LOCAL AND GENERAL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 54, Issue 3896, 30 April 1937, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The next monthly sitting of the Magistrate’s Court at Te Awamutu has been fixed for May 11th.

“You don’t get any medals for getting drunk, and your friends do notrally round you when you meet with trouble,” commented Mr F. H. Levien, S.M., in the Thames Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, when addressing a young man whom he had convicted and admitted to probation.

Mr J. T. Young, a director of the N.Z. Co-operative Dairy Co., Ltd., informed the carriers and others assembled at last Wednesday’s social function at Te Awamutu that up to date over £4,000,000 had been distributed this season to the company’s suppliers throughout the South Auckland territory.

Farms are making good money at present in England. Small holdings particularly are in demand. One property of 40 acres recently sold for ■‘.1525, while another of 104 acres changed hands at £3300. Another of 353 acres sold at £4400, while £70,000 Was paid by an insurance society for 3013 acres.

As indicative of the progress of Te Awamutu, the Mayor, Mr G. Spinley, told the assembled carriers on Wed nesday evening that whereas the monthly pay out for butter fat 25 years ago was only £7OO, the figure today is £60,000. He stressed the fact that the figure stated was the monthly payment to suppliers.

“I think we have some scrap iron in Howie Park that is an eyesore to everyone,” said Cr B. Chapman, when the Morrinsville Borough Council was considering a letter from an Auckland firm which is on the market to pur chase scrap metals. “You mean the guns?” said the Mayor. "They may not be an eyesore to everyone.”

Though Te Awamutu had no direct interest in ' the matter, there was a rather surprising interest displayed in the poll on Wednesday of Hamilton borough ratepayers on the proposal to borrow £89,000 to remove Garden Place Hill and provide traffic outlets and other Improvements. The proposal was rejected, the voting being: For the loan 1171, against 1384.

The vogue of the radio is exempli fled in the announcement that radio licenses in force in New Zealand on March 31st show a remarkable in crease when compared with the figures on the corresponding date a year ago. This year the grand total of all classes of licenses was 243,642, as against 194,482 on March 31st last year, an increase of 49,160. These figures will be quoted as a clear indication of the return of prosperity to this Dominion.

A statement that as many as 70 cars were being parked day after day in Victoria Street was made at last night’s meeting of the Hamilton Borough Council, when a request was made that the framing of by-laws to remedy this should be proceeded with. The traffic inspector, Mr W. E. Nicholson, intimated that a draft of new by-laws providing for parking up to 10 minutes and also up to one hour would be submitted at a meeting of the council shortly. All-day parking would thus be abolished.

The Hon. R. Semple really ought to confer with the Acclimatisation Society with a view to curbing the carelessness of birds, particularly pheasants, it the story told at the Thames Sub-branch Society is to be believed, and members vouch for it. It proves that pedestrians are not the only careless persons who get themselves killed by cars, as at least two incidents of pheasants being run over by motorists in this district were given. Members stated the society liberated birds which were often stiff and more or less tame. —Star.

Speaking to the assembled carriers at Te Awamutu on Wednesday evening, Mr S. C. Macky, chairman of the Waipa County Council, remarked that when existing roads were formed the advance of motor transport and heavy haulage could never have been anticipated. With 72 miles of sealing and formation now authorised the County Council is keping abreast of the times, striving for a true economy, and promoting the general welfare. It could be hoped that this 72 miles was only the beginning of a gradual extension of a good roads policy for Waipa.

At a sitting of the local Court yesterday morning Mr G. A. Empscn, J.P., remanded, at the request of the police, a young man named Victor F. Weaver, who was arrested in Wellington on a charge of unlawful’y converting a car belonging to Mr Douglas Clark, at Te Awamutu, on March 10th. Weaver had been brought through from Wellington by the early morning train. The remand yesterday was to Hamilton, where Weaver is to appear on Tuesday next. Both Weaver and his companion were, we understand, apprehended in Wellington by Detective J. G. Long (formerly of Hairini).

When paying a tribute in acknowledgment of consideration in Government services, Mr A. J. Sinclair told the carriers and others who assembled at the social function last Wednesday evening that he had occasion recently to desire urgent conversation with a man whom he knew' to be somewhere in the South Island. He made known the fact to the supervisor at the Te Awamutu telephone exchange at about 10 a.m., and a few hours later was advised that the man he desired had been in Greymouth but was then actually en route to Christchurch. Then an arrangement was made for the conversation to proceed at an appointed hour.

Advice that the Australian Basketball Association would not be able to arrange for the tour of the New Zealand representatives this year was received by the Wellington association at its fortnightly executive meeting on Monday night. In a covering letter the New Zealand executive asked the opinion of Wellington officers about the disposal of the money already collected for the Australian tour. All associations in the Dominion are to be asked whether they would support the suggestion that it be spent on a New Zealand 1937 tour for the representatives already selected, or that it be kept until next year. The Australian association had suggested that a New Zealand tour might be arranged next year if some uniformity in the rules of play in the two countries could be achieved. The Wellington executive decided to leave the decision to the New Zealand council at its meeting at Auckland in August, when the interprovincial tournament will be held.

This evening Cambridge’s new theatre, The Tudor, will be officially open od. The contractors have been working at high -pressure this week making final adjustments, and' everything will be in readiness for the premiere, says the Independent.

In connection with the Anzac Day observance in this district it is worthy of note that eight laurel wreaths and flowers were laid on the graves of returned soldiers in the Kihikihi Cemetery on Sunday last.

Turning back the pages of time and recalling some of the early difficulties Of carriers in maintaining transport services in this district, Mr A. Rowan told the assembly at the social function last Wednesday evening that the Waipa Carriers’ Association had been formed in 1922 and was thus perhaps the pioneer association.

“The position is that you pay 25s for a license to shoot, but it is paying 25s for a mere piece of paper allowing you to do something it some other fellow will lot you. Really, you are sold a pup."—A speaker at the Acclimatisation Society Sub-branch at Thames last Tuesday evening, during a discussion on the difficulty of finding properties whereon permission would be given to shoot.

The Wellington Harbour Board has decided to contribute £3OOO to the King George V. National Memorial Fund. The chairman, Mr D. G. McGowan, said that in the opinion of the Wharves and Accounts Committee, which recommended the. grant, the Government could not have thought of a more happy way to perpetuate the memory of King George V. than to establish permanent health camps for children.

An increase of three-quarters of a million pounds in Hawke’s Bay’s wool cheque for the season just closed compared with the 1935-36 season is disclosed by an examination of the returns of the Napier sales. The increase can be attributed to a livelier demand and more elastic limits set by receipts for the season by growers shows the cheque to have totalled £2,387,000.

In reference to cartage arrangements generally, Mr W. McGill, when speaking to the Waipa carriers last Wednesday evening, said some of the charges had been ridiculous, and must have ended in a break-down of transport. For the farming enterprise, security in transport is essential ami a reasonable price tariff, backed by the assurance of a regular and available transport, would be in the best interests of everybody.

Inquiry yesterday shows that the Government’s increase in the shooting license fees from £1 to £1 5s has not daunted local and district sportsmen, and it is anticipated that there will be new records established for this district when the season opens to-mor-row. The record anticipated is not as to the number of game shot, but merely the number of license holders. However, there are indications also of some fair sport being obtainable in various parts of the district, with duck and pheasant particularly. Quail are by no means plentiful, and though in places the pukeko is übiquitous .there are many license holders who say they would not waste a cartridge on such birds! Day limits for pheasants are nine head of cock birds per gun, and for duck fifteen head. The limit for pukeko is eight, for godwit twenty and black swan five.

The possibility of a test case being conducted shortly by a Waikato dairy company to determine the liability of the companies in the matter of holiday payments to its employees was mentioned at the annual meeting of the South Auckland Dairy Association on Wednesday. Either the company would have to pay or it would have to conduct a test case, said a member, when the opinion of Mr W. Slaughter, officer in charge of the Labour Department at Auckland, to the effect that holiday wages would have to be paid, was quoted. It was stated that the case would be conducted from friendly motives only, as the company had never had any trouble with its employees. At the same time a resolution was passed strongly protesting against the action of the Arbitration Court in allowing the application of the employees for an award in October to be withdrawn after two and a half days’ hearing without any refer ence to the employers.

An interesting plebiscite was arranged recently by the Matamata District High School Commitr.ee, states an exchange. The Auckland Education Board in January last extended the facilities for religious instruction, whicli had previously been limited to half an hour on one day a week, so that with a sciiool committee’s consent there could be a hymn, prayer and Bible reading at the commencement of each day. At its meeting on March 8 the Matamata School Committee decided to ask parents for an expression of opinion on the matter. A local plebiscite was accordingly carried cut and the vote was announced at the committee’s meeting on April 12. The result was as follows: In favour of the proposal, 208 parents: against the proposal, 14 parents. The committee decided to accede to the wish of the majority, with the understanding that the children of parents who were against the proposal need not participate. About 500 pupils are in the three departments of the school.