THE OTAKI MAIL. FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 1939. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Otaki Mail, 31 March 1939, Page 2

THE OTAKI MAIL. FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 1939. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The residence of Mr. Alex Bills was burglariously entered last night or early this morning and a sum of about £2 Ids taken. While the local constable was investigating some unauthorised person removed his cycle. This, however, has since been recovered.

A meeting of retailers in Marton decided to support a proposal to change the weekly half-holiday from Wednesday to Saturday, and the change will take ctl’ect from May 0. About -10 retailers attended the meeting, which was presided over by Mr. J. A. Bush. The decision to make the change was carried unanimously.

The Director-General of the Post arm Telegraph Department advises tnat a special Easter letter telegram service between Xew Zealand and Great Britain will bo introduced for the period April 3-10 inclusive. Messages must be of greetings or social nature. The chargeable prefix “XLT” is recpiired as Jirst word in tiie address. The rate is -is 2d lot ten words and 5d for each additional word.

A general laugh was caused at the annual meeting of the Wanganui Rugby Referees’ Association, when the vice-president, Mr. W. Xolan, said that married men were the best at attending meetings. Single men were not nearly such regular attenders. “And it usually happens,” he added, “that married men turn up to meetings hall an hour before starting time.”

Preliminary work lias already been commenced at the Arapuni power station for the dredging of the lower end of the tailrace with the object of augmenting tiie power output. The actual di edging is to bo commenced early next month and it is hoped to deepen the race sufficiently to lower the level of the- water two or three feet. This, it is calculated, will increase tiie output of the station by about 15,000 horse-power.

At the lust meeting of the Otaki Borough Council it was decided that the present system of house-to-house collection of sanitary fees should be discontinued alter March 31st, 1939, and that the fees should be collected in the same manner as a rate, viz., in one lump sum, to bo due and payable on a certain date which would be duly notified. As the fee is for services rendered, it would only oe charged against those properties receiving the service.

Traffic will probably be able to use the long new level trestle bridge at Whirokino next week, when the old route will be still available for stock. It was hoped to have had the bridge open earlier, but further time is necessary. The construction of the bridge has occupied three years, but its completion marks the end of a winter bugbear for motorists, due to periodical flooding of the old road routes. Only minor work on the trestle bridge remains to be done, and the decking is now being cleaned up. The approaches will be allowed to consolidate under the traffic, and will be sealed later.

A report upon the use of blood transfusions at the Auckland Hospital was asked for at tlie last meeting by tne chairman of the Auckland Hospital Board, Mr. Allan J. Moody, from the medical superintendent, Dr. J. W. Craven, and it was stated that this report would be presented to an early meeting of the board. Mr. Moody said that in two years the cost of blood transfusions at the hospital had advanced from £l3O to £320 and on the face of it something seemed to be wrong. Other members of the board suggested that the increase was probably due to the extended practice of using blood transfusions, which had proved their usefulnes over and over again. Soil is for sale. Linoleum in various lengths is for sale. Messrs P. R. Walker, Ltd., advertise a number of very useful lines in this issue. The advertisement is worthy of perusal. Mr. Jack Hing announces the priees of various lines of fruit and vegetables. Messrs Bills Bros., Ltd. draw attention to the fact that goods of highest quality are still being sold at lowest cost. The speaker at the Gospel Hall on j Sunday night will be Mr R. H. S. King, I who will take as his subject, “Germany j and Russia in Bible Prophecy and i Their March to Armageddon.” I

As the result of the Otaki King 4 Carnival the sum of £473 13s S<l has so far been raised. It is hoped to nave £(>00 by an early date, so ns to clear the liability on the beach pavilion. Further donations will be gratefully accepted.

“Greytown looks as though it wains a good clean up,” stated a visitor to a “Standard” representative. “Its rustic appearance is very enchanting,” lie said, “but your shop fronts and broken down buildings give the impression that decay lias set in, though, from what 1 can gather such is not really the case.”

Although no rain has been experienced in the Gisborne district for some time, a number of cases of eczema were noticed among sheep in tlie Gisborne district during the week-end. An ollicer of the grassland research station, Palmerston Xorth, is in the district carrying out investigation.

One of the largest parties of Yugoslavs to come to Auckland for a con -iue.able time arrived by the Wanganella from Sydney. There were II men, women and children, of whom one uti.s a naturalised Xew Zealander and another had previously lived in the Dominion. It was stated that the remainder hoped to settle in the country.

Although a number of cases of facial eczema among sheep have been reported in other districts, there is a total absence of the disease in the Manawatu so far this season, according to a statement made yesterday by Mr. E. E. Elpliiek, AI.R.C.V.S., of the Department of Agriculture. “While the position is very satisfactory,” Mr. Elpliiek said, “farmers would lie well advised to take every precaution. There is no knowing, for instance, what might happen following rain.”

slippery linoleum, which is the bane of the average hospital nurse’s life, and has been the cause of many accidents, is being treated in Australia by a process whic-h makes it perfectly safe to walk upon, according to Mr. W. C. McCaw, an Auckland surgeon, who returned from Melbourne. He said no had seen llte process being applied. Xew linoleum was simply treated with a special preparation, but where material laid been wax-polished every trace of wax had first to lie removed. One advantage was that after treatment the linoleum needed no further polishing and was just as sanitary as before.

“The National Party makes an appeal to reason, and not to mob psychology, its tlie Labour Party does,” said Mr. Holland, who-added that the church Xorth, in an address at the opening of the X'ational Club in Hamilton. The leaders of ttie Labour Party had assured llie people over and ovei again that they had nothing to fear, aid Mr. Holland, who added that tin importers’ business was being wiped out by reducing imports to the extent of from £15;000,000 to £20,000,000. Business was being slashed to liobon by the Labour Government's polii-y. It was a tragic commentary o:t Xew Zealand's educational system that political lessons could only lie learnc in the face of adversity. The Abstract of Statistics showed how primary pi eduction was dropping The i tt’oour Part;, had asserted that Xew Zealand could continue to enjoy prospc ity independent of overseas conditions, but ite con tended that it was foolish to say that overseas trade was not related to tit ; Dominion’s prosper ity.-