LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 282, 10 September 1941, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A violent whirlwind caused much damage on the Rangitaiki Plains, Otakiri and To Toko suffering most. Large trees were snapped and others uprooted, and piggeries and buildings wore extensively damaged.

In several cases of late, stock has been found among young trees in. County Council reserves. The stock has been impounded and action is under way for the recovery of damages for trespassing.

The Ashburton County Council Inis received advice from the Local Co\eminent Loans Board of its sanction ior the Council to raise a loan ol .L./UUU, the Council’s share of the cost of completing the Ashburton .River Control Scheme.

A demonstration of physical trainin<r was given to the Ashburton Auxiliarv Police last evening by Mr A. Caidcr (Physical Welfare Officer under the Department of Internal Affairs). Senior-Sergeant J. F. Cleary leetureu on shock following injury arid its preliminary treatment. The men were then put through a course of drilL_ There was a very good attendance, 56 being present out of a total strength ot Ut>.

Motorists in Britain who have been disqualified from holding driver’s licences may have their disqualification removed in certain cases, states the “New Zealand Traveller.’’ The Home Secretary may remove this disqualification “if he considers it expedient ill the interests of the defence of the realm or tlio efficient prosecution of the war, or for maintaining supplies and services essential to the life of the community.”

A gold coin was displayed at a pro-Ilussian meeting i.u the Auckland Town Hall by on% of the speakers, the Rev. Percy Paris. He said that it was a Soviet coin and had been sdnt in. b.v a. man with a' Russian name The donor’s suggestion was that it should be auctioned, he offered to bid £5. “1 am afraid that would be illegal,” said Mr Paris. “The police are present, and in any case wo cannot hold an auction here.” The chairman (Professor W. A. Sewell) agreed that it would be difficult to get roupd the law, and the proposal .was allowed lo rest.

“If men would give us a*little praise now and then for the cooking of their meals it would make a big difference and add to the satisfaction we get out of preparing a good meal,” said a speaker at the meeting in Ashburton yesterday afternoon to discuss the training of girls as housekeepers and domestic aides. “It takes a whole morning to get a meal ready. The men come in and eat it in a lew minutes and then go off again without saying a word. If men only knew wnat a happy feeling it gives a housewife when her cooking is praised they would refer to the cooking more often.”

A. man found himself in a predicament this morning when his trouser leg became entangled between vne chain of his bicycle and the cogs ot the driving wheel. The machine had a back-pedalling brake and the pedals could not be turned back in order to release the garment, while to push them forward and at the same time, hold the bicycle upright while balancing on one leg was a task beyond the cyciist. Two women who happened to be at their gates farewelling their children on their way to school came to the man’s rescue and -after some struggling released him.

It is not solely, or even chiefly, for the sake of saving their own footwear that Territorials sometimes wear their army bpots with mufti—a practice against which the military authorities have recently issued a warning-—tor the men have to keep their boots in repair at their own expense. New boots so heavily built need, however, a good deal of “breaking in” if the weaver is not to get sore feet when he has to wear them, and even old issues are found to get stiff and apt to chafe if they are worn, as is the case in some units, for only ono night parade and one all-day Sunday parade each month.

The difficulty of securing an honest man to replace him while lie was in camp was emphasised by the owner of a one-man drapery business when appealing for exemption from military service before the Auckland Area Manpower Committee. Supporting his contention, the appellant said he had gone into statistics .of public honesty and had found that* according to an American instrument known as the lie detector, 65 per cent of the people were dishonest where money was concerned. In selecting a temporary manager he therefore took the risk that two out of three people would not account satisfactorily for the takings. “Well,” said the chairman, Mr H. A. Anderson “there are three of us sitting on this committee. Which do you suggest is the honest one?” Appellant declined to answer.

Why have tins not boon included in the waste metals salvaged in New Zealand? The Manawatu executive of the Farmers’ Union recently decided to seek the reason, and at a recent meeting an official reply stated that Japan was the only country which still reclaimed tin clippings and only clean tin plate could be treated economically. It was only a waste of time to try to reclaim tin from dirty -or painted tin plate. In any case the Government would not agree to the export of tin plate of any description to Japan, which was the only country which could deal with it. Several members of the executive, however, could see no reason why a factory to process waste- tin could not be set lip in. New Zealand, and it was decided to advise the authorities of this opinion.

“During the past season the demand for farm properties has been almost entirely for one-man. farms. Dairy farms and mixed farms of about 201 l to -100 acres, if reasonably priced, soon find a purchaser,” states the annual review of Pyne, Gould, Guinness, Ltd., Christchurch; “The inquiry for tussock country, especially hack country runs, is almost non-existent, due to the low prices for surplus sheep last season and other factors which make sheep farming in high country under existing conditions an uneconomic proposition. With lixed prices for practically all farm produce, the farmer can assess, with reasonable accuracy, what his gross returns will be, but the ‘nigger in the wood pile’ is increased labour costs and the increased cost of all goods and machinery required in farming operations. The enlistment of many farmers’ sons for military service abroad lias created labour problems on farms which, to a great extent, have been met by the more general use of tractors and other mechanised units. One happy outcome of those labour problems created by the war has been the development of the spirit of helpfulness between neighbours. That is all to the good,”

A sum of £5 has been handed to the Ashburton County Clerk (Mr G. Kelly) for patriotic purposes from the. No. 5 Public Works Camp at Carew.' The money has been raised lately by euchre, parties in. that district.

The Eiffclton branch of the Farmers’ Union is convening a mooting of the ratepayers of the proposed AshburtonHincls drainage district to be held on Saturday evening. Aspects of the drainage scheme will be discussed with Mr T. D. Burnett, M.P.

Roger Lougher, infant son of a Tolaga Bay resident, is making good progress toward recovery after a singular accident. The child, a lour-year-old, swallowed a maize seed, which lodged in his lung. lie was sent to the Cook Hospital, and on the. advice of the Medical Superintendent (Dr. R. J. B. Hail) was placed under a Napier doctor* A successful operation was performed for the removal of the seed.

Instructions have been given that training in jiu-jitsu, as a measure of guerilla warfare, is to be given to members of the Home Guard through the physical training instructors, and. preliminary work in- this direction was undertaken last evening when the instructors assembled for a refresher course under the direction of Mr A. Calder (Physical Weliare' Officor).

In a recent letter to his father from a prisoners of war camp in Roland, Mr Richard Fox ley, formerly of Gisborne, relates how'lie' with a friend, managed to escape from Nazi custody in April last and remain at large for ft week. Their venture failed alter they had marched 100 miles toward freedoih, for they were recaptured and taken back to the prison camp, where they underwent the penalty of a month in cells. Mr Foxley is a son of Lieutenant Peter Foxley, of the Army School of Instruction at Trcntham. He was interned in France after a Finnish sailer in which he was at sea was sunk by a German submarine and subsequently. wins transferred to a German prison camp in Poland.

Physical training instructors oi tne Ashburton Home Guard will go to Winchester on Sunday for a refresher course in summer recreational work in con-, junction with officers from tho Home Guard throughout South Canterbury. Messrs K. Muff (Physical Welfare Officer at Christchurch) and H. C. Bradley (Physical Training Supervisor for the Tiinaru Battalion) will bo present, and several Company Commanders from the whole district* will attend. The Timaru Ambulance Brigade will give a demonstration and Dr. W. R. Ryburn, of Ashburton, will give a. talk. The course has been arranged by Mr A. Calder (Physical Welfare Officer for the district).

“As a life-long Methodist I feel that this great church has suffered undeservedly at the hands of those whp use their association with it as a justification of their extreme- pacifism,” said the Rev. E. T. Olds (superintendent minister of the Methodist Central Circuit), in a statement in Auckland a few days ago. “So many cases hq,ve recently occurred that the general impression seems to be that the Methodist Church is disloyal, or at any rate half-hearted, in tlie bitter conflict in which the Empire is engaged,” he continued. “This impression is altogether erroneous. Thousands of Methodist boys are in uniform and many of them have been serving abroad from the beginning.”

“As in the past we had quite a, largo number of juniors to begin with, but for some unknown reason they gradually drifted until we finished the season with the usual half dozen,” stated the annual report of the Allenton Tennis Club, prepared hv the secretary (Mr W. S. McElhinney), “1 think the main reason for this lack of enthusiasm is tho swimming baths. We always seem to have plenty of juniors until tho swimming season opens and then they seem to disappear. It is a pity to see some of these juniors leaving us, particularly as some of them show great promise as tennis players, I think.that the parents of these players should encourage their children to stick to their tennis as. T am sure, there is time for both sports ”

In an interview tlio other day an Invercargill bookseller revealed the interesting fact that during one of the big Nazi air raids on London a whole consignment of Hitler’s book Mein Iva-mpt, which had just been printed and was on its way to the binders was destroyed. There may' ho a measure of ironic humour in this, but the loss may also be regarded as unfortunate for, except to purblind Nazis, there is no more complete exposure of Nazism than Hitler’s “masterpiece.” This is realised by Hitler himself. For a long time the only edition available in English was carefully expurgated, and a few years before the war Hitler began an action in the French courts for an injunction to restrain a Paris publisher from issuing a complete edition of the book in French.