LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 135, 21 March 1939, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Minister in charge of Aviation (the Hon. F. Jones) announced yesterday that the number of pilots to be trained' under the civil reserve of pilots scheme during 1939 had been increased from 100 to 150 (says a Press Association message from Wellington).

There is a roadside sign not far from Ashburton reading “ School. Slow!” Some child, perhaps a pupil of another school, or it may be a disgruntled pupil of this particular school, has added a word to the sign, which now reads: “ School is Slow!”

An individual move to test the validity of the import control regulations, 1938, has been made by an Auckland importing firnij which recently had a summons issued from the Magistrate’s Court against the Collector of Customs at Auckland for that purpose (says a Press Association telegram). The proceedings have since been removed into the Supreme Court, and have been set down for hearing in the present session.

.For the purpose of building a model station and a model mixed farm for the Canterbury Court at the Centennial Exhibition at Wellington at the end of this year, photographs of farm equipment and aerial views of some well-known farms and stations are to be taken this week. Already dozens of aerial photographs of the towns of Canterbury has been takein. Messrs J. (J. W. Pollard, J. Roy Smith and V. C. Brown (photographer) were to have visited Ashburton County to-day to gather material for the work, bub conditions were not suitable.

The opinion that no shortage world supplies of petroleum is likei; for many years to come was expressed by : Mr V. M. Potted', an experienced United States oil prospector, who arrived from Singapore! by the Maetsuyeker last week. For the past three years Mr . Potter has been working in the Persian Gulf region, and he is returning to America on furlough. The development of better equipment and the drilling of deeper wells would ensure a constant supply from oilfields for a long period, and there was every reason to believe that many fields were not yet tapped.

Workmen engaged in the clearing of the Civic square, Hastings, were in trigued by an incident that occurred the other" day. Naturally, they have been interested in the number of people who have come to the area in search of free supplies of the portulaca that the borough authorities have made available, and late in .the afternoon a man was seen to gather up a quanitity of acorns from beneath the oak tree in the square. He then approached a. group of workmen and asked if “these seeds will grow.” The workmen are not sure in their own minds now whether the man was aware that the seeds were acorns or was labouring under the impression that they were portulaca seed.

A blazing motor car’s dash, through the streets of Hastings attracted much attention on a recSnt morning. A large nearly new car was over a pit in ( a garage in Queen street when a fife broke out in the pit. A resourceful mechanic jumped into the car to remove it front the danger zone. He then i discovered it was on fine, and drove it at a fast speed to the fire station through the back streets of the town with flames leaping from the back of the car. On arrival at the fire station it was found, that the fire underneath the car had burned itself out. Meantime, the fire in the pit at the garage had been,; extinguished. The car was over the pit for the purpose of draining off the benzine in the tank and while this was being done an electric hand lamp fused, causing the lamp to burst and ignite the benzine. No damage was don© at the garage, and the car was only slightly damaged.

“ We ore assured of enough milk for this week; but not one can say what will happen after that if the dry weather continues,” said the secretary of the Auckland Metropolitan Milk Council (Mr Chapman) in announcing that the Minister for Agriculture (the Hon. W. Lee Martin) had given permission for a supplementary supply to be obtained at once from certain farms in the Waiuku district! The milk would be pasteurised before distribution, Mr Chapman said, and it would be perfectly safe, although the farm dairies were not registered for town supply. Mr Chapman added that all requirements had been met so far, and the additional milk would suffice for the rest of the week at any rate. The trouble was that pastures were drying up, and the yield was falling everywhere. In foui- weeks the supply obtained by th© principal Auckland distributing companies had decreased by 4600 gallons below the. normal figure of about 24,000 gallons a day.

How electric power difficulties are overcome in Western Australia, where the streams become pools in the summer and there are not hydro-electric schemes, with one small exception, was described in Wellington by Mr B. M. Holt, an old boy of Wellington College, wild is now a consulting engineer in Western Australia. “There are no hydro-electric schemes in Western Australia,” he said, “except one small one 9 that does not supply anything except a small portion of the power* used. There are no rivers inland and the majority of what rivers there are do not flow in, the summer, but leave great pools of beautiful water. The power plants arc run by Diesel engines and coal. Right inland some of the power stations have producer gas plants, as wood is very cheap, and the freight on crude oil is very high. The majority of the power stations along the coast are Diesel.

On a commanding site, overlooking a fanning valley and the Whangapo Harbour, the small Maori church which will be opened and dedicated by Archbishop Averill at Pawarenga, in the Hokianga district, North Auckland, this week, is an inspiring example of Maori effort. Over many years a few Maori families worked and saved with the single purpose of obtaining their own church, and the dedication of the building will represent for them the crowning of a great achievement. The church is of wood, and has accommodation for a a. congregation of fewer than a 100. A gift of an altar cross will be made by an Auckland vicar. The gates wilbe a memorial to Maori soldiers who were killed in the war. In the primitive community which will he served by the, church the adult Natives have little knowledge of the English, language, bu the children:, who attend a distant primary school, are receiving the benefits of a general education.

No time lias been lost in forming the extension of Tanered Street, where a section in Eton Street was purchased by the Housing Department to give easy access to_the new group of State houses. The work is proceeding at present and the lcerbing of the footpath on one side of the street has been completed.

A party of bowlers from the Linwood Club, who went to Methven on Saturday to play a friendly game with the local club, had an interesting diversion on the return bus trip. A detour was made via Cairnbrae, where a stop was made to enable the party to inspect work on the Lyndhurst-Lauriston section of the Rangitata irrigation scheme.

Though members of the executive of the Ashburton branch of the New Zealand Defence League have been doing good work lately in the enrolling of new members, according to individual reports, it is not known yet how many members have been signed on by this means. The older people, it is said, have been keenly interested in the objects of tliei League, but the younger generation have for the most part failed to grasp the significance of the situation of the Dominion as far as its defence needs are concerned. The branch will shortly launch a. more active campaign to bring its aims before the public.

Charles Stanton, the 14-year-old conductor with the Young Australian Boys’ Revue, which was in Hamilton recently, was selected to lead the pageant which marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge immediately Mr J. Lang had cut the historical piece of ribbon at the official opening. This lad was thus the first citizen to cross that world-famous structure. Then, again, he led the parade of the: Duke of Gloucester’s official procession through Sydney, and he was personally congratulated by his Royal Highness on his smartness and military bearing. Charles Stanton was only eight years of age then.

A complete skull of a whale that does not agree with any known species and a portion of a Maori canoe found* at Horseshoe Bay were the most important specimens brought hack from Stewart Island by Mr J. H. Sorensen, director of the Southland Museum, who (says the “Southland Times”) spent part of his annual holidays collecting on the island. The whale skull was presented to the museum by Mr Arthur Traill, of Stewart Island, who discovered it at Mason’s Bay. Several teeth were also saved and it is thought that these will greatly assist in the identification of the skull.

“Wlyen I say that the scenery of the South Island cannot be beaten I am not saying that just for your ears,” said Mr S. Ringer, hotel and motor camp inspector of the Automobile Association (Auckland) in his-remarks to the General Committee of the Automobile Association (Southland). Mr Ringer said! that his association took a keen interest in the South Island, and urged its members to pay a visit to the holiday resorts of the south. “We certainly have the Waiapu kauri forests in the North. Island, and Mount Egmont and Ruapehu, hut if you put Ruapehu among peaks like Mount Cook it would look just like a pimple.” ■■■■ - r.'.: - .•• -

“The Minister of Lands is not as fully persuaded of the necessity for security of tenure as ive are,” said Captain- H M. Rushworth, president of the provincial executive of the Auckland Farmers’ Union, commenting on a formal reply sent by the Minister to a remit forwarded by the union criticising his policy. General dissatisfaction was expressed with the reply. The resolution forwarded was as follows:—“That in view of the importance of primary production and the proven fact that the most efficient production is from individual initiative of the farmer, we submit to the Government the proposal that all farm lands developed under, the lands Department schemes, whether for Native or pakeha,' shall be handed over a longterm tenure on a capitalisation that will ensure to the? occupier the making of a financial success of the undertaking.” It"was decided to write again to the Minister. v

Pending the completion of Empire mail communication entirely by air from New Zealand to England, ■ the Post Office utilises every possible opportunity for despatching mails across the Tasman in seventeen vessels. They included American, French, and Dutch steamers, two British tourist cruise liners, five British cargo steamers, and the usual inter-colonial and Pacific liners. The Post Office has a statutory right *to take advantage of facilities for overseas mail transport provided by any vessel leaving New Zealand, tho Post Office Act providing that me Customs clearance (without which vessels cannot leave port) may be withheld of tho master of a vessel has declined to take mails when officially requested. This power has never to be enforced as the world-wide operation of the Postal Union Convention, to which 84 countries including New Zealand are signatories, gives the mails a safe and assured, “right of road” along every suitable sea route.

Counsel was setting forth at length in the Supreme Court at Auckland the state of nervous prostration into which a wife had been driven by a husband’s alleged domineering insistence on imposing his will in the methods and materials employed in running tho home, from the drawing of the blinds to the washing of the dishes, and the wife’s choice of dress material. The position was intensified, counsel declared by the husband’s retirement from business when, he was left money on his father’s death. Later the wife s advocate read from a letter written by the husband, in which he made reference to having taken part in the championships. “What championships?” inquired his Honor Mr Justice Callan. “The golf championships; he occupied himself in golf and other sport,” replied the barrister. “Oh, 1 thought you said he had nothing to occupy his mind,” commented his Honor. “Surely I have heard something of the neglect of wife and home by the men who play golf, and ot ‘golf widows.’ This must be an exception.” -■