LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 210, 18 June 1936, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The south-bound express was 40 minutes late in arriving in Ashburton this morning because or the late arrival of the inter-islamd steamer at Lyttelton.

The Ashburton sub-section of the •Post and Telegraph Employees' Association held its annual meeting on Tuesday evening., Mr M. J. .Petersen presiding. The following officers were elected :—Committee, , Messrs M. _J • Petersen (chairman), J. h. Dewar (vicechairman;, J. Brown, G. B. Brown, L. E. Kerr, A. G-. Guilds, O. G. Berry, and Miss I>. McCalman; honorary secretary, Mr C. S. Clulee.

The paint brush as an aid to beautiheation was suggested last night by Mr G. G. Watson in an address to the annual meeting of the Wellington Beautifying Society. He declared that the appearance of the surroundings in which citizens had to live could be improved quickly and cheaply by private owners,' local bodies, and business firms as well as the Government, by having painted the buildings, which had been allowed to go without regular painting tor some years because of the depression.

An unusual telephone conversation took place on Saturday evening between Mr C. A. Biland, of Cambridge, and his mother in Switzerland (states a Hamilton correspondent). The call is believed to be the first radiotelephone conversation to have been made between New Zealand and Switzerland. On Saturday Mr Biland advised tfhe post office at Cambridge that he wished to put the call through, and gave his mother's address and telephone number. No prior arrangements had been made with his mother-either by letter 01 cablegram. Mr Biland was notified about 6 p.m. that the connection had been established, and he immediately commenced to speak to mother.

The sight of apparently limbless human torsos floating down the Manawatu River on Thursday last caused considerable excitement to a number of people who noticed them' from the banks of the river and much speculation as to whether this might not be a case of a crime similar to, but more terrible than that of the recent British "Trunk Murders Nos. 1 and 2." However, further investigations revealed the fact that the torsos were the battered remants of tailors' dummies and display models which had clone duty in the capping day procession of Massey College. When this purpose bad been fulfilled, they were apparently thrown over the Fitzherbert Bridge.

The Government has definitely shown its attitude towards the damage done in the native forests by deer, and the campaign of destruction commenced by the previous Government is to lie continued with renewed vigour. Next season the programme includes the combing of the Rakaia, Waimakariri, and Hurunui watersheds, and also those on the west side of the divide. The work will begin probably at the end of September, states the "Press." During the season which has just ended a party of men under Captain G. F. Yerex, of the Department of Internal Affairs, thoroughly combed the area from Lake Wakatipu northwards as far as Mount Cook, and in that aiea they destroyed 11,000 head of deer.

The Napier Harbour extensions, bridge construction, river diversion, aerodrome improvements, East Coast railway reinstatement and Ahuriri Lagoon reclamation are major public works progressing in the districts surrounding Napier. Thousands of pounds and a large number of workmen are involved in these schemes.

Members of the Allenton Volunteer Fire Brigade entertained the executive committee of the brigade and their wives at a 500 card evening on Tuesday. The prizes were won by Mrs J. MeElhinney (women) and, Mr G. Hosken (men). The consolation awards went to Mrs D. L. E. McDougall and Mr H, W. Barr.

The relief scheme which' is conducted annually by the Ashburton Returned Soldiers' Association to assist returned men in necessitous circumstances has been reopened. In consideration for work, mostly gardening and similar work, given to the men by local residents, the Association subsidises the wages on a fifty-fifty basis. During the operation of the scheme from June to November 30 last year, about 900 jobs were obtained for returned men, and the amount of subsidy paid by the Association was £484 0s lid. The amount received by the Association last year from the Poppy .Day appeal, Canteen Fund, National War Fund, and from other sources, was £487 15s 6d.

A meeting of delegates from social clubs and lodges was held last evening to discuss the formation of a debating union, Representatives were present from the Catholic, St. Stephen's, and High School Clubs, Druids, Manchester Unity, and Foresters' Lodges. Mr S. M. C'assidy presided,. The delegates favoured the formation of a union, which would help to stimulate interest in the debating sections of social clubs and lodges. As the ledge delegates would have to report to their lodges on the proposals, it was agreed that the Catholic, St. Stephen's, and High School Clubs form the nucleus of a committee in the meantime. They wore Messrs ». G. Ross, S. M. Cassidy, and E. J. Wood.

Lombardy poplars, as trees suitable for beautification work, were suggested to the Wellington Beautifying Society in an address by Mr G. G. Watson. He said that when a hurricane sx-ruck the Manawatu district in February other trees, such as pines, oaks and elms, were uprooted, but the poplars though stripped of leaves withstood the gale. A tree which could stand up to a hurricane seemed to be just the one for planting in Wellington. The Lombardy poplar produced colourful autumn foliage and offered the advantage that a dray-load of cuttings could be had for practically nothing and would grow practically wherever planted with little or no attention. He also suggested common, rhododendrons as suitable for planting in moist and shaded places along the Hutt Road.

It is intensely interesting, but very confusing, to be privileged to wander through the new railway station for Wellington, now last emerging from the stark scars left by the concrete boxing to a semblance of the comfortable port of call it will be for travellers (says the Wellington "Evening Post"), ft is hard to realise that within less than a year, this huge aggregation of departmental offices, pierced by a magnificent public portico and a lofty hall off which radiate all the services and comforts the travelling public are entitled to, will become for many thousands of people the beginning and end of the business day. To the railway "commuter" the train is almost like his front porch. It is there, probably more often than at his home that he meets his suburbanite friends, and there that the_day's events are discussed with delightful frankness.

The Maori sense of artistry is proverbial, and in the old-time Maori world a wood surface was rarely left unadorned by carving. Even articles of the most prosaic or utilitarian nature were embellished with designs exactly fitted to size and medium. A resident of Bombay, Auckland, has an old Maori staff or short "walking stick" which is decorated in the most original fashion. It is of tawa wood encircled round with a fairly thick segment of vine (aka), sucli as was used for binding eel weirs and palisades. The vine makes five spiral turns round the tawa staff, and is beautifully carved for the whole of its length in a pattern of three longitudinal ridges, broken by four motifs of the familiar almond design. The head, which widens into a. knob, is composed of two grimacing faces, one formed from the back of the head of the other in a most ingenious way. It is a piece of Maniapoto carving, an heirloom from the Orakau district, and very much prized by its present owner, to whom it was presented many years ago.

Sales made on behalf of Ashburton County clients at the Addington stock market yesterday were:—Fat Lambs— On account of S. M. J. Milne (Metliven), 9 at 21s 4d to 22s Id; J. W. Rushton (Mount Hutt), 45 at 22s lOd to 26s Id. Fat Ewes—On account of W. Langdon (Valetta), 60 from 18s 4d to 22s 7d; J. Bonifant (Wakanui), 56 at 18s 7d to 19s lOd; R, E. Limbrick (Mount Hutt), 61 at 15s 4d to 16s 10d,; C. C. Holmes (Mount Hutt), 35 at 17s 4d to 20s Id ; J. W. Rush ton (Mount Hutt), 23 at 17s 7d to 19s lOd ; J. P. McQuilkin «(Eiffeltoui), 56 at 19s 7d to 23s 7d. Fat Wethers—On account of S. M. J. Milne (Methven), 73 at lis 4d to 23s Id ; A. G. Holmes (Rakaia), 33 at 25s Id to 30s; H. Abbott (Coldstream), 43 at 22s lOd to 23s lOd. Cattle—On account of Methven client, 10 cows at £4 2s 6d to £5 17s 6d; J. Carmiehael (Rakaia), cow at £7 17s 6d ; Mrs E. J. Richards (Mitelvam), heifer at £5 12s 6d; J. M. Blackley (Rakaia), cow at £6 12s 6d: J. G. Santv (Pendarves), cow at £9 12s 6d. Mr E. Cholerton, of Messrs J. R. Procter, Ltd., Ohristchurch, is at present in Ashburton, and may be consulted on all defects of eyesight at the Somerset Hotel to-morrow.—Advt.