HOKITIKA NOTES

Grey River Argus, 5 September 1939, Page 2

HOKITIKA NOTES

[Our Own Correspondent]. HOKITIKA, September 4. The weather for the week-end was showery. There was a thunderstorm yesterday about 5 p.m. for a short i time, with more rain. After midnight a sustained thunderstorm passed over the district, lasting several hours. The lightning was extremely vivid and the thunder loud and sustained. This morning broke cloudy and continued threatening. Last | week's rainfall was Q.l7_ inches, and I there was 22 hours, of sunshine. On Saturday evening over 100 Kanieri residents took part in a “Know Your Neighbour” re-union. A ■ most enjoyable evening resulted, and a sumptuous repast was done full jusitice to, and the following toasts were j honoured: The Hall Improvement ■ Corps, by Mr. W. Owens, reply by Mr. I A. Cummings; The Old Committee, by Mr. E. Best, reply by Mr. R. Chesterman; The Ladies, by Mr. A. Dwan, reply by. Mr. C. Howat; Sports and Pastimes by Mr. E. Pfahlert. Replies' to this toast were on cards drawn,! and defaulters paid 18/- in fines. The musicians, by Mr. G. Kennedy, reply by Mr. A. Lawn. Items were given by Messrs C. Pfahlert, Junr., R. McLaughlan C. Pfahlert, Senr., E. Best, F. Parker, Mrs. Shields, A. Cum-, mings, Mrs. Fiddler and Mr. Chester-) man, and community singing ied by Mr. Lawn. An outstanding evening concluded with dancing, community singing and “Auld Lang Syne.” Guests were loud in their praise of the efforts of Mrs. Croawell and the others of the Ladies’ Committee, and to Mr. Lawn at the piano. The second annual general meeting of the Westland Co-operative Dairy Company Ltd., was held in the Town Hall on Friday, September 1, there being an attendance of over 70 shareholders.

The output for the season ended June 30 was 550 tons 2 qrs. The total 1 gross pay-out to shareholders was at the rate of 16d. per lb. butter-fat, and the average pay-out, all grades, was 15.912 d. The cost to f.o.b. per lb. butter-fat was 2.428 d. The average grade of butter was 94.036 per I cent. The directors to retire, Messrs J. Martin, J. T. Smith and J’.’ J. Mcln-j tosh, were re-elected. At a subsequent meeting of directors, Mr. Wallace was again unanimously elected chairman. The following resolutions were submitted and carried:— “That as dairy farmers, unable to pass our costs on, we urge the Government in equity, to exempt from the special defence tax, motor spirits used in farm, stationary and tractive engines for productive purposes.’’ (2) “That inasmuch as the Government’s policy has resulted in a definite rise in costs to the dairy industry, it is imperative that the responsibility of maintaining the stability and expansion of the industry should rest with the Government through the medium of the present guaranteed price and State Marketing Scheme, and that as the basis for fixing the 1939-40 guaranteed price the Government in equity should adopt the recommendations of the 1938 Price Advisory Committee, the industry agreeing to forego cost , increases since the committee’s finding. ;• '•< : In the Golf Club’s stableford bogey played on Saturday, H. Steel won in ; the "A” division with 37 points, and < W. Sanders in the “B” with 35 points. ; In the play-off for eighth place for i the senior qualifying round of the 1 Club Championship, R. Cox was sue- j cessful and will meet G. Adamson in f the draw. a The ladies’ September medal match j was won by Miss Stevenson 91/17/74,1] in the silver medal division; and by I £ Mrs. R. Millen in the bronze medalj e division 98/26/72 with a reduction in i handicap of one. The following were 1

the best cards:—Silver medal: Misf Stevenson 91/17/74, Mrs. Johnston 93/16/77, Mrs. Andrewes 88/9/79; Miss Adamson 92/12/80, Miss King 100/16/84. Bronze medal: Mrs. Millen 98/26772, Mrs. King 110/36/74, Miss E. Dale 105/30/75, Mrs. Harper 108/31/77, 3 Mrs. Foster, 113/36/77, Mrs. West i 105/26/79, Miss L. Knight 100/21/79, c Miss Wilson 102/23/79, Mrs. R. Anderson 105/25/80, Mrs. Cooke 103/22/ ' 81, Mrs. Murdoch 108/23/85. The storm the other night caused considerable damage to young lambs 'lin the Kokatahi Valley. One settler J reported losing fifteen, another ten ' ‘ and generally there were many addi- ! tional losses, including some ewes. The storm caused a breakdown of 1 the electric power in the valley and 1 neither power or light was available ‘ until yesterday afternoon. l i There was an unusual visitation in i the Kokatahi Valley on Friday shortly after noon, when a thunderstorm ' struck across the valley, only a strip a little over a mile wide being affected. The storm was accompanied by an extremely heavy fall of hail, which was up to six inches deep in places, though the fall all took place inside lof an hour. In the Upper Koiter- , angi district and Upper Kokatahi, there was no storm, bright sunshine being experienced, except when the storm was at its height, and then there were clouds for a while and the atmosphere was cooler. The fall 'of hail did not extend down below I Diedrich’s stock yards. After the storm the rest of the afternoon was fine.

Captain Owen McGuigan', of Arahura, in the course of an interesting letter, written from Gloucester, England, on 10th. August, says: Just a few ’lines to let you know that I am still in the land of the living, but not so good as New Zealand. I must say that I had a great trip through England, S'cotlbnd, France, Switzerland Italy, Germany, Belgium and Holland. I left London for Amiens, and visited the battlefields of Villers Bretonneaux, Chuignes, viewed the big gun which bombarded Amiens and | was captured by the Australian ■troops in August, 1918, Birfay Woods, ' Longueval, Delville Woods, Thiepval, i Beaumont Hamel, Albert and Querrieu. There are no signs to be seen of any war equipment in any of the the fields, with the exception of the big gun. The fields are all full of crops right out to the side of the road, and beautiful motor roads for miles around the battlefields. The graves are most beautifully kept, and it is so easy to find any grave that you may be looking for. Paris is a very nice place. I spent four days there, and visited all the principal sights, although the weather was very hot. It

was quite a treat to visit the Horticultural College of France at Versailles; it has been going since the time of King Louis XIV. After leaving France, I went to Lucerne in Switzerland, a most beautiful place—something like New Zealand—with its snow-capped mountains and its lovely lakes, with plenty of steamers trading on the lakes for pleasure. During a stay of three days in Switzerland, I visited the great National Swiss Exhibition at Zurich, and then left for Lugand and Milan in Italy; a most beautiful drive by motor car over the Alps on our way to Venice, where the only transport you have is a barrow and gondola. I must tell you a little about the great city of Berlin, where all the talk of war is said to come from. While I was there I never heard one word about war, but a person could see for himself what was going on. There is no one out of work in Germany, in a fact they have thousands from Italy working in Germany. Every single * person that you see of military age is 1 in uniform. They have great camps < going on all the time and they have } air machines by the thousands, fly- , ng night and day. ( The talk at the present in England j

is nothing but war-talk. Everywhere I you look in the country soldiers are i training, and the papers have the 'people worked up.” I The returns of Air Travel (N.Z.) ' Ltd., for August, show that the total number of flying hours for the month was 152. The number of flights was 328, and the number of passengers 216. Mail carried weighed 376 lb. and freight 2,1481 b. Aeroplanes were I flown on 29 of the 31 days in the month. At the Magistrate’s Court, the police charged Henry Albert Smith, I a young man, with throwing stones on I two houses in Sewell Street, on the night of July 16th. Constable Stuart gave evidence of admissions by 'defendant. Sergeant Gilligan stated it was alleged by the defendant that he threw the stones to make two young women with him run, as they were cold. The Bench stated that i such holliganism should be stopped.' Defendant was convicted and fined 20s and costs 10s on the first charge and' convicted and ordered to pay costs on the second. Judgment for plaintiff with costs were given in the following claims: Thomas Adamson (Mr. Elcock) v. Henry Reid £3 Ils Od and costs 23s 6d. L. E. Spiers (Mr. James) v. W. J. Blacklow, for balance oS claim, £1 15s Od 'and costs 30s 6d. E. J. Allen (Mr. James) v. J'. Phelan £3 13s Od and costs 23s 6d. G. P. Rea (Mr. Elcock) v. A. C. Howat £l2 6s Od and costs 54s 6d. Trumans, Ltd. (Mr. Elcock) v. B. Fergu-' son, £1 5s and costs 10s. Several other cases set down were adjourned, being beyond the jurisdiction of the Court.