LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 63, Issue 160, 17 April 1943, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A double market will be held at Shnwald on Monday. There will bo no stock sale at Ashburton on April 27, the next one being on May 4.

Three hoys will in due. course bo charged in the Children’s Court shortly with damaging 30 diamond panes in the windows of St. Andrew’s Church. The damage is estimated at £ls 10s.

Military -equipment passing through Ashburton this- •morning .en route for the Patriotic Committee’s display au the Racecourse aroused some interest in the streets. A raw, chilly day, however, 'adversely affected the attendance.

A case of, infantile paralysis, the first reported from a Christchurch suburb for some days, was notified to the health authorities yesterday. It was that of a girl aged three and a half years. There w r as also a case of a male aged' 18 .reported from Timaru. A third suspected case from Greymouth has not yet been diagnosed. N

Hardships cheerfully endured in wartime Britain were related in a recent broadcast by Mr L. W. Broekington, K.C., a Canadian, who is adviser to the British Ministry of Information. He told how, desirous of repaying a favour, lie entered a fruit shop and priced a melon. The shop assistant asked 27s 6cl. Mr Broekington thereupon bought a small bag of nuts for 2s 9d. Someone else bought a peach at 7s 6d. Tendering a 10s note the purchaser said “Better keep the change—l just stood on a grape!”

Since the outbreak of war Britain has increased her own production of foodstuffs from 40 to 60 per cent., said Mr L. W. Broekington, adviser on Empire affairs to the British Ministry of Information, at a Press conference in Wellington recently. Part of this increase Would no doubt be continued after the war; another part would probably be uneconomic ill peacetime. In considering -the possible effects on the Dominions’ markets in Britain it should be remembered that the wholesale robbery by the Germans of the food resources of the occupied countries would take a lot of making up.

Support by the Auckland Provincial Drapers. and Allied Retailers’ Association for the representations of the Auckland Education Board regarding school uniforms was assured by the board at a recent meeting. The association stated that unless some relief was obtained in the neai / future extreme difficulty would be found in adequately clothing school children, particularly during the winter months. The association agreed that sufficient material should bo manufactured so that parents could equip their children. The board decided to ask the Minister of Supply (the Hon. D. G. Sullivan) whether His statement that more civil wear would shortly he manufactured applied to school uniforms.

■ Just at the time when promotions and changes throughout New Zealand are being made in the Police Force, many former members are recalling earlier days and the fine class of men who were at head of affairs, notably Inspectors Parcly and Cullen. The former, who was inspector in charge of the Taranaki district at the time when the Maori troubles at Parihaka were very disturbing to the settlers, bad often to swim rivers to get to the Maori strongholds, •before the days of bridges, and was saved from drowning on one occasion by Sergeant Hendry, who was afterwards inspector at Auckland. Mr Hendry was a man of powerful physique, who had risen from the ranks by sheer study and ability. Commissioner Mcllveney, who, was the first New Zealander to he appointed Commissioner of Police, an appointment which caused a thrill among young colonials.

Applying to the whole of the North Island, a notice under the Pig Marketing Emergency Regulations, 1943, has been gazetted to the effect- that the Marketing Department intends to acquire all frozen meat derived from porkers and baconqrs and over-weight baconers which between April 16 and September' 307 is "iii'W cOmes'iiito any meat export slaughterhouse, abattoir or bacon curing .establishment or any other freezing establishment.

A record sum of about £5700 was realised from the -Wellington Returned Services Association’s annual Poppy Day appeal yesterday. Late to-night £5596 Is 4d had come in, and there was still another £IOO-odd to arrive. Last year’s total was about £3200. The figures are for Wellington and Hutt Valley. The total is not only a Poppy Day record, but probably also a record for any street collection in Wellington.

About 70 years ago many parts of New Zealand were visited by plagues of insects, and for some time, states “Forest and Bird,” the land was smitten by a plague of caterpillars which crawled over the country in vast hordes. Crops were destroyed, and in many places trains were stopped by the rails being made greasy. One train had the insects .crawling all over the carriages both inside and out. After the introduction of insectivorous opencountry birds the plague .ceased.

Objection to the use of the term “soldier” in the name of Mr J. A. Leeks political party was made in a resolution passed at a meeting of the To Awamutu Returned Services Association, states.a Hamilton correspondent. The meeting also decided to object to any other party or political organisation acting' in a similar manner without the authority of either or both of the soldiers’ organisations now in existence, -the New Zealand R.S.A. and the Second N.Z.E.F. Association. “Any political organisation claiming to represent returned servicemen, without the full backing of either or both of our organisations, will be to the detriment iof returned servicemen’s and servicewomen’s interests,” stated the resolution.