LOCAL AND GENERAL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 55, Issue 3940, 16 August 1937, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The sales tax first imposed in March, 1933, has proved a good barometer of internal trade in general merchandise. The amount collected in June of this year was £283,094, a decrease of £26,702 on the total for May, but an increase of £41,940 over the figure for June, 1936. A record of £309,796 was established in May.

“There seems to be no doubt that within the next 10 years the threat to wool from the competition of substitutes will become much stronger,’ said Dr H. G. Denham, in the course of an address to members of the Canterbury branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand. He instanced the rapidly increasing production of rayon in recent years.

Quite a number of local residents were on the railway platform on Friday evening when the three special trains from Auckland passed through Te Awamutu en route to Wellington carrying Rugby football enthusiastsWith the two ordinary expresses and three excursion trains passing through during the evening a very busy time was experienced by railway men.

A vistior to Te Awamutu during the week-end, on a motor trip all over the borough, expressed his conviction that no other town in New Zealand was developing at such a pace as Te Awamutu, or was there one to equal it in potentialities. He was, he said, especially impressed with the very fine type of buildings erected recently and of others being erected.

A vigorous protest against a suggestion that returned soldiers were inclined to ask far too much from the community was made by Messrs D. W. Russell and H. E. Denton at the last meeting of the executive of the Christchurch Returned Soldiers’ Association. Mr Denton declared that the new generation needed educating along the lines that it was the returned soldiers who had made it possible for British protection to be enjoyed in New Zealand.

It is announced in the Gazette issued last night that two scholarships valued at £35 a year, tenable for two years, will be offered for competition this year among Maori boys under the Te Makarini scholarship fund. One will be a senior scholarship for Maori boys under 16, and the other a junior for Maori boys under 14, in the regular attendance at native schools. The scholarships are to be decided by examination.

Owing to the acute shortage of hardwood poles in Australia and the delays experienced in obtaining deliveries, the Central Waikato ElectricPower Board resolved to co-operate with a local enterprise in the manufacture of concrete poles reinforced with welded steel. It is probable that if the product is satisfactory and the prices are favourable, the new type of pole, which is being made by a patented process, will replace the wooden pole.

“It is noticeable that the standard of knowledge by applicants for drivers’ licenses of rules of the road has greatly improved since the issue of booklets on these matters by the Government for free distribution to motor drivers,” said Mr A. M. Oliver, the Napier City Council traffic inspector, in reporting. to the council recently. Motor drivers’ licenses issued by the council during June totalled 1223, and resulted in the collection of £305 in fees. Sixty-three heavy traffic licenses, yielding £7BB, were taker out.

The local Fire Brigade's special committee appointed to arrange details in connection with the annual ball to-morrow evening is working energetically to make the function ithe success it deserves to be.

In the course of a special report to the Waipa County Council to-day, the engineer, Mr J. W. Civil, mentioned that he could provide a 12-ft. wide surface to Chamberlain’s Road for a little over £lOOO.

In last week's Gazette it is notified tli at a tender has been let at £644 for painting, renovating and repairing tlie hostel at Waitomo Caves. Similarly a contract has been let for repairs to departmental buildings at Te Kuiti at £4OO.

The Kaipaki-owned gelding Irish Comet, winner of the Great Northern Steeplechase in June, ran third in the Grand National Steeples at Riccarton, and, on the final day, beat ail but Forest Glow in the Lincoln Steeples, three miles.

No resumption of borrowing on the London market is contemplated by New Zealand, according to a statement made by the Minister of Finance, the Hon. W. Nash, in an interview on Saturday. The Minister added that New Zealand's credit overseas was as good as ever it was and jio external -obstructions were being placed in tlie way of the realisation of the Government’s financial policy.

In New Zealand 32 million acres are in grass. This area produces annually 80 million tons of green herbage, an average of somewhat under three tons to the acre. From this grass there are produced annually 265,000 tens of butter and cheese, 375,000 tons of meat, and 100,000 tens of wool. These three commodities represent in an overwhelming degree N'ew Zealand’s international livelihood.

The first horse sale held at Pirongia for many years past was conducted there on Wednesday, and proved quite successful. There was spirited bidding from farmers, many of whom had travelled from Auckland in the north to Taumarunui in the south to be present. A full clearance of entires was realised at prices satisfactory to vendors. The Sale Yards Committee provided afternoon tea, which was much appreciated.

Several firms forwarded quotations for supply of sodium chlorate and other preparations for eradicating ragwort, to to-day’s meeting of the Waipa County Council. Asked about the Relative merits of sodium and other reparations on the market, the Council’s noxious weeds inspector said he had found that only one preparation compared favourably with sodium, “and that,” said Mr Wall, “has the disadvantage in that when applied it kills the weed and grass, besides sterilising the ground for some months. Therefore, farmers do not like it, for ‘bald patches’ appear wherever it is applied.”

Although there have been quite a number of losses of ewes from various causes, chiefly from a form of sleeping sickness, the season for spring lambs in the Waikato has so far been very good. Although the lambs have been coming forward rather later than last year, they are generally of a very fine and strong type. This is probably due to the fact that there has been a plentiful supply of feed for the ewes right throughout the autumn months. A large increase in the number of lambs is expected owing to the fact that many dairy farmers have been cutting down the size of their herds and putting on more sheep.

“There are some subjects which can be dealt with only in the light of national welfare, and among these are flood control and the clearing of willows from stream beds,” said the Minister of Internal Affairs, Hon. W. E. Parry, speaking at a gathering of local body representatives in Gisborne last week. “The willow problem is one to which attention must be given shortly," he continued. “It is going to cost the country hundreds of thousands of pounds to clear up this question of river blockages by willows. We put the willows there as an asset, but in a few years they have become a living menace to us. The problem is one which must be tackled on a national scale.”