MID-CANTERBURY

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18725, 23 June 1926, Page 7

MID-CANTERBURY

ASHBURTON. PERSONAL. Miss A. E. Gates, who for a number of years has been carrying out social work among children in Aehburton, has received notification that she has been appointed by the Child Welfare branch of the Education Department, as Child Welfare Officer of the Ashburton district. Miss Gates will attend sittings of the Juvenile Offenders' Court. St. Stephen's Girls' Club. There was a particularly good attendance at the weekly meeting of the St. Stephen's Girls' Club, held in the Parish Hall on Monday evening, when Miss Opie gave an interesting address on her missionary work "in Eeugal, India. Notifiable Diseases. During the past fortnight, four infectious disease cases have been notified to the Borough Health Inspector (Mr J. B. Richardson), and they aro as follows: One of T. 8., one of scarlet fever, and two of diphtheria. A case of T.B. from Wakauui was reported to the County Health Inspector (Mr E. N. Johnson) yesterday. Loyal Tirrwald Lodge. At tho fortnightlv meeting of Loyal Tinwald Lodge, M.U., 1.0.0. F., held on Monday evening, the N.G., Bro. A. E. Frew, presided. An invitation was accepted from the Loyal Methven Lodgo to attend its annual ball. It was resolved that P.G. Bro. E. W. Thompson's name bo placed on the merit board. Sick pay amounting to £l2 9s 2d was passed for payment. One candidate was initiated into tho Order. At the close of Lodgo business a social hour was spent. The Weather. Kino degrees of frost were registered at the Domain weather station yesterday morning, and a fine day ensued. In Bankruptcy. A meeting of creditors in the bankrupt estate of James Benjamin Hillyer, late farmer of Lauriston, which was called for Monday, lapsed in the absence of a quorum. The financial statement disclosed s deficiency of £S93 lis sd, which was the total amount of debts owing to unsecured creditors. Debtor's furniture which was valued at £25, was under security to the Repatriation Department for £G4. Thoro'were no assets. The principal unsocured creditors were:—W. Patching (Ashburton) £l2; A. Gadd, (Lyndhurst) £l3 12s; Coun,<y Council (Ashburton) £27 10s; War Belief Fund Association (Ashburton) £75; Commissioner of Crown Lands (Christchurch) £7OO. Bankrupt'B statement stated that he started farming at Lauriston, on his own account in April, 1920, on 223 acres of Crown land, soldier settlement, tho rental of which was 13s 9d per aero. Ho had about £3OO with which he paid tho first half-year's rent, the balanco going into stock and improvements. The farm had no buildings on it, and to work the place ho had to put up 100 chains of fencing at 22s Cd a chain. Ho drow a tworoomed whare and cow shed, with a farm for which he had to pay £75. Ho had these removed to the farm, and rebuilt, and added to, making a dwelling house which cost him about £275. He also had a grant of £75 from the Ashburton War Relief Fund, which was spont on buildings. Ho had a grant of £SOO from the Lands Department. He used £350 for buildings, and the balance for fencing and stocking up. He opened up an account with Pyne and Co., and bought horses and plant, and also 100 ewes at 33s per head. Chaff cost him £BO the first year. The year's working showed a loss in 1921,1922, and also in 1923. He went steadily backward and was unable to pay any rent and interest. In January, 1923, he bought 170 rape lambs through Pyno and Co., and put them on rape. In February, the Crown Lands Department served him with a distress warrant, and distrained on a sufficient number of lambs to pay the rent; the lambs belonged to Pyne and Co. After some trouble he got tho warrant lifted, but that .spoilt his credit with the firm and they sold all his stock and plant that they had lien on. The Lands Department then sold what was left of his stock and plant under a lien to them. That left him with a farm and nothing to work with. In the autumn of 1923 he went to see the Land Board and told them it was no use him trying to carry on, and that the place was too small for a farm. He suggested that they cut the farm up between his two neighbours leaving him a few acres and the house, and he would get work about the district, and that they decided to do. Time went on and he heard no further word of the subdivision, so in October he went to see what the Board was going to do in the matter. They told him that a revaluation Board was coming round and that they considered that the rents would be lowered, and the back rents wiped out, and that each farm would be put on a paying footing, and in the meantime they were not going to do anything with his farm. Then they offered to reopen his current account, and let him carry on until the Board had been, and the now rents fixed, so ho agreed to that and bought a team and started to work the farm again until the Bevaluation Board had been round; all the time the land had been lying idle he was being charged with rent and rates. He put in spme oats and shut the rest of the place up for grass seod, but was unlucky with it, as a big wind about that time destroyed nearly all of it. Early in 1925 the Land Department stopped him grazing the farm, and he could see it was useless to carry on, so he told them he was leaving the farm, and was going as a married ploughman, so the Land Department had a second sale of stock and plant leaving him in debt to them for about £7OO. He kept no books, but all his takings went through the firm. When working he found that he could only make a living for his wife and four children. He attributed his present position to the farm being too small and dirty, not enough money to start with, and the slump. He was working for wages as a teamster. Power Board. At the monthly meeting of the Ash-, burton Power Board there were present: Messrs F. W. Watt (chairman), J. Cow, W. H. Itundle, E. F. Nicoll, H. Morris, J. W. M. Dart, W. G. Gallagher, A. Horsey, S. Smith, W. H. Woods, ajid W. T. Lill. The chairman drew attention to the fact that since the last meeting of the Board, Mr J. C. N. Grigg had undergone a serious operation. A motion of sympathy was passed and a hope was expressed that Mr Grigg would have a speedy recovery. A letter was read from tho Minister for Public Works, in reply to' a resolution which had been passed by the Board, stating that with tho development ofethe Public Works schemes it was confident that there would bo no shortage of power. The chairman and tho engineersecretary (Mr H. G. Kemp) were appointed delegates to attend tho Electric Power Boards' conference, to bo held in Wellington on July 7th. , In replv to a letter from the Ciiristchurcb. City Council, it was decided

that a special meeting of the Board i be held, at a date to be fixed, to hear | the views of the City Council oil t!io j development of the proposed Wai-: m'akariri electric power scheme. The Finance and Works Committoo reported that the action of the engineer in ordering 50 giant pumps for delivery over 12 months had been approved. The committee recommended the signing of an agreement for the supply of power for five years from April Ist, 1926, at standard" rates, the minimum charge to be £6SOO per annum, tho maximum demand to be limited to 900 k.v.a. The action of the Finance and Works Committee in retaining Mr J. R. Templin as consulting engineer in connexion with the Metropolitan-Vickers, Ltd. switch gear with full responsibility, at the usual 5 per cent, on tho cost of the equipment, was approved. It was decided to appoint Mr H. G. Nees as an additional salesman. The revenue for May was reported to be: Domestic current, £1365 16s; commercial. £365 5s 4d; power. £3S4 Si 7d; sundrv revenue, £2B 15s 3d—total, £1663 lis 9d. The engineer-secretary reported that the wiring of the Ruapuna extension had been completed, and that the Lismore extension was held in hand. The clearing up of the Staveley-Mount Somen; district had been completed andthe pole gang was connecting up extra consumers. Tho Willowbv sub-str.tion building had been completed, leaving only the Mayfield and Mitcham still to be erected. The switch-gear had nowall come to hand and the board fit Springfield was being erected. The equipment was opening up well, and no difficulties were being experienced in tho assembling. The erection of switch-gear for Ashburton was necessary and alterations to the Power House were now being carried out. Tho 200 k.v.a. transformer for the woollen mills had been put into service and tlio 250 k.v.a. transformer, which is tho low tension spare in tho Power House, had been returned. Tho Walnut avenuo substation had been converted from 660 volts to 11,000 volts. This becamo necessary owing to tho increasing load on tho 6600 volts transformer at tho Power House. Tho 2o k.v.a. transformer at the East Belt had been replaced by a 50 k.v.a. to tako over tho increased load. It had been found necessary to erect an additional transformer at Moore street and tho East Bolt. Tenders had been received for a aUO k.v.a. synchronous condenser and three voltage regulators. Ho was not yet in a position to make a recommendation with regard to the voltage regulators. It was decided to recommend that _ the Board hire one from the Public Works Department for installation at Springfield, and not to act on the tenders until further intimation was available. lb was decided to purchase four new cars for the use of tho staff to replace cars which had been in use for a considerable period, and to trade in four second-hand cars at a net cost of £1227. _ New lines wore authorised a? follows: —Methven, Alford Forest road extensions. This latter was a small .extension' from- the existing Alford Forest road line; length, 20 miles; estimated cost, £506 17s 6d. f Rugby FootbalL The following players have been selected to play a trial match on Saturday on the Showgrounds, 'from which a team will be selected to play Mackenzie Sub-Union at Fairlie on July 3rd: —J. Gibson, W. Merrin, W. Bishop, McGrath, K. McCormick, W. Twomey, K Brophy, R. Gallagher, F ; McCormick, L. Dalton, B. Merrin, Withell, Moffit, W. Tatterson, A. Carr, H. Knight, CArris, B. Clothier, W. Satterthwaito; R. Tait, A. Barclay, O. Fjriedlander, A. Broker, Buckingham, Hooper, J. Orchard, S. Hooper, J. Goodwin, F. Crowe, J. Elms. Reserves: "J. Orr, Kilworth, C. Wellman, Kirk, McLaren, Lowery, McGregor, Manchester, and Daly. Referees for Saturday. The following Rugby football referees have been appointed to control the respective matches to b'e played next Saturday:— Junior Grade—Mayfield v. Hinds, at Mayfield, Mr L. Reveley; Old Boys v. Hampstead, at Show Grounds, Mr B. McSherry; Allenton v. Ashburton-Tin-wald, at Tinwald, Mr C. Topp. Third Grade—High School v. Ashbur-ton-Tinwald, at Show Grounds, Mr S. Christie; Old Boys v. Hampstead, at Show Grounds, Mr J. Templeton; Allenton A v. Hampstead A, at- Sh. w Grounds, Mr Walsh; Methven v. Allenton B, at Show Grounds, Mr J. B. Nicoll. Fourth Grade —Rakaia v. Hampstead, at Rakaia, Mr Shannon; Technical v. High School B, at Show Grounds, Mr Wood. MOUNT SOMERS. A Library . Committee meeting was held on Monday evening for the pur- ■ pose of discussing the purchase of new books. Those present were: Mr P. H. Jones (chairman), Miss L. Wood (librarian), Messrs H. Morgan and G. L. Nell. Apology for absence was sent by Mr J. T. Bull. It was decided to purchase £2 worth of now books, to be placed on the shelves at tho beginning of the July quarter. The librarian reported the finances to be in a sound position, with' a credit balance of over £l9, over half of which was the Government subsidy, part of which must be spent on books of travel, history, etc. The selection of these, new fiction books was left until next meeting. It was also reported that many new members were joining for the winter months, and over forty subscribers were on the books. The Men's Club held a very successful progressive euchre tournament in the parish-room, on Monday evening, the ladies being the Club's guests This was the first of a series of card evenings for trophies given for highest aggregate during the soason. The winners were:—Ladies: Mesdames A. Beckley and F. Gifkins 8, Mrs Gill and Miss Webster 7; men: Mr G. Morgan 10, Mr O. Robinson 9. Supper was provided by Club members. The president, Rev. J. W. P. Dyer, after thanking them for their presence, made- a strong appeal to members to roll up in the same large forces for "the question box" next week. Ten degrees of frost were recorded on Tuesday morning. ■ WILLOWBY. The fortnightly series of the Willowby Progressive Euchre Club was held in the hall recently, when there was a fair attendance, and a very enjoyj able evening was spent. The ladies prize was won by Miss P. Arnst, while that for tho men went to Mr W. Cairns. The ladies' consolation was awarded to Miss E. Waller, and the men's to Mr Plato. After supper "was served a. danco was held to musio supplied by Messrs Chapman Brothers, Robb, and Sutherland (bagpipes) and Mr R. Stoddarb was M.C. BARRHILL. A very successful euchre tournament wa3 held in tho Barrliill school recently, and the ladies' prize was won by Mrs J. Gibson, and the gentlemen's by Mr A. Holmes. Consolation prizes weje awarded to Miss A. Bishop, and Mr A. Donaldson. After supper a dance was held. Music was supplied by Mrs Donaldson, Misses Hooper and McGcorge, and Messrs Storey and Piatt. Songs were sung by Mr Piatt. It has been decided by tho committee to hold a fancy dress ball on July 9th.

' RAKAIA. At the fortnightly meeting of tho Loyal Kakaia Lodge, 1.0.0. F., M.U., P.G. Brother W. J. Henderson presided over a large attendance of members. An invitation was received from the Methven Lodge to attend their annual ball, and V.G. Bro. I. Bishop was appointed to represent the Kakaia Lodge. One now member was initiated, and three candidates were proposed for membership. Tho half-yearly balancesheet, which was adopted, showed the different funds to bo in a sound position. Tha secretary reported that the Deputy Grand Master of New Zealand, Bro. Pritchard, accompanied by the Ashbnrton district officers, would pay an official visit.to- tho -Kakaia Lodge at their next meeting. METHVEN. At a meeting of the committee of the Methven Gun Club it was decided to hold an open live pigeon match on July 29th. The prize-money was fixed at £SO, with an entry feo of £2 10s. A trophy was also given for the best performance by a local- competitor. The question of procuring birds was discussed, and it was decided to authorise the secretary to.purchase these im-" mediately. Captain and the Hon. Mrs Tahu Khodes have arranged to bring a party to give a concert in the Town Hall on Wednesdav in aid of the funds of the Catholic Church. Great interest is being taken locally in this function. A progressive euchre tournament was held in the schoolroom at Highbank on Friday evening, when about sixty people attended. The function was a success in every way, and the tournament was well conducted under a very efficient committee. An enjoyable supper was provided by the ladies, after which the prizes were presented as follows:—First prize, ladies, Miss V. Simpson,' second Mrs A. J. Ireland; first prize, men, Mr F. Horsfield, second Mr Gourdie. The proceeds of the tournament have been given to the Sunday School Prize and Building Fund.