Local and General

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 September 1945, Page 4

Local and General

The winner of the “In the Swim Art Union, whose identity has been a carefully preserved secret for two weeks, is C. W. Howison, motor mechanic, emploved by the Railway I Road. Services at Dunedin. He is married, with three children. Howison has taken tickets occasionally for two years. He intends to hold his “windfall” as a reserve against the luture.—P.A.

The Wellington City Council on Wednesday authorised the expenditure of £6OO for the purchase of a young female elephant now in Calcutta for the Wellington Zoo. The chairman of the reserves committee (Cr. R. I. Mac Alister) said it was hoped to secure anothei’ young elephant, also a female, as a gift.—P.A.

Mr A. Hanna, Dominion President of the New Zealand Educational Institute, addressed a meeting of members of Home and School Associations in the Grey Main School last evening. Over 100 were present. The topics dealt with by Mr Hanna included school equipment and sex education.

Greymouth will shortly have a central milk depot which all district producers will supply, if negotiations now proceeding are finalised. Preliminary arrangements have already been made, and efforts are now. directed to securing a suitable building in a central part of the town. It is intended that the milk be bottled at the depot and delivered by the firm conducting the depot. Mr. I. L. Thomsen has been appointed director of the Carter Observatory, Wellington. It is expected that the observatory will soon be in working order again. Mr. Thomsen is at present on special duty with the Navy. He was appointed assistant astronomer at the observatory in 1939. He is the author of several scientific papers, and was editor of the New Zealand Astronomical Society’s journal. He is a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.—P.A. The issue of a home service medal to personnel who served with the Home Guard was suggested by Mr. Sutherland (Opposition, Hauraki) in a notice of question to the Minister of Defence in the House of Representatives yesterday. Mr. Sutherland said some Allied countries had already expressed their intention of taking such action. The Home Guard had materially assisted to maintain civilian morale. —P.A.

Large quantities of coal have been railed to the East Coast this week, with the result that the strike in the timber industry has not affected materially the goods tonnage carried by the Railways Department. There will be unusually heavy coal traffic on the Westport line to-morrow, as in addition to the ordinary trains two special trains will bring 1000 tons of coal from the Buller district for railing to Canterbury.

The derailment of a goods train near Waimaunga on the GreymouthWestport line yesterday afternoon delayed Westport railcars 50 minutes and also interrupted goods traffic on the line. The Hokitika-Christchurch rail-car was held at Stillwater for 45 minutes last evening awaiting the arrival of the car from Westport. The track at the scene of the derailment was not seriously damaged and the line was open to traffic again at 5.15 p.m.

A small parcel of tobacco and cigarettes has been received by merchants in Greymouth, and these supplies were made available to tobacconists to-day. However, the quanitity was small and did not in any way meet the demand. The Karu is now expected to arrive at Greymouth on Monday morning, and merchants are hopeful that the full quota of tobacco and cigarettes will be included in her general cargo, though no definite advice to this effect has yet been received.

A warning to persons who venture within the lip of the crater of Mount Ruapehu has been given by Mr. A. C. Beck, of the Geological Survey, who has been at the mountain during the last month. Mr. Beck said the chances of anyone being caught in an explosion were slight, but sooner or later someone would be unlucky. When some visitors were at the edge of the crater last Saturday all appeared perfectly quiet and safe, but a sudden explosion peppered the visitors with rocks. Fortunately no one was injured. A telegram received yesterday from Mr. Beck said: “Moderate activity from a single large vent 200 feet deep.”—P.A.

The West Coast Seddon Shield team left this morning for Blenheim where to-morrow they will play Marlborough for the trophy which Marlborough have held since they won it in the first Shield match of the season against Buller. Mr. O. McLean, Secretary of the West Coast Rugby Union was in charge of the team, and Messrs A. Lindbom,' A. Agnew, T. O’Donnell, M. Davidson (Hokitika), and S. Hendry (one of the selectors) accompanied the team. A Linwood team (under Bst 71b) arrived from Christchurch this morning and to-morrow they will play a Greymouth Technical School team.

Mass will be celebrated on next Sunday, September 16, at Ruru, 8 a.m., and Kokiri 10 a.m.—Advt.

The Greymouth Women’s Patriotic Committee packed 350 parcels for servicemen overseas this week, 250 of the parcels being packed on Tuesday. These parcels are to be held at Greymouth until further advice is received from the Patriotic Fund Board. The Women’s Committee has a small quantity of khaki wool to be ;knitted, and a large quantity of navy wool for knitting into garments which are urgently needed by the Navy. Mrs F. W. Shallcrass, secretary of the committee, said to-day that the 34 Greymouth Borough, including Cobden and Blaketown, men who were prisoners of war in Germany, each received a parcel of chocolate from the committee on his arrival in England. The parcels were individually addressed, the names and numbers of the soldiers having, been secured through Base Records, and letters of appreciation have been received by the committee.

On the eve of their departure for a tour of the Commonwealth, personnel of the R.N.Z.A.F. Band were guests of honour at a reception given by the Australian Association. The best wishes of Wellington citizens were conveyed by the Mayor (Mr. W. Appleton). The Minister of Defence (Mr. Jones) said that the first request to send the R.N.Z.A.F. Band to Aus- , tralia came from the war veterans’ , organisation in Sydney. Another request came from J. C. Williamson, Ltd., which wanted to know if it were possible to take the band over to the Commonwealth as a commercial project. On top of these two requests the Australian Government asked for the band to help with a war loan. The band had done a great job in New Zealand, had raised large sums, and had helped to keep up the people’s morale. The Leader of the Opposition (Mr. Holland) and the Australian High Commissioner (Mr. de L. D’Alton) both wished the band bon voyage.

Whites are showing a very smart selection of Spring Millinery. Hundreds of Hats from which to choose and every one outstandingly smart. — White’s Corner, Your Fashion Centre. —Advt.

Rain gauge recovered. This was a serious loss for the Harbour Board and would undoubtedly upset the calculations for the average rainfall, iif it hgd not been recovered. On i i speaking to several Greymouth J housewives about the loss, they • stated that the rainfall no longer worried them like it did in the past I due to the fact that Greymouth had ‘ a most modern laundry, which 1 catered for their needs.—Westland Laundry, Ltd. ’Phone 136. Depot: Sam McAra.—Advt.