LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 34, 19 November 1937, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Sustenance payments will be made next week to 220 men on the. Ashburton unemployment register. The number this week was also 220. .

If the reasoning of the Maori that profuse blooming of the cabbage tree forecasts a dry summer is sound, then a season of drought may be anticipated. All the cabbage trees in New .'Plymouth are heavily laden with blossom, and some of the larger ones are pictures of great beauty.

Describing to a reporter his visits to the orange groves of South Australia, Mr J. O. Boniface, of Palmerston North, said that it was possible to buy for a shilling almost as many oranges as a person could carry. “1 was amazed,” he said, “at the cheapness of fruit in Australia compared with New Zealand.”

When a motorist was charged in the Ashburton Court this morning with having operated a noisy car, the police stated that defendant revved up the engine whenever he came to a corner and as the fish-tail had been removed from the exhaust pipe the noise was considerable. The Magistrate asked if the defendant had been using the engine instead of a horn at the intersections.

The partial eclipse of the moon which occurred last evening was clearly visible in Ashburton. The moon entered the shadow of the earth at about 7.30 and a quarter of an hour later about a sixth of the moon was obscured on the upper edge. The moon thereafter moved out of the shadow, and was finally clear at about 9 p.m. It was only a. small partial eclipse, but was quite interesting.

“Everywhere in the United States there is a genuine desire to foster friendship with Great Britain and the Dominions, and this feeling is growing very rapidly,” said Mr J. Seabrcok, Auckland, on his return from a visit to the United States by the Aorangi. “The people of America, particularly the thinking people, realise that one of the greatest factors for the preservation of peace is a link between the two great English-speaking nations.”

After operating for, more than 10 years, a sawmill at Whakarae, about eight miles from Taumarunui, on the Stratford-Taumarunui main highway, has closed down. During the years the mill has been operating it has cut 22,000,000 feet of timber and employed on an average 30 men, the lowest monthly pay sheet being £6OO and the highest £llOO. Even in the depression period the white pine trade kept the mill busy.

More than 1,000,000 ft of timber is being brought out of Mangakahia Valley this summer. The trees, chiefly kahikatea, about one-third kauri and some rimu and totara, were felled during the winter months, and four lorries are at present engaged in transporting the logs from the bush to the Mangakahia River, where they will he made into rafts and floated down the Mangakahia and Northern Wairoa Rivers to Dargaville, a distance of between 50 and 60 miles.

One passenger on the liner Mariposa, which was at Auckland on Monday did not make any pretence at interest in the scenic sights of the city. While other through travellers made the most of the short stay in port, this passenger, a Mohammedan, spent the day from sunrise until sunset in prayer. His devotions continued during the Customs check on travellers before the ship’s departure for San Francisco, and a certain amount of persuasion was required before he attended the check, some time before sunset.

Members of the Australian primary producers’ party expressed amazement when interviewed in Rotorua at the achievements in developing pumice lands in the Horolioro and Ngakuru areas in six years. The party has studied New Zealand pasture management and pasture building methods very closely, and members are planning to adapt the methods learned to their own farms in the hope that even though the conditions in Australia are very different, they will prove successful in. improving their own lands.

The honourable member for the Bay of Islands (tenor) and the honourable member for Franklin (bass) have intimated to the secretary of the Royal Wellington Choral Union that they would like to sing in the gala performance of Handel’s “Messiah,” to be given by the combined Auckland and Wellington choral societies in the evening, December 11. Arrangements therefore, have l>een made for them to attend the Royal Wellington Choral Union’s rehearsals. Mr A. A. C. Sexton, the member for Franklin, sang in the ranks cf the basses of the Auek land Choral Society for several years, and Captain Rushworth, the member for the Bay of Islands, has, it is understood, had experience as a tenor in choral work.

Something new in bridge building was revealed by the removal of portion of the wooden casing round the concrete-work on the new traffic bridge in the course of erection at Waipukurau. The approach, to the new bridge at each end will be curved, so that the completed structure will take the form of a letter S. To counteract the tendency, therefore, for fast-tra-velling vehicles to go off at a tangent when rounding the bends, the bridge has been built with a camber at one side where the curves are greatest. This type of construction, although familiar in road making and on speed tracks,must be somewhat novel in bridge construction.

Commenting that a remarkable feature had been the fact that there appeared to be no fixed road code, in short, no road regulations at all, Mr A Hopwood, who has returned from a holiday in the East, informed a “Manawatu Evening Standard” reporter that he had been amazed in Japan to see the manner in which traffic dodged, and turned at all angles, but with comparative freedom from accident. He said that motor vehicles travelled very fast, and averaged 40 miles an hour even through busy areas. Brakes were kept up to the highest pitch of efficiency, but penalties were severe in cases of accident. Mr' Hopwood added that he had been very perturbed at first to see the manner in which traffic went from one side of the road to the other, and committed, what would have been numerous breaches according to New Zealand rules.

“I would “advise any person in this country, if he wants to work and make good, to stay here,” said Mr F. J. Marshall, of Morrinsville, who has returned from a .visit to Great Britain. “1 would not recommend any young person who has to depend on what he earns to go to England, for if a man cannot make a living here he will certainly starve over there.”

Awards of South Island championships to two successful Ashburton Poultry exhibitors were presented at the conference of South Island Poultry, Pigeon, and Canary Associations last evening. They were Mr G. J. Suttie, who won the championship with a duck at the Christchurch Show, and Mr G. Kelly, for the best heavy breed, at the Ellesmere Show.

Reference to early speculation in land at Bunnytliorpe was made by a speaker at the golden jubilee banquet of the Bunnytliorpe Methodist Church. He remarked that once it had been proposed to call the district “Mugby Junction,” and as such was to be “the hub of the universe.” In anticipation of that certain sections of land had been sold for as much as £loo—to be sold later for £5.

Regret at the recent loss by fire -of tlie Longbeach Homestead was expressed by the president of the MidCanterbury Executive of the Farmers’ Union (Mr L. 0. Oakley) this afternoon. Mr Oakley said that Longbeach had been closely associated with the farming community for long years, and had been well known throughout the Dominion. Its hospitality had. been extended to visitors on numerous occasions. It was decided to send a letter of sympathy to Mr J. H. Grigg.

“Of all the cities I visited in Australia I think Adelaide appealed to me most,” said Mr J. O. Boniface, of Palmerston North, who has just returned from a trip to the Commonwealth, in the course of an interview. “To begin with,” he added, “the countryside around the city resembles, more than in any other State, the rolling grasslands of New Zealand,, while the town itself is completely surrounded by a belt two miles wide of park lands consisting mostly of beautiful native bush.”

The Board of Management of the Ashburton United Friendly Societies Association was held last evening, the president (Mr R. G. Ross) presiding over a. good attendance of delegates. The Hospital Boards account for the past quarter amounted to £644 16s 9d as follows: Inpatients £5Bl 12s 6d outpatients, £32 7s 9d; X-ray fees £26 Is' 3d; Christchurch Hospital, £4 15s 3d. The administrative expenses for the period were £l4 11s. Mr E. '.Parkin was elected trustee in place of the late Mr W. H. Robinson. It was reported that one dentist had signified willingness to make special concessions to members of the Association.

Asked whether the Government had as yet considered the issuing of special stamps to commemorate the Centenary of the Dominion in 1940, the Post-master-General (the Hon. F. Jones) stated that be had not heard anythiing definite. “The issue of Centenary stamps will, of course, have to be seriously considered,” he said, “as it is not likely that the Government will allow such an important event to pass without commemorating it in this direction. So far, however, no steps have been taken, and lam unable to say whether the design will be chosen as the result of a competition among artists or whether one individual will be asked to submit a design.”

“Except for a slight increase in the number of native birds that have been visiting the outlying parts of the city there appears to be little change in the bird life of the district,” states the annual report of the punedin Naturalists’ Field Club, in dealing with ornithology. “This increase, no doubt, is due to the greater number of people who have become interested in feeding the birds during the colder months,” the report continues. “This year tuis did not, as in the past few years, put in an appearance when the blue gum was in flower in January, and it was interesting to note they were also absent from Paradise when a club party visited the district during that month. However, from April till the end of September, in at least one suburban garden, they were more frequently seen than for any other similar period during the past ten years. Tuis,bell-birds, silver-eyes and a native pigeon were frequent visitors to a drinking tin in this garden.