right place: in the forefront of liberal human studies.”