LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 224, 5 July 1939, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

As a. result of the recent rainfall there has been a slight rise in the level of the Ashburton river since yesterday. There is now a fairly fast running stream near the north bank, while the channel on the other side is also carrying a larger volume of water.

Two engines from the central fire station attended a fire in a tramcar which held up traffic at the cornqr ol Wellesley and Queen streets, Auckland recently! Extensive damage was done to the resistance box of the tramcar by the flames which were caused by overheating of the resisting coils.

Good use of the old rubbish cart ol the Ashburton Borough Council is being made in the Domain. The top ol the cart has been removed, so that it may be used in the form of a dray. Previously it was necessary to borrow the Ashburton Hospital Board’s dray for certain work in the domain.

Shortly before the expiry of the term of the notice by the Union Company to pay off the crew of the Westport Coal Company’s chartered steamer Kaimai yesterday, the Seamen’s Union agreed 'to fill the vacancies in the ship’s complement. The Kaimai, which had been idle in Auckland since last Wednesday, left in the late afternoon on her return to Westport.

One Rugby football and three basketball teams from the Ashburton Technical High School visited Timaru to-day to take part in annual sports fixtures with the Timaru Technical High: School. The teams under the charge of fMiss I. Chamberlain and 'Mr O. C. Wei;ry, travelled south by the express train this morning. Return matches will he played in Ashburton later this season, the date to be arranged at Timaru to-day.

A suggestion that one of the churches in the city should bo kept open for prayer for a peaceful solution for the European situation was made at the meetitig of the executive of the Baptist Auxiliary at Dunedin. It was recalled that at the time of the September crisis Westminster Abbey was continually visited by those wishing to pray for peace. It was decided that the matter should be brought to the attention of the Council of Christian Congregations.

The unwisdom of riding a bicycle without using trouser clips was brought home in an embarrassing manner to a man in Ashburton this morning. The.bicycle-rider was travelling down Burnett Street, his trousei cuffs flapping in the wind, when sud' denly on© was caught between the chain and the driving wheel. There was a slight rip as the teeth of the wheel bit into the material. That was bad enough, but it • was a free-wheel bicycle and it was about three minutes before the cyclist could fre© the end of his trousers from the cog.

The dangers associated with benzine were demonstrated at Hastings, when a tank exploded and a man had two fingers broken. Finding water in tho tank of his car, the owner took the drum out and endeavoured to remove the moisture by washing it out with benzine. Finding this 'unsuccessful, he sent for a mechanic, but in the meantime hit upon the idea of lighting a small fire and removing the water by heating the tank. The mechanic arrived in time to hear an explosion, and found the - unfortunate man running about the yard holding a hand. The benzine fumes remaining in tho tank had ignited and split the tank in the resultant explosion.

The suppression of • the names of three men was refused by Mr A. S. Coleman, ’S.M., in the Magistrates’ Court, Wanganui, when theft charges were preferred against, each. The magistrate said that one man had been before the court twice and was the ring leader. “The argument that the other accused may not be able to obtain employment if the names get published I don’t think is sound,’’ Mr Coleman said. “One has to be fair to the employers, and 1 think it is the duty of the Court not to suppress names in cases like this. It would be most unfair if the court allowed itself to induce employers to take men whose character was not what they believed it to be.”

Almost 20,C00 sheep a year were sent to New Zealand by 7 the 50 or more farmers oil Chatham and Pitt Islands, said My N. R. A. Cox, one of the most prominent of the Chatham Island sltpop farmers, in an interview in Wellington, Mr Cox will rotiirn to the Chatham Islands, in about a month’s time. Hopes were held by the islanders, said Mr Cox, that a more frequent shipping service (between the Chatham Islands and New Zealand would be instituted. There were about 90,000 sheep on the islands, practically all of them Romneys, and there were regular shipments of them to Lyttleton for v the Addington sales, where they frequently realised top prices. The two islands Chatham of, about 300,000 acres, and Pitt, seme 12 miles away, of f 5,000 acres, contained a variety of land, some good and some poor, but careful selection of breeds and good management were the principal reasons for the excellence of thei stock. Mr Cox spends his time between Chatham Island and Riccairton, having a home in both places, the Riccarton one being mainly for the benefit of his children, who receive their schooling in Canterbury,

The possible effect of the proposed Dominion shop assistants’ award on fruitgrowers was discussed at the annual Otago Provincial Conference of the New Zealand Fruitgrowers’ Federation at Roxburgh on Monday, when a letter was read from the secretary of the Otago Retail Fruiterers’ Association requesting the conference to cooperate in a protest against the terms of the award, specially the clauses dealing with hours of work. After a brief discussion it was decided that the following resolution should be submitted to the annual conference of the New Zealand Federation: “Its attention having been drawn to the proposed Dominion shop assistants’ award, which if put into effect would greatly curtail the hours in which fruit can be sold by retailers, this conference would urgently protest against such a curtailment. It is estimated that the curtailment of hours as suggested by the proposed award would reduce the sales very considerably. The lot of the fruitgrowers,is already sufficiently precarious and such action would greatly accentuate the position. Further, the closing hours, by reducing working time, would jeopardise the position ol assistants employed in fruit shops.

As part of their programme for the year, members of the Salvation Army Home League made an inspection visit, to the Ashburton Woollen Mills today.

The Ashburton Borough Council advises that a special rubbish collection for the original Wednesday and Thursday collection area will be made to morrow. .‘Rubbish tins must be placed on the kerb by 8 a.m.

At a meeting of the Ashburton branch of the Trained Nurses’ Association last evening, Miss R. Robins (resident tutor for the Association of (Country Education) gave a lecture on “Foods which will prevent anaemia.”

Accommodation is still proving a difficult problem in Ashburton, as is the case practically everywhere in New Zealand at the present time, and there are many inquiries for houses. It has been rumoured that a block of modern flats is to be built in a prominent position in Ashburton.

Further stops to have experiments carried out with a view to heating the Rotorua Infant School means ot pipes from a hot pool, which was found in the ground some time ago, are to be taken by the Rotorua Primary School Committee. At the present time, pipes are sunk into the pool, and it is hoped that the water can be carried to the school building without an undue loss of temperature.

A collision between two motor-cars occurred at the intersection of Cass and Tancrcd Street a little after eight o’clock last evening. The car driven by Mr A. McDonald, of Ashburton, was travelling along Tancred Street, while the other, driven by Mr H. C. Watson, temporarily of Ashburton, was proceeding south along Cass street. Both cars were slightly damaged, hue no one was injured.

A heavy fall of snow , was experienced in the back-country on Monday* 'night and yesterday morning. The hills are now whits and Mount Peel, winch was almost en tirely bare before, is covered to the foot. A resident of the district said lie had never before known such a heavy fall in one night. “On Monday Mount Peel was a bluish 'colour and this morning it was absolutely’ white,” he said yesterday.

At present in Dunedin, visiting his parents, is a young North Canterbury farmer, Mr W. P. Whin ray, who yesterday had some reason to believe that the first prize of £2OOO in the “My Lucky Turn” art union was his, ,since his ticket bore, the number (193662) telegraphed. However, a mistake was apparently made in submitting the number for telegraphy, tiie correct number being; 193622. The disappointed y’oung man, who is a son of Mr W. J. L. Whinray (mails superintendent at Dunedin) has accepted nis disappointment philosophically and will try again (say’s a Press Association telegram from Dunedin).

.To most people the experience of being completely naked in a passageway open to the public with no means of finding cover is confined to nightmares. But an actual case was quoted by Mr W. T. Ritchie in his address to the South Canterbury Justices’ Association recently, when illustrating the variety of tasks which Scotland Yard was called upon to perform. After bathing in the communal bathroom of a flat, a man in complete undress made a dash for his bedroom across the hall, found the door locked and hoard the bathroom door quietly click behind him. Fortunately for liim, a telephone was handy, and it was Scotland Yard which got him back into his bedroom.

One of the features considered in connection with the plan to illuminate Auckland during the Centennial year was a scheme to create the impression of a. volcano in eruption by installing special lighting effects in the crater oi Mount Eden. It was explained- at a conference of local bodies that this had to be dropped, on, the score of expense, although the Mayor ol Mount Eden (Mr It. J‘. Mills) urged that, as Mount Eden was- the outstanding feature of the Auckland skyline, every effort should be made to carry out the plan. Miss E. Melville, however, suggested that, as people in Australia and elsewhere believed that New Zealand suffered from frequent eruptions, it would be as well not to give too much prominence to this aspect.

A fund of information is available in the 1939 issue of Stone’s ’Directory covering Canterbury, South Canterbury, Nelson, Marlborough and Westland, a copy of which we acknowledge. The directory contains a complete residential record of the provinces mentioned, this valuable information having been compiled as a result of a house-to-house canvac-s. In addition to containing the street, country and alphabetical lists, the volume embodies trades, municipal and county societies and miscellaneous directories, and also statistical and general information relating to the Dominion as ai whole. A good deal of data relating to public semi-public, sporting and othgr bodies in Canterbury is to bo found - within the directory, which should prove of considerable value: to business and commercial houses and to the public in general.