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Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 244, 12 September 1933, Page 6

Friday’s street appeal in Christchurch on behalf of the Plunket Society resulted in the sum of £6OO being raised. The Masonic Grand Lodge of New Zealand will hold its annual communication in Dunedin on November 23. Practically all the lodges of tire Dominion will be represented, either by their masters or by delegates. The Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe, will preside, in the capacity of grand master.

Messrs C. F. Spooner and W. G. Ashworth, Justices of the Peace, presided over a civil sitting of the Magistrate’s Court at Palmerston North, to-day, owing to the continued indisposition of Mr J. L. Stout, S.M. Undefended cases were dealt with, but a number of defended cases had to be adjourned, owing to the Bench, as constituted, having no jurisdiction to decide them.

f ‘As regards the work done by dental nurses, I can only speak in terms of udmiration,” said Mr D. V. Donaldson, in the course of his presidential address to the dental conference in Dunedin when talking about the State dental services. “Wo all know,” lie added, “only too well the amount of physical and mental strain involved, the nervous energy expended in dealing with the infinite patience required in doing the necessary -work thoroughly and well. Taken all round, the work done in the service is of a very high standard, and any failures can safely be put down to excess of zeal in attempting to save teeth which do not respond to treatment. While giving praise where it is due, it is only right that attention should be drawn to the weak spot.”

A message from St. Louis, United States, published last week, recording 100 deaths from sleepy sickness, stated investigators had come to ‘ the conclusion that it was disseminated through secretions in the nose or throat. Commenting on this, Dr. J. Boyd, officer of the Department of Health, at Auckland, said sleepy sickness was one of the diseases of which the cause had not been ascertained, but this speculation was in harmony with medical. knowledge here. It is assumed to be due to an ultra-microscopic organism. The disease is always present in the country, although it is only at odd times that it becomes epidemic. Like many other diseases, it has periods of quiescence, but occasionally becomes very virulent. “The position is so serious that if improvements are not carried out shortly we can close Timaru Harbour as far as overseas ships are concerned.” This statement was made by Captain A. Rathbone, who waited on the Farmers’ Union at Timaru to explain to members as a seaman his personal views on the harbour. Captain Rathbone stated that at present three liners belonging to the New Zealand Shipping Company, the Rangitiki, Rangitane and Rangitata, were unable to visit Timaru, owing to their size, while other boats building for the same company would be in a similar position. Captain Rathbone added that those present would be surprised if they knew the opinions concerning the port held by masters of overseas vessels visiting Timaru. They had no peace from the time they entered the harbour until the time they took their vessels out of it.

There are at present 41 New Zealand trainees at Boys’ , Flock House, near Bulls. They are in various stages of training, and are being replaced by new admissions as they complete their term at the station.

Providing that permission can bo obtained to erect the building in wood, the parishioners of All Saints’ Church last evening passed a resolution authorising the wardens a.nd vestry to proceed with the erection of a new vicarage.

It was mentioned at a meeting of the Southland Hospital Board last week that the incidence of tuberculosis was increasing in Southland. There were 19 names on the waiting list for the Waipiata Sanatorium, most of those on the list being males. The Southern Railway Co. in England has been losing tobacco and cigarettes by theft to the value of £2OO a week. An employe© of the company was arrested recently at Brighton and found to have 5970 cigarettes in a wardrobe in his bedroom, and was sentenced to two months’ imprisonment with hard labour.

In the Dominion speed typewriting contests conducted recently under the auspices of the Association of Commercial Science the senior championship as won by Miss Evelyn Z. Ranltine, of Wellington, who typed 78.3 net words per minute. Miss Dulcie H. Rayner, of Wanganui, won the junior championship with 53.7 words per minute. A little blue penguin was found near the ramp on the Main Hutt Road by a Lower Hutt resident on Sunday night. It is about a foot long, and in good condition, and has been identified as one of the Eudyptula Minor species, which is fairly common on the snores of the northern part of New Zealand about this time of the year.

A gorilla, sft in height and with a span of 9ft, was one of some thousands of specimens obtained by the Percy Sladen expedition, members of which landed at Plymouth on August 4 from the liner Accra on their return from West Africa.. For 11 months they have been exploring jungles in British Cameroon and have brought back 1400 mammals. Two gorillas were caught, one -jf which died in captivity. Their third annual visit to the Chateau Tongariro was made by members of the Palmerston North Tenikoit Club on a recent week-end, a most enjoyable trip being experienced, due to the initiative and enthusiasm of Mr L. Andrews. There was less snow on the mountains than in any September for 12 years past, but the party had a thoroughly enjoyable time" ski-ing, tobogganing and in other winter sports. They spent a day in the vicinity of Salt Hut (5500 ft) and next day visited the fish hatcheries and thermal springs at Tokaanu. A story of how two Worksop women visitors to Blackpool had their clothes stolen while bathing in the sea was told to the Blackpool Magistrates recently, when Joseph Thomas Day, of Havles Street, Shortheath, Wolverhampton, was fined £5 for the theft of the clothing. The Chief Constable said the women had to return to Worksop in beach suits, and were the laugh-ing-stock of everybody. Day, who pleaded guilty, said he came to Blackpool on a -clay’s outing and had too much drink. He went in the bathing van. and thought he would have a joke with the women’s clothes and took them away. The chairman said it was a very silly and shabby thing to have do„ne. An old water wheel near the Wilton Road entrance to AVilton’s Bush, near AVadestown, AA’ellington, attracts considerable attention from visitors. This water wheel is between .60 and 70 years old, and was the property of the late Mr AVilton, after whom AA?ilton’s Bush is named. AVater was stored in a concrete basin at the back of the wheel, and when it was released the wheel turned a chaffcutter. The wheel has not been used for 25 years or so. Some time ago a farmer wanted to buy the wheel for use in connection with a milking machine, but the present owner of the wheel, Mr J. Zortea, refused to sell, preferring to leave the wheel in its present position as a curiosity and a link with a bygone period of AVellington history. “The past year has certainly been a record one as far as refereeing is concerned,” said Mr D. Calcinai at the annual smoke concert of the AVellington Rugby Referees’ Association. At the beginning of the year the membership had been 160, but it had rapidly risen to 170, after which nominations had been closed. There had been so many referees, particularly in the junior ranks, that games were at a premium, some referees going as long as six weeks without having a match. This was the first time that the list had been closed during the season. During the year, 1620 appointments had been made, twenty more than previously. One Saturday there had been 116 games under the control of the association, as against a maximum of 108 for previous playing days. Something like 3500 players per week were taking part in games controlled by the association —a greater number than ever before.

Speaking at the annual meeting of the Wellington. Racing Club yesterday, the president (Mr E. L. Riddiford) stated that State taxation had figured prominently in the balancesheet. During the year a total of £25,217 3s 7d was paid to the Government, and equally as usual the Government obtained this windfall at no cost to itself. Had the club ceased racing because of its desperate financial position at the end of the previous year, the Government would not only have been that much worse off, but would have also suffered a considerable reduction in its railway revenue. This matter of taxation would always be a burning question, but it was, perhaps, well to remember that the State revenue from racing, after all, was one of their safeguards from the attacks of opponents of racing. The Government itself had not been unsympathetic, for, by increasing the amount of rebate on totalisator turnover, it had helped clubs to make the best of a bad job.