LOCAL AND GENERAL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 55, Issue 3939, 13 August 1937, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The next sitting of the Magistrate’s Court at Te Awamutu is set down foi Wednesday next.

The fortnightly meeting of the Te Awamutu Borough Council is to be held on Monday evening.

Waipa County Council’s monthly meeting is to be held on Monday next.

Particulars of the issue of railway excursion tickets to Auckland in connection with the Auckland Winter Exhibition are advertised in this issue.

At last meeting of the Morrinsville Rugby Union it was agreed that the Peace Cup elimination game, Morrinsville v. Matamata, be played at Morrinsville on August 21. The Clarke Cup (Waikato junior championship) final, Morrinsville v. Waipa, will be played on the same day, at Morrinsville.

It is stated that a party of local Rovers Scouts, exploring in the country beyond Wharepuhunga recently, located a carved block of wood that is believed to be a tribal boundary peg that had been disturbed from its proper position some considerable time ago, and was lying among some rubbish. Information as to its exact use or application is now being sought.

Advice was received at Monday evening’s meeting of the Morrinsville Rugby Union that a conference would be held at Cambridge next week to discuss weight limits for juniors and third grade. Mr Chapman said the question had become acute in the subunions playing for the Stag Trophy, as these unions now had only two senior teams instead of four teams as previously. A former Waikato representative forward was now playing junior in another union. This was not fair to young players. It was decided to give the delegates a free hand Messrs Chapman and Mclntyre were appointed delegates.

His Worship the Mayor of Auckland, Sir Ernest Davis, was a visitor to To Awamutu last week-end, on private business, and he took the opportunity to motor along several streets of the town to inform himself as to the progress and development of the place, afterwards remarking that he was pleasantly surprised, for everywhere he had found evidence of pride in ownership of private homes, and provision for many new buildings. As to the business area itself, lie said a real transformation was being made and the property owners clearly had implicit confidence in the growth and prosperity of To Awamutu and district.

Present-day youth found a champion in Mr P. N. Rundle, when the council of the New Zealand Olympic Association was discussing a recommendation that compulsory physical education of the youth of the community up to the age of 21 years be undertaken by the proposed National Council of Sport. “ The young man of to-day is as good as his father was,” declared Mr Rundle. “He has led a dog’s life recently, unwanted in industry and forced to live in idleness. In spite of that we find him willing to live and work under conditions of hardship.” Mr Rundle had the satisfaction of seeing the word “ compulsory ” eliminated from the recommendation.

A couple of local residents, who daily have watched progress in the preparatory work for erecting the new Commercial Hotel, differed as to the dimensions of the building, and inquiry on their behalf elicited the information that the Alexandra Street frontage will be 69 feet 101 inches, and the depth of building will be 218 feet. There is provision in the Alexandra Street frontage for two shops and a bottle store, plus the main entrance to the hotel. The Sloane Street frontage will come right to the building line. Altogether the plans provide for a very fine building. The amount of excavaton work necescsary can be realised when we say that over 1200 cubic yards of spoil have already been carted away—and there is still more to go.

How New Zealand butter successfully weathered war conditions and opened up fresh and fragrant in Mesopotamia when the sun beat down at a temperature of 125 degrees, was related by Mr J. Lynch at the meeting ot the Dairy Company suppliers at Waitoa last Thursday evening. “The butter,” he said, “arrived in tin containers of 12 ozs capacity. Those of us who were lucky enough to get them thoroughly appreciated it, for it was better than any of the other ‘stuff’ we received. It opened up in perfect condition and was a real treat. After marching up into Germany the New Zealand boys—well, I’d hate to tell you what they did, but they sold this self-same 12 oz tin of butter to the Germans for 6s a tin. Our only regret was that we didn’t have more," he continued, amidst laughter. “Worse than that,” said Mr Lynch, “we sold the dripping we rendered down for just about the same.”

Gate takings at Rugby Park, Hamilton, on July 28, when the Springboks played the Combined team, amounted to £1856. Of this sum the Waikato Rugby Union will receive £387, and tho Hamilton Rugby Union £l7l, the balance going to the New Zealand Rugby Union.

Already three car parties of Rugby football enthusiasts have left Te Awamutu to witness the first test game between the All Blacks and the Springboks at Wellington to-morrow afternoon. Other enthusiasts plan to leave by car later in the day, and others will go by train to-night.

A total of 347 men are now employed on subsidised local body works under the scheme recently introduced by the Government for the relief of unemployment. Local authorities in Auckland city and adjacent districts have authority to employ 724 men immediately, and although the present figures are short of this objective it is expected that they will mount steadily in the next few weeks.

Turf statistics for the season just closed show that the list of winning owners is headed by Sir Charles Clifford, with £9596, and Mr W. H. Maria, of North Auckland, is second with £2960. Others of interest in this province were: Mr R. T. Reid, Hamilton, £2445; Mr R. J. Sexton, Kaipaki, £1865; Mrs F. M. Reilly, Hamilton, £1835; and Mr A. Winder, Hamilton, £1730.

At a full meeting of the Public Library Committee last evening it was resolved to keep the free reading room open to the public every evening in the week except Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday, and holidays till 7.30 o’clock, beginning next Monday. The Library continues to flourish under the guidance of His Worship the Mayor, Mr G. Spinley. Eleven new subscribers were enrolled during the month.

Te Awamutu Cribbage Club held its weekly series of games in the Oddfellows’ Hall last evening, when there was the usual jolly gathering of players, and the evening passed most pleasantly. There were no very high scores recorded, the best being eight games won by Mr Welch and Mrs Carseldine. The supper was quite up to its usual high standard, and certainly does its part in making these Cribbage Club evenings the best of all card evenings for the winter season.

Waipa Rugby Union obviously recognised the wishes of its supporters by arranging all local matches set down for to-morrow to be played at 1 p.m., for there seems to be a universal desire to listen-in to the broadcast description of the test football match in Wellington later in the day. However, at Pirongia one game is scheduled for 2.30 p.m., following a third-grade game. At Korakonui the junior match was fixed at 1 p.m. in response to requests from both the teams.

“How would you define success in life?” was one of the questions put to Dean G. C. Cruickshank by a member of a Young Farmers’ Club in Christchurch after the dean had given an address on “Citizenship.” “I would say that the man who is reliable has achieved success in life,” was the answer. "Reliability and contentment should be the hall-marks of success, not the amount of money a man can make. Contentment does not rest on that basis —it is not to be found in the abundance of one's possessions, but in the fewness of one’s wants.

“ What a wonderful week we have experienced in your district ! ” said a visitor when leaving for the south last evening. She added that the weather had been remarkable for the winter months, making it possible for her to motor pleasantly through most of the districts round Te Awamutu. Of course we tried to assure her that this weather prevails every winter in Te Awamutu, but somebody had forestalled us with the same story—and it fell very flat indeed ! It appears the lady was also here a fortnight ago, and so had opportunity to observe for herself.

The congregation of St. Andrew’s Church, Te Kuiti, farewelied Mrs S. Baddeley last Tuesday at a social at which the Rev. W.- T. Brabyn presided. During the evening appreciative references were made to the willing and effective service given by Mrs Baddeley in musical matters by Mi- Duncanson, and on behalf of the congregation Mr Brabyn presented her with a beautiful silver teapot and hot water jug, and expressed good wishes for her future at Te Awamutu. Mrs Baddeley feelingly replied, after which refreshments were served, the (unction closing with “Auld Lang Syne.”

“We broke all records last night,” said Dr M. M. Hockin, medical superintendent of the Waikato Hospital Board, yesterday, when referring to the crowded condition, of the Waikato Hospital. Dr Hockin added that the number of patients in the Waikato Hospital was 372. Mr A. L. Keith mentioned that the admissions at the Rotorua Hospital had also reached a high figure, there being 92 patients in the institution when he visited it a few days ago. It was estimated when the board took over the hospital three years ago that the number of patients would be about 55. The chairman, Mr J. J. Ryburn, pointed out that all the board’s hospitals were crowded. Anniversaries? To-day is Friday, August 13th, and our attention has been directed to the fact that on Friday, August 13th, twenty-two years ago, the R.M.S. Royal Edward, then in use as a troop transport, was torpedoed while crossing the Mediterranean with troops from Alexandria to Lemnos Island. The missile struck at 9.20 a.m., and so terrible was the damage done that by 9.26 a.m. nothing remained of the 16,000 ton luxury liner, and 1200 of the 1500 troops on board perished. The spectacle, horrible as it was, was witnessed from tiie decks of the S.S. Alynwick Castle, which was also carrying troops to the Gallipoli campaign, and was only 1J milds from the scene of the disaster. Our informant was one of the hundreds of eye-witnesses.