LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS

Marlborough Express, Volume LIV, Issue 128, 2 June 1920, Page 4

LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS

Five degrees of frost were register ed during the, night.' ■ Mr P. Frasesr M.P., intends visit- | uig Blenheim in abo ( ut a iartnight's j tim*i. He will deliver a, series of pul!jic addressed. The Government has granted thesum of £20,000 towards the new chair of physic^ being instituted at Victoria; Oo}|e.gch , , . Everyone "is wanted to be present at the Gorcmation Hall, Grovetown, o'i Friday, night June 4th, when'the Gi-ovetov^f" Society CJLub are holding a dance' and,' social.

VI have Jinown - the acqueed for 1 some years. - He hawks truit .aJiii rabbits in, wjeek days and whisky on Sundays,'? said Seßgeanfc A3loHolm, I'wben giving /evidence ' against' a vagrant in ,the Wellington > Magistrate^ Court. - - - The Hon. Mr Anderson, Minister in Charge of tho Government Printing Office, is entering upon a enmpaign to'secure econpnry in the use of paper and stationery .in the pujbho sorvice. . - •

What is believed to be a record .price for any land sold i^ theeijy of Wellington has iust been paid by the Lnion Bank' of Australia—namelv^ i'so3 per foot. The land ban 4o feet frontage to LamHon Quay, with a depth of about oO feet.

The anninl 'meeting oi the parishioners of the Church of the Nativity niU be held' this evening in tho Central School at' A o'clock. Various reports' will be read and bahrnce-3hge%? adopted. There will also bo an election of church officers for the ensuing year. The Vestry will meat at the Vicarage1 at 7.30 p.nf: '-■■'.• : ■ . .. • '■■

The Seatifi'eri's Union, at a stopwork meeting at Wellington t-xlay, passed a motion requesting the Government '*to raisa its policy of vindiotiveiness"/ by immediately releasing all I conscientious objectore and other military offenders,; and1/-that the defaulters' list and the law under which it was ' made, including the War Regulations; be at once l^epealedV

The stocks of the book "Marlborough the Golden" in Blenheim were sold out yesterday. . Further supplies are diie by the Pateena today, and by Saturday sufficient stocks to carry on for a few' days should' he to hand. A similar keen demand for the book is, being'• made ■in Pibfcon, Havelock,* and Kaikoura, and' inciuirers are advised to leave- orders with their booksellers.

- The committee of -the Awatere Lawn Tennis Club desire to remind tho settlers of the district that next Friday night is the evening of their social" A special effort is; being made to raise sufficient funds to renovato tho courts, which are in ai very bad icondiition. The services of the Returned Soldiers' Orchestra, have been secured, so good music for the evening is assured. The committee t sinoarely hope that the public will rise to tho occasion and give the club their support.

Wholesale licenses were granted by the Wairau, Licensing Committee yesterday to Mr James Benning, C'louston and Co;, and Loviii and.Co.

A general meeting of the Marlborough Chamber of Commerce will be held in the Council Chambers tomorrow evening at 8 o'clock. . All members are specially requested to attend.

"The license will go if th© work i.> not done/ said the chairman of fc'ho Wairau Licensing Committee yesterday in reference to. certain repairs which the owners of an hotel had failed to carry out. The warning was repeated in other cases of a similar nature in connection with which the applications i:or licer £<?s were held over till the next quarterly meeting.

The following games were played last night a/b the Soldiers' Club in the second round of the snooker tournament : J. Ew.irt 45 defeated H. A very 33, W. O'Callaghan 52 defeated M. Patchett 2.6, B. J. Robertson 49 defeated F. H. Merrie 44, W. A. Eartlett' 45, defeated A. C. Nathan 35.

Sir Francis Boyes, the general manager of the New Zealand" Refrigerating Company, is visiting Blenheim, and this afternoon he wa& engaged in discu3«ng matters relating to the industry in Marlboro ugh with representatives of the Sheopowners' Union, the A. and P. .Association, the Farmers' Union and the, Flaxbourno Settlers' As&o■eiatian. ~

"People interested in hotels," said the chairman of, the Licensing Comn ittee yesterday, "will 'have to "understand "that the committee will not hcense houses merely1 as liquor shops. They will have to provide suitable ticcomniodatiorn for tho travelling. puHEe."

The coal deposits near Pieton will be inspected to-mprrow by members oi the Marlborough Progress Committee -hnd Blenheim nnd Pieton business' 'men. A'start will be made flora Lfenheim at 9, a.m. and the vJfiitorrf will be met in Pieton by Mr Alpurt 4"hd! others. inte,rested'. ,'i bo Shakespeare Hay coal prospects wil.l \y&- inspected" first, and a return mado to Pieton for lunch!'after' which the party will xrnator &u£' along the Blenheim road and' visit the outcrops of coal which occur at several points on the eastern end' of the same range ias shows' coal indications at Shakespeare- Bay". "" - .

Our * ChristeltUTt'h correspondent telegraphs: ''Plie Canterbury Automobile A.ssociatioit is having about 300 additional signboards erected,' indicating the- names of nvers, direction notices, l< and "laTow-dowii" warnings.. A numiier of signboards are also being prepared for the Kaikoura iind Marlborouglr -districts. These districts are not* yet under the Association's province, ( bjit in the interests oi touring ,im,ot«r£«iites the Asso-, ciation is Jiariiig tffe notices erected at required" points.

"My personal experience—and I liave nafc hoen here long," said ■Sohior-Sergt..' Cl^rkson at .tlie-'annh--il meqting cf tho Wairo.rt Licensing Committee yesterday, "is?'that-hotel nccommotlation in Blenheim is very iniulequate.. People have to walk the sfcitsets for ho\irs, sometimes all night, I)e:va'ige they cannot find accomniodaticin."' Foirr''of the hotels in- the centrce of the town, he added, had not raiuch mo«-« than n mihinvrm- number of bedrooms, and the Hotel's generally were nearly always, overcrowded. The chairman re-, marked tliiavt if the Committee got tliev power rt was now asking foi* it would be ' aßl'e- ,to insist on the ;enlargement. of ihe> hotels witli insufucicnt accammodation.

' In referring, at the School Compnittee's meetinpr la.'st night, to the , recent visit of,the Education Board's : doctor to the Borough School, the j headmaster said that the infants who jhad recently^ commenced school were 'examined. This was to see if there jwas any foundation for the generally believed statement that*- the school \ desks were detrimental to the child- • ten's health, curvatifre of the spine being put down as one of the ovih caused by the desks. In the small children examined it was foitnd tfuit they were suffering from the°e c)ise«ses nlroady,1 for in one child of o years "the spine was like this,'" said Mr Rowntree, tracing an irregularly curved iine in the air with his index linger. . •

The Southern Pastoral Lands Comrrission sat in Blenheim this morning, v hen three witnesses appeared,' and gave evidence. Yesterday the comnission was in Seddon, when Mr P. G. Coulter gave evidence. The object of the commission is to investigate the c-onditions surrounding the pastoral Crown" leases throughout the South Island and find out from experienced pastoralists if the lands are being utilised in the most advantageous manner. Tho taking of evidence was proceeding this afternoon.

Atr O. J. Kenkes, head of the Agricultural Department, will be Now Zealand's first ccttnmisioner itt connection' .vith th© administration of Nauru Island-.

According to a review of the British labor situation by the London Economist, the/peak of unemployment in England was reached in May, 1919, when the total of idle persons was reported a»? 15.093;, 400.

£> In illustration of the enormous growth of the demand for motorcars, the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce announces that the maker of a cheap but famous type is now turning out 3000 per day, just three times as many as a year ago.

A large Sunbeam oar owned by Dr Sharp lias been totally destroyed by fire (writes the Otaki correspondent of, the Times). The doctor.; after attending patients at his private hospital, about 11 p.m., was in the act of lighting the lamps, when there was an explosion and in a moment the car was on fire. Efforts were made to save it, but the flames had too strong a hold. It is thought that Fomeone, during the doctor's absence, had interfered with the benzine tap, as it was fairly evident that the ground was well saturated. Unfortunately, there was only a small insurance, and the doctor will be a heavy loser. ,

A fowl story:—Ft happened in one, of Marlborough's leading towns quite I recently, a motor- car was passing through at the1 regulation speed: (?) i when a fowl, to be exact, a hen happened in- the way with the result that j the wheel of the ear pa&sed river it. i A friend of the owner of the hen Witnessed' iJifa' affair and evidently seeing a dinner inn sight for some-' body, picked' up the dead hem and tjakmg it to the1 ewner (quite Innocently) suggested, that she (the owiier) should' pluck it and then hand it back/ to' tide fihdier wjtia in turn would clean aiid^-dresa it'and.finally present it to- tho clergy,' all was s,omg well, and' the-, hen vas» neaping the Anal touches wjie-w the owner made t,he d^scoveiy tbot the hen i was i her own property.. * "Without' moie i iiflo, she at once proceeded! to obtain j possession, and the1 query is, w,ho was j riie losex of the- dinner, the finder or the parspn? ' ' ; ,