GENERAL NEWS 60,000,000 Oysters Sent From Bluff

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 October 1948, Page 6

GENERAL NEWS 60,000,000 Oysters Sent From Bluff

The Railways Department handled 86,739 sacks of oysters, which were sent from Bluff to all parts of New Zealand,- during : the -season just ended. An ordinary ..oyster sack holds about 60 dozen oysters, and on this basis ; more than 5,000,000 dozen, or 60,300,000 oysters, were carried by the. railways. In carrying these oysters 1059' railway bogey trucks, which are twice the size of ordinary railway trucks,' were used. A total of 25,527 sacks of oysters was sent to Wellington for distribution in the North Island. . ‘

Coal for Railways The steamer Rivercrest has arrived at Wellington from Great Britain with between 8000 and 9000 tons of coal, for the New Zealand Railways. The coal is said to be first grade steam coal. The ship Wellpark left Britain a few days ago with about 8000 tons of coal for the railways.— (P.A.)

Resident Magistrate The procrastination which had met efforts to have a resident magistrate appointed to serve the West Coast was criticised by members of the Greymouth Chamber of Commerce at their annual meeting last evening, and a resolution urging that a suitable appointment be made was adopted.

Capital Punishment At the opening of the quarterly sessions of the Supreme Court at Dunedin yesterday the Grand Jury placed the following rider before Mr Justice Kennedy: “Owing to the increased number of murders in the Dominion, the Government should be recommended to reintroduce capital punishment or, .failing that, imprisonment for life.”—(P.A.)

Strongman Mine Visited A number of Westport mining students visited the Grey coal-fields during the week-end, and carried out an inspection of the Strongman State mine at Nine Mile. The visitors were conducted over the mine workings by the colliery manager, Mr G. K. Keown, who gave an address on pillar extraction and mine fires in the Waikato fields. Surface equipment und the modern coal bins at Rapahoe were also inspected by the Buller visitors. Whitebait Catches Whitebait made an appearance in most West Coast streams on Monday when the biggest catches of the season were obtained from the Grey river. Apart from a good number of individual consignments from Greyrnouth, some four tons were railed to Christchurch from Hokitika, this quantity including two and a half tons from South Westland rivers and one and a half tons from the Hokitika district. Good hauls were also made in the Buller district where more than 10001 b of whitebait was flown by service plane to Wellington markets. The recurrence of cold weather and heavy seas yesterday, however, has again interfered with the “run.” Extension of Aerodrome

A proposal for the extension of the Grey aerodrome to give an east-fe-west runway of three-quarters of a mile in length, was made by Mr F. Congreve at the annual meeting of the Greymouth Chamber of Commerce last evening. He said that by transferring the railway line to Karoro from* its present site to below the bank at the side of Cowper street, by making a deviation behind the locomotive sheds, and by diverting Sawyer’s creek (in accordance with the plan for the development of a sports area behind the swimming baths), a large area of land could be made available for the aerodrome, with no nearby large buildings to cause a hazard to aircraft.

National Savings Less than the district quota was invested in National Savings in the Grey district last week, the amount being £976, as against the quota of £lOB5. Blackball, Otira, and Waiuta exceeded their individual quotas by large amounts, the only other towns to succeed being Kumara, which equalled its quota. Individual investments with the quota in parentheses, are as follows:—Greymouth, £5OB (£525); Blackball, £lO5 ( £50); Brunnerton, £ll (£50); Hokitika, £73 (£185); Kumara, £25 f£2s); Otira, £59 (£10); Reefton, £66 (£90); Ross, £9 (£25); Runanga, £ll (£100); Waiuta, £llO (£25). Total, £976 (£1085).

Anniversary Holiday A recommendation that the holiday in lieu of the Anniversary Day holiday (December 1) be held on February 14 was made by the Greymouth Chamber of Commerce at its annual meeting last evening. It was pointed out that usually the day was arranged to coincide with a two-day meeting of the Greymouth Jockey Club, but the club on this occasion had suggested that the holiday be observed a week before Easter which was not acceptable, said the president, Mr R. J. Truman. In connection with Christmas and New Year trading, Mr Truman stated that all shops would be closed on the Mondays and Tuesdays directly following the Christmas and New Year week-ends. Benefits Offset

“At long last we have managed to get the 1949 schedule of import licences announced and it would appear that all the protests made have not hastened the announcement, as it is coming later with every year,” said the president of the Greymouth Chamber of Commerce, Mr R. J. Truman at the annual meeting last evening. “It is hoped that eventually a more reasonable time will be found to announce such a major issue in commerce.” he added, pointing out that the late announcement had in no small manner offset many of the benefits that could have been derived from the lowering of the exchange rate owing to a steady rise in costs in overseas markets.

Mass will be celebrated on next Sunday, October 24 at Ruru, 8 a.m. and at Paroa 10.15 a.m.—Advt.

Remember the last Ball, this one will be better. Stillwater W.I. Ball, Saturday, October 23.—Advt.

Monday night conversation in Greymouth home. Husband: “There’s a good picture on tonight, what about coming? But I suppose you’re too tired —it’s wash day.” Wife: “No—l’ve turned over a new leaf —I’ve sent all my washing to the Westland Laundry. I’m tired of being tired on wash day.” What a wise decision. Washday fatigue gets'you. And it’s not worth it when cur service costs so little. Phone, 13G. Depot. Sam McAra.—Advt.