LOCAL AND GENERAL

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 257, 17 August 1950, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Ashburton Rotary At to-day’s luncheon of the Ashburton Rotary Club the speaker was Mr L. A. Charles. His subject was “Some Aspects of the Law.”

No milling at Waipoua Milling anti road operations in the Waipoua kauri forest, North Auckland, have ceased, and will not be resumed until a decision has been reached on a petition at present before Parliament. This assurance was given by the Minister of Forests (Mr E. B. Corbett) in the House of Representatives yesterday in reply to a question. —P.A.

Breakaway Alleged Miners at the Macdonald colliery are reported on a vote of 147 to seven to have broken away from the Northern Miners’ Union at Huntly and to have decided to join the T.U.C. No official advice of this has yet been received by the union, although the move by the Macdonald men was not unexpected. The unio;i has to take a district ballot on the affiliation issue.—P.A.

Language of its Own Town planning, said Miss Northcroft at the Town and Country Planning exhibition opening in Ashburton last evening, was developing a language of its own. An instance is the word “conurbation” which means “those great agglomerations of towns surrounded and connected by strings and patches of building development,” which has' become the physical environment of nearly half the population of Britain. Retention of Teachers The Wellington Education Board decided yesterday to appeal against the service of teachers in the K-force, says a Press Association message. The resolution stated that the Board, owing to staffing difficulties throughout New Zealand, could not see its way clear to release teachers for K-force or otherwise. It stated that for at least 50 per cent, of the advertised positions in the Wellington Board’s district there were no applications.

Robbery With Violence Three men, who had pleaded guilty to a joint charge of robbing with violence a Wellington storekeeper, appeared for sentence before Mr Justice Fair in the Supreme Court yesterday. John Nugent Somerville Balbington, aged 18, labourer, and Bernard William Tracey, aged 22, labourer, were each sentenced to three years’ imprisonment with hard labour, and Brian William Bulman, aged 24, clothing presser, was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment with hard labour. —P.A. * Out Of The Mouths . . .

One mother on a Dunedin-bound St. Clair tram recently obviously wished that her child could be seen and not heard. In a voice audible to other passengers, the child asked, “Are we meeting dad at the pub?” The mother hastily corrected her infant. “We are meeting him at Cargill’s Corner,” she said. “But we always meet him at the pub,” persisted the child. The mother, obviously embarrassed, reiterated her previous correction so firmly that she hushed aily’further chatter.

Air Transport An air transport agreement between the Governments of New Zealand and Canada was signed at Parliament Buildings, Wellington, yesterday by the Minister of External Affairs (the Hon. F. W. Doidge) on behalf of the New Zealand Government, and the Canadian High Commissioner, Mr Alfred Rive, states a Press Association message. It provides for a grant of reciprocal air traffic rights to an airline designated by each Government on the route between Auckland and Vancouver.

High School Parent-Teacher Assn. A very pleasant and profitable evening was spent last night by the Ashburton High School Parent-Teacher Association, when an address on modern aspects of education was given by the principal, Mr W. L. Jolly. The address was followed by the screening of a film on St. Paul’s Cathedral. There was a good attendance, and the lounge arrangement of the school library added to the comfort and enjoyment of the meeting. _ Mr C. H. Reardon was in the chair, and the hostesses were Mesdames Jolly and D. H. Moore. War Damage to Houses Houses totally destroyed in Britain as the result of enemy action during the rvar were 200,000, 1.8 per cent, of the 1939 total, and houses damaged were 4,300,000, 39 per cent. If New Zealand had suffered similarly the numbers would have been 7000 destroyed and 140,000 damaged —equivalent to all the houses in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. These figures were quoted last evening by Miss Nancy Northcroft in her address at the Town and Country Planning Exhibition in Ashburton, to show under what handicaps rehousing schemes were labouring in the Old Country. Auckland Zoo Elephant 111

Jamuna, the elephant at the Auckland Zoo; is on the >sick list. She is suffering from a displacement of internal organs, and the authorities have consulted one of Auckland’s leading gynaecologists. Although Jamuna seems well enough and has retained her spirits, her present disability could l lead to severe complications, and no chances are being taken. Her illness is probably the most serious she has had, and the treatment to restore her to a normal condition is expected to be a long, slow process. The elephant is being given injections of an antihistamine drug, which is similar to that hailed as a wonder cure for colds. This, it is hoped, will remove any need for surgery. Expenditure on School Maintenance Expenditure on maintenance worked out at about £1 for each pupil each year—not an excessive provision when it was realised that painting and minor repairs at some large city schools would at that rate use up three years’ maintenance grant for that particular school, said the retiring chairman of the Canterbury Education Board (Mr A. E. Lawrence) in a report to the annual meeting of the board in Chris ichurcli yesterday. “It may be said that we, because we expended £355,000 on school maintenance over the last 10 years, have been overspending,” lie said. “But this large sum spread over more than 300 schools, some very large and some of such ancient vintage that they should have been replaced years ago, has not proved sufficient. There is a crying need in all too many schools for improved maintenance.”