General Reserve.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 138, 13 May 1941, Page 4

General Reserve.

The list of 19,000 reservists called up for overseas service in the third ballot leaves only between 20.000 and 130.000 more single men in the first division of the general reserve. Lights For Home Guard.

The Manawatu-Oroua Power Board has installed lights for the Home Guard, to allow them to drill at night, at Sanson, Kairanga, Kangiotu, Bunnytliorpe, . Oroua Downs, Glen Oroua, Whakarongo, and Te Arakura. Donation of £IOOO. The National Patriotic Fund Board lias received a cheque for £IOOO from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. The sum is to be divided between the provincial patriotic councils in proportion to their quotas to the all-pur-poses appeal.

Tramping Club’s Huts Wrecked. That the huts at the Coppcrmines (Maharahara) had been severely damaged by the severe storm in March was mentioned at the annual meeting of the Rualiine Tramping Club last evening, it was decided that the huts be recoiiditiouec For Returned Men.

Mr W. B. Shannon urged at a meeting of the Manawatu-Oroua Power Board, yesterday, that in luturc the board should, where possible, give its business to men who had returned from the present war, this business being that of a small character.

Minister’s Escape. . A narrow escape from injury was experienced by the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Hon. W. F. Parry, when a small ear in which he was a passenger capsized into a small pumice pit about 15 miles from Rotorua on Friday morning. Although the car was extensively damaged, none of the three occupants received any injuries. Level of Flood. That there was some doubt about whether the level of the recent Manawatn Hood was 19ft bin as recorded on the gauge or 2211 was mentioned by Cr. M. W. Voss at a meeting of the Kairanga County Council to-day. In this connection Cr. J. Batchelar said the water had come up as,high on Cliff Road in this fiood as in 1902. He had had to swim a horse round this locality in 1902 to rescue a man from a tree. Where Reduction Lies.

An interesting position was revealed at a meeting oi the Manawatu-Oroua Power Board, yesterday, when Mr P. G. Guy asked that, in view of the fact that the street lights in Feilding were now off from 1 a.m. onward, more than a 5 per cent, reduction in the charges for lights on the series system for the winter months should be made. The engineer (Mr SV. A. Waters) said that this reduction was 10 per cent, of the cost of servicing Ihe lamps. Actually the board saved no electricity or tile cost of it—the Government saved that. Call of “Electioneering.”

Considerable amusement was caused at the meeting of the ManawatuOroua Power Board, yesterday, when two members offered recommendations for consideration by the incoming board. One suggested that returned soldiers should be given preference in business and other dealings by the board and another urged that the minimum charge be reduced. “This seems to be the fashion ...” remarked a third member as he rose to his feet, but he sat down again when continued laughter followed a remark: “It’s not a fashion, its just electioneering!”

Unusual Coincidence. An unusual coincidence was mentioned at the meeting of the Wairarapa and Fast Coast P. and A. Society in Carterton. The secretary (Mr L. H. Smart) .said that his attention had been drawn to a Press notice of the death of an old and esteemed member of the society, and he had sent a telegram of condolences to the relatives. Shortly afterward he was surprised to receive a reply from a son of the member, informing him that his father’s health was excellent and that he was at that moment busily cutting the hedges. “It was an extraordinary coincidence,’’ added Mr Smart, “that there should have been two men at that time in the particular district with the same names and initials, and the same ages.” Electricity For Milking.

For the first time lor 12 months, figures placed before the ManawatuUroua Power Board, yesterday, showed a decrease in the amount of electricity used by milking machine motors instead of an increase, by comparison with those of the corresponding month in the previous year. It was reported, however, that over the whole financial year there had been an increase of no less than £I4OO in the revenue from this section of the board’s activities. A graph in the board-room, to which the attention of members was directed, showed that in the last financial year the board enjoyed the greatest increase in sales of current experienced since its inception in 1924-25.