LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 17, 31 October 1940, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

It was an open day at the Ashburton Rotary Club’s weekly luncheon today, and Rotarian E. A. Cockroft spoke briefly on the formation of the Home Guard

The Daphne Rebckah Lodge, 1.0.0. F., held its fortnightly meeting last evening the N.G. (Sister I. Baker) presiding over a fair attendance. Two sisters were' reported to be sick, and pay was pased in favour of one. Supper concluded the evening.

Larrikins broke into Mr W. L. Mitchell’s residence, Lorn street, Invercargill on Monday and busied themselves in doing as much damage to the house as they could. Mr Mitchell was away for the day. When he returned at G o’clock he found flour and other groceries strewn about the house a clock, a barometer and pictures snu shed and left lying about the floor, and aspidistras taken out of the pots, and the earth spread over carpets. About five looms were damaged. A can of peas liad been opened and. the contents thrown round a room. The sum of 2s Gd was stolen from a room upstairs.

Additional travel restrictions recently placed oil American citizens were described by Mr F. Ball, Cleveland, Ohio, who, with Mrs Bali, arrived from fean Francisco by the American Clipper late last week. Mi Bf.ll said he had had his passports all made out for the journey, but on October 11 all passports were suddenly called in and no travel allowed beyond th-3 Western Hemisphere.. By .reference back to Washington ho succeeded it. getting nis passport revalidated for Jfew Zealand and Australia', but that was only done in cases where strong reason could be shown. The fact that Ins passport was numbered 5 indicated Low few had been granted. He had special difficulty in getting permission for Mrs Ball ti accompany him.

Members of the Clutha County Council were surprised, at this meeting yesterday, to find that they had been placed in the shipowning class. Replying to a request by the council for an additional refund on petrol used in the engine' attached to the council’s punt at Paretai, the registrar of motor vehicles, Wellington, advised that this could not bo done, as, under the Customs Act, 1913, the punt was deemed to be a. ship. It was decided to solicit the aid of Mr J. A. Roy, M.P., in an endeavour to secure the extra refund. A suggestion that Mho Union Jack should flown on the punt was not taken seriously. While there are at present no signs of an outbreak of a measles epidemic in the military camps in the Dunedin area, the authorities are taking no chance and a rigid w'atch is being kept on the health of the men in both tlie camps. There have been a few cases of German measles in both the Forbury Park and Wingatui camps, but in view of the fact that there are over 1000 men in these camps the number is very small. Any man showing any symptom of German measles —a high temperature, for example—is immediately isolated and kept under observation either until a rash has shown up or liis temperature, has returned to normal.

With 15 passengers and 4001 bof mail the ' flying-boat Aotearoa left for Sydney at G o’clock to-day. The Aotearoa, which is under the command of Captain Oscar Garden, should arrive at Sydney in the early afternoon and will return to Auckland! on Sunday. In continuation of Pan American Airways' service to New Zealand, the Honolulu C'lippeji* is due to arrive at Auckland on Sunday, November 10 Like the American Clipper, which was the last to visit Auckland, the flyingboat will ha slightly behind schedule. The typhoon which struck Wake Island about a fortnight ago has seriously affected the service in the north Pacific. The American Clipper, which is on its way back to San Francisco, had its usual stay at Canton Island yesterday, It is due to si&t off for Honolulu at 2 o’clock to-morrow morning.

The evacuation of 'Soutbend-on-Sea by the civilian population was described by Mr I. Woolf, who was in business there and is now a resident of Petone, in an, interview at , Wellington. Directly it became apparent; there was a danger of invasion, the police went from hQuse to house ascertaining whether residents desired to stay on or leave, said Mr Woolf. They explained it was advisable to leave as the south coast was being fortified, and that later a situation, might arise in which residents leaving the district might be permited only one suitcase apiece. Evacuation began soon after and Mr Woolf estimates that about 75 per cent of the total population took advantage of the warning When lie finally moved out, the city was as lifeless as if stricken with ulague Every available pantechnicon in the country seemed to have been chartered. Mr Woolf left his house and home and “just walked out.” There was nothing else he and his family could do. Be fore he left, he did his best to realise something on his stock. He sold 20,000 pairs of shoes at 3d a pair. It was impossible to do more. A houseful of furniture could have been bought for 30s. He was one of the last to leave, and people who thought he was staying on offered him a piano for 7s 6 r l.

Mr E. Cholerton, Proprietor of Messrs J. R. Proctor, Limited, Christchurch, is at present in Ashburton, and may be consulted on all defects of eyesight at the Somerset Hotel to-mor-row (Friday).—(Advt.)