LOCAL AND GENERAL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 56, Issue 4044, 6 May 1938, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

It was stated at a meeting of the Waikato Presbytery in Hamilton, in reference to the Taumarunui pastorate, that an early conference would be held with the natives interested, and Rev. J. C. Young, 8.A., of Te Awa-. mutu, was appointed to represent the Presbytery thereat

Considerable activity is being displayed at the quarry at the 13-mile peg on the Kihikihi-Arapuni main highway, Messrs Grinter Bros, having a gang of workmen engaged breaking down hundreds of tons of metal foi use on the main highway in connection with the proposal to seal the road for its full length.

Nominations for the Upper Mangap.ko Drainage Board closed at Cambridge at noon to-day, when the following were declared elected unopposed: Messrs S. A. Ammon, D. Brown, H. AV. Campin, W. J. Hemmings, R. A. Martin, V. 11. Nolan and O. S. Shale.

A profit of £12,108 for the year ended 31st March, 1938, was reported by the manager of Thames Valley Electric Power Board at the Board’s meeting on Wednesday. The increase in net sales of electricity for the year was £12,203, and in connection with these figures it has to be noted that reductions totalling £7OOO per annum were made to consumers in' May of last year.

Only £246, or 2.92 per cent, of the Morrinsville- borough rates for the year ended 31st March, 1938, were outstanding (according to a report by the clerk, Mr A- G. Strahan, at the final meeting of the present Council). Rates collectable for the period 19371938 totalled £8197, of which 97.08 per cent was received before 31st March. Arrears collected amounted to £5ll.

A much better telegraph toll service than exists at present will be available in Hamilton within a few months, when the new exchange at present being installed will be competed. Toll business continues to increase at a tremendous rate in Hamilton, and it is considered that the improvements at present being effected will make for a much speedier service.

“It is the intention of the Government to present to every school a suitably-framed portrait of Their Majesties George VI- and Queen Elizabeth, in a group with the two Princesses, as a Coronation souvenir,” said the Department of Education in a letter received by the Hawke’s Bay Education Board at a recent meeting The Board agreed to co-operate with the Department in the distribution of portraits to schools in its district.

At a special meeting of the Te Awamutu Municipal Band this week the resignation of Mr R. H. Close, who has been conductor of the Band foi the past six years, was accepted with regret, Mr Close insisting that he must relinquish his activities with the band owing to family illness and his own duties as borough forenian requiring all his available time. Mr Close’s place as head of the Band is being taken by Mr J. Smith, and Mr Roy North has been elected deputyconductor.

To find a ten-shilling note curled round a mushroom in the centre of a large paddock far from any road or dwelling was the experience of a Wellington visitor to Feilding for the recent races there. In company with friends he motored some distance from the town, and had gathered what was considered sufficient mushrooms when the Wellingtonian saw a particularly nice-looking mushroom which he decided to add to his collection. It was then, to his surprise, that he found the note curled round the stem of the mushroom.

The volume of trade handled at the various Waikato sale yards during this week has been smaller than is usually the case for this time of the year, and the fact can be attributed to the prevalence of facial eczema among cattle and sheep. Ample feed is available throughout the Waikato and northern King Country districts, but the tragedy of the matter is that the fodder is not wanted, and the unusual spectacle of seeing wellgrassdd paddocks without a single animal grazing on them is a common one in both districts.'

The Presbyterian Church at Thames is at present celebrating its seventieth anniversary, the first church having been opened there on 3rd May, 1868. It is believed to have been the first Presbyterian Church built in the area now covered by the Waikato Presbytery. At its meeting on Tuesday the latter body passed a resolution congratulating the Thames congregation upon attaining the seventieth anniversary of its church and wishing thp church members and adherents con tinued success.

Owing to the depressed state of the fur market it has been decided to have a close season for opossums. Advice to that effect has been received by the Council of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society in a letter from the Under-Secretary of Internal Affairs. The letter stated that the opossum season question had been fully considered, and owing to the depressed state of the fur market and, consequently, to the poor prospects of payable prices for opossum skins the Minister of Internal Affairs had decided that a close season should be observed this year throughout New Zealand.

At the May meeting of the Waikato Presbytery, held at Hamilton last Tuesday, a lengthy discussion took place after the reading of a letter from the Bible-in-Schools League with reference to the proposed banning of the voluntary five minutes devotional exercises in State schools, and the following resolution was adopted: “ That this Presbytery, while appreciating the provisions in the Education Amendment Act for the recognition and extension of the present system of voluntary religious instruction in State schools, expresses strong disapproval of the suggested curtailment oi the powers of Education Boards to grant facilities for daily religious exercises. The Presbytery also urges congregations to protest to their respective Parliamentary representatives against the suggested curtailment.’*

Mr L. V. Carmine, of To Kuiti, has been elected a vice-president of the New Zealand, Rugby Union. Mr A. St. G. Belsher (Waikato) has been appointed to the council.

All public schools in the towns and districts of Te Awamutu and Otorohanga will close this afternoon for the first term holidays, which will last until Monday, 23rd May.

The Railway Department advertises in this issue particulars of train arrangements and cheap excursion tickets to Claudelands in connection with the Waikato trotting meeting on Saturday, 14th May.

So far the response of Northland farmers to the invitation to take part in a conducted rail and motor tour of the Wiaikato and Rotorua districts has been disappointing. Only twelve farmers have intimated their intention Ig take part in the tour, which, unless there is a much larger number forthcoming in the next few days, will have to be abandoned.

Arrangements have been made for a public address on Monday evening at the Te Awamutu Town Hall, by Mr R. Eyre, Mayor of Ngaruawahia, and Mrs I. A. Collins, of Frankton Junction, in support of their candidature as Official Labour candidates for the Waikato Hospital Board election on Wednesday.

During the visit to the Arohena district a few days ago of the Hon. F. Langstone, Minister of Lands, a representative deputation of settlers, headed by Mr Allan Weal, president of the Farmers’ Union, discussed several matters of district interest with him, and asked his co-operation in securing additional amenities, including better roads, the development of several at present unproductive areas, and the settlement of lands that are, in their present state, by no means a credit to the district. The Minister assured the settlers that he would have the representations carefully investigated, and would let the settlers know as soon as possible.

It is probably not generally known that fowl wheat costs more retail than milling wheat, but this fact was stated at the Farmers’ Union meeting yesterday afternoon when Mr G. T. Crawley informed the meeting that the Waikato sub-provincial executive was making representations to the Government with the object of correcting the anomaly. During the brief discussion that followed it was stated that some millers were believed to have deliberately damaged the milling wheat in their charge so as to enable them to sell it as fowl wheat at the higher price. The Government seemed to have fixed prices lor best wheat so as to keep down the price of flour and bread, but had not given poultry-keepers any such consideration, hence the present ridiculous position.

“ Don’t try to harness us to orthodox methods, because we are going to kick over the traces,” declared the Prime Minister, the Right Hon. M. J. Savage, when discussing the cost oi the social security plan with Mr W W.. Mulholland, president of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, at Tuesday’s sitting of the Special Parliamentary Committee. Mr Savage said that the credit of the country should reflect a money system that would at least equal the value of production, and that there would have to be a more equitable distribution of income in the future than in the past. The Prime Minister’s remarks were made after the case for the Farmers’ Union had been presented. Mr Mulholland’s main contention was that all that the farmers were concerned about was to see that the Government’s proposals were kept within the bounds of economic possibilities.

Because of the changes in the boundaries of electoral districts made by the Representation Commission last year several representatives of existing electorates will contest new constituencies at the general election this year. The Oroua electorate, at present represented in the House of Representatives by Mr J. G. Cobbe (Nationalist), has been merged into Manawatu, and Mr Cobbe will he the Nationalist candidate for that seat. A new electorate has been formed on the outskirts of Wellington, and this is to be known as Wellington Suburbs, and the present electoral district of that name will become Wellington Wiest. Mr R. A. Wright (Independent) is the sitting member for Wellington Suburbs, and it is his intention to contest the Wellington West electorate, which will embrace a substantial proportion of the area at present in Wellington Suburbs.