NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 67, 20 March 1943, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

Eastbourne's Rate Collection. It was reported by the Town Clerk and General Manager to the meeting of the Eastbourne Borough Council this week that 97 per cent, of current rates had been collected prior to the penalty date, February 15, which was the best collection for 20 years. Wasp and a Fire. Stung by a wasp when inspecting his property at Mount Wesley, near Dargaville, Mr. E. W. J. Cuthbert decided to burn the wasps' nest. A strong breeze fanned the flames and in the dry bracken they spread through a patch of bush. The Dargaville nre brigade had to be called out. Farmers and Unions. As an extension of its "good relations" policy, the Auckland Trades Council of the Federation of Labour has arranged a series of regular meetings between the executive of the council and the executive of the Auckland Provincial Farmers' Union. This move follows closely 6n the recent conference attended by representatives of the council, the Chamber of Commerce, Manufacturers' Association, Employers' Association, and the Farmers' Union, states the "Auckland Star." A meeting attended by the executives of the Farmers' Union and the Trades Council decided to set up a contact committee consisting of the president, vice-president, and secretary of each organisation to discuss matters affecting the two organisations, such as manpower and stabilisation. It is planned to hold meetings at any time that matters of vital interest to the two organisations arise. "The Stabilisation Emergency Regulations were discussed on Tuesday," said Mr. F. ..Craig, president of the Trades Council, "and we found that our views coincided to a large extent and that the anomalies in the order that affect us also, have a similar bearing on members of the Farmers' Union." Untidy Servicemen. The remedy for mess and litter about streets and roads is education, said Councillor S. Blackley when the Hutt County Council was discussing, yesterday afternoon, complaints about the untidy state of one of its seaside townships, normally with a population of 700, but now the centre of camps holding about 8000 servicemen. American cities and tow,ns were clean, he said, and Continental people were tidy to the length of picking up straws from country roads. The chairman, Mr. R. L. Button, proposed that refuse cages should be placed in the streets for paper, cigarette packs, ice cream cartons, etc., but Councillor F. W. Vickerman thought not, for the facilities were ample for. the township's normal needs, and under abnormal conditions other people should share the responsibility for additional facilities. Cleaning up would be quite a job. It would occupy a man for half a day seven days of the week, said the county overseer, Mr. E. M. Campbell. American servicemen were not outstandingly tidy, as had been shown, not only by littering streets, but by the dumping of garbage on roadsides. That had happened, said Mr. Button, but when it was pointed out to their officers the nuisance was remedied at once. The Health Department is to be asked to contribute towards the cost of keeping the township streets- clean and tidy.