LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 303, 30 September 1940, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Tfefenco authorities at Ashburton stated to-day that members of the Ashburton Territorial Force' who have been undergoing training at Burnham Military Camp and at Addington will return to Ashburton on Saturday.

The laying of tile. fijrst of the big irrigation pipes at Surrey Hills which was to biave been personally supervised by the- Minister of Public Works (the Hon. R. Semple) at about the present time has been delayed lor a short period.

Members of the Ashburton Rotary Club and their wives attended at the St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church last evening. The Scripture lessens were yea cl by Messrs W. H. Amos (past president) and L. A. Charles. The. Rev. R. S, Watson .(president) preached the sermon on the subject, “Thie Sin of Doing Nothing.” The choir sang “Son of My Soul.”

The monthly’ mooting of the Hinds Yeung Club was held in the Rifle Club room. The president Mr E. Rhodes presided over a good attendance. A motion of sympathy was accorded the relatives of the late Mr S'. Wells. A very interesting lecture was given by Mr G. K. McPhlerson, of the Department of Agriculture, on pasture management.

Football and basketball teams representing St. John’s (Methven). and Lyndhurst Presbyterian Bible Classes played St. Andrew’s at Ashburton on. Saturday. The visiting teams gained narrow wins in both matches. The football score was 10-14 and the basketball 10-9. In the evening the visitors were entertained at a social in the St. Andrew’s Hall when the cup. for the football was presented to tine winners.

“We heard in the last war about the hymn of hate they used to sing in Germany,” said Sir Ernest Davis, Mayor of Auckland, when addressing a, meeting of representatives of the Lady Cahvay Guild, states the “New Zeaiand Herald.” “I have never had any hate in my heart against anyone up to the present, but I hate with all my heart and soul this Hit ley gang and I think it is time wo had more hate in our community. I would sing a hymn of hate now and I would like someone to compose one.”

Pamphlets issued at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church yesterday show that the Centenary Thanksgiving Fund of the Presbyterian Church oi New Zealand stand's at £232,000. The aim is £300,000 and an appeal is shortly to be made for the outstanding amount. Seme interesting figures on the wealth of New Zealand Presbyterians are quoted from the Gieneral Assembly’s latest Blue Book. It is estimated that they own £172,273',000' and that their aggregate private income annually equals £41,182,200.

In Spite of the miserable weather yesterday afternoon a large number of people visited the Ashburton Domain on tliei occasion of Daffodil Day. The Ashburton Silver Baud, under the baton of Mr E. R. Hopwood, presented the following ■ programme : March, “Harlequin”; Hymns, “Lacelles”; “Y r alerie” ; trombone solo, “Marie My Girl’ (Bandsman R,. Norrish); selection of incidental music from Noel CoHvard’s “Cavalcade” ; song march, “The Army, the Navy and the Air Force” ; waltz, “Ecstasy” ; euphonium solo, “The Caledonian” (Corporal T. A. Miller); foxtrot, “Till the lights of London. Shine Again”; March, “Marine Artillery”; National Anthem.

When the Australian; Prime Minister (Mr Menzies) is travelling by train from State to State to attend War Cabinet or election meetings, he reads detective yarns and preferably Shakespeare’s plays, states the Sydney •correspondent of a northern exchange. liv an exciting yarn by Agatha Christie or a poem by John Masefield —“(Helen of Troy,” fo»r instance, or some! of “The Salt Water Ballads” —he knows he cam escape from the cares of office and the welter of electioneering. When asked what he' most liked to . read 1 — detective stories, poetry, or the Encyclopaedia. Britannica? he. took from his pocket a. slim volume of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.” “Apart from detective stories, this is what I like, most,”’ he said. It was suggested that Kipling, whom he quoted! in one of his recent speeches, was an appropriate poet fo ( r a wartime Prime Minister to read, but he said he read Kipling only rarely.

“The other day the Italians broadcast that they had killed 80 per cent, of the New Zealanders with bombs. Tfiey are awful liars. Nobody was hurt.” So writes Lieutenant-Colonel F. S. Varnham, M.C., E.D., Officer Commanding the 19th (Wellington) Battalion of the New Zealand Expeditionajry Force in Egypt, under date August 31, in a letter to Mrs Varnhani, New Plymouth. “We are wearing sun, helmets mow,” added the letter. “They have the New Zealand badge in front and my battalion has a ned diamond on the pugaree on the left-hand side. They look quite smart, but take a. hit of getting used to the appearance after our felt hats. Spread out as we are here each company .does its own cooking and feeding arrangements. This applies also to the officers, so each company has its own little officers’ mess, consisting of a tent. . . For field work like this we purchased some time ago two small kerosene stovses and the men all have their own mess utensils, and the company keeps a few spares for mess visitors.”

To a. large gathering in Cass Street Gosppl Hall, last evening, Mr E. Coppiit S et. forth the doctrine of atonement by blood as foreshadowed and foretold in the Old Testament. The speaker said that the Atonement was distinctly an Old Testament theme; the word as used ini Rom. 5, should have been “reconciliation.” The ivoot. meaning ol atonement was a “covering” as a shelter from the just claims and righteous retribution of an offended party. Its first appearand? was in Genises 6, 14, where the word “pitch” is from the Hebrew word meaning “to cover.” The pitch made the Ark flood-proof and so a perfect covering fofr those within. Pitcli outside kept them safe, from the waters of judgment. Inside it gave assurance of that safety. This was » foreshadowing of the covering which God would provide for sinful mankind in the sacrifice of Calvary’s Cross. The New Testament’s offer of reconciliation to God was on the ground of Christ having made full atonement. Mr Coppin will continue his talks to-morrow, Wednesday and Thursday and his campaign will end next Sunday.

In the St. Stephen’s Parish Flower Show Mrs Hayman gained first place and Mil’s lanes second in the class for flowers not included in, the schedule.

Further contributions to the County Council fund for Christmas parcels for soldiers overseas bring the total to £BB 11s. The latest donations are: — Hinds, £5; .Rakaia, £5: Pendarves £4. The Council’s quota is £lO7.

The National Service Department has notified the Mayor of Ashburton (Dr. G. I .Miller) that for the Home Guard till? Ashburton County Borough and Tinwald will form a separate area to be known as No. lOC.

During the last week the Ashburton State Placement. Service placed 10 men with the. Public Works Department, two farm labourers permanently, two. teamsters permanently, and two labourers temporarily. A number of men formerly in the employ of thei Ashburton Borough C'oumcil have been placed with the Public Works 'Department from this morning.

A decision to abandon the Wanganui Show, which was to have been held in November, was reached at a meeting of the executive of the A. and P. Association last week. The president explained that every endeavour had been made to hold the annual show, and when it was certain that the military camp on the racecourse would he continued indefinitely other sites had been viewed.

The excavations for the foundation of the new power station at Highbank have been completed and the work of laying the concrete foundations is in progress. A good' deal of seepage from the Rakaia river has to be coped with in the excavations. Piles are being driven for the steel towers which are to carry the electricity across the river.

The splendid spirit of the people of England, and particularly those of London, in the face of the continued air raids, is once again shown in a cablegram received by Air Sead-Gowing, of Auckland. He had cabled to his attorney who practises in Hanover Square in the heart of the bombed area, seeking information about various members of his family in England. The attorney, who is one of London’s air raid wardens replied promptly: “All well and in fine fettle. We are winning.”

A headmaster and two headmistresses of city grammar schools found themselves at a disadvantage when at a. meeting of the Auckland Grammar School Board oif Governors the chairman (Dr. E. Roberton) stated that by altering the school prospectus a, saving ■of an eighth, of a ream of paper could be made. He inquired how much a ream was, and the teachers, after' a whispered conference, suggested doubtfully 480 sheets. Actually a ream varies according to the class'of paper from 472 t0r516 sheets, 480 being the usual number.

A quantity of black wool is available at the Red Cross depot in Havelock Street for knitting into- gloves for airmen. The president of the Ashburton, Centre of the Red Cross Society’ (Mr F. Curtis) stated this morning that it was urgently desired that women of Ashburton and the County should collect wool and assist with the work. Considering the heroic deeds and sacrifices of our airmen there should be plenty of enthusiasm in Ashburton for this work, she stated.

Spring flower services wew held at the Tinwald Presbyterian Church yesterday morning and at the Flemington Church in the afternoon. Both churches were appropriately decorated. The Rev. D. D. MadLachlan preached at the sendees on the subject, “The Dew of Youth.” His address to the chi Iren was on the subject “Supported and unsupported plants.” At the Tinwald service the' choir sang “The Glory of Spring,” and “The Lord is My Shepherd,” while at Rlemington, Miss Katie Johnston sang the solo, “God’s Lily.”

Hitler 1 lived up to his name and did not make his appearance in the sale ring at the Waikato Combined Breeders’ Bull Fair at Claudelands last week. He was only a bull, but the name he bore was in stark contrast with the euphonious titles in whiclx the other bulls rejoiced. Hitler, the bull, was not so. named because he was a ferocious, snorting bovine terror, -whose character was akin to that of his human namesake, but merely because his mother was named Jewess, and the owner considered that the link ing of the two names had its humorous side. Hitler, the bull, was really a placid animal and made no hostile demonstration when it was decided that he should be sold privately and not submitted to auction.

The idea of Hitler and Mussolini that they could scatter and smash the British Commonwealth by attacking the heart of the Empire was a vain delusion, said the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. P. Fyaser) in the course of his speech at the ißritish-American Cooperation Movement luncheon. “Every attack that is made upon the Capital of our Commonwealth, every bomb that is dropped from the skies, every message of death that flashes down upon our kith and kin in London and other narts of Great Britain, instead of weakening, strengthens our ties and increases our love fojr the Motherland, and strengthens and increases our determination that whatever -we can do individually and collectively as citizens and a nation we will do to defeat the evil thing that has brought such destruction upon our people,” said Mr Eraser.