LOCAL AND GENERAL

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LVI, Issue 86, 12 November 1935, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

On account of the holiday on Friday (People's Day at Christchurch Show) the Guardian will be published on Thursday afternoon. Advertisers are asked to note the change. The rainfall for this month, recorded by Mr A. J. In wood's gauge up to nine o'clock this morning, was 1.63 inches. Since the weather became unsettled about three weeks ago the I total rainfall has been 4.06 inches. Particulars as to the closing dates for entries for the Banks Peninsula A. and P. Association's annual show, to be held at Little River on Tuesday, November 26, are given in today's advertising columns. People nowadays spoke glibly in millions, but it was impossible to realise what a million was, said Mr H. E. Herring, in his address at Leeston on Friday evening. It would, he said, take three weeks to count a million. The Christian era commenced 2000 years ago, yet 800 more years must elapse before a million days of that era had been completed. The human brain was not sufficiently great to comprehend the notion of a million, he added. They made their roads solid in the early days of Paeroa, when the town was the transhipping centre for the Ohinemuri goldfields. This fact was demonstrated when an excavation for a petrol tank in connexion with a new service station disclosed four feet of road metal above a layer of fascines, and then two feet of black soil above the clay. In the black soil was found a horseshoe, a clay pipe and some tins and bones. The site is now a lane between a motor service station and a legal office, but was once a private road to a big livery and bait stable, where a few of the hundreds of horses that hauled goods to the mines were stabled. Reporting under date November 8 on the British meat market, the New Zealand Meat Producers' Board states: Demand for laxrib has been checked by heavy supplies of homekilled and prices have declined. Lightweight wether mutton is steady with moderate demand; heavyweight is unchanged, but the tendency is easier; ewes, lightweights steady, other descriptions weaker with trade slow. The frozen beef market is quiet and steady with prices unchanged. The market for porkers is steady and unchanged; demand has improved and market closed firm with upward tendency; baconers are nominal, very few available. "Many farmers," stated the Hon. J. G. Cobbe in the course of a political address at Rangiwahia, "who had the unforgettable experience of being right up against it in the depression and who sought the help of the Mortgagors Adjustment Commissions as their only hope of getting out of unsurmountable difficulties, have much to thank the Government for in its initiating of the Mortgagors and Tenants Relief Act. That legislation was of incalculable benefit. It kept the worthy farmer on the land. As an idea of how the farmer recognised the value of the legislation, let me give this illustration: To the end of July 15,000 applications for relief were filed in the courts; the number of applications referred by the courts to the commissions was 14,438; the number of cases investigated by the commissions was 13,673, and the value of the property concerned was £30,000,----000. They are big figures and the more they are studied the more does one appreciate the help the Government provided for the man on the land in the sorest straits he has been in."

The Rev. R. R. Adair, who represented the Southbridge - Dunsandel charge as a delegate at the Presbyterian General Assembly, the annual business meeting of the New Zealand Church, returned from Wellington this morning. Mr Adair and family will be going away on holiday leave this week. Two push-cyclists on Friday evening collided in Market street, Leeston. One of them, named William Cotton, was rendered unconscious and received a severe cut over one eye. He was removed by ambulance to the Christchurch Hospital. The other cyclist, R. Townshend, escaped injury, but received a shaking. At a meeting of representatives of the various schools in the district held at Southbridge last night, Mr A. McPherson presiding, it was decided to hold the combined schools excursion to Corsair Bay, instead of to Pleasant Point, as previously decided. The date was changed to De- j cember 13, and it was decided to pay the boat fare from Lyttelton to the bay for primary school children. Already there has been quite a keen inquiry for reserved seats for the presentation at the Leeston Town Hall on Thursday, November 21, of the comedy in three acts entitled "The Middle Watch," by the St. John's Dramatic Club, and there is every promise of a full house. It will be the largest amateur production staged in Leeston for a number of years, the cast comprising 13 talented players. Mr Charles F. Eddy advises the Guardian that, on account of the high level of water in the Selwyn, Coe's ford is not negotiable by motor cars. The footbridge is also out of order, one span of the planking on the Springs side being out of position, and anyone using the foot- ! bridge will need to wade through the water at that end. With the continuation of the wet weather it is not likely that cars will be able to use the ford for several days. On Saturday afternoon the Leeston Swimming Club commenced its season with an opening splash at the bath. The weather was good, but the water was on the chilly side. The club's patron, Mr D, H. Reid, briefly addressed those present and wished the club a successful and pleasant season. The opening plunge was taken by the club's president, Mr T. N. Beckett. Two or three informal races were held during the afternoon. At the musical examinations conducted at Christchurch recently by Mr Lloyd Powell, on behalf of the Associated Boards of the Royal Societies of Music, the under-mentioned | candidates from Ellesmere were sue- | cessful: —Grade VI.: Pass, Myra McMillan. Grade IV.: Honourable mention, Joyce Felton, Justine Hender- j son; pass, Joan Mercer. Grade III.: Pass, Noeline Bennett. Grade I.: j Honourable mention, Norma Ford, Ngaire McMillan, Jessie Willis; pass, j Catherine Willis. All the above were pupils of Miss J. M. Webster. Sue-! cessful pupils of Leeston Convent j were:—Grade II.: Pass, June Saunders. Grade I.: Pass, Dawn Hight.