LOCAL AND GENERAL

Grey River Argus, 26 November 1942, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The edges of all the steps outside (he Municipal building have been painted yellow during the past few days. It is thought that this will reduce the risk of accident during black-out periods.

Five more bales of waste paper are ready for despatch to Mataura, for pulping, two bales having been received at the Town Hall yesterday. The waste rags recently collected for the Air Force were also- ready for despatch yesterday.

At yesterday’s meeting of the Armed Forces Appeal Board, a member of the clerical staff of the National Service Department in Greymouth took up her duties as assistant to Mr C. F. Shapcott, Clerk of the Board. Mr Shapcott has been without assistance for a long time.

■lt’s time to brighten up for Xmas. White’s suggest a smart hat. Their selection is big and varied. Call today at White’s Corner. Your Fashion Centre. —Advt. '

During the week ended on Saturday last 17,038 tons of mechandise were railed through! the Otira tunnel from the West Coast to Canterbury. This compares with 17,601 tons m the same period of 1941 and 13,521 ions in the corresponding period of 1940.

Appeals from men drawn in the ballot of November 11 are still being received in Greymouth, though the period during which* -appeals might be lodged ended last Saturday. A total of 439 men were drawn in the Grey and Hokitika districts, and so far '270 appeals have been lodged. P. J'. Gallagher, late of the Empire Hotel, Seddonville, is now “mine host” at the New Commercial Hotel, Reefton, where old and new friends are assured of a hearty welcome.— Advt.

The steam train which will take racegoers to Christchurch to-mor-row night, taking the place of the usual rail car, is already booked out. The nine cars will take 330 passengers. Other intending travellers will be accommodated on the perishable goods train.

The Greymouth Patriotic Fund now totals £Bl4 18s 6d. Latest donations are: Part staff Greymouth Borough Council 14s; Greymouth Women’s Patriotic Committee shop day Nov. 6. £5O; Cobden-Blaketown shop clay Get. 23, £3l 4s lid; Cobden Patriotic Committee dances £5B 4s; part staff Greymouth Borough Council 14s.

Entries for the Jessie Mackay Memorial Prize for verse close with the hon. secretary of the P.E.N., Box 965, Wellington on February 28, 1943. The judge for the 1942 award is Mr Alan Mulgan. Poems must have been written or published durin- 1942. Pules and conditions of the competition are available.

Details of the- medical grading of .he first 65 men examined in Greymouth from the 18th ballot are as follows: Grade 1, 27; Grade 2,9; Grade 3. 19; Grade 4, nil; remedial D-eatment, 3; deferred for further examination 7. Four men have failed to report for examination. Sixtyseven miners drawn in the ballot are among those not to be examined.

The Grey Valley and State miners 1 ave decided to work the two remaining back Saturdays before Christmas (November 28 and December 12) at ordinary rates of pay. '.he Wallsend miners reached a s'milar decision last week. All Grey r.istrict mines will now work the back Saturdays, in response- to the Mining Controller’s request. The- initial meeting of the Greymouth Rehabilitation Committee was held in the Borough Council Chambers on Tuesday afternoon. The following were present: Mrs A. H. McKane, Messrs J. O’Brien, M.P., J. Stokes, G.' R. Harker, J. Scott, T. P. Ryan and T. Shaw. Mr Stokes was elected chairman on the motion of Messrs Ryan and Harker. The functions of the committee were discussed, and several applications from ex-servicemen for assistance were considered.

Save Health—Vitality—Time for urgent wartime tasks. Guarding your health these days is an obligation not only to yourself and famuy but to the- country’s war effort. Doctors and nurses are needed in the armed services. One wav to protect your health is to let a professional laundry to your washing. 'Phone 136 and Westland ■ Laundry will do the rest. —Advt.

It was urgently necessary for the mn e to have certain classes of timber, and it was a great advantage for them to have a contractor cutting on their own timber area near the mine, a representative- of the State Minos said yesterday, in explaining to the Armed Forces Appeal Board why a man, previously employed as a miner and now a bushman, was being appealed for. Timber was often wanted in special sizes and irregular quantities, and it made a big difference if the mine could have- what it required when it. required it—instead of having a long wait.

Good progress is being made on the repairs to the half-tide training wall in the Grey River. The work, which was begun at the railway bridge, is now close to the traffic bridge. Below this ooint a new experiment. in constructiqn is to' be carried out with the construction of a “fence” consisting of two sets of wooden rails supported bv concrete posts. The space between will be filled in with rocks, which will also buttress the structure on either side. The ureymouth Harbour Board’s Engineer (Mr D. S. Kennedy) said that this new method was being used owing to shortage of labour.

If a mistake by a Government Department which has come under the notice of a Dunedin business man has been repeated in other instances, it must represent a considerable wastage. not only of paper, but also of stamps. In one mail, in separate envelopes, he received three identical copies of a notice requiring him to compile his firm’s ■ dealings over a per'od of three years in a commodity which it handies. As the notice requires him to supply within a week information which, under present staff conditions, cannot possibly be prepared in that t’me, and as the onus is placed upon him of having the return certified by a member of the New Zealand Society of Accountants, the Dunedin man is wondering whether he is entitled to feel annoyed or whether he should treat the whole matter as a joke.