NEWS OF THE DAY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20573, 5 June 1941, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

£2OO to Hastings. Hastings will be apportioned about £2uo of the £SOOO resulting from the Dominion-wide collection of waste metal.

Fight at Tolaga Bay As a result of a fight in Solvander street, Tolaga Bay, two Maoris, Mate Tauhore and Erucra Arapeta Ngatai, were each fined £1 and costs 15s by Mr. E. L. Walton. S.M., in the Tolaga Bay Police Court recently.

Railway Goods Storage Goods storage at the Gisborne railway station is to be doubled in the near future by an extension of the existing goods shed. A special goods office also v/ill be added to the facilities at the station, in anticipation of a substantial increase in freight traffic with the opening of the Gis-borne-Waikokopu section of the East Coast Main Trunk line next year.

Married Men Shortly “The time of married men is approaching fast,” said the chairman of the No. 3 Armed Forces Appeal Board, Mr. A. Coleman, S.M., at a sitting of the board in Wanganui. “Within the next few months we shall be sending married men overseas, and consequently only in the most extreme circumstances can married men oe kept at home.”

Low Ruangarehn Rainfall The rainfall recorded at Ruangarehu station. Tokomaru Bay, for May was only ,97in,, the lowest for that month since 1930, when ,74in. fell during May. For the same month last year there was 4.31 in. of rain on 10 days, compared with only seven wet days last month Although this is a particularly low rainfall for the month, the total for the first live months of this year, 22.27 in„ is still almost 2in. above that recorded for the same period last year. Tolaga Bay Maori Fined

For using bad language to Constable W. H. Bradley and then digging his heels into his horse and riding furiously through the township of Tolaga Bay last month, a Maori, Ben Tautau, appeared recently before Mr. E. L. Walton, S.M., in the Tolaga Bay Police Court and was fined £3 and costs 15s for the use of obscene iangauge and £2 and costs on the charge of furiously riding his horse. Constable Bradley said that the incident occurred when lie had occasion to speak to Tautau one evening early in May.

Conditions in Tonga The people of Tonga are having a difficult time at present, owing to lack of shipping in which to export their copra, according to Mr. A. C. Slocombe, a visitor from Tonga, who is interested in the copra industry. Copra is the mainstay of the island and the failure to dispose of it had made conditions hard not only for the people but also for the Government, ite said. Bananas are also of muck importance to, the island, and fortunately the season lias been good. A 'hipment of 5000 cases reached Auckland recently from Tonga. In Honour A suggestion that bandsmen should think of the members serving with the armed forces overseas, and that at each practice a verse or the whole of a hymn be played, was: made by tire chairman of the citizens’ committee, Mr. W. Peet, at the annual meeting of the Wairoa Municipal Band. “The gesture is a very good one,”, said Mr. H. L. Ratcliffe. The conductor, Mr. A. R. Moore, endorsed the suggestion, and added that the playing df a hymn on practice nights would help the bandsmen in their playing considerably.—Special. Address to Teachers The Assistant Director of Education, Mr. J. McMurtrie, who is making a tour of the Hawke’s Bay district, addressed a well-attended meeting of teachers held in Wairoa on Tuesday night under the auspices of the New Zealand Educational Institute. Mrs. D. Ruff presided. Mr. McMurtrie dealt principally with the social welfare work of the institute and the system of biennial grading of teachers. The address was followed by questions and a general discussion, after which Mr. McMurtrie was accorded a vote of thanks, on the motion of Mr. L. W. Grieve. —Special.

Approach To Gisborne Keen interest in the improvement work being carried on by the Gisborne Beautifying Association in the neighbourhood of the railway station was expressed to-day by a visitor to the district, who expressed the opinion that the Waikanae Stream banks adjacent to the station, and on the town side of the river, would lend themselves to marked improvement. The importance of a handsome approach to the town, and the impression such an approach would make upon travellers by rail, were emphasised by the visitor, who suggested later attention to the bank of the stream east of Peel street.

New Field of Work For A.A. Although the number of inquiries from visiting motorists for information regarding road conditions 'has decreased to a large extent compared with the position in pre-war days, the held of automobile association work has widened somewhat and more time is being taken with the education of school children in road safety rules. The work of the school safety patrols is better known now to the motoring public and children moving to and from their schools are regulated by senior pupils so as to make their coming and going safe. There are nownine schools, Kopuawhara, Morere, Awapuni, Muriwai, Bartletts, Gisborne Intermediate, Kaiti, Ihungia, and Waerenga-o-kuri, operating on the safety patrol system. The same attention is still given to the maintenance of road signs and such routine work.

Theft of Spaghetti

“He is an old-timer and has a list of 40 previous convictions,” said Senior-Sergeant J. F. 11. Macnamara in the Police Court this morning when Thomas Alexander McGregor, aged 68, a labourer at Bartletts, appeared before Messrs. C. Blackburn and W. M. Jenkins, J.P.s, on a charge of the theft last night of four tins of spaghetti valued at 2s 4d, the property of Murdoch Cameron. The senior-sergeant said that when the accused was approached by Constable A. W. Vickers he denied the theft, and later said that he must have taken the tins without knowing what he was doing. Referring to his bad record and his apparent definite system of theft over the past 16 years, the Bench said that an attempt must be made to check the accused. McGregor was sentenced to imprisonment for one week.