LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 128, 13 March 1939, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

. A comprehensive programme has been arranged for the fourteenth' annual camp or the South Canterbury Methodist Young Men’s 'Bible Class Union, which will be held at Ashburton at Easter. The camp padre will be the Rev. Angus Mcßean. The drought has definitely broken m Manawatu. Rain overnight on Saturday developed steadily into several heavy showers throughout the morning and continued. TRe rainfall means much to farmers, many of whom are in a serious plight through lack ot feed. Rural householders in* several areas have been carting water. Owing to the fact that a licence for export cannot be procured, one Auckland merchant has £SOOO worth of baled scrap tin on his /hands. The waste tin product is valued at a ton, but it cannot he dealt with in New Zealand, and the custom in the past lias been to send it overseas. When the. steamer express Rangatira arrived at Lyttelton on Saturday morning it was discovered that a motor-car carried on deck had been broken into and some articles removed. One of the windows of the car was broken, the rear-vision mirror had been removed, and a. suitcase had been broken open and thie keys taken. The matter was placed in the- hands of the police'.

Although the Maoris, of Te Hapua (North Auckland) are denied many facilities, and* have been much criticised for their mode of living,and their partiality for home brew, there are among them men of evident vision. Their latest scheme is for the establishment .of a commercial fishing venture, and of a factory which could convert the silica sand of Parengarenga, asfoss the bay, into glass bottles for the marketing of the fish. The Whangarei Master Bakers’ Association is seeking the co-oper&tion oi local bodies in thie district for the imposition of heavy licence fees on Auckland bakers who are hawking block cake throughout North, Auckland to the detriment, it is claimed, of local firms. When this application was received at the Whangarei County Council meeting the clerk, Alii' H. U. Hemphill, stated that the county did not impose a licence fee on hawkers of food. “We teachers can instruct our children in religion free from all confessions,” writes a German school teacher, of Dresden, in a letter to the Rev. Fred Sanderson, of Granity* with whom he corresponds. “You may believe me that neither myself, nor my family, nor my children at school are heathens, therefore, or shall or will become it. I respect full and entire every true religions conviction which is founded on real religiousness.” These, statements follow an earlier statement in the letter that Germany is “declining the political church full and entire.”

Gold has been ' the saviour of Fiji, and now this little collection of tropical islands in the Southern Pacific is a veritable paradise where unemployment is quite unknown. These were the impressions gained in an interview in New Plymouth with Air H. S. Mount; who is a resident of Suva.- A few years ago,' with copra prices down to zero, Fiji was not the happiest of lands, although the -sugar industry continued to thrive. Then gold] was found and a, bright new era opened for Fiji. The world is short of the particular type of flax Used in the manufacture of linen thread, and for that reason experiments conducted in North Canterbury with linen-flax are being observed with keen interest ‘by overseas manufactures. Air W. Luke, of Glasgow; a director of Frank Bryce, Ltd., mailers of linen thread, said the other day that a new source of supply of flax would be very welcome. Possibilities in New Zealand were most encouraging, but he did not think it would be economic to manufacture linen thread here. It was a question of the production of the raw flax. A patiently-wrought miniature of the Flying Cloud, famous American clipper Which traded between New York and San Francisco in the California gold-rush days of last century, was recently finished by Air K. Cameron, ship’s carpenter on board the Monterey, for the master, Captain E. R. Johanson. The model is 2ft 6in long, and its tall, rakish masts convey the impression of the speed and grace exemplified in the original, which was considered one of the fastest commercial sailing vessels ever to have floated. The miniature now stands «in a glass case on the captain’s desk, and is greatly admired by visitors.

Leaving Lyttelton at 10.45 p.m, on Friday -after being held up because of a bneakdown_on the express from Invercargill, the Wahine made a fast run to Wellington of 8 hours 50 minutes. The vessel arrived at the wharf at Wellington at 7.45 a.m. on Saturday, the trip being done at an -average speed of 19J knots. Although the Wahine left Lyttelton two and a quarter holm’s later than usual, she was only 35 minutes late at Wellington. The Wahine has made some fast daylight trips between the two ports in recent years, but her record of 8 hours 21 minutes, made in 1924, still stands. On excursion trips, from Wellington to Picton the Wahine has done 21 knots. During her war service as a dispatch ship and a mine-layer the Wahine, then still a coal burner, is credited with having attained 23 knots.

In St. Louis, Afissouri, there are no taxi stands in the main streets, stated Air S. G. Seoular (city engineer for Dunedin), in "Auckland, when he returned by the Niagara Iron# an overseas tour. All the stands are on back streets, but there are taxi telephones at intervals in the main streets, and if a, taxi is wanted the pedestrian merely uses the telephone provided and a taxi comes to him in a few moments. In a number of other cities there is the clock system of parking in main roads. There were clocks and a red light at each parking space, and the motorist paid five cents for an hour’s parking. That acted as a deterrent to unnecessary parking. He noticed also the increasing tendency to insist that all' public utility services—electric wires and so on—-should he put underground. In some American cities only the actual lamp standards were above ground.

A sum of £l6 Is lid was required by the Ashburton Hospital Board last month for outdoor relief. The requirements in this connection have been dropping month by month for a considerable time. In the presence of a. large attendance, the Ashburton Silver Band gave a concert at Caroline Bay, Timairn yesterday afternoon. The band was heard in a number of pieces, including the test selections and test hymn, and the quickstep. Lieutenant W, H. Osborne conducted. “Notwithstanding difficulties and temptations and the not too helpful example of many of their elders, New Zealand youth is as clean in body and pure in mind as it ever was,” said the Itev. A. C. Nelson, 8.A., during an address at the New Zealand Rotary Conference at Napier. “Modern youth knows more, wears less, claims greater freedom and is more frank that earlier generations, but is ready to respond to a iworth-while challenge and to play the game.” With acquisition of the control H' Kelly’s Auekland-Cambridge road passenger service as from Monday, the government, through the road services section of the Railways Department, now controls all services between Auckland and Rotorua. The departs ment had previously acquired control of the Auckland-Hamilton and Auck-land-Rotorua services. The question of future possible acquisitions was discussed by a number of road service operators in Wellington last -week. Surprise at the little attention being paid to defence in New Zealand was expressed by a New visitor, Mr H. S. Mount, of Suva, Fiji, in an interview. Mr Mount feels that adequate naval defence is of vital importance to the Dominion. Britain had definitely stated tflat in the event of trouble she could give no help to the Dominions and colonies because her hands, would be full nearer home, he pointed out. Once affairs in* European waters were under control, then the British Navy would be able to help. “But what’s going to happen to ub in the meantime ?”' asked Mr Mount. “That’s the point.” An optimistic note concerning the international situation was sounded by his Excellency the Governor-General (Viscount Galway) at the function following the close of the National Rifle Association’s meeting at Trentham. His Excellency said that he firmly believed the clouds were beginning to break. As Britain improved her armaments the danger of trouble receded. “To say we are in smooth water would be too optimistic,” he said, “but I believe the attempts made for a continued and lasting peace will be successful. The latest reports I have received from Home state that the situation is decidedly easier, and that we will move from these times of storm into times of peace.”