LOCAL AND GENERAL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4534, 9 February 1942, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Minister of Housing (the Hon. H. T. Armstrong) has formally communicated to Mr W. S. Goosman, M.P., the decision of the Government to erect ten State houses in Te Awamutu as announced in Friday’s issue of “The Courier.”

The Easter meeting of the Otorohanga Sports Club has been abandoned this year owing to the war situation and the necessity for conserving petrol. For the same reasons, the annual Agricultural and Pastoral Association show at Otorohanga has also been cancelled for 1942.

The Bluff oyster fleet, after four months’ spell from trawling, is again ready for sea. During the four months off season these ships have undergone a complete overhaul, which is always needed after eight months’ strenuous work in Foveaux Strait. The season opens this year on Sunday, February 15.

Woolgrowers in the Auckland Province have received over a million pounds for their clip this season, the sum for the last four appraisals being the sum of £1,008,929, compared with £1,182,292 for five appraisals by this time last season. Bales handled to date number 58,683, compared with 67,293 at the corresponding period last season.

At a meeting of the Te Awamutu Boy Scouts Committee, Commissioner Lewis, of Hamilton, attended and outlined the rally and display to be held there during the month of February. It was decided to co-operate wholeheartedly in the project and to be fully represented thereat. It was also decided to hold a week-end Scout rally in Te Awamutu early in March-

The first trickles of evacuees are now reaching Thames. Last week-end women and children from Auckland arrived to stay in the town with relatives and friends. Probably this action has been taken in response to the suggestion put forward by Mr Peter Jensen, secretary of the Thames E.P.S. Evacuation Sub-com-mittee, that people would be wise not to wait until an actual crisis arose.

The black-out requirements in Cambridge have been attended to well, though one or two business people have had to be reminded of their obligations. The position with the residents in the borough is not quite so good, but people who have not yet carried out the requirements of the black-out will receive a gentle reminder from the wardens, who will commence their rounds shortly.

When a mob of approximately 1000 sheep, belonging to Newton King Limited, were being driven into Te Awamutu on Saturday afternoon last and when within a short distance of Kihikihi, they were overtaken by a lorry, with the result that 36 were killed outright and four others so seriously maimed that they had to be destroyed. The Police were speedily on the scene and tested the vehicle. The sequel will, it is understood, occupy the attention of the Magistrate at an early date.

For failure to make application for enrolment in the First Division of the General Reserve, Thomas Tebbs Gothorp, aged 31, single, farmer of Rototuna, was convicted and sentenced to six weeks’ imprisonment by Mr W. H. Freeman, S.M., in the Magisistrate’s Court, Hamilton, on Friday. On a charge of failing to answer lawful questions put to him by a constable, Gothorp was convicted and discharged, and for having liquor in his possession in the vicinity of the Frankton Town Hall on December 31 while a public dance was in progress, Gothorp was also convicted and discharged.

Cheese production in the Temuka district has proved well up to expectations and, given favourable conditions during the next few weeks, the season in South Canterbury should prove a record one, said the secretary of the four Temuka cheese factories, Mr F. J. Robertson, in an interview. In some instances suppliers had been diverted from butter factories, but apart from this the ordinary output of the factories showed an increase, he said. One particularly pleasing feature this season was the very high quality of the cheese being manufactured. All the factories in the district had been grading “finest,” 934 points or more.