LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 246, 25 July 1940, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

At the weekly luncheon meeting of the Ashburton Rotary Club to-day members took part in discussions on Club service and community service.

A “carry-all” working neair the Public Works Department camp at Springburn yesterday backed over the legs of Mr S. H. Mielirtens. He was not seriously injured and received medical attention at Springburn.

Members of the Waitaki Bovs’ High School first and second Rugby football fifteens, which played ma.tchcs with Christchurch Boys’ High School yesterday, passed through Ashburton this morning on their way south.

In their anxiety to be as close up with the fire engine as they could got, some of the numerous cyclists who last evening took part in the mad rush along East Street forgot to attach their lamps to their cycles and it is understood that the Traffic Inspector made a fair haul of offenders.

The absence of rain during the winter has greatly helped the engineers in charge' of the irrigation excavation work along the foothills. Spoil is being taken cut of the races in an unusually dry state for this time of the year and the fact that there is no mud about has caused a considerable speeding up of the- work.

A miniature, temporary township is. springing up on the tiny flat at the base of the Rakaia. River terrace at Highbank, where the big nower station which is to be operated by water from the irrigation main race is to be built. The Southern Cross Construction Company has stAtted work on the site of the powerhouse and it is using heavy’ modern machinery. Good, progress is being made with the work.

To improve the grounds at the Methodist Church, Matamata, it was necessary to remove a. fence', supported by rimu strainers, erected 28 years ago. The strainers and posts were sent to public auction and realised 18s each, the purchaser being Mr Syke< Ellery, who was one of those who originally erected the fence, when the strainers cost only from 7s to 8s each. After being, in the ground fotv 28 years, the timber was thoroughly sound.

The sound of hammering echoed in the Supreme Court —a most unusual incident —when a case was opened in the sessions at Palmerston North. The point at issue was the fixing of culpability for the breakdown of the lifting, gear on a door of a. pen at the Levin abattoirs. When a general outline had been presented to the court of the circumstances surrounding the accident the model, standing about six feet high, was brought into place and its parts nailed together.

Though the mountains present a very fine sight from Ashburton these days there is apparently not a great depth of snow on them. The' frosts do not appear to have been severe so far and this is seen in the fact that at Lakes Camp and Clearwater only portions of the surface are covered with ice, and that not very thick. The uncovered parts of. Lake Clearwater present a magnificent sight in the early part of the day, before the wind sets in to ruffle ’ the surface, the snow-capped peaks being mirrored in the still water.

It is possible that a Canterbury solo championship contest for bandsmen will be held in Ashburton at the end of October qr early in November. A Request that the Ashburton Silver Band sponsor this effort will he piade by the Canterbury Provincial Bonds’ Association. It.is proposed to hold the contest on a Saturday and to ask the competitors to give a programme in the Domain on the Sunday, the proceeds of which could be devoted to patriotic purposes. Suclii a contest, it is considered, would do much to enccmrage bandsmen. The Burnham Military Camp Band may b'e able to take part in the programme on the Sunday.

A small shipment of goods from Holland and Belgium has reached Auckland. This will probably be the last consignment for a considerable time, as the goods left Holland and Belgium just prior to the German occupation. The question of freight on the shipment has caused some confusion. Trade was almost at a standstill in the Low Countries when the merchandise left, and there is some doubt whether the freight between the Continent and London was paid. Consequently’, merchants in Auckland are paying this amount in tbe way of a deposit until definite advice is received by the shippers from London.

The brass ends of burnt-out electric light bulbs are of particular value in the collection of waste, a campaign foi which is shortly to be instituted in the Dominion. The town clerk of Napier, Mr F. R. Walters, following a visit by Messrs J. M. A. 110-tt and J. W. Collins, of the National Council for the Reclamation of Waste, said that the holders of discarded electric light bulb? were of distinct value. Two firms in New Zealand manufactured lamps, and the holders could he put to use by them. Mr Watters said the globes should be wrapped in old newspaper, the glass smashed, and the brass retained.

More than 500,000 dead letters were returned to senders in New Zealand by the dead letter office in 1030, according to the annual report of tho Post and Telegraph Department. Of the total of 518,852 dead letters, 19,084 were registered. Other articles returned to senders in New Zealand totalled 378,294. Another 52,052 letters were returned to other administrations. Letters destroyed, the senders being unknown and the contents of no value, totalled 31,635. Letters intercepted because they wore addressed to persons and firms on the prohibited list- numbered 103. '

For the eight months ended March 31, 1940, of the current racing year, totalisator investments increased by £677,076, states the annual report of tho Department of Internal Affairs tabled in the House of Representatives. As in previous years, the department had a representative at all totalisator race meetings to ensure that the law regarding the. operation of the. totalisator was complied with. The following statistics relative to the racing; year ended July 31, 1939, are of interest (figures for the racing year 1933 in parentheses): Number of racing days, 320 (320); number of races. 2517 (25C6); amount of stakes, £550,051 (£527,5451 • totalisator investments, £7,981.441 (£7.201,820): amount paid in dividends, £6,589.628 (£5,945,366'• Government taxes, £673,856 (£608,340).

Because of the action of the frosts and the wheels of vehicles which have been carting materials for the iPotts River bridge, the surface of the road from Hakatere to the Potts River is at present somewhat cut up and difficult for cars to negotiate. Care has to lie exercised in covering the road.

It was rather an anti-climax for the dozens of people who raced frantically by car, bicycle and on foot after the Ashburton Volunteer Fire Brigade to Belt Road last evening to find only a chimney fire which was soon extinguished. The fire broke out at about 0.30 on the property of Mr W. J. T. Lochhcad, who this morning forwarded a donation of one guinea to the Fire Brigade

The crossing of two mains roads by the Rangitata diversion race which will carry the main supply of water for the Ashburton County irrigation, scheme has necessitated tlie building of two major structures between Rogatski’s corner and 'Springburn and between the same, corner and Staveley. Work is at present under way on these works.

With the object of taking over the deposits of siliea. sand at Mount Somers and setting, up a factory for the manufacture of siliea sand bricks, a company was formed some time ago, but apparently nothing further has been done lately regarding the project. The process to have been used was a. German one, and it was believed that good use could be made of the enormous deposits of sand in the hills.

At long last the Dry Creek bridge, a mile or so above Methven, has been completed. There; has been a good deal .cf trouble with the sponginess of the spoil forming the approaches, but the weather 1 having remained dry the spoil is settling down and the surface should improve' rapidly from now on. The bridge does away with the necessity of user’s of the Toad having to make a wide detour to avoid the creek in times of flood or heavy rain.

The British Ministry for Air has adopted a New Zealand invention, a top* dresser invented by Mr James Munro, for. camouflage purposes. The method used is that powdered nigments of the desired colour aft’© sown in the same manner as ordinary topdressing is applied on farm lands. Treated thus, aerodromes and landing fields can he camouflaged quickly and efficiently, the different colours used making them appear from the air as pasture land, land or growing crops.

In a communication soliciting orders for dental material received .by an Auckland importer from a firm in London, the names of two directors ao-e printed in the lotter-hoad. Shown in parentheses against one: of these names is the word “German.” The information tlyat. a member of the firm is an enemy alien has naturally ayoused speculation, one idea being .that it may be necessary to state the nationality under some regulation in. England. The firm concerned is prepared Jo supply goods from other countries besides Britain.

“In our present physical condition, two or three hours of farm wqrk would incapacitate us for,the rest of our life,” remarked Mr J. Crosby, when the suggestion v'as made at the quarterly meeting of the Whangarei Chambor of Commerce that business people might be able to assist the: production drive at week-ends. “Seeing well-built farmers, come to town makes some of us built on smaller moulds feel .rather insignificant, and before I tackled such work I would like to be physically fit.” On Mr Crosby’s proposal the chamber undertook to sponsor a physical training class in Whangarei.

Appeals have been made on. ' several occasions to motorists and cyclists to keep the streets clear when the fire engine goes out to a call, but little notice was taken of the appeals last evening when scores of motor-cars (the drivers throwing petrol'restrictions and commonsen.se to the winds) and hundreds of cyclists took part in a wild rush along’East Street in the wake of the engine, which was only going to a chimney fire. The fact that the Traffic Inspector endeavoured to keep a clearer track by operating the siren on his car did riot seem to have much effect on the crowd.

An amusing illustration that the oppressed people of Central Europe have ■not lost.. their sense of humour was given by Mt W. Downie Stewart in an address last night to the Otago branch of the League of Nations Union. Mt Stewart said that in a newspaper published in London that was contributed to by the peoples of European countries under German domination a short discussion by two Czechs was given “Did you know that the British ’planes use. twice as much petrol as the German machines?” asked one. “No, how is that?” ‘‘Well,” came the answer, “the British ’planes fly over to Germany and hack, but the German bombers fly only the ono way to Britain. They don’t come back!”

In response to the Education Department’s appeal to conserve paper the pupils of the Palmerston North Technical School have agreed to forgo their school magazine this yeajr and to give to a patriotic fund their magazine subscriptions. After a discussion at the meeting of the High School Board of Governors, the rector of the Boys’ High School (Mr J. Murray) said he would report at the next meeting on the reduction in size of the magazine of that school. All schools will consider the reduction of their prospectuses for the next year. Mr Murray said it was not desired to eliminate the magazine entirely, as it was a school record.

Mr Malcolm Cholerton, F.S.M.C., F.8.0.A. and Hons., and Orthoptics, of Messrs J. 11. Procter, Limited, Christchurch, is at present in Ashburton, and may be consulted on all defects of eyesight at the Somerset Hotel to-morrow. —(Advt.)