LOCAL AND GENERAL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3782, 15 July 1936, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A sale of £4OO by tender was to have been held by Te Awamutu Terminating Building Society on Monday evening, but no tender was recevied, and the allocation automatically became a ballot. Messrs Mclnnes and Ross, number 280, were the winning shareholders.

A sharemilker in tiie Te Aroha district, who had previously worked on the Napier-Gisborne railway line, has sold his cows and applied for a position, as the work has been recommenced. His "call to the rails” was irresistible, and in any case he says he prefers 40 hours a week on the railway to 70 or 80 hours "cow spanking.”

An indication of the handicap experienced in one-teacher country schools was referred to by a delegate at last Monday’s meeting of the executive promoting an intermediate school in Te Awamutu. He said that since February one school in this district had had no less than five changes of teachers —an average of about one month for each. “ How,” he asked, “ can the scholars make any headway under such conditions ? ”

A postal ballot is to be held by Te Awamutu Co-operative Dairy Company, Ltd., for the election of two directors. Messrs C. S. Mexted and T. Hastings retire by rotation, and neither is seeking re-election. For the vacancies five candidates have been nominated Messrs Hamilton Allen, Kihikihi; Chas. Howcroft, Te Kawa; B. C. O’Connor, Ohaupo; S. N. Verity, Hairini; and W. F. Woodward, Te Awamutu. Mr Mexted has left the district and Mr Hastings has disposed of his farm, hence their decision not to seek re-election.

Te Awamutu Electric Power Board will hold its monthly meeting on Friday.

A sitting of the Mortgage Assessment Commission, with Mr F. F. Hockly as chairman, is being held in Te Awamutu this week, dealing with numerous applications.

The district primary schools’ annual seven-a-side Rugby football tournament is to be held at Albert Park next Saturday, commencing at 10 a.m.

Rumour has it that two well known Te Awamutu businesses have changed hands, but inquiry this morning brings the information that there is nothing definite yet for publication.

Some members of the local Borough Council left this morning to inspect the water supply catchment area on the slopes of Pirongia, and especially the area of land the Council is in negotiation for, as a purchase from Messrs Miller Bros.

Further work in' connection witli providing better service by the Te Awamutu Electric Power Board in the area just south of Te Awamutu and all over the Pokuru district, is being carried out to-day, and power •n the area is cut off until about 4 p.m.

All district school teachers, school committeemen and others interested, are invited to attend a general meeting of the Te Awamutu District Calf Club to be held to-morrow afternoon, when matters of interest, including the election of officers, will be dealt with. In view of the growing interest in calf club work it is hoped there will be a representative attendance.

The settlement of a long standing problem was reached at Thames on Monday when at a combined confer ence of the Thames Harbour Board and the Thames Borough Advisory Committee agreement was reached on proposals for the amalgamation of the two local bodies. The Minister of Internal Affairs, the Hon. W. E. Parry, presided over the conference, and assisted in bringing the negotiations to a successful conclusion.

“ The working uniforms were purchased second-hand in 1912, and have out-lived their usefulness.” No wonder laughter shook borough councillors last evening (says the Te Kuiti Chronicle) when this naive statement was read from the annual report of the superintendent of the Fire Brigade. Surely this must be a record for longevity of clothes or uniforms. But though the statement caused amusement it must certainly have impressed upon the Council that it was high time that fourteen new uniforms were procured. The present dress uniforms were purchased in 1922, and it proposed now to use these for firefighting, for which members of the Brigade were at present using their own clothes.

During question time after- Mr A. J. Sinclair’s address to the Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday evening the opinion was advanced that a wellrun dairy company could pay out to suppliers about Is 3Jd per lb butterfat under present prices, but. that the average price for the past season would, of course, be appreciably lower than that. Mr Sinclair cautioned his hearers not to take from his remarks the impression that he had inside knowledge of the actual price to be guaranteed. “ I am only guessing, just as many others have done,” said Mr Sinclair, who went on to say that the Hon. F. Langstone, in his pamphlet issued just before the election, had taken Is 2d as a basis for his arguments and had subsequently been criticised. It was only fair to state that the figure was chosen as a basis, not as an actuality.

Mr Sinclair told the local Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday evening that probably the new valuations of land would be based on the Government’s guaranteed prices for dairy produce. No doubt by-products from.the farms would be taken into consideration in arriving at the valuation, and also the efficiency of individual farmers. Just how the Government would arrive at the average efficiency of farmers would be a puzzle. It would seem that the mortgagee would be in a bad position if the farmer was not averagely efficient. Mr Sinclair went on to say that Mr Nash had not been very definite in explaining some aspects of the legislation, and the actual wording of the Act was rather vague—capable of more than one interpretation. The best thing he (the speaker) could say was to await the declaration of the Governments intentions.

In expressing thanks to Mr A. J. Sinclair at the Chamber of Commerce meeting on Tuesday evening for his concise address on guaranteed prices and their effect on the business community, Mr L. G. Armstrong said the people must give credit to the present Government for its conception of a high ideal, and its endeavour to make it an actuality. Every taxpayer—and that included every farmer, too—was interested in the outcome. Mr Sinclair’s statement that all the dairy companies had, after the conference with the Minister of Finance, decided to get behind the Government in its effort to make the scheme a success, was one to be commended. It was possible always that a mistake had been made, just as other people could make mistakes, but it was worthy of a fair trial, and opponents should withhold criticism until it had been tried out.

Answering a question after his address to the local Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday evening, Mr A. J. Sinclair, secretary-manager of the Te Awamutu Co-operative Dairy Compayn, Ltd., said that if a suggestion were adopted that twopence of the guaranteed price should be retaind monthly during the summer season for payment as a bonus during the winter the dairy company concerned would earn a little interest, but if it was a co-operative company the shareholders would get all there was in it. The position, of course, would be peculiar in more respects than one. For instance, if the shipments of produce were sent away regularly from New Zealand the companies would be able to nay out the advances every month on a given date without difficulty; but if delays in shipment occurred arrangements would have to be made with the banks for advances under store warrants. He added that the Te Awamutu company had still some 4000 boxes of butter of last season s make unshipped, and another large parcel had not yet reached London.