LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 139, 25 March 1941, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Because of the success of the newlyinstalled rubbish tins at points along East Street, the Ashburton Borough Council last evening deckled that a number of other similar tins should he obtained and placed in position.

Sports areas in the Ashburton Domain are being top-dressed in prepay-at-ion for the winter sports season, lhe weather lately has delayed the levelling work which had been in progress on. live acres of the top ground where now sports areas are to be established.

Complaint of the lack of facilities Tor motorists setting down passengers at the railway station on wet days, when pedestrians had to cross the street to reach tho railway station was made at the meeting of the Ashburton Borough Council last evening by Mr H. \V. H. vSmallbone, whose, contentions were supported by Messrs E. Buchanan and J. Thompson. I he_ ByLaws Committee. Was asked to report on the subject.

There, were some coincidences about the admission of a male patient to the Dunedin Hospital on Thursday, states the, Dunedin “Star.” He was, it is understood, oil his way to the hospital to visit a friend when he was knocked down by a motor truck in •Stunjrt Street, and was himself admitted as a patient. The truck which was involved in the incident was one belonging to the. Hospital Beard.

The fact that suitable lamps were not obtainable to replace streets lamps which have failed or will tail im the near future was reported to the Ashburton Borough Council last evening by the Engineer-Secretary to the Ashburton Electric Power Board (Mr H. G. Kemp). It was stated that lamps of a lower, enndlepower could be used, but the regular lamps could not be obtained in the meantime.

To ascertain whether the idea of a patriotic queen carnival is being continued with Messrs F. Jeavons and N. N. Gallop wore appointed to wait upon the central patriotic committee tomorrow evening, according to a decision made at a meeting of the Ashburton Public Servants last evening. It was also decided to ask the patriotic committee for permission to run an art union in aid of patriotic funds.

The Ashburton East Primary School has had bad luck with arrangements for its annual athletic sports. The event was originally fixed for Monday, March 17, and as a result of the heavy rain at that time it was postponed until yesterday. Again the weather made the holding of the sports impossiblel and it had been planned to hold the sports to-day should conditions have been favourable, but with the light drizzling rain it was out of the question again.

There was a r roar of laughter at the meeting of the Ashburton Borough Council last evening at a. member’s description of a house that was under discussion/ The point at issue was whether the house was a private dwelling or came under , the definition of a public building as it was owned bv a local body, “it is a private dwelling,” said a. member, and another mem her at once declared vehemently: “It is not; it is a public house!”

A member of the Salvation Army in Wellington has an aged mother in England. This old lady recently wrote to her daughter here that the bombing of London had been rather too much for her, so she had removed to a quiet place in the country. She had not been there very long before the authorities saw fit to place an ammunition dump nearby. Ever since then, she wrote, enemy planes had been com ing over almost every night, dropping bombs all over the country, which was really very annoying. It was . remarkable that the old lady had spirit ■enough to describe her plight as merely “very annoying.”

A small portion of Church Street,, running northward off Wellington, Street, is to be handed over to the Canterbury Education Board, according to a decision of the Ashburton Borough Council, which last evening considered the piece of roadway was of no use to the town as a road. The piece of ground has never been formed or kerbod, and to all intehts and purposes is part of the paddoelc which the Education Board some time ago took over as a, new playground for the Ashburton East School," and would have marred the playground had the Council not decided to hand it over for the use of the children. ,

A decision to proceed with the northern military manoeuvres was reached to-day after a. visit of inspection to W 7 niouru camp by the Chief of the General Staff (Major-General Sir John D'uigan) and! the Director-General of Medical Services (Brigadier F. T. Bowerbank), as a. result of an outbreak of dysentery among some men of the 2nd Wellington regiment (says a Press Association telegram). The decision was announced last night by the Minister for Defence (the Hon. F. Jones). The Minister said that although the position was not considered serious, he thought it advisable to have a report before the troops undertook their field exercises.

In an informative address to the ’Palmerston North Rotary Club, Miss Agnes Moncrieff, general secretary of the Y.W.C.A. in China, gave an amazing picture of China to-day to show how the people were living up to their national slogan of “reconstruction and resistance.” The speaker gave it as her considered opinion after yeiirs of experience, that China would play an important part in the history of the world not only because of the reorganisation of her industries, but because of the magnificent spirit of the people in facing up to: their problems, dangers and l difficulties. They were rising supreme above ns great a disaster ns nnv country had to meet.

Discussing the difficulty which farmers said they experienced in getting labour, M - G*. M. Hall asked an appellant, before the Armed Forces Appeal B'onJrd in Christchurch yesterday if lie had advertised for men. Mr Hall said he knew a farmer who did not go round the sales looking for men or ask his neighbours, hut inserted ail advertisement in the newspapers. Nine months ago he received 70 replies, and on another occasion .three montlif ago, lie received 40 replies. “I am not raising the question of the calibre, of the labour,” said Mr Hall, a member of the hoard, “hut I am suggesting that there is labour about and that the position is not as difficult as lias been suggested.”

Parados of the, Flemington Homo Guard platoons will be held op Thursday evening, not on Friday evening as stated in a paragraph yesterday.

Eight building permits for structures estimated to cost- £2OBO were issued by the Borough Engineer in Ashburton in the last two weeks, according to a report presented to the Borough Council last evening. In the same period seven drivers’ licences were, issued to motorists. making a total of 1744 to date.

It was stated in evidence before the Hamilton District Man-ppwer Committee that teams of two milkers were handling herds of 90, 100 and 110 cows. This, remarked' the chairman (Mr S. C. B. Mncky) was an indication, of the efforts being made with reduced labour available, to maintain primary production.

Ambulance stretchers are not available in Ashburton and 12 are. required at once for training purposes under the local E.P.S. and for use in the event of an emergency. • This fact was reported to the Borough Council lastevening by the Mayor (Dr. «T. Connor) and it was agreed that the. stretchers should he purchased at a cost, of 28s Ocl each.

The customer had completed his purchases. paid for them by cheque, then asked for them tf> he sent up to his houso. at once (says the “Dominion”). The salesman went to inquire whether that could be done. Ho returned in a minute to say, “I’m sorry, but our truck’s been commandeered by the militarv. As soon as we can get hold of another we will deliver the goods.”

Reporting to the Borough Council last evening the Borough Engineer stated that during the flood last week water seeped into the. well from which the town supply is drawn. As soon as the trouble was noticed water was pumped from the tube well, but it was not till Friday that the mains throughout the town were ' cleared of the clouded water.

A cablegram received by an Auckland business man recently from a friend in Now York is a striking epitome of the American determination to help in tKe war. The sender is a wealthy American citizen who occasionally visits New Zealand. He says: “On full war basis here. Home closed, single caretaker. No flowers; nothing. Every penny, every hour from us both buying victory.”

. Caravan campers continue to make their way through Ashburton and the camping ground at the Domain is still in demand. There were two camping parties there over the week-end, though the weather was far from pleasant- for such a holiday. It is believed' that the excellence of the setting for the Ashburton camping ground and the facilities available will result in a considerable! number of caravans coming to the town next summer.

Asked if the Domain Committee had a report about the new by-laws g° v * erning traffic and the use ol .bicycles in the Domain, the chairman (Mr J. Thompson), last evening told the Borough Council that he was giveng the question very full attention hut a report had been held up because of the difficulties that were presented and by the fact- that' new paths were to be put down in some parts of the Domain and others eliminated.