LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 40, 26 November 1937, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The essay competition on the Band Contest, for Ashburton primary schoolchildren, was won by Ngaire Lay, of the Borough School.

A striking indication of the wide ramifications of the Auckland Sunday School Union was given at the annual meeting. It was revealed that the union controlled 315 schools, from as far south as New Plymouth and 'Gisborne, and including all the North Auckland territory. There were approndatemly 22,000 pupils enrolled under the guidance of nearly 2500 teachers.

An illustration of the shortage of houses and flats to let in Auckland was provided recently by a small advertisement in the morning paper, '‘four comfortable rooms, selfcontained” at Benniera for 18s a week. Tiie premises were lot at 6.15 a.m. to a man who arrived from Point Chevalier on a bicycle. The subsequent applicants of whom there were many, showed much disappointment at finding that they had been forestalled so early.

Arrested in Ashburton this morning, John McCullough Forsyth was brought before the Court on a charge of attempted fraud, and was remanded till 10 a.m. to-morrow. The charge was that on November 14 at Ashburton lie did attempt to defraud C. J, Bax by obtaining £7 9s in money, by means of a false pretence, namely, that a cheque drawn on the Bank of New Zealand, at Ashburton for £7 9s was a good and value cheque.

As a means to raise funds for the purpose of sending the missionary doctor back to the Solomon Islands, a very successful jumble sale was held yesterday afternoon in the Baring Square Schoolroom by the ladies of the Methodist Church. The takiilgs amounted to over £ls. Those in charge of stalls were Mesdaines H. Dickson, E. A. Amos, McQuarters, C. Dellow, C. S. Hawkey, A. Mcßean, and Sister Mildred. Afternoon tea was dispensed by the Misses Watson.

So great was the pressure of the crowd outside Selfridges (N.Z.), Ltd., who opened their premises in Karangataa.pe read, Auckland, yesterday morning, that two plate glass windows valued at more than £4O each were broken. The windows were smashed when the doors opened again after having been closed because the shop was full. Three policemen could not stem the rush into the doors, and, in the confusion the damage rvas done. No one was injured.

The total number of blind persons in New Zealand according to the annual report of- the New Zealand Institute for the Blind, increased from 976 to 1080 up to March 31 this year. The increase, says the report, was due mainly to the added registrations of elderly persons whose blindness was primarily incidental to old age. The number on the roll of the institute at Auckland was given as 173, or two more- than last year/ This total_was made up_as follows: Resident men 36; day men 53; resident women, 16; senior resident girls 4; day women, 4.; resident schoolboys, 14; resident senior hoys, 5; day schoolboys, 3; resident schoolgirls, 12; day girls, 3; elderly men at Bledisloe House, 19.

To mark his appreciation of work carried out in the establishment of the new McKenzie department store in Ashburton, Mr J, R. McKenzie last evening entertained the staff and representatives of contractors at dinner at Lewitt’s reception room. Mr McKenzie referred to the excellence of the workmanship in the construction of the shop, and said it was one of the best of his chain of stores. The Mayor (Mr W. H. Woods) said that the advent of this type of shop in Ashburton would be an acquisition to the town, and would serve to keep in Ashburton a good deal of money that was being spent in other centres. Other speakers were Messrs R. J. Tucker, W. Thomas (architect), H. G. Kemp, and H, C. Weldon (manager).

In a- letter to the Otago Hospital Board, received at its meeting last night, Mr S- Saltzman offered a further gift of £275 to cover the cost ofequiprnent for the Samuel Saltzman theatre at the Dunedin Hospital. The gift is supplementary to one of £IOO6 made by Mr Saltzman in October, 1935, the original benefaction being for the purpose of providing equipment for an eye, ear, nose, and throat theatre in the new administrative block at the hospital. * It was given under two conditions: (1) That the theatre should be fully equipped out of the donation; and (2) that the equipment should be the most modern procurable. It was at this time that Mr Saltzman gave his approval to the suggestion that the new theatre should bear his name. Mr Saltzman’s benefactions now total about £15,000.

Alarming rumours have been circulated during the last few days of outbreaks of infantile paralysis in the Tasman and Murchison districts. However, it was ascertained recently, reports the “Nelson Mail,” that no cases had been reported from either the Mctueka-Tasman-Mapua or the Murchison districts. The only one suspected case from Tasman, admitted to Nelson Hospital for observation, has been definitely diagnosed as not infantile paralysis. An officer of the Department of health stated that scaremongery in seme of the country areas had been a disturbing effect in the community and the hope was expressed that it would, stop. All cases were duly notified, and anything, suggestive of an epidemic would be immediately dealt with by the department, which was watching the position closely.

In the House of Representatives yesterday Mr T. D. Burnett asked the Minister of Agriculture an urgent question whether he would consider the setting up of a New Zealand Government quarantine station in Tasmania with the cognisance cf the Tasmanian Government, where all stud stock from England for New Zealand could, he maintained at the lowest possible cost in charge of a Now Zealand veterinarian and whether, in view of the tremendous nationat importance of the problem, the quarantine and maintenance charges would be subsidised by the Agricultural Department. The Minister of Agriculture (the Hen. W. Lee Martin) replied that he would have the matter investigated. He added that there was the question of cost to he considered and also the question of how far the Tasmanian Government would concur. He recognised the importance of the suggestion for having it investigated.-

it is the aim of the Placement Service to get men back into occupations for which, they were originally trained. This week a ship’s steward who had been at sea for many years applied for work, at the Auckland Office, and mentioned tb*t before he went to sea he was in the Garrison Artillery in England and in the course of his training as an artilleryman he gained a sec-

ond-class certificate as a surveyor. Application to the Public Works Department which is short of surveyors, on behalf of the man, led to his engagement as a surveyor’s assistant.

The salvage of a rowing boat which was adrift in the lower reaches of the Wanganui River one morning last week proved a more lengthy task than was anticipated. The owner of the boat set out in a dinghy about 10 a.m. to secure his craft and., tow it to safety, but the gale gradually drove him further away from the Imlny reach, and by 1 p.m., exhausted, he had, drifted on. to the small island between Putiki and Landguard Bluff. Two men set cut from Imlay to effect a rescue, one pulling lustily at the oars and the other, seated at the stern, directing operations. Eventually the united efforts of the three enabled them to bring al three craft to safety.

The singing competition open to all boys and girls attending the High School, and contested for annually, was held at the school on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons this week. The judge was again Mr L. J. Watt. Of sixteen entrants for the girls’ prize, the winner was Margaret Ross, with 81 points ,the runner-up being Noeline Pye with 79 points. The boys’ prize was allotted to Alan Hunt with 75 points. Margaret Ross sang Schubert’s “Cradle Song,” Noeline Pye “On the Banks of Allan Water,” while Alan Hunt chose “Believe Me if all those Endearing Young Charms.”

A suggestion that the clcl combined road and rail bridge over the Rakaia River should be retained as a bridge for stock has not been favoured by the Main Highways Board,. In a letter to the sponsors of the suggestion, the Automobile Association, Canterbury, the board has stated that the scheme did not commend itself. The bridge has reached a stage where it had a limited future, maintenance costs would be big and eventually the board would have to face the cost of pulling the structure down. Motorists would find that with no rail traffic on the new road bridge there would, be much less traffic hindrance than had been known in the past. “A concession is being given to farmers in the remission of the license fees and heavy traffic fees on farm tractors and traction engines and their trailers,” said the Minister of Transport (the Hon. R. Semple) in an interview. “Formerly if two or more farmers shared a tractor they had to pay full fees in respect of-its use,” said Mr Semple. “A license fee of £5 was also payable in respect of all traction engines. Under regulations recently gazetted by my Department farmers can now use tractors co-operatively without paying these fees. The license fee on traction engines is also remitted.” The Minister added that consideration was being given to amending legislation exempting these vehicles from registration fees. The question of the desirability of Ministers holding civic office was again introduced at the annual synod of the Otago and Southland District of the Methodist Church by a. remit from the quarterly meeting of the Circuit Board of the Cargill’s Road Church. The remit was that the annual conference of the church should be requested “to review the whole question of the subject, ‘The Minister and Civic Office,’ in the light of subsequent experiences of the working of the dual position.” Discussion cf the remit was taken largely in committee, as it was considered in connection with the application by the Rev. E. T. Cox for permission to remain for a. further year as a minister without pastoral charge, but it was later passed with one dissentient voice. “I have looked through, the papers,” said Mr Justice Ostler, when an application for an injunction came before him at Auckland, “and I gather that one side says that this is a creaky noise that sets everybody’s teeth on edge, and the other side says it is a soothing noise that would send people to sleep. I think I had better go out and hear the noise myself. Wouldn’t that be the best way to settle it?” his Honor asked. The counsel concerned in the case agreed that his Honor 'should hear the noise complained of, and, after they had submitted argument, it was arranged that liis Honor should make a personal investigation the following morning.

“I am still convinced that New Zealand lamb is the best imported lamb to be seen at the Smithfield market and that the Southland product compares favourably with any of it,” said Mr W. Falconer (manager of the Makarewa works of the Southland Frozen Meat Company), in an interview with a “Southland Times” reporter on his return from a trip to the United Kingdom, European countries, and the United States of America. The need to maintain and improve further the quality of the meat exports from New Zealand was emphasised by Mr Falconer, who said the Dominion was only one of the suppliers to the British market and had, to face extremely fierce competition. At Smithfield he had seen lamb from the Argentine, South Africa Australia, and New Zealand, and all of it was good stuff, suiting some class of consumer. All other lamb-produciug countries were doing their utmost to reach or exceed the New Zealand standard, and growers could not afford to let their quality slip back or even rest where it was.