LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 62, Issue 5, 17 October 1941, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

An event unusual in these days oi laws for the protection of tenants occurred at Nowtoun, Wellington, the other day, when a bailiff evicted the tenant from a house in Kintoul Street. The furniture of a six-roomed house was put out on the street- and remained there till late at night.

“I believe that something is being done about ‘depression juniors,’ ” said the Prime Minister in opening the animal conference of the executive council of the New Zealand Public Service-As-sociation in Wellington. Something certainly' would be done to overcome the disabilities oi*those who joined the service during the depression, lie said.

There was a large attendance of relatives and friends at the Ashburton railway station yesterday afternoon when 32 men of tne Ashburton district left for Waiouru Military Lamp to take up training with the armoured fighting vehicle unit which has been established there. The men boarded the express train, on which there were a number oi other men from the south, bound for the same camp, and oncers were given as the train left the station. '

There are 1927 houses in Ashburton Borough, according to a_census which has been completed by the Ashburton Borough Council in the latest steps it has taken to ensure the numbering of houses. The Allenton portion of the Borough has not yet been numbered. The houses there total 414, of which 22 have been built since the district joined tho Borough on April 1, 1939. The total does not include dwellings, attached to premises in the business area of Ashburton.

Over 80 years of age, Mrs «T. Hunt, senior, has an unusual record of interest in swimming, particularly in the Fast Ashburton Swimming Club. Mrs Hunt attended the annual meeting oi the club last evening, and it was stated that she has not missed a meeting since the club was formed 20 years ago. Carnivals have been attended regularly by Mrs Hunt, who for some years was a member ot the committee. She is one of four life members of the club and last evening was elected one of the two patrons.

The series of Plunket Aid lectures given in Ashburton by specially-selected lecturers, under the direction of Sister Poff, has been completed. The organisation, which is divided into two groups according to the area from which tne members come, will meet monthly' and sewing and knitting will bo done for babies and older children. As well as making up new materials, the members will remake used garments and the completed garments will be kept in a box, until their use is necessitated. Keen interest in taken by tho members, who are doing very valuable work.

The planet Mars might have been more considerate (says “The DomiiV; ion”). This bright orange planet, gleaming in the north-eastern sky early in the evening, approached its nearest point to the earth last week, just when the 9in. telescope at the Carter Observatory, Kelburn, was dismantled for re-erection .in the now building. Mr M. Geddes (director of the observatory) said at th§ Wellington Rotary luncheon that had the telescope been in position Mars would have been the cynosure of many eyes during, the past ten days.

According to information received in Wellington by the High Commissioner for Canada, increasing food prices are mainly responsible! for the rise of one point in the/ Canadian Bureau of Statistics September cost of living index. This index, which has been specified ns the basis for calculating the cost of living bonus, now shows a wartime increase of 13.8 per cent. The food, index moved up two points, with all sub-groups except vegetables and cereals showing increases. However, the national income now is at a higher level than at any time in the history of Canada. Standing at 3,446,000,000 dollars' (approximately £957,200,000) in the first eight, months of the present year, the national income showed an increase of 10.5 per cent, over the same, period of 1940.

An indication that silk stockings arc not so easy to obtain in the United States of America as might be imagined is contained in a letter recently received from a former New Zealander now in business in Salt Lake City, Utah. “I have received quite a few requests to send women’s hose out. to New Zealand, but over here we are suffering in the same way,” he writes. My store is next to a clothier’s and he, told me that lie had received the last shipment of hose that lie would be able to procure for a long time, as all the hosiery factories had been taken over by the powers that be and had to manufacture parachutes for home defence. arid for Great Britain. So you will see that we are going to be short of things, as well as you good people in New Zealand.”

Tho mingling of Polish troops with the Army of the Nile is already having its reactions. -Recently a Miss A. Dysaski, of Dunedin, one of a family wiio had a Polish father, received a letter from heir brother, serving with the New Zealand Forces overseas. He related how he had formed’ an acquaintance' with a Polish soldier, and the Polish soldier in the case wrote to Miss Dysaski tolling her how much he had appreciated the friendship oi her brother. Unfortunately , Miss Dysaski could not read (Polish, nor could sire find anyone in Dunedin able to do so, so she forwarded the letter to Count Wodzicki (Polish ConsulGeneral in Wellington) who obliged with celerity. In this letter the young Polish soldier said he had told her brother so much about the charm and beauty of Polish girls that ho did not think he would return direct to New Zealand when the war ended.

Special instructions about parcels sent by next-of-kin to prisoners of war have been issued after the discovery by officers of the Joint Council of the St. John Ambulance Association and the Bed Cross Society that many ol these parcels havo already arrived at tlie censoring depots m a bad state. All senders are advised to wrap their parcels in calico or washed flour bags, or any strong cloth that will stand the weight and friction of parcels carried in large mailbags. The name and address and other information are to be printed on the cloth wrapper. The cloth should not be sewn, as the censoring officials have to examine tho parcels. The whole parcel can then be wrapped in paper and tied with string strong enough to enable it to arrive in good order at the Bod Cross or iSt. John depots. After examination, the censorship officials will sew up and securely tie the parcels. If in doubt the senders should include a piece ot calico in the parcel large enough to cover and wrap the parcel securely.

Two oases of clothing hare been received by the Ashburton lied Cross Society from the Mothven and Rakaia sub-branches. These ivill be shippeu directly to the British Bed Cross Society. Ldndon.

The mistaken use of the term “red kowhai” is commented upon by Captain E. V. Sanderson, of the New Zealand Forest and Bird Protection Society, in referring to the several varieties of kowhai. The blooms ot these, he states, range from pale yellow to the colour known as old gold, but there is no red kowhai. People using this name probably have in mind the nhutu-kaka. popularly known as the kaka-bealc, which is not a kowhai, although its foliage is similar.

“We got a nice little present up this way thei other day when ten Stukas, flown by Ities, had to land —intact at that —within our lines, because they had run out of juice,” writes a member of the reporting staff of the “Otago Daily Times,” who is serving in the Middle East. “It appears that our bombers and submarines have lately been, playing hell with the enemy ships from Italy and that they are getting pretty short of aero fuel in Libya.” There seems a possibility, however, that the reason for the landing of the Stukas as given by the newspaperman may not he the correct one.

“Since, I was in Ashburton in 1 OliH the work presented, taken all round, is 50 per cent, better,” states Dr. James Lyon, examiner for Trinity Collogo of Music, London, in a letter to the local secretary ((Mr A. C. Wilson) relating to his visit to Ashburton a few days ago. “I was delighted to find so many candidates had passed the theory examination, showing that teachers and parents are taking a genuine interest in the education of their pupils and children in the grt of music —the most elevating, refining and comforting of all arts. Many ot these children may not astonish the world with their performances, but you will have, in the next generation in _ Ashburton, audiences who are able to listen intelligently to music, which would have been beyond them if they had not been encouraged to cultivate that which is best and noblest in art.”