LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS

Marlborough Express, Volume LIIII, Issue 83, 9 April 1920, Page 4

LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS

The annual general meeting of the Central Football Club will be held at 7.30 p.m. in the Loloma Tea Rooms to-mnr- -■'• right.

The annual general meeting of tho Awatere Dog Trial Association will be held in the Seddon Town Ha,U on Tuesday evening.

The-Gazette ■notifies that the payment of witnesses jn criminal cases and coroners' inquests has been increased from 6s to 10s per day.

A Press Association telegram from Wellington states that the estate of the late Mr D. J. Nathan has been sworn for probate at under £60,000.

Owing to the Borough Council Chambers being unprocurable, the quarterly meeting of the Chamber of Commerce will be held in the A. and P. Rooms to-night.

Owing to the influenza epidemic, fthe Home Mission Festival in connection . with. th 3 Church of the Nativity, which was to have been held next week, has been postponed for a month. —Advt.

A Press Association telegram from Wellington states that the payments by the Imperial Supplies Department to the 31st March total £133,091,240, of which £44,344,404 was paid for frozen moat and £55,481,257 for wool.

A wireless message to the Shaw, Savill Shipping Company states that the Corinthic is due at Wellington on Saturday morning. She has a number of returning soldiers on board.

The contractor for the construction of the Blenheim «waterworks commenced operations about three weeks ago, and some. two miles of trench at the top end—in the Taylor Pass district—have been opened up, while about half-a-mile of pipes have been laid and filled in.

A Wellington rink which participated in the Nelson Easter bowling tourney played two matches on the Piversdale green yesterday. The visitors were defeated by one point by a Riversdale rink skipped by P. Badfield in the morning, and in the afternoon a local rink skipped by Dr R, Noble-Adams defeated them by four points.

A correspondent, "Twice Fooled," writes to the Editor conimenting in strong terms upon the;fact that,, although advertised to make two trips to Torea on Easter Monday, the Admiral did ngtgo, at a,Uv and many intending passenger^ were disappointed. The burden'of th!e letter is that the 6vvher should keep faith with the public, even "at tlie ri3% of incui'riug 'financial "loss."' . . ."

Our "Watxi '■ correspondent writes: Tho: favorable season -oxperienced in the•■••Plaxbolirne diatricir has produced a splendid growth o| feed, and the prospects forl^winter reed hiive neyer .been bettor".< i-Crops of oats and peas have beeii splendid, and dairy faaniers have a most satisfactory season. ■Lucerne crops for' seed purposes have bden most; disappointing, owiiig to ijhe^^et autujnoifi causing too rniich sepbiK^,gro\vih-vin ,the plants, and. the' caterpillar has also played hayo'c in '«seveiral paddocks.;

There" sfrbufd be a "Targe gathering of returned, soldiers?in 'Blenheim next month For t|le several land ballots which will take place, on, May 13ih. The. "Mobrlsijtids ■ •/_.'..sections will be balloted for oh thiis date, together with the Pike, property, in the Dillon's Point area, a section of the Wither Run, and a section of the Wakamafiria 1 1 ,lt is understood that the Opouri section which was recently notified as being available for selection has been temporarily withdrawn. There is the prospect of several stations of Mahakipawa property being made available ; f6r soldier settlement at an early date.

The Moutere1 Hills Railway League has authorised a-flying''survey' to ascertain the best. practicable route for the proposed light line, and has appointed ;in organising secretary to bring every landowner in the Moutero Hills district into the League and rake the necessary funds for preliminary expenses. That the members of the executive are animated by the spirit that surmounts difficulties and brings worthy enterprises to successful conclusions is evidenced (says the Colonist) by. the fact that they themselves have already volunteered from their own pockets the amount required for the flying survey.

So^far as the Blenheim gasworks are concerned, the coal situation is as bad as ever it was. It has been very difficult to "carry on" with any degree of success at all. The works themselves are running satisfactorily, but the coal supplies are quite unsuitable for gas-making. The results and quality of the gas produced, are disappointing as to both the quantity and quality of the gas produced. . The usual class of coat —State coal from the West Coast— has not been forthcoming for f-omo weeks, not for the want of pleading; and the stocks in hand now consists of a shipment supposed to bo Newcastle,. which the controlling authorities sent across from Wellington, and some 50 tons of West Coast stuff that reached Blenheim a few days ago for the threshing mills. The first lot, really steam coal, is very indifferent for the purposes of the gasworks; the other is a little better, but it is only a makeshift. It is not a case of (shortage; the complaint is as to the description of the coal. The West Coast stuff went to the gasworks because the owners of tho threshing mills flatly refused to take it on acocunt of its fineness. It was so fine that at me railway station it blew out of the trucks and off the shovels. The gasworks have been promised a cargo of gas coal for next Tuesday. .

A Press Association' telegram from Timaru states that the championship draughts tournament was completed this morning, the 'winner beinp- D. Calderwood (Huntly). J n the final round ag-imst F. T. Hilliker (Dunodiii) Calderwood secured one win, vi bile there were three drawn games.

The Pateena, which left Picton shortly after 11 o'clock last night for Wellington, anchored at Te Awaite until early this morning, when the weather had moderated sufficiently to allow h*er to cross the straits. She arrived at Wellington at 10.30 a.m., and is scheduled to sail for Picton at 4 o'clock this afternoon.

A policy statement by the president of the recently-formed National Defenco League of New Zealand, is published on page 3 to-day. Other interesting reading-matter on the inside pages includes Correspondence, Sports and Pastimes, "Haifa's New Job," Cable News, "Public' Works," "Dear Breakfast Table," "Street Beggars' Earnings," and "Dear Sugar for Australia."

At the present time (says a Wellington telegram) ' the Railway Department has" in hand a programme which involves the building in New Zealand of 40 locomotives, 35 cars, 12 brake vans, and 592 wagons. Of the locomotives; 20 are being built under contract by A. and C. Price, and the balance will be turned out of the Department's own workshops; likewise the cars, vans, and wagons. In order further to provide for requirements and to meet the shortage of rolling-stock resulting from war conditions, tenders are being invited in England for the manufacture of 25 large locomotives and 2500 wagons. It is intended to supplement this by inviting tenders in New Zealand for the building of 1000 wagons.

Grocers, listen! "In every sense of service that thou renderest ihou thyself art being served" (Browning).. Thorefarc*,. push: ■ "Keep Smiling Boot Polish at 8d per tin.—Advt. In a case heard at Christchurch, the Arbitration iCpurt awarded the widow of a. South Canterbury drover, who wasjbhrown from his lior.se and killed £300 compensation and expensosi. One of the defences raised was that the action was barred by tho Workers' Compensation Act, as it had licit. been brought within 'sax months from the date of death. The Court, in holding against the defendants in this, point, attributed the lapse of time before iihe action was brought to ho. fault of the plaintiff, but" to : delay oh the part of Public Trust officials,, who were originally acting for the widow. In dealing witih the matter., tho Judge com inented in very strong terms upon this delay on the part of the Government Department.

The 1 JghtKo«se-keep6r at North Heaci," Manukai* Harbor, one night recently isnxy. ' ai i ; \vildUotoking: man emerge1 Front, t r'the;' bush at Mourjt Beacon, and ~Wa{o\ -a ~<Aoth, '■ a li'andkercliief 1 _ Tlie-' keeper' concluded that the visii©]? was an escaped luniitio, and hastened to advise the policy. They' were jimable to re4ch the lighthouse thatVnigKt, but got; in toucli >vith twov bushmenji wl^o, early ilittho morning, found the man sleep'iiig in the lighy>:oeper Js ohajr, the mechanism being ; none the worse for Bis guardianship. H© pi'crred to %c a. nja,i-:nless «>ld man who, was suffering froni ill-health. He h:id motored ,'to Titirangi, dismiissed the taxi, alid got lost ir. the bush. Opining upon the'lighthouse, h-n conceived the idea of signalling to> <a passing steamer. He^ was in a very low physical ceßiditioft, «hd was^ conveyed to the nearest polices station, where the police, ; Ay.ere. thasi, beyond ecoentrieity, tier©•'■•*vas nothing to warrant his detention. lie was ultimately;handed!! wer to hisv friends.

President "Wilson, it is stated, has issued more notes than the Bank of New Zealand. His notes have caused a mix-up iri izho European situation. Bank of New Zealand1 notes are worth just to ■much; President Wilson's notes are worth so much; but the note.3 issued by C Tuiinicliffe and Son are worth just what they say. T.hey say that their smithy floor is the best equipped mi Marlborough and that is so. Their smithy work is its own guarantee... In the motor garage their expert's work is beyond compare. A new customer generally grows old in his custom with the firm. Painting cars, accessories, new or repaired hoods, and all motor requirements are specialities at the Grove ltoad garage.—Ad/t.

Whaitt is believed to be the first motor car made in New Zealand was turned out a few days ago by Mr George Birch, of Blenheim. Every part o£ the car, excepting, of course, the patent specialities, was manufactured in his1 garage, and the production is something of which Mr Birch might well.-be. proud. In every respect the oar is up-to-date, it needs no apology as to the quality of the workmanship, the efficiency" of the car on the road, and its appearance. The engine is a model of refined construction, and reliability—as can well be understood by those "who know Mr Birch's special ingenuity in this direction ; and it is safe to say that notl.'ing better of the kind corolcl be seen in New Zealand. The cylinder design is of the now wetll-knowii block type; tho engine has a 102 millimetre bore and a 160 millimetre stroke, with thermo-syphon cooling and aeroplane fan. A feature is that every part of the mechanism is immediately and conveniently accessible to the hand. The car is equipped Avith electrio lighting and starting and there is magneto ignition. Thoroughly tested, the car has behaved splendidly, doing 23 miles to the gallon— which is an exceptionally good record for its weight. Why go abroad for our motor cars? Mr Birch's credit•sble production has been purchased by Mr James Fuller, of Seddon.

it is complained at Wellington that while Cabinet l*as allocated £25,000 i"«a- the museum to be erected at Auckland at a cost- of about £100,000, it has done nothing for the Doroinion Mraeum,. which is of greater importance.

The control of benzine by ihe Board &£ Trade is regarded by the Auckland Returned Soldiers/ Association as & grave mistake, on the ground th;at the big, man is able to obtain supplies while the demands of the small straggling man are passed over. A niunbe-v of returned soldiers, it was sfc'tted,, have been squeezed out in consequemce of these methods.

A London correspondent, picturing the-results of th« 'extraordinary congestion in the Thames, says that tie docks abound with stories that mice sire nesting in carcases of imported lamb, and that tlia-re are rats a foot Jong, which have grown double coats of tur, in order to adapt themselves to the low storage temperatures.

Sixteen farmers have been summoned to appear" at the Blacks Police Court on April 16 foir Sailing to deal 'with the rabbit pest to the inspector's satisfaction. In consequence of this, and as a result of the heavy fines inflicted at Cromwell recently, s.ays the Otago Daily Times, the farmers are protesting' against the Rabbit Act Amendment of 1918. ' MiSteve Boreham has been- invited to address a public meeting at Blacks with a view to inducing landholders t<- link up with the New Zealand Workers?1 Union in order tojtake joint action to; bring before Parliament the unsatisfadka-y nature of the Act.

Plans for an aerial service, between Timaru and Mount Cook are being discussed!. A pilot as to visit Mount Cook in order to select a- landingground in the vicinity x)f the hermitage, land probably he will also select a half-way landing poinfe at Fairlie. The company which has the project in hand intends,, if suitable arrangements can be made, to use an eight-seater machine for the journey fronr Timaru to Mt. Cbtrk, and one or two lighter machines for use among the mountains, in order that tourists may be able to examine the Alpine scenery from a new point of view.

Auckland furnishers and cabinetmakers say that they have never been so short, of stocks asl at the present time, that it will take them from three to six mouthy to deal even with the orders on hand (states 'the New Zealand Herald). Shortage of timber is held to be one of the main causes of the trouble, another factor 'being the recent shortening of hours worked ; by the men in the cabinethiaking trade. Employers interviewed declared that the men were now working Blower than ever, although they had only a fiveday week, and they frequently ttook six or seven hours longer over a job than previously:.; • "What can be expected when this spirit prevails?"' exclaimed one manager in some bitterness. "It seriously affects prices as well as output, . and the public has to pay tfie penalty."

Your medical adviser will recommend Watson's No; 10 as a puraj healthful stimulant. —Advt.