LOCAL AND GENERAL

Grey River Argus, 7 December 1940, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

All men residing in the Cobden area over the age of 16 years are reminded that a meeting of all members and all willing to join the Home Guard will be held in the Cobden school gymnasium to-morrow (Sunday) morning at 11 o’clock.

The Minister of Finance, Hon. W. Nash, announced that loans and donations to the War Expenses Fund now total £2,637,319. Amounts acknowledged include a gift of £l5OO from the Dominion Federation of New Zealand Women’s Institutes. —Press Assn.

White’s are showing beautiful Summer Coats, special for Xmas-time trade. The colourings are of the very latest and fit; quality and style are guaranteed.—Advt.

After to-day, the Blackball railway station will be relegated to the status of a flag station. Mr J. Reid, who has been stationmaster for over two years, will be replaced by a tablet porter. All goods and parcels forwarded by rail to Blackball after today will require to have the freight charge prepaid.

During the week the following positions were secured by the State Placement Service, Greymouth: Permanent: delivery roundsman 1; furniture . factory hand 1; labourer 2; farm labourer 1; assistant storeman 1; (female) waitress 1; temporary: labourer 2; sharer 1.

The establishment of a Standards Council is provided for in the Standards Bill, which was read the first time in the House of Representatives. The Council is to act in an advisory capacity to the Minister of Industries and Commerce, to whom it will ma*’e recommendations on tne registration and use of standard marks, the application of standard specifications, and the examination and testing of commodities, processes, and practices. —Press Assn.

Social and Dance in honour of Mr Aif Walker, who is retiring, and Miss N. Comerford (Postmistress), Cronadun Hall to-night (Saturday). AH residents invited.—Advt.

The telegrams to the Netherlands East Indies, according to advice from the Chief Postmaster, there now is permitted the following codes: — Bentley’s Second Phrase, Bentley’s Complete Phrase, and A.B.C. SL— Edition. The foregoing codes and also Peterson’s Third Edition, are permitted in telegrams to Netherlands Guiana. Code language is not permitted in telegrams for Thailand (Siam).

A meeting of th e Executive Committee of the West Coast Federation of Women’s Institutes was held at Harker’s Rooms yesterday afternoon, there being present Mesdames Stewart (chair), Smith, Templeton, Johnson and Armstrong. Several members met the Group Travel party from Nelson during their stay .in Greymouth. Headquarters notified that the. sum of £l5OO had been handed over to the War Purposes Funu, £550 being on loan for the duration of the war. The greater part of this amount is the shilling per member contributed by the Women’s Institutes of New Zealand.

In t/is issue the Railways Department advertises particulars of the running of Mai] and Relief trains between Greymouth and Christchurch for the Christmas and New Year Holidays.—Advt.

The Greymouth P.lunket Society's annua] Rose Day appeal held yesterday proved most successful. An early invasion of the streets and shops by a large band of willing assistants resulted in large numbers of roses ocing disposed of, and the snop day held in conjunction with the appeal did good business. There were no les s than four shop days in Greymoutht yesterday, and although business people accept this intrusion on their spheres of activity quite philosophically, it does appear that the time has come to co-ordinate these efforts so that overlapping will be avoided in future. Deserving a s each appeal might be, the fact remains that so much overlapping results in only small returns for a hard day's work. Appeals such as that of the Plunket Society and St. John’s Ambulance are more necessary than ever in war time, and all organisations should make some effort ?o coordinate their activities to their own mutual advantage.

Mrs Donaldson presided over the monthly meeting of the Ngahere Women’s Institute, when there was a fair attendance. Final arrangements were made for the children’s Xmas party. Letters of thanks were sent to the School Committee for their -donation to the party funds, and to Mr Philip for his gift of a rocking horse to be raffled the night of the party. The competition resulted as follows: Mrs Richardson 1, Mrs Armstrong 2, Mrs Thornton h.c. January’s competition is to be a tray cloth made from a flour bag. Games and competitions occupied the social hour and during the afternoon tea the guest of the afternoon, Mrs Todd was presented with a crystal vase by the president on behalf of the members. The hostesses were Mesdames Ware and Richardson. The motto: “Do as well as you can to-day, and perhaps tomorrow you may be able to do better.”

West Coast weather has at lease two distinctions worthy of note apart from its relative ■ dampness at certain times. These were pointed out on Wednesday in one of his broadcasts by the chronicles, “Friend of the Birds,” whose wide province expends to natural history, Maori times and legends, the European pioneers, and similar aspects of New Zealand life and character. Abel Tasman’s logbook was the source of extracts and comment from “Friend of the Birds,” on this occasion, relative to the Dutch navigator’s voyage up the West Coast on December 9, 1642, or nearly three hundred years ago. He made the point that from Tasman came the verj' first weather report ever issued in relation to the West Coast by a European. It is a fact that from the time Tasman made his first landfall south of Hokitika till he cleared the South Island a weea or so later, he experienced gloriously fine, cairn weather.

I At the monthly meeting of the Cobiden School Committee, Miss C. E. Newman wrote, resigning her position as assistant mistress, and thanking ! the committee for the co-operation i between committee and staff. The resignation of Mr C. Brown as a mem- , ber of the committee was accepted with regret. Accounts amounting to £5 2s 5d were passed for payment. The headmaster reported that the attendance had been 219.2 out of an I average roll of 233, or 9a per cent. .The Joseph P. Firth Scholarship ■ would be available this year, and preliminary steps had been taken. The collectors for the clinic reported that up to the present a good response had been made by residents. The collec-1 tion will be completed next week. The prize-giving concert was fixed for Tuesday, December 17, and arrangements were made for the break-up on the following day. On behalf of the staff, the headmaster conveyed seasonal greetings to committee mem-j bers, and these were reciprocated.