LOCAL AND GENERAL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3795, 14 August 1936, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Waipa County Council will hold its monthly meeting on Monday.

A building scheme involving an es timated expenditure of £43,000 was approved by the Waikato Hospital Board as its meeting yesterday.

The Grand National hurdle race at Riccarton yesterday was won by Jolly Beggar (who won last year), from Clarion Gall and’Streamline.

Because the Railway Department is not in a. position to carry the substantial loss that Would be involved, no change can be ade inm

Frequenters of Albert Park will be interested to note that the timber for the new grandstand building has been arriving during the past few days, and the contractor, Mi- C. B. Crotty, is making preparations for an actual start erecting the structure as soon as possible.

On leave from his ship, a bluejacket last Friday afternoon strode up Whitaker Street, Te Arolia. As he passed seven or eight children stared at him open-mouthed. Evidently they had never seen his like before except in pictures. The silence was broken by the biggest of the youngsters, a Maori boy, who said: “It isn't real, is it? It's only a make-up, eh?''

The local St. John Ambulance Association received a pleasant recognition of its activities in Te Awamutu when a cheque for £1 Is was forwarded by Te Rahu Hockey Club in appreciation of the work of the Brigade officers and men in attending to injuries sustained while club members were playing matches at Albert Park.

An indication of the effect of the altered working week was given by Mr E. Phelan, District Transport Licensing Authority, when discussing the economic aspects of the carrying business with members of the local Carriers’ Association yesterday. He showed that the ruling wage rate, when divided into 48 working hours, would equal Is lid per hour; under the 40-hour week it would be 2s 3d to 2s 4d per hour—a factor which could not be ignored in assessing costs of service.

The Te Awamutu Cribbage Club held another of the weekly series of games in the Oddfellows’ Hall last night. There was a good attendance and play was very keen, causing two play-offs for the ladies, there being four with an equal score of eight games, Mesdames W.ood, Marsh, Irwin and Paul. In the play-off Mrs Irwin was successful. For the men H. Reed topped the score with ten games. Tha ladies are still trying to excel themselves in providing a tleiry tasty supper, which makes these weekly games very popular.

“If the London price for butter and cheese continues at a higher rate than the. guaranteed price to be paid to the dairy industry the farmer will receive every fraction of a penny re presented in the higher figure,” stated the Minister of Finance, the Hon. W. Nash, replying in the Budget debate in the House of Representatives on Wednesday. Referring to the basis on which the guaranteed price had been calculated, Mr Nash said the price fixed would automatically give dairy farmers more than the average for the last 10 years.

It was intended, when the Waipa Rugby Union agreed to send its representative team to Otorohanga to-morrow, that the Otorohanga and Waipa senior B teams should play at Te Awamutu; but we understand that both Unions experienced difficulty in fielding a second representative fifteen without drawing on the junior grades, so that the match has been abandoned. Thus there will be no senior match at Albert Park to-mor-row. Next week the Waipa senior representatives will journey to Kawhia.

“We shall at least try,” said Mr Phelan yesterday, whan referring to the transport licensing conditions. The discussion had turned to the general overlapping and wastage that occurred, and the District Licensing Authority had acknowledged the complex and difficult problems awaiting solution. "We shall at least try,” he said, "and somebody may be hurt in the process.” Mr Rowan, as president of the Waipa Carriers’ Association, was somewhat prosaic in his reply: “You can fire ahead with one satisfaction, he said. “Try as you may, do what you will, you cannot make things very much worse for the carrier! ”

An amusing story was told by Mr W. G. Cooper, chief postmaster, at the annual reunion last Saturday evening of the Wanganui post and telegraph officers. He said a parcel for a client at Keri Keri (Bay of Islands) had gone astray, and the consignor, a Wanganui business firm, made inquiries. “ It was discovered,” said Mr Cooper, “ that a member of the Wanganui firm’s staff had addressed the parcel to Kai Iwi because he thought a mistake had been made in the client’s address. According to that member of the staff, he thought that Keri Keri was a sort of disease peculiar to the Malay States or a form of suicide practised in Japan.”

It transpired during the Parliamentary session on Wednesday evening that the Government-owned vessel Maui Pomare was now paying its way, after several years of successive losses. The ship was bought some years ago, primarily to afford means of transporting island produce to New Zealand; but heavy expense was entailed fitting her out for the special work; in fact, so expensive were the alterations that the former Government was often criticised for ever buying such an unsuitable vlessel. Mr W. J. Broadfoot, M.P. for Waitomo, referred to the matter when an item in the estimates making provision for a bonus to the officers of the vessel was under consideration. He asked whether the vessel represented a loss to the Government or was paying its way. “ I would like to know whether it is true that besides not wanting the mandate for Samoa or its bananas, we also do not want the Maui Pomare 7 ” The Prime Minister replied that the Maui Pomare had been a paying proposition for some time, and it was expected that the ship would show a profit this year of about £6OOO.

Several interesting articles, letters to the editor (on local topics), etc,, are held over until Monday’s issue.

A report of the annual meeting of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church is unavoidably held over until our next issue.

On Saturday of next week the Taranaki ladies’ touring hockey team is to play Waipa ladies’ rep. team at Albert Park.

no change can be made in the age at which children should be allowed to travel at half fares on the railways, according to the Minister of Railways, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, who has 'replied tb a request from Auckland that the age should be raised from 12 to 15 years.

Indications are that there will be good patronage from Te Awamutu and neighbourhood at the special trotting meeting at Cambridge tomorrow, when the Cambridge jubilee celebrations begin. The festivities will be continued throughout next week.

When sentencing James Gould to 14 days’ imprisonment on a charge of drunkenness, Mr J. H. Salmon, S.M. at Wanganui yesterday, said: “You are on sustenance and nave no right to waste your money on liquor. It is a scandial that a man ‘ike you can waste sustenance money, or even should get sustenance.” For damaging a pane of glass valued at 10s accused was ordered to make goal the amount, in default seven days in gaol.

The locks of two petrol pumps at Te Rapa service station, owned by Mr T. E. Tidd, were broken during last Wednesday night, and 33 gallons of petrol was drawn from the tanks. The theft was discovered next day, when the pump locks were found smashed. The theft was a particularly daring one, for the station is situated on the main south road, and traffic is continuous. It is believed that the foggy conditions that prevailed during the night helped the perpetrators.

The announcement that a new date had been permanently arranged for the payment of Staite pensions when the ordinary paying-out date fell on either of the two week-end days was made last night by the Minister of Pensions, the Hon. W. E. Parry. The Minister stated that satisfactory arrangements had been made with the paymaster-general and the directorgeneral of the Post Office that where the normal pension pay day, the 23ru day of the month, fell on Saturday or Sunday, payment would be commenced on the preeding Friday, the 21st or 22nd. It was felt that the new arrangement would be in the interest of pensioners.