LOCAL AND GENERAL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3831, 9 November 1936, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Te Awamutu Chamber of Commerce will hold its monthly meeting to-mor-row evening. The race for the New Zealand Cup, two miles, at Riccarton on Saturday, resulted in a win for the Taranaki-owned and trained gelding Fersen, with Werohia second and Polydora third. The roll call of pupils who had attended the school prior to 1906, at the Paterangi school diamond jubilee last Friday, was a fehture of the celebrations. and the keen interest displayed by old pupils was evidenced by the fact that 71 old scholars answered when their names were called out. “Present, sir,” “Here, sir,” and “Yes, si-.-,” resounded from all parts of the assemblage, and as the former pupil stood up there was a burst of applause from the assemblage. A warning is issued by the Labour Department, Hamilton, to employers, who have failed to comply with the nrovisions of the Finance Act, 1936, in not restoring wages to the IJol ,evel, thalt no further leniency will be given and in a number of cases proceedings have already been commenced. It is suggested that in fairness to the large number of employers who have already made the ad- ' stment, those who have delayed doing so should be compelled to comply with the provisions of the Act. A children’s sports meeting was a feature of the diamond ■ jubilee celebrations of the Paterangi school last Friday. The sports were held during the morning so as to leave the afternoon clear for the older folk to be featured. Incidentally the oldest married couple present at the celebrations were Mr and Mrs Charles S. McCallum, with 62 years of married life behind them -and a very fine record of farming, neighbourliness, and district responsibilities standing to their credit. At the conclusion of the address on “ Compensated Prices ” at the local Parish Hall last Friday evening Mr A. T. Bryant, president of the Farmers’ Union, explained the Te Awamutu ioranch’s project for organising gangs of labour to help on farms during he harvest season. He asked all farmers to state their needs as early as possible. To a question, he said it would be necessary for farmers to pay at least 18s per day for this labour. He had interviewed the Hamilton placement officer that day, and was assured that there would be men made available. A southern visitor to Paterangi last Friday afternoon, for the school diamond jubilee celebrations, remarked lhat “ Paterangi has it on the world in the matter of charming, attractive, and comely young ladies,” and in support of his statement he contended ;hat at the jubilee there was a greaterpercentage of good-looking girls and young women than he had seen in any of the many other districts he had visited in the course of his travels. “ I would like to take photographs of at Least fifty of these Paterangi girls back south with me. A lot of fine, eligible young men back home would soon be coming to Paterangi ! ” he said.

Colonel S. J. E. Closey, in the course of his address on ‘‘Compensated Prices ” at the local Parish Hall last Friday evening, said his objective was to show non-farmers the difficulties, under which the farmers laboured through being compelled to sell their produce in a market that it was impossible for New Zealand to control—the world’s market —and to buy in a controlled market—both markets over which the farmer-producer had no control. He produced graphs to show the low level of farmers’ incomes compared with prices in 1914 and the high level of farm costs compared with the costs ruling in the same years. With 1914 farm income based on 1000, dairy products were shown at 800, and farm costs were on the 1300 level. Reminiscences were the order of he day at the Paterangi school diamond jubilee last Friday. One old pupil harked back to an incident of nearly half a century ago, when a certain resident, rather fond of good brown ale, asked a youth going to Te Awamutu to bring him two bottles of beer, and he gave him Is 6d to pay for the liquor and two “ dead marines ” wrapped in a bag. The filled bottles were duly left in the agreedupon place later in the day, but the buyer was very disgusted to find that the bottles were filled with cold tea ! The assemblage enjoyed the story. But more details were given to a select few later in the day by the young fellow who was entrusted with the order. “It really wasn’t beer, or even cold tea,” he said. “ I bought the beer, drank it, and re-filled the bottles with water out of the Mangapiko creek ! I wasn’t given any more jobs of that sort.” And he smiled reminiscently.

One of the most interesting items at the Paterangi school diamond jubilee celebrations last Friday was a relic of the early settlement of the district, the original headstone that marked the graves of six soldiers of the 50th Queen’s Own Regiment and the 40t.h Somerset Regiment, who were killed on February 11th, 1864, in the exciting skirmish with the Maoris at Waiari, on the banks of the Mangapiko stream, and were buried on what is now Mr Bird’s property. Some years ago the Rev. D. McKenzie, then in charge of the Presbyterian Church at Paterangi, instigated a project for erecting a permanent memorial, to replace the old wooden headstone (which was badly weathered and falling into decay). This wooden headstone was removed to Paterangi and now reposes in the church. It was prepared and- carved by members of the old Armed Constabulary (which included some former comrades), when stationed at Pi-i-ongia (at that time known as Alexandria). The killing of the soldiers occurred while a party from General Cameron’s forces, stationed at Te Rore, went to bathe in the Mangapiko. The Maoris from the stronghold at Paterangi rushed them, and in the ensuing melee six soldiers were killed. Incidentally it was in this skirmish that Major (then Captain) Heaphy gained his Victoria Cross for gallantry under fire. Major Heaphy went to succour a -wounded soldier in the face of a heavy crossfire by the Maoris, and got his man safely away, the gallant major being slightly wounded in the performance of the deed.

Te Awamutu and district experienced a very severe thunderstorm, with heavy rain, yesterday afternoon. The Borough Council will meet this evening—the first for four weeks, the last ordinary meeting date being Labour Day (a holiday). Presentation of shields and medals won by Te Awamutu Municipal Band at Whangarei recently is to be made at a social and dance in the Town Hall on Wednesday craning. Very large hailstones preceded the heavy rain locally yesterday afternoon. Some of the stones were as large as marbles, and in places there were drifts of' hailstones piled up like snow. Rainfall recorded in the district recorder (Mi- W. Jeffery) for the Government Meteorologist, for the 24 hours ended at 9 o’clock this morning, totalled 1.15 inches, practically the whole precipitation occurring yesterday afternoon. “ I call the Post Office the Cinderella of the State Departments,” said Mr F. Lye at the opening of the post office additions at Cambridge on Friday. “ You go there to pay your taxes,” he added, smilingly, amidst laughter. A line of 1930 yearling steers was purchased at Wjhakatane on Friday by the management of the Government’s Galatea Estate. The prices ranged from £6 5s to £(j 16s 6d a head, the total sum paid being £6700. The stock were needed for pasture control and consolidation on the estate.

Perhaps unique among all the interesting coincidences concerned with file Paterangi school diamond jubilee last Friday was the presence at the celebrations of five sisters who had been pupils of the school at various times prior to thirty years ago. They were Mrs A. Robinson, Mrs Le Roy, and the Misses Emily, Alice and Edith Rendell, none of whom now reside at Paterangi. “It is not fair of thei Government’s apologists to say that our tariffs in New Zealand are no higher than elsewhere; it all depends on how much comes over the tariff wall; for four units made here in New Zealand there are six imported, whereas in Australia seven units are produced and three imported,” said Colonel S. J. E. Closey, speaking in Te Awamutu last Friday evening. Last Saturday at about 4 p.m. a heavily-laden motor lorry belonging to the New Plymouth Transport Company failed to negotiate the turn in Fraser Street when proceeding southward via Pokuru, and tipped on its side. The driver was not seriously hurt, but the load was strewn about rhe side of the road. However, help was soon at hand, and the vehicle was able a little later to continue its journey. That the heavy rainstorm yesterday afternoon was almost entirely confined to Te Awamutu district is borne out by the fact that at Rotorua rain commenced to fall only in the evening, and a. resident returning by car in the afternoon from Auckland reached Cambridge before he realised there had been a storm. “ Between Cambridge and Te Awamutu we found plenty of indications of an exceedingly heavy fall,” he said. “ The farmers’ organisations have been trying to get tariffs reduced for the, past thirty years, but they have failed. Successive Governments have recognised the difficulties under which farmer-producers labour by giving assistance through lower freight rates on lime, fertilisers, etc., but those concessions have never compensated for the disabilities under which the farmers labour.”—Colonel S. J. E. Closey at the Parish Hall last Friday evening.

A farmer in the Mangapiko district has been devoting some thought to the matter of farm costs and management, and especially to the interpretation of the Government’s phrase “an efficient farmer,” on which to base farm costs. He says he has asked many other farmers for their interpretation of an efficient farmer and his qualifications and cannot got an answer 'that satisfied him. So he has askeid the “Courier” to seek more information, through our correspondence columns. He adds that his big difficulty is that what might be an efficient farmer on such land as is general in, say, the Mangapiko district; but that cannot compare with the efficiency of a man farming, say, the hill slopes of Pirongia. Is an average required ? . Mr W. I. Bowyer, of Otorohanga, and a member of the Auckland Education Board, when speaking at the Paterangi school jubilee celebrations on Friday, referred to the possibility of an intermediate school being established at Te Awamutu in tlie near future. He warmly favoured the scheme of intermediate schools, as being in the best interests of education, and counselled the Paterangi folk to seriously consider their attitude towards it. He pointed out that there were many districts all over the Dominion, notably in Auckland province, seeking intermediate schools, and that money was limited, for each school would cost anything from £12,000 to £20,000. It was obvious that intermediate schools cannot be established in all the districts asking for them. But united co-operation of all parts of areas affected would help in getting one for Te Awamutu district. Ths committee in charge of the local Girl Guides movement was represented at the Waikato conference in Hamilton last Saturday by Mrs Goodall, the local secretary, who reports that the meeting was most successful, though hardly as representative as hoped for. Mrs Goodall added that at last committee meeting of the Te Awamutu organisation approval was given the plan projected by Miss Bailey for the Sherwood Rangers to hold a Christmas Tree and party for Guides and Brownies on December 22nd. Miss Beryl Renton consented to take charge of the Owls during November (succeeding Miss Audrey Mairs), assisted by Miss Frances Brooks. Tentative arrangements were made for holding a picnic for the Guides and Brownies at Mr Allan Storey’s farm, Te Rahu, during the first week in February. The offer of Mrs Taylor, of Cambridge, (Commissioner) 'to bring six period sets of girls for the Guides’ dance next month, was gladly accepted, as the innovation had proved very attractive at Cambridge.