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Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 50, 26 January 1933, Page 6

The Dannevirke Power Board put up a record for the despatch of business on Tuesday when the monthly meeting occupied only 15 minutes.

The number of schools in operation in the Wanganui Education Board district in 1895 was 116, with a staff of 241 teachers and a total roll number of 9600. At the end of 1931 the number of schools was 217, with a staff of 566 teachers, and a roll of 16,900. In 1895 the board’s total expenditure was £34,000. In 1931 it was £177,000. A fire occurred at Levin at four o’clock yesterday morning in a motor garage and storeroom, situated at the rear of a private hotel in Durham Street. The building was totally destroyed with all its contents, which included furnishings and effects owned by Mrs J. J. Howell, the proprietress, and a five-seater motor-car owned by Mr J. A. Grant. The fire brigade was quickly on the scene, but was unable to save the building. The origin of the fire is unknown.

Precautions against dangerous flying are being strictly enforced by the Western Federated Flying Club at New Plymouth and Hawera. Last week a member of the New Plymouth Aero Club was permanently suspended from flying the W.F.F.C. machines for the offence off flying dangerously low, and a member of the Hawera Aero Club was fined £2O and costs of repair following a crash at Mokoia when lie was flying a ’plane against the instructions of the ground engineer.

The Waihi Borough Council has decided to take a referendum of the electors at the municipal election in May on the question of the amalgamation of the Waihi and Thames Hospital districts, the object being to test the feeling of the townspeople on a subject which has been claiming the attention of the council for several years. As £2OOO of the council’s income from gold revenue goes toward the maintenance of the Hospital annually, it is naturally anxious to obtain a measure of relief from the burden. This would be afforded by the fusion of the two districts.

“The law does not forbid tlie taking of alcoholic liquor by motorists, but any person in charge of a motor-car who takes liquor runs the risk of being arrested, said Mr W. R. McKean, S.M., in the Police Court, at Auckland, at tlio conclusion of the hearing of a case against a motorist accused of intoxication. Mr McKean added that the word “intoxication” did not imply “drunkenness,” but rather it implied inability on the part of the person concerned to carry out what physical act he intended to do. A motorist could ■be convicted of intoxication if his judgment in driving had been impaired by the effects of liquor, even if he was not drunk in the ordinary sense. About four months ago the Ashburton County Council liberated parasites in a pinus insignia plantation at Cavendish to combat the horn-tail borer, which has been playing havoc in plantations throughout the county during the last two or three years, and although no definite results have been detected, it is believed that the parasite is doing good work. The parasites were obtained from the Cawthron Institute, Nelson, where a series of experiments were carried out, and it was discovered that by a peculiar sense they could detect the position of the «rub from the borer which was thriving in the heart of the tree. They then worked their way through the tree in a similar manner to the borer, and laid their eggs in the grub, which acted as host until the parasites also developed into the grub stage in the process of which the horn-tail borber grub was consumed. The parasite then worked its way out of the tree as a fly. The borer does not seem to affect the live trees, but attacks those which are either fallen or have been broken by the wind.

While spearing flat-fish, Mr T 5. Piper, of Laingholm, had the unusual experience of encountering a kingnsh, which he speared. After an exciting quarter of an hour he wa-s able to land his fish, which badly bent his 3-Bin iron spear. When put on the scales the fish weighed 32ilb. It was 4ft in length.

Two Moth aeroplanes, belonging to the Auckland Aero Club, were damaged as a result of a collision before they took off for Dargaville yesterday morning. Both machines were unoccupied, and the accident occurred when one machine, on being started, swung round violently, and collided with another.

Nearly all the members of the Dame Sybil Thorndike company are airminded, according to Mr Norman Shelley, a member of the company and a certified pilot, who flew from Wigram aerodrome to Timaru a few days ago. Mr Lewis Casson was at one time a flying officer in the Royal Air Force, and Mr Bruce Winston was keenly interested in aviation before the war.

On a recent afternoon a very heavy hailstorm was experienced at Mossburn, Taranaki. In its course it laid everything before it, fescue, grass seed crops, oats, etc., being cut down to the ground. All gardens in its line were ruthlessly devastated. One farmer lost 100 acres of fescue seed estimated at 300 sacks, and others proportionately less, besides several paddocks of oats.

The chairman of the Wellington Education Board stated at the monthly meeting yesterday that 122 teachers would be employed under the rationing scheme on February 1 next. About 105 would be unemployed at the beginning of the first term, but a majority of these would be absorbed during the second term. The secretary (Mr E. S. Hylton; said the board had to carry a temporary staff of about 120'* teachers. A motorist travelling between Wellington and Palmerston North on Saturday afternoon ran into the centre of an electrical disturbance in the neighbourhood of Shannon. The lightning was so vivid and near at hand that he became somewhat alarmed, while what appeared to be a flaming ball of fire descending in a nearby paddock further increased the feeling of uncertainty. It was with a large measure of relief that he emerged from the storm centre. “We had some fine music at the Napier contest,” said Mr John G. Osborne, secretary o,f the New Zealand Brass Bands’ Association, who has returned to Wellington from Hawke’s Bay. “There was a satisfactory entry, and the standard of playing was very satisfactory. One boys’ band was quite remarkable. This was the Palmerston North juniors, whose efforts were well up to the B grade standard, and would not suffer in comparison with the boys’ band from Australia.” At the Horowhenua Power Board’s meeting on Tuesday, the engineer (Mr J. A. Smith) reported that a peat fire on Ashlea Road, Tokomaru, was causing a lot of trouble to the power line on that road. The fire was in the peat round the poles and had burned the latter through. The poles have been replaced and sand has been placed round them to protect them. The ground is practically all peat in this locality and in places a stick can be pushed four feet down.

One of the disadvantages of having university examination papers marked in England was mentioned by Professor J. Macmillan Brown in Christchurch, in discussing the recent decision of the New Zealand University Senate to inquire into the possibilities of marking degree examinations in the Dominion. That difficulty was the time and hazard involved in sending the papers overseas. There was one occasion when the Mataura was lost at the Straits of Magellan and all the papers with her. Third-stage students were passed or failed on the professors’ recommendations, but the honours students had to sit all over again, and their papers were marked by Australians.

A ten-year-old Westport bov lias provided ail example of determination and self-reliance which not only does him the utmost credit, but also might well be emulated in principle bv many of more mature years (says an exchange). He recently left Westport with a quantity of homemade articles in a suit case and cycled to Greymouth, where he disposed of them to get money for the purpose of relieving distress in his home. Having sold out his stock, the lad set out on the return journey, leaving Greymouth at four o’clock in the afternoon. He slept at Brighton, and was on the road again early in the morning to arrive in Westport at 9.30 a.m. “Everywhere we went we were congratulated on the boys’ behaviour,” stated Mr T. A. Lappin. of the Auckland Grammar School, when he returned in charge of the party of New Zealand secondary school boys from a tour of Australia. Such comment was very satisfying to masters and boys alike, and though they did not appreciate to the same extent a remark made while they were attending a Test match at Melbourne, they saw humour in it. Whenever they were being entertained, the boys wore their school uniforms, and as they u*ere walking through the, cricket crowd a lady was overheard to remark, “Here come the boy scouts.” A companion went one better and corrected her, “Oh, no,” she said, “they are from the orphanage.” There is a largo and varied collection of weapons at the Greymouth Police Station as the result ol a drive for the re-registration of firearms. Included in this motley assemblage is the starting gun of the Greymouth 'United Cycling Club, which has had to be forfeited owing to its coming within the regulations debarring arms below a certain length of barrel. Nothing has ever been fired from the gun except “blanks,” since it has been in the possession of the club, and on being informed of the position the officials made representations both to the local Arms Office and to Wellington to be allowed to add the required three inches to the barrel, but without success. The gun has now become the property of the Government. This tends to make the whole thing farcical (says an exchange), for the gun was.bought from the Government by the club in the first place and the authorities knew for what purpose it was to be used.

Commenting on life-saving precautions on the West Coast beaches, a representative of the Royal Life Saving Society expressed the opinion that 80 per cent, of the fatalities which occur on New Zealand surf beaches could be avoided if the local authorities erected notice boards showing the points of danger, and the places for safe bathing, and, further, either prohibited bathing at low water or warned bathers of the danger of the increased backwash at that stage of the tide. Respecting the establishment of reels and life-lines at the beaches, he stated that each reel and line required at least two experienced men, including one practised in the art of swimming through Surf with a line. An inexperienced swimmer with a lifeline would only get himself into difficulties. The Royal Life Saving Society could not, at present, patrol the west coast beaches regularly, but it had offered to send lifeguards with picnics, or largo parties of visitors when application was made.