LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Putaruru Press, Volume VI, Issue 231, 5 April 1928, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Juvenile readers will be interested to note that, commencing with this issue, a children’s column will appear regularly on page 3 of the Press. The articles will be found to be most interesting.

Our Tokoroa correspondent writes: The bridge over the Mungamingi stream is now completed, and as this opens the Paranui road, an alternative route from Lichfield to Tokoroa, for general traffic it should give an impetus to closer settlement in this area.

There are 614 men at present employed on the properties of N.£. Perpetual Forests Ltd., and it is expected that the total will reach 900 within the next few months. Many of the men are genuine unemployed from the cities, and the prospect of steady work during the winter at 2s per hour is greatly appreciated by them.

Of interest to sportsmen are the newest shooting regulations, which provide that duck shooters must now peg out their stands much in the same way as mining claims are pegged out, a board carrying the name of the shooter and the number of his license having to be planted on the place where he intends to establish his “ possie ” on any lake or other site. One stand, one gun, one shooter, is the new regulation.

A well-known Morrinsville resident, Mr. Arthur Pickering, a skinbuyer, has been missing from his home since Friday. He was last seen at the Morrinsville railway station, but although active enquiries have since been made by the police, no word of his whereabouts has yet been received. The missing man is 45 years of age, sft 9in in height, has dark brown hair, grey eyes, is clean shaven, and on the morning he disappeared he was wearing a blue suit and fawn hat, but had no collar or tie.

The manager of the Thames Valley Power Board, Mr. R. Sprague, stated at Monday’s meeting that owing to the small amount of business operating at Ngatea, it had been necessary to make the Ngatea depot a receiving agency and the office would be open in future for receiving accounts every Friday in each week, and the 20th of every month. Consumers would still be able to pay the amount of the account to the meter reader as before. The new arrangement would not operate before May 1, and consumers would be notified accordingly. The board instructed the engineer to make suitable arrangements so that consumers would be able to secure supplies of electrical material.

Concern was expressed by the Morrinsville Borough Council at a recent meeting at the comparative short life of electric street lamps in the borough. The matter was gone into by the engineer of the Thames Valley Power Board, who states that the usual type of lamp had been used and voltage regulations had been good, so that these would not account for the comparatively short life shown for 1927. The only other factor that could be thought of was earthquakes, as storms were not particularly bad. The matter was being kept under observation, however, and it is hoped that this year would show better results. Manufacturers considered the average life of their lamps to be about 1000 hours, so that the borough was still doing better than this 'on the average.

Writing to the Thames Valley Power Board on Monday, the secretary of the Morrinsville branch of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union stated that at the last meeting the members had expressed deep concern over the matter of power interruptions. It could be appreciated that the board had little control over the matter, but the union felt strongly that endeavours should be made to enable at least a limited but continuous supply of power to be available from the Public Works Department for milking. No doubt this matter was in the minds of board members, but the branch emphasised the fact that at the present time many farmers were turning back to other means of power production. “ If we send a few of these letters to the Department they might wake up,” said Mr. Flatt. The manager, Mr. R. Sprague, said that he had replied to the branch setting out the board’s position.

The A. S. Company (Mr. E. Donaldson) will not visit Putaruru for skin buying during the Easter holidays.*