LOCAL AND GENERAL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 66, Issue 5596, 24 March 1943, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Popular Man? A tax commissioner is the kind of doctor who diagnoses your ailment by feeling your pulse.—Old New Zealand proverb.

Dairy Industry Conferences There will be two important dairying industry conferences in Wellington in May and June. On May 6 the Dairy Industry Council will meet, on May 19 the annual conference of the Dairy Board will take place, and the National Dairy Federation will meet in conference at Palmerston North on June 23.

A Misunderstanding The judge looked thoughtfully at the prisoner who had been found guilty. “What is your age?” he asked. “Firty-five your Honour,” was the reply. “You know I could give you 10 years,” remarked the judge severely. “Blime,” said the prisoner, “you carry your age well. I shouldn’t have thought you were over 50, sir.”

Women Tram Conductors The experience in Wellington that the enthusiasm of women tram conductors for their work has shown diminution, which has been reflected by many resignations, is not paralleled in Dunedin. The manager of the city transport department there has stated that there was not the slightest evidence of any slackening in the keenness of its women conductors. Whirlwind at Hairini A whirlwind struck a narrow area in the Hairini district about 1.15 p.m. on Monday, but very little damage was done. In. one settler’s back-yard the week’s washing had been hung out to dry, and the wind left a trail of garments for over a half mile away, the settler's pyjamas flying high to land on a neighbour’s farm. School boys retrieved many other garments. Overseas Broadcast Included in the broadcast “From the Boys Overseas,” on Sunday last was a “cheerio” from Lance-Corporal Hector McDonald of the Divisional Ordnance Corps, to his sister and brother-in-law, Mr and Mrs S. J. Harlock, of Puahue. Before enlisting early in the piece Lance-Corporal McDonald was the No. 2 Hawkes Bay A.A. Road Patrol, with headquarters at Dannevirke, and was a frequent visitor to our fair town. Art Union Winner The holder of the first prize ticket in the art union drawn on Tuesday was Mrs I. M. Young, formerly of Christchurch, but now of Wellington. Mrs Young bought the ticket while on a visit to Christchurch and chose the nom-de-plume “Dudley,” which is the name of her son who is serving overseas. Mrs Young has visited Christchurch, establishing her identity and returned to Wellington £2OOO better off.

Might be Worse The old Arabian proverb, “I had no shoes and complained until I met a man with no feet,” was strikingly exemplified by a prominent Te Awamutu dairy farmer when asked to comment on the effects of the drought in this district. He had, he said, been talking to a farmer from North Auckland, where the drought was a grim reality, on one farm the calves being destroyed and the cows turned out. Bad as it it here, Te Awamutu farmers have much to be thankful for. Morrinsville Conference The Morrinsville Dairy Co. is arranging a combined conference of all dairy companies operating in South Auckland to consider the serious posi- ■ tion into which the industry is drifting through decreased butterfat production per cow as disclosed in the latest dairy census. The conference will be held at Morrinsville, and the i Te Awamutu company will be represented by Mr E. H. Rhodes (chairman), and Mr A. J. Sinclair (secre-tary-manager).

Evening Classes. Evening classes at the High School are now in full swing. Crafts have proved very popular this year, and it will be necessary to provide four classes a week in this subject. Demands in commercial art and in leather work, such as gloves, wood and metal decorative articles, have become so strong that the school is anxious to find instructors to cope with the position. There are two classes in sewing, in addition to classes in woodwork, for ladies as well as men, metalwork and motor mechanics. A class in Maori commences on Tuesday night.

Prison Camp in Italy News of a new prisoner-of-war camp in Italy has been received in letters forwarded by relatives to the Prisoner-of-War Inquiry Office in Christchurch. Letters written as late as December have been received, and one soldier said that conditions had improved 500 per cent, compared with his previous camp. The camp is No. 47, and has both officers and men from New Zealand and South Africa, including a good number from Canterbury. “It seems a funny comparison to make, but this camp is miles better than ,” he said, naming the largest mobilisation camp in the South Island.