LOCAL AND GENERAL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 58, Issue 4194, 9 June 1939, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Arrangements are reported to be well in hand for the Te Awamutu Golf Club’s ball, which is to be held on Tuesday evening next. Very many visiting guests are expected to attend. The arrest of two youths at Otorohanga this week is expected to throw some light on the mysterious disappearance of some liquor, etc., from the golf houses of clubs at Te Kuiti, Otorohanga and Te Awamutu. During a discussion at the meeting last night of Te Awamutu Borough Council, on the congestion of motor traffic, it was stated that heavy vehicles had caused congestion in the narrow part of Alexandra Street through turning in that street. At a meeting of the Waikato Presbytery at Hamilton on Wednesday the Rev. S. ;Wi. Webber submitted a report upon a visit he had paid recently to the Kawhia district, in which, inter alia, he stressed the need for a definition of parish boundaries, for although Kawhia at the present time was nominally in Otorohanga parish it was impossible for- the minister there to give it pastoral oversight. South Africa continues to draw on New Zealand for Corriedale sheep, the latest order received by Wright Stephenson and Co. Ltd. being for 40 Corriedale ewes for three separate breeders. Twenty-five ewes were secured from the well-known stud of C. H. S. Johnstone, of Timaru, ten from Bushey Park and five from the Hui Hui stud of the late H. T. Little. From this stud was also secured a splendid stud ram which should make his mark in South Africa.

The wonderful season being experienced in Australia is causing a phenomenal demand for British-breed rams of the Border’ Leicester, Romney Marsh and Southdown and -Ryeland breeds. Consignments have been secured by the stud stock department of Wright Stephenson and Co. Ltd. from the following well-known New Zealand, Tasmania and Western Australia:—-Southdowns from W. Price, Feilding; R. F. R. Beetham, Wairarapa. Romney Marsh from J. Grant, Otautau; W. Kennedy, Invercargill; A. E. Anderson, Wairarapa. Border Leieesters from W. E. Lindsay, Southland. English Leicester’s ex Sir Heaton Rhodes, Canterbury. Ryelands from T. A. Stephens and J. Brooks, Canterbury; E. Averill and Sons, Hastings, and H. C. Bayly Withell, Canterbury. The total number of rams to be shipped is in the vicinity of 500. Comment was made at the Borough Council meeting on the cost of concreting a footpath on Wallace Terrace, to which some of the property owners benefiting are contributing. The clerk showed the cost to date as £B4 for 300 square wards of concreting. Property owners were contributing 2s 6d per yard—half the estimated cost. Cr Armstrong pointed out that the price quoted worked out at 6s 8d per yard, and he understood the whole cost was not yet available. Cr North commented that it was clear the Council could not do any more work on that basis. The Deputy Mayor said there was only one other such work to do. Cr North said it was not satisfactory getting only £l3 to do £B4 worth of work. A rather remarkable sidelight on the regard shown for the New Zealand Corriedale in South America was contained in a newspaper cutting just received from Buenos Aires. The leading Australian Corriedale breeder, Senator J. F. Guthrie, in an endeavour evidently to establish the Australian Corriedale in South America, sent over a selected consignment of his own breeding. At the auction of these sheep there was not one bid, and very little active interest was shown in the sheep at all. This contrasted greatly with a sale of New Zealand Corriedales on consignment, where the average was 85 guineas. The newspaper cutting concluded that the Australian sheep had not the correct carcass conformation, or wool as required by the South American market, and the heads were far from impressive. The general treasurer notified the Waikato Presbytery at its monthly meeting on Tuesday that the estimated expenditure on the scheme of the Church for the 1939-190 year showed an increase of £2649 on last year’s figures. This, it was pointed out, did not represent any expansion of work, but was necessary to maintain present operations in view of increased costs. The amount of the budget allocated to the Waikato Presbytery was £1845. A lengthy discussion on the method to be adopted in assessing the congregational contributions followed, and revealed many problems, culminating in a decision to refer the question to the finance committee for a report, and also to consider certain representations from the Southland Presbytery re church finance generally. It was pointed . out that on a membership basis over New Zealand the budget assessment last year worked out at 13s 5d per head, the (Waikato levy equalling 10s sd. This year the respective ratios were 15s and Ils 7d. “Would the Committee consider representations on behalf of some of the hotel licensees regarding the requirement to keep an outside light burning throughout the night?” asked Mr Noel Johnson at the Waikato Licensing Committee meeting in Te Awamutu yesterday. He said he was acting for the licensee, of the Ohaupo Hotel, but felt it was a matter of interest to all hotels in the district. The chairman, Mr S- L. Paterson, S.M., said it was true the conditions of license required that a light should be kept burning all night, but it was a provision of other days, when districts were sparsely settled; the light then gave valuable assistance to travellers by land and even by sea. A Licensing Committee had power to waive the requirement if it thought fit, and it was generally waived in boroughs and cities where other lighting was available. He per- j sonally was in favour of the present application, in view of the fact that there was adequate street lighting nowadays. Certainly a lamp- in front of licensed premises was not now necessary for the guidance of travellers. Members of the Committee were in accord, and the waiving of the requirement was agreed to.

The concrete footpathing along Frontier Road was referred to at the Borough Council meeting on Thursday evening, when the town clerk reported that Mr V. de Coek had paid £2B as the agreed upon contribution to the cost. He added that the work was a big job. The engineer, Mr R. P. Worley, said the main difficulty was that the power poles were not on the fence line; very little filling would be necessary. Cr North said it would be necessary to curtail the width of concrete footpaths, as no subsidy on labour costs was obtainable now. At the monthly meeting of the Waikato Presbytery at Hamilton on Tuesday the Rev. ,W. H. Hitchcock submitted a report upon the triennial visitation to the Paterangi congregation (the Rev. D. C. Mclntyre), which disclosed a most satisfactory state of affairs—a thriving cause, enthusiastic office-bearers, and strong youth work. The property was in good condition, and in the near future would be entirely free of debt. Mr Hitchcock summed up the report thus: “ The work is in good heart and in good hands.” The report was adopted, and a finding approved which will be read to the congregation by the Rev. J. C. Young, B.A. (Te Awamutu) on a date to be arranged. A somewhat unusual coincidence was discovered in Wellington when business was at its briskest at the motor registration bureau. Among the many people waiting to register two men, strangers to each other, struck up a conversation as they stood in the queue. They eventually reached the desk, gave their names and, probably to the amusement of the people around them, stared at each other in amazement and shook hands. They had discovered that they had the same Christian names and surnames. Both had lived in Wellington for a long time and had frequently gone to the bureau to register. It is strange that out of over 23,000 drivers of motor vehicles these two should have gone to register together. It has puzzled some New Zealand motorists why there should be an annual change of number-plates, when such is not the case in some other countries. The Automobile Association has always favoured the New Zealand procedure on account of the greater means of identification afforded for 'the purposes of third-, party risks. In Australia it is considered that 10 per cent of vehicles escape re-registration every year. It is pointed out that the man who does not register, because he cannot afford the money, is not as a rule the best of drivers, and is the very man who should not be allowed to escape registration. The view was expressed by a local motorist the other day that the colour of the new places is sufficiently glaring to immediately draw an inspector’s attention to its absence. He said that it reminded him of the under-side of some tropical wasp. A tragedy occurred on the Coromandel coast on Wednesday, resulting in the death of Mr Frederick Wood, of New Guinea, and brother of Mr Arthur Wood, of Te Awamutu. It appears that Mr Wood, who was spending a holiday in a tour of New Zealand with his wife and daughter, left Hamilton in company with Dr Gruenvald, and when approaching the Coroglen ford it was realised that the stream was heavily in Hood. An attempt was made to cross, but the flood water swept the car downstream ,and Dr Gruenvald struggled to the bank to secure assistance. Meantime the other occupants of the vehicle became alarmed at the rising water, and they decided to try and get ashore. Mrs Wood succeeded, and a man who arrived in the nick of time saved Miss Wood, but no sign could be found of Mr Wood, but intensive search has satisfied the police and others that drowning has occurred.

The whole story of what happened when a deputation from the Borough Council waited on the Minister of Education in Te Awamutu last week will probably not be told, for publication, but reference to. it was made at the Borough Council meeting on Thursday evening when the Deputy Mayor said he believed he owed an apology to other members of the deputation. He felt now that he had made a mistake in “button-holing" the Minister when he was concentrating on other matters, the result being that the full statement could not be made to him. Councillors appreciated the position, and assured Cr Montefiore that he certainly did owe them some reparation or solatium for injured feelings. One even went so far as to suggest that he had been placed badly offside. Mutual explanations followed, and after a few minutes routine business was resumed, but not before a councillor commented that the happening was “a good example of proceedings by the Snake Gully Council?” to which the retort was “They’ve got nothing on us!” The first unit of the comprehensive service station being provided by Mr F. Parsons has now been completed. It is the office on the Bank Street frontage of the property that runs through to Roche Street. Yesterday borough workmen were busy laying a concrete crossing over the footpath and also concreting the path in front of the office. Meantime the builders are proceeding with the second part of the construction work. A great deal of spoil has been removed to provide for a level run-way the whole depth of the property beside what will be a. very large loading bank, constructed to accommodate about half a dozen lorries'that will eventually ply to all parts of the district with goods for settlers, parcels for homesteads, and all the other articles of an up-to-date transport establishment. Mr Parsons plans to make full use of the whole section, providing a waiting room for dwellers in the outdistricts, a booking office and receiving depot, a car-parking area under supervision, etc. Mr Parsons transferred his office and depot from Market Street to the new premises this week, and undertakes to handle all his carrying business, coal and wood delivery service, etc., from the new site. 'The progress of the further work will be watched with keen interest, for the finished scheme will surely meet a long-felt want. Te Awamutu Courier publishes 12 pages, including the special Kawhia supplement, each Wednesday.