LOCAL AND GENERAL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 52, Issue 3750, 1 May 1936, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The eighty-seventh annual report of the Australian Mutual Provident Society, for the year ended December 31st last, is now in course >f issue, and we have been favoured with a copy. The report reveals that wonderful progress has been made in the past year, and gives continued proof of the absolute impregnability of this great mutual institution.

The opinion that the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Bill would place in the hands of the union officials a “bargaining bludgeon inlaid with dynamite” was expressed by Mr W. J. Broadfoot (Opposition—Waitomo) during the second reading debate on the bill in the House of Representatives yesterday.

The fact that within the Hamilton borough boundaries females outnumber males by over 500 is disclosed by the latest census returns. According to the 1936 figures the European population in the borough totals 16,035, including 7706 males and 8329 females, while there are also 92 Maoris living within the borough boundaries, 43 being males and 49 females.

The relicensing of motor vehicles for the 1936-37 period will commence to-day throughout the Dominion, and motorists are required by the regulations to have the new plates, which have black figures on a yellow ground, fixed on June Ist. Locally it is intended to provide a special registration office, to avoid congestion at the post office.

At the Hamilton Horticultural Society’s autumn show yesterday Te Awamutu exhibitors were successful in the chrysanthemum section. Mr J. R Brown won the chamoionship for yellow bloom and the Pinfold Cup, and Mr A. Wheatley won the bronze bloom championship, three firsts, and three seconds.

"There is not a great deal of meat in this Bill, for it is more or less of a machinery nature,” said Mr Broadfoot (National, Waitomo), when refining to the Labour Department

Amendment Bill in the House of Representatives. He said that the measure would be useful, but it did not call ior a great deal of criticism. He would support the Bill, for he realised that the Minister was on right Hues in co-ordinating the efforts under one common head.

A misunderstanding as to the liability of husbands for the ante-nup-tial debts contracted by wives prompted the Magistrate, Mr Levien, in the Te Keiti Court this week, to state that if it were true that husbands were liable for debts contracted by their wives prior to marriage, “then a man would never know whether he was gating an asset or liability!” It was understood by a defendant who was being examined to determine whether he could meet payments on a judgment summons order that he was liab'le in such a case, and he stated that the debts involved in the proceedings came ynder this head. Mr Levien, however, informed him that this was_not the position, though probably a" man would not care to see his wife the defendant in a court action. The case was adjourned until next court day.

The effect of the policy of the present Government on the milling industry is not viewed with favour by at least one district mill manager. Just recently he lost two hands to the Public Works Department, and one was a bushrnan in whom the manager had the greatest confidence and who received “top pay” for work in the bush. “Here this man has spent all his life learning to be a good bushman, and he had made himself a safe man in the bush,” said the mill manager. “Safe men are few and far between, but now he has gone and taken up work which any man can do.” A large number of men, many of whom are at present in employment or have chances of employment, state that they are waiting to get on to the public works.

The next sitting of the Magistrate’s Court at Te Awamutu is .fixed for Wednesday, May IDth.

The shooting seasen throughout the Auckland province opened this morning, and quite a numlber of Te Awamutu and district sportsmen were out at selected spots at daybreak ready for wild duck, pheasants, etc. Reports to hand so far do not indicate any-limit bags, but shooters in the back country are expected to get their full quota before the day is far advanced. •

Nominations for the Waipa Racing Club’s special totalisator race meeting on Saturday, 16th inst., close this evening, and indications point to a good aggregate. It is expected that some of the Southern horses destined for competition at the Great Northern meeting will be nominated for Waipa and also for the Waikato Club’s meeting which follows.

The first of the series of staff dances at the Tokanui Hospital took place last evening, when there was a large and appreciative assembly of guests. Ensor’s Orchestra provided excellent music, and Mr E. Penny played an enjoyable extra. Mr H. Kidd carried out the duties of principal M.C.

The London market for New Zealand butter is firm with the price unchanged at 87s per cwt, according to a cablegram, dated April 29, received by Joseph Nathan and Company, Limiited, from Trengrouse and Nathan Limited. Cheese values are slightly higher, white selling at 54s 6d per cwt., and coloured at 545. This market also is firm.

Te Rahu Hockey Club’s dance in Te Rahu Hall last Tuesday evening was very successful, for there was good patronage and every detail for the enjoyment of dancers had been attended to. The floor was in excellent order, and the Black and White Orchestra, provided splendid music, supplemented with extras by Miss W. Gilbert and Mr J. Bevin. Monte Carlo competitions were won by Miss L. Cruickshank and partner and Miss D. Hanna and partner. A streamer waltz also provided much interest and enjoyment. Mr T. Flay carried out the duties of master of ceremonies.

Gur Otorohanga correspondent writes that indications point to a pro--1 fle scooting season ahead, pheasant, quail,’ duck and pukeko being plentiful, especially in the back country. Pukeko are very plentiful in the swamps and partly drained areas between Otorohanga and the Waitomo Caves. Although bags are restricted, it is certain that all license holders will easily bag their quota of pukeko in this district. The pheasants liberated in the district by the Auckland Acclimatisation Society have evidently done remarkably well, as they appear to be abundant adjacent to the sanctuaries on which they were liberated.

Information that the Government is giving serious consideration to the question of protecting level crossings has been received by the Matamata Chamber of Commerce in answer to a request for a warning device to be placed on the Broadway railway crossing, near the centre of the town. In a letter to the chamber the Minister of Railways, Hon. D. G. Sullivan, states that the problem of level crossings is one of some magnitude and it is necessary to deal first with the mbre dangerous instances. The work will be carried forward as diligently as circumstances permit. He cannot give any definite date as to when the Matamata crossing will be attended to, but he gives his assurance that all level crossings will be made safe as soon as it is humanly possible to do so.

Most people realise that Te Awamutu district has become more and more of a sheep district year by year, not that dairying is giving way to sheep-raising, but because many dairymen have decided to keep at least a few sheep on their farms as a side-line, and also because some parts of the district are not adapted tc dairying so well as to sheep-rais-ing. But it will probably cause surprise to learn that there are over six hundred sheep-owners in Te Awamutu stock district. This fact was mentioned in conversation with a Courier representative by Mr G. B. Melrose, the district inspector of stock, who is sending out just now notices requiring the annual sheep returns. He •added that owners are required, when forwarding the returns, to state their full name, not just the surname with initials.

A tribute to the Minister of Finance, Hon. W. Nash, fcr his diligence and sincerity was paid by Mr A J. Sinclair (Te Awlamutu) at the Dominion dairy conference of dairy companies’ delegates in Wellington on Tuesday morning, after the Minister had answered a series of questions relating to the Primary Products Marketing Bill. Mr Sinclair suggested that the conference could assure the Government of the industry’s assistance. He felt strongly inclined to urge the ccnference not to pass any resolution that might embarrass the, Government in its efforts to place the industry on a solid foundation. Many of the delegates, while realising the earnestness of the Government in its desire to piace the industry in a position of stability, felt that they could not support 100 per cent all the previsions in the bill, but he thought they could give an assurance* that so far as they humanly could they would get behind the Government and give it every assistance in their power to see that the scheme, when it became law), worked smoothly and in the best interests of all concerned.

Next Sunday is being generally observed in the churches as Bible Sunday, when the work of the British and Foreign Bible Society will receive special mention. This society aims to make the Bible available to all men in every language, and last year alone was responsible for the distribution of practically eleven million copies of the Scriptures. The Bible, or some book of it, has already been printed and distributed in almost a thousand languages, of which the society has 700 to its credit. Speaking on the occasion of the tercentenary of our own authorised version King George V. used these words: “It is my confldefit hope, confirmed by the widespread interest your movement has aroused, that my subjects may never cease to cherish their noble inheritance in the English Bible, which, in a secular aspect, is the first of national treasures, and is, as you truly say, in its spiritual significance, ‘the most valuable thing yet this world affords.’ ”