LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 62, Issue 44, 2 December 1941, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Some 18 members of the Ashburton Catholic Club will go to Christchurch to-morrow evening to give a concert at the Christchurch Catholic Club.

As members of the' Ashburton Borough .Council have never seen the farm which the Council has owned for over half ai century, they have arranged to inspect the property, which comprises 422 acres between Hinds and Lismore. The inspection,' is to l>e made on Wednesday December 10.

Fourteen pupils of Standard VI of the Allenton School attended the meeting of the Ashburton Borough Council last evening to watch thei procedure. They were in charge of Mr W. Barr. The Mayor (Dr J. Connor) welcomed •the pupils and hoped they would be able to learn, something from their visit.

Only seven licences were issued to motor drivers in the Ashburton Borough in the last two weeks. There are now IGIO licenced drivers in the Borough. In the same period one building permit was issued, the structure being estimated 1 to cost £2B 10s.

“Arms and the Man,” a play by George Bernard Shaw, is to be presented in the Ashburton High School Assembly Hall to morrow evening. Pupils taking part will be P. G. Benny, Isabel Campbell, 'Sheilagh McMillan, J. Butterick, J. Denley, Dorothy Ferrier H. Tait and Glassev. The backdrops for the play have been prepared by A. Bryant.

Infectious diseases notified from the Canterbury and West Coast health district for the week ended yesterday included one ease of meningitis. The notifications from Canterbury also included 10 of tuberculosis, three of hydatids, and three of septic abortion. There were no deaths. The notifications from the West Coast totalled one, the case being hydatids. There were no deaths on the West Coast. >

A scroll containing the names of nil Harmonica Band members who have gone overseas with the armed forces from the Dominion has been received in Ashburton for exhibition and will be displayed in a shop window in East Street. The scroll is the property of the New Zealand Harmonica Bands’ Association. It was sent to each band in turn and the names of men from that organisation were written on Iho appropriate pi dee.

The question of the adequacy of the firescapes in. an, hotel in East Street was raised by a, member of the Ashburon Borough Council last evening when he said that it seemed from, all accounts that the bedroom where the fire occured on. Sunday morning opened out on to the centre of the building. Was there a fire escape from that room? The Mayor stated that a requisition calling for the provision of adequate escapes had) been, served on the owners and tennants some time ago, but he did not know if the work ordered had been carried out. The Engineer was instructed to inspect the building and report to the next meeting of the Council.

' Several suggestions as to the form a stall for patriotic selling purposes in East Street should take' were made at the meeting of the Ashburton Borough Council last evening, when the Mayor (Dr J. Connor) stated that there would be a large number of requests for street sales in the new year, when the next patriotic fund drive started. There was need for a stall selling goods. A small building of hungalo-w type, to be sold after the war, was suggested and another member suggested a log cabin. It was generally agreed that nothing of a permanent nature should be built to take the place of the “Dugout” which was removed some time ago. ft was decided that the Works and Finance Comittees go into the question of plans and cost and report to the next meeting of the Council.

A descendant of the famous house of the Te Heuheus, a powerful line of paramount chiefs of the Tuwliaretoa tribes of Taupo, Rihi to Heuheu, died during a tangi at Kauriki, Manunui, states a Taumarunui correspondent. The second daughter of the late paramount chief, the Hon. Te Heuheu Tukino, and the chieftainess, Te Rerehau Kahotea, both of Taupo, she was also the grand-daughter of the famoiis Patatai te Heuheu, of Taupo, the donor of the National Park. Pope Pius N decorated her with the rare golden cross—pro Ecclesia et Pontifiee—as a token of the Church’s gratitude for her good work. Rihi te Hetiheu cooperated with her brother, the present paramount chief of Taupo, Hoani te Heuheu, and brought into effect several improvements on Maori land questions. She is survived by her husband. Mr Hikarahui Heniopo, three sons, ancl two daughters.

An opinion on the question whether private rights-of-way become public property if the owners do net block the entrances at least once a year is to be l obtained from the Municipal Association solicitor by the Ashburton Borough Council as the result of a discussion last evening. A member raised the question of the tar-sealing of two rights-of-way running from Burnett Street to Havelock Street, say - ing the one behind the Someset Hotel was a had: advertisement for the town. The Mayor said this work had been approved, in consultation with the owners, hut the staff had boeen too busy lately to attend to it. It was decided to make an early start on the work of sealing the southern end of this right-of-way as far hack as the rear of the shop to the east of the lane.

The annual influx of Maoris from the Bay of Plenty into Whakatane for the mutton-bird! season is at its height, states a. correspondent. The season has opened at Whale Island. This island, eight miles off the mouth of the Whakatane River, is usually uninhabited, but at this time of the year the mutton-birders usually number over 100 and take between 3000 and 4000 birds in the short season. Transported by launch across the eight miles of the Bay to Whale Island, families and single Maoris spend the season- living as their forefathers did before the coming of the pakeha. The island provides for them those natural foods so dear to the native palate. Life is organised on communal lines and the week marks one of the happiest periods of the year for those who take part. The mutton-bird is protected until the season opens, and then only members of the Maori race may enjoy the pleasure and profits of the hunting.

As m result of a dance recital given by her pupils recently, Miss Mavis Andrews lias handed to the l Mayor of Ashburton (Dr ,T. Connor) the sum of £o to be applied to the patriotic funds.

The Ashburton Harmonica Band, now at full strength with 32 members (18 men and 14 women) will take part in the contest in the Christchurch Botanical Gardens on Sunday, sponsored by the Now Zealand Brass Bands Association. The hand will giro a concert in Ashburton on, December 17.

“Weeds from gardens arc- being thrown into the streets by many people who no doubt expect the council to come along and pick them up,” said a. member of the Ashburton Borough Council last evening. “No one has the right to dump such rubbish on the side of the street and the practice should be stopped now that the Cbuncil’s attention had been drawn to it.”

In conformity with an order made by the /Price Tribunal last July, retail meat prices throughout the North Island were reduced yesterday by Id a pound for mutton and pork, and Id a pound for veal. The new'prices will operate until July 1 next unless livestock values in any locality fall below certain specified levels for four consecutive weeks, in which case retail pi-ices will be reduced in that locality. Prices for lamb at present are not subject to control, but the tribunal’s schedule for this class of meat will com© into force on January 1.

Complaint of the filthy and dangerous state of the women’s conveniences at the. public reserve at the mouth of the Ashburton Biver has been made to a “Guardian” reporter by an Ashr burton resident who saw the building on Sunday. “The; flooring in one of the cubicles has rotted at one l side,” he stated, “amd below- the floor there is a pit at least 20 feet deep. If some person went in there in the dark and did not notice the state of the floor there might he a serious accident.” He considered that the authorities should renovate the place before the holiday season started.

In tlie near future a new type of engine for this district will be hauling trains through Ashburton, the new steel bridges over the three main rivers in Canterbury having made it possible for the huge KB locomotives to be used between Christchurch and Timaru. To take the extra weight of these locomotives, strengthening of loops ill the railway yards between those two points has been necessary, and at Ashburton turn-outs from the main lino have also been attended to to carry the engines ■while shunting. Similar work has yet to he carried out at one or two smaller stations to the south before the KBs can run.

“Is there a shortage of water or is it ai question of the cost of pumping the water?” asked Mr W. H. Sherratt at the l meeting of the Ashburton Borough Council last evening, when the engineer asked the Council to remind householders that the hosing hour restrictions (6 a.m. to 8 a.m., and" 6 p.into 8 p.m.) each day were still in force. The Mayor (Dr J. Connor) stated that the chief question was one of the pressure, or lack of it, in the supply mains. There had been, occasions when people had left their hoses running and the tank had been emptied, creating a danger in case of fire. It was pointed out that the water used in, the last two weeks was 106,000 gallons less than for the corresponding period' last year. It was decided to advertise the fact that the restrictions are in force all the time.

Whether any theological student for whom churches sought military exemption. on public interest grounds would have conscientious objections to dbing alternative service in the Home Guard if sine de adjournments were granted was a point raised at a sitting of the No. 1 Armed Forces Appeal Board at Auckland. The chairman Mr G. It. Orr Walker, S.M., said the hoard needed this information in order to know what alternative service to order. Assuring the board that none of the three students for whom he was appearing had conscientious objections, the Rev. Frank de Lisle, Congregational minister referring to one, Jim Bernard Chambers, as being “an exceptional student and at the same time lightweight boxing champion of the University of New Zealand.” /‘Well, he inns no- objection to using force,” said the chairman, in adjourning the case sine die and ordering alternative Home Guard service.