LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 19, 2 November 1940, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A man walking along the lawn in East Stregt this morning collapsed. He Avas immediately given-attention and soon revived.

The ,novel method of placing contributions to the patriotic fund on a flag draping a trailer, has not aroused much enthusiasm in Ashburton. A further £1 Avas raised by this method yesterday and this morning.

‘•Pm. that cigarette out”, roared the orderly in, the Ashburton Magistrate's Court during the hearing of a case yesterday afternoon. A young man in the back of the Court sat bolt upright and biy'ut his fingers in his anxiety to comply with the peremptory request.

A director of the Southern Cross Glass Company told the “Guardian” to-day that negotiations Avere> proceeding between his company and the promoters of the proposed company for extraction, of starch from potatoes for the use of the glass Avorks buildings as a factory. He said that no final decision had set been reached.

A broad smile Avent round the Ashbu|rton Magistrate’s Court yesterday during the hearing of sly-grog selling charges. A Avitness avlio confessed that he had bought beer at an unlicensed house said that ho ran Avhen he “heard footprints approaching.” The smile grew broader when he added that the “footprints” turned out to be those of a constable!

Forty neAV books 'have, been added to the shelves of the Ashburton Public Library in the last- month and in the next few days 250 books Avill be placed there. These include books that were taken! out of circulation at the time of the removal of the library to. BurnettStreet and they have been and recovered in Dunedin. There, are also many more neAV books to be added.

A notification issued by the Government in Antes the co-operation of citizens and traffic controlling authorities in the obserA'ance of the tAvo minutes’ silence from 11 a.m. on Monday, NoA'ember 11, in commemoration of Armistice Day. It is suggested that where a service is desired it should take place at the local cenotaph or Avar memorial (says a Press Association telegram from Wellington).

When she ran into! the corner of a building at the Ashburton Technical High School yesterday May Edc, aged 15, of Oox Street, suffered injuries as a result of Avhicli she Avas admitted to the Ashburton Public Hospital. Attention was first green by members of'the St. John Ambulance Brigade on the school staff. The Public Hospital reported this morning that her condition Avas satisfactory.

Heavy rain during the running cf the BardoAvie Handicap at the Waikato Hunt meeting at Cambridge resulted in some of the jockeys- coming back to scale several pounds heavier than they had Aveighed out. The increase Avas due to the extraordinary amount of Avatea' their clothes had absorbed during the race, which Avas run in a downpour. .The discrepancy did not result in the decision being upset, as there is provision in the Rules of Racing to meet such a contingency.

“It is amazing that eA'ery communicant is not at the altar every Lord’s Day at least, and that everyone of us does not pay a- visit to his church daily,” states the Bishop of Waikato, the Rt. Rev. G. A. Cherrington, in the current issue of the Waikato Diocesan magazine. “Anxious times are ahead of us, and each day’s neAVS makes us think very seriously. There is no use complaining that the Government does not do tliiSi or other people do not do that. What is our business as Christian hut to pray, and pray and pray? And Ave are not doing this.”

The statement that the labour laws were seriously affecting the cabinetmaking industry because an employer had to have two journeymen for every apprentice engaged was made by an appellant before the Southland Manpower Committee. He said that journeymen had gone off to the war and so they were notable to take on the usual number of apprentices, although “boys wetre kicking their heels round the streets ” If this sort of thing went on the industry was going to be seriously affected because it took five years to train a journeyman.

Members of the Maori Battalion in England may have typical Maori fare for their Christmas, if plans made by the Tnhonrangi tribe at Whakarewa • rewa are successful. During a recent week-end ia large party yisitedi Maketu 'where several thousand pipis were gathered, and these have been strung together for drying. It is planned to send them to the troops in England as soon as this process is completed. Sundried pipis keep for several months, and because of this and the ease with which they can be carried when strung together, they were generally carried by wajr parties in days gone by.

The 500th anniversary of the first printing from movable types is beiifg celebrated by printers and bibliophiles throughout the world this year. Printing by this method was first done at Mainz, Germany, by Johann Gutenberg, and although the exact date is not known research shows that he had made definite progress in printing by 1-140. On the suggestion of the New Zealand Library Association, the libraries throughout New Zealand propose to hold exhibitions marking this quincentennial during the week beginning November 25. Principal libraries intend making displays of printing in New Zealand from the earliest times and of the more important processes of printing and illustration together with son jo of the actual machines used in the early days of the colony.

At the first sitting of the Manpower Committee in Palmerston- North, the secretary, Mr H. J. Worthington, said that anonymous letters had been forwarded to him with the intention, noi doubt, that- the information should he used in connection with certain, appeals. Th© committee was a judicial body, and he submitted 1 that it Av'as most improper that attempts to influence it, such as these, should be made. The letters had not been seen by any member of the committee, and had been consigned “ha their proper place, th© waste-paper basket.” The chairman of the committee, Mr T. L. Seddon, agreed that the letters were nowin their proper place, and said he did not think the committee should see them. If any person wished to make representations to the committee he could do so in the usual manner.

Rivers in the County are still in poor fishing condition. The Ashburton is discoloured ; Rakaiaj dirty and in flood; and the Rangitata, slightly discoloured but clearing.

Because of the Christchurch Show there will bo a double stock market at the Ashburton yards on Tuesday and a double market at Addington on Wednesday. There will be no sales in the following week.

“New Zealand' meat products have come" into their own,” says a letter received from England by an Auckland resident. “We get all our mutton now in our town from New Zealand'. Our people found it hard to realise, what excellent arrangements you liana for transporting your meat and landing it in England in really perfect condition.”

Ashburton girls who passed in the annual examinations in dancing held in Christchurch- this week by Miss Lorraine Norton, of Sydney, for the Royal Academy of Dancing (London), are as follow: —Grade 2, Barbara Williams (honours); grade 5, Billie McKic, Esma Ingram, Lojrna Smith and Bernice Day (honours).

As a result of the stall conducted in. East Street yesterday by the Ashburton branch of the Registered Nurses’ Association the very satisfactory sum of £B7 was raised for patriotic funds. As the branch is not able to devqte its own funds to patriotic work it was necessary to make the appeal. The amount that .will bo handed over to the present patriotic fund will be decided at a meeting of the branch on Tuesday evening.

People ini England! are given a- ration of six gallons of petrol a month and supplementary allowance, states a resident of West Reading, writing to a Waihi friend. There is good variety of food in sufficient quantities, although some things are rationed. “We join with the people next door at a shelter, in which are biscuits, a stove, lamp, table and seating accommodation,” he states, describing life in an air raid. “Every night we make coffee before going to bed and keep it in a flask, so t'hia.t if we have to go out we will have something Avaym. Taxes are 8s 6d in the £l, and almost everything is taxed besides. Smokes and drinks are almost prohibitive, but we are putting up with it with a smile as wie feel it will be Avell Avforth Avhilo in the end.”

Almost all of the County’s quota of 1400 acres of linen flax has been planted, the instructor in, Agriculture at Ashburton (Mr G. K. McPherson) told the “Guardian” yesterday afternoon It is anticipated that the pulling or the harvesting of the crop Avill commence about the middle of January. The severe north-Avest winds experienced recently are stated to ha\ T e been hard on. th crop. A fair fall of rain during the next few months would be most favourable to th© plant, but neA-erthele.ss even in very dry conditions, as has been shoAvn by trials condutecl in the County in previous yeans by the Department of Agriculture, the crop can be quite successful. The erection of the factory at Methyen has not yet been started. The Avork is not, however, expected to take A’ery long, as the factory Avill really simply be a large shed.