LOCAL AND GENERAL

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3400, 30 July 1932, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

“In my opinion the banks are in just as awkward a position as everybody else,” said Mr. F. Colbeck in an address at Pahiatua. “Their securities are frozen stiff, and they could not possibly realise on them.”

Speakino- at Patea last week, Mr. A. W. Heyes, a representative of one of the firms handling export dairy produce from New Zealand, said that 47,000 tons of eggs were imported into Tooley Street. That would work out at 845,000,000 eggs—enough to supply quite a large number of omelettes, he commented.

A wag in the grandstand at Lansdown Park, Blenheim, on Saturday afternoon at the representative match between Marlborough and Bush scored a hearty laugh, says the Express, off the recently adopted rule prohibiting- the replacement of players. There was a sudden stoppage in the game, the usual significant clustering of players around one of their number, and a series of frantic signals in the direction of the grandstand, where the manager of the Bush team was seated. For a while the semaphoring was resultless, so the gesturing player on the field supplemented his signals with an urgent request for “shorts—pants—trousers.” A gale of laugh ter swept the stand as a firm voince called back with a tone of finality: “No replacements!”

The prospects of Angora rabbit farming as a means of giving employment to disabled returned soldiers were reported as being- bright at a meeting of the Canterbury Disabled Soldiers’ Re-establishment Committee, The committee decided to wait upon the Prime Minister to ascertain what help the Government could give in settling- soldiers on five-acre farms. It was stated that if the proposed scheme was the means of even settling ten soldiers on rabbit farms, there would be a saving- in pensions of £SOO annually after the first 18 months. This point will be stressed when the committee meets the Prime Minister.

An interesting- commentary on the present wave of economy is afforded by the experience of the caretaker of a Christchurch school which is attended by a large number of children. When there was no talk of depression he used to collect on the average a barrel and a half of scraps of food in the playground after the school closed each day, and he was able to feed quite a number of fowls in this way. Now he collects barely half a barrel of scraps in a week, and consequently he has reduced the number of his fowls. The ci-edit for the reduction in the waste of food at the school is, of course, partly due to the teachers, who take every opportunity of impressing on the children that it is wrong to waste food while there are so many persons in want.

Revealing the extent of war pension payments in New Zealand, Mr. E. F. Willcox, secretary of the Christchurch Returned Soldiers’ Association, +old the quarterly meeting of the association on Monday evening that on March 31 last there were 21,041 war pensioners. The amount paid out in war pensions last -"ear was £1,2(31,778, which represented an increase of £10,279 over the total of the previous year. Discussing the War Pensions Appeal Board, Mr. Willcox said it was carrying out a work of great benefit to soldiers. Mr. G. Hayden remarked at a later stage of the meeting, that of the 21,000 pensioners, 16,000 odd were actually ex-soldiers, and the others were dependents.

Small suburban farmlets of a type suitable for poultry-keeping or market gardening, and dairy farms on the market at a reasonable figure, are reported by Wellington land agents to be in demand (says the Dominion). The same degree of activity has not been noted in the residential property market, but it is fairly generally agreed that the last few weeks has seen this market take a turn for the better. Suburban property is stated to have been more affected by the present economic difficulties than has city property.

The Lower Hutt Borough Council decided on Monday to continue its campaign against the alleged high cost of insuring relief workers. It was resolved that the Town Clerk, in conjunction with the Town Clerk of Wellington, should organise a deputation to the Unemployment Board on the question, inviting representatives of the insurance companies to be present, the representatives to have the opportunity, if desired, of replying to the arguments advanced by the deputation. The Town Clerk reported that so far he had received 77 replies to the 128 letters he had sent to local bodies on the question, and of these 39 were favourable to the council’s proposals, 27 against, and 11 noncommittal.

A suggestive arising out of the discussion at the recent Anglican Synod in connection with motion pictures is made by Mr. H. C. Norris, Chancellor of the Diocese, in the latest issue of the Waikato Diocesan Magazine. Mr. Norris, proposes that a list of pictures approved by the editor of the Magazine, or by some committee acting for him, should be published in each issue. Church people would then have some indication of what pictures were suitable for young people. It was probable that the information would result in greater attendance at the pictures recommended by the Magazine than at others, and proprietors of picture theatres would have a direct incentive to show films of the type likely to be approved by the Magazine.

Nowadays one hears a lot of talk about frozen mutton, frozen butter and frozen hands, but frozen eggs are considered a rarity, at least in this part of the country. ATe Kuiti housewife this morning had a unique experience when preparing breakfast. On going to the larder she discovered that several new-laid eggs were missing, these having been accidentally left outside in a basket, and were all frozen hard. All the shells were cracked, and a portion of the white of the eggs had oozed out, forming peculiar round lumps. The complete shells were easily removed without breaking' the centres, which were then placed in the frying pan, and it took several minutes to completely thaw them.

A serious thing for the dairy industry in New Zealand was the rapid improvement being made in Australia, both in quality and quantity of the produce, contended Mr. W. Hall, chairman of directors, at the annual meeting of the Waitara-Taranaki Cooperative Dairy Company at Huirangi on Monday. Despite the fact that the Australians had to face periodic droughts and other climatic handicaps they were, he suggested, overhauling New Zealand in quality and quantity. He considered they had even drawn ahead with their selling organisations and were bidding fair to become a serious opponent of the Dominion on the butter market.

Although the export trade is at a rather low ebb at the present time, the British motor industry is in an enviable position, according to Mr. A. D. Peardon, who returned to Melbourne last week after two and a half years with the Austin Motor Company at Birmingham. Mr. Peardon, who held the light car record from Melbourne to Perth in 1928 (six days six hours) said that largely as a result of the “Buy British” campaign, there were few foreign-made cars on the English roads. The horsepower tax was also an important factor in keeping American cars out of the market, while the inci-easing measure of protection given to the industry was paving- the way for future prosperity. In England the trend of fashion was towards the light and medium light cars, well adapted to Australian conditions. In the last 12 months motor car manufacturers had specialised in improvement to the gear box, the evolving of a silent third gear, and the automatic change.

Representatives of the Public Works Department, the Main Highways Board, the Transport Department, the Audit Department, the Institute of County Clerks, County Engineers, and the New Zealand Society of Civil Engineers are attending a conference which opened in Wellington on Wednesday to consider problems connectwith roading costs. The principal ob jects of the conference are to endeavour to establish a uniform system of costing with regard to road expenditure and collect a reasonable amount of traffic statistics to form the basis for the proper study of roading problems, so that the maximum benefit will result from the expenditure of the funds made available.

Over 10,000 sheep are expected to be shorn in West Australia this season, compared with 9,984,000 last season. This should be a record for the State, nearly doubling the flecks since 1910, when the numbering was 5,158,516. When the mining industry was booming in 1900, West Australia had a little over 2,500,000 sheep. The wool clip will probably amount to 214,000 bales, of which about half will come from the agricultural areas, where farmers are combining sheep with wheat in increasing measure. A large number of farmers have changed from Merinos to cross-breds with the object of breeding export lambs. There is a decided tendency towards increasing cross-bred and come-back flocks throughout the whole of the agricultural areas. Brokers are making provision for about 180,000 bales to be sold in Perth during the coming season, and probably from 25,000 to 30,000 bales will be shipped to London.