LOCAL AND GENERAL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 68, Issue 5945, 19 May 1944, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Welcome Home The following personnel from Te Awamutu and district have returned from overseas: Corporal J. H. Ashley (Kihikihi), Lance-Corporal D. A. Morrison, Privates W. N. Strong, W. J. Pratt, A. W. Gy de, (Te Awamutu), and Driver L. G. Johnson (Paterangi). Red Cross Afternoon A meeting of the Tokanui-Te }4awhia branch of the Red Cross was held in the Tokanui Nurses’ Home on Wednesday. Mrs E. Perrott presided over a good attendance. A series of competitions added interest to a very successful and enjoyable afternoon. Death of Max Brand Readers of American thrillers will regret the death of Max Brand, a prolific writer of that class of literature. His real name was Frederick Faust, and he was a war correspondent employed by Harper’s Magazine. He was killed in action in Italy. Liquor at Country Dances “Drinking at country dances has become so bad that the police are called out to attend every dance,” stated Senior-Sergeant A. G. McHugh in the Magistrates’ Court at Hamilton yesterday. A number of offenders were convicted and fined sums of £lO and £5. Block Voting At a meeting of the executive of the Te Awamutu''Farmers’ Union held yesterday a member raised the question as to whether block voting was allowable. Another member said that he had taken legal opinion on the matter, and it was ascertained that one candidate could be voted for. Employee a Candidate Provision is made in the Local Elections and Polls Amendment Act for employees of local bodies to be elected to seats on those bodies, and a case in point occurs at Cambridge, where the borough foreman, Mr G. W. Amer, is a candidate for a seat on the Borough Council. Support for Messrs Bryant and Onion The executive of the Te Awamutu Farmers’ Union at a meeting held yesterday, decided to support the candidature* of Mr E. A. Bryant for the southern end and Mr F. L. Onion for the northern end of the Waipa County as representatives on the Waikato Hospital Board. The decision fas unanimous after both gentlemen had addressed the meeting. The speeches and discussion were taken in committee. Hamilton Patriotic Hut In a report Mr F. C. House, honorary secretary of the Hamilton Patriotic Hut, stated that 110,1000 meals at an average charge of 9d (ranging from tea and toast 2d to Is 6d to Is 9d for a substantial meal) and provided 10,500 beds at a charge of 2s (with breakfast 3s), had been dispensed. Sleeping accommodation has been taxed to capacity and many thousands directed to accommodation houses and private homes. Receipts exceeded £5OOO. Not Unconstitutional? That the proposed action of the Farmers’ Union in advocating that County Councils should not strike the hospital rate was not unconstitutional was the opinion of a speaker at yesterday’s meeting of the Farmers’ Union. It only became unconstitutional when they refused to pay the hospital rate. The farmers must resist the implication of class domination and direct action would have to be taken to preserve their constitutional rights. I Eloquent Silence An “eloquent silence” followed the reading of two lengthy letters from the Oroua and the Whakatane County Councils respectively, which suggested “direct action,” when these letters were read at the May meeting of the Matamata County Council. The accepted view of the Matamata County Council as stated by the chairman at public meetings is that the present is no time for such threats while the country is at war, and that two wrongs do not make a right. The letters were received without comment.

Remarkable Coincidences Mr J. Aston, Wellington, tells of rather remarkable coindences. On a steamer journey south; to visit his son (in the Cashmere Hills sanatorium after serving in the Pacific Islands), he happened to sit next to an airman, conversation with whom led to the information that he had been the invalid’s closest companion during their service period in the islands. Mr Aston told the airman that Mrs Aston was on her way to Rangiora to attend the wedding of her niece to Mr Joseph Harrison, a North Canterbury farmer. “Well,” said the airman, “that’s remarkable—why, Joe Harrison is my brother!”

Progressive Party Candidates

One feature common to all the candidates of the Progressive Party is a keen interest in the affairs of theii district and participation in the work of the various committees and societies that make up the life of a country district. Mr R. A. Grace is a case in point. He served for many years on the Mangapiko School Committee and has been Government representative on the Auckland Land Board for a considerable time. He has a wide knowledge of local affairs. Mr Gus V. Brooks has been a resident of Te Awamutu for only five years, and he is better known in W’aiotahi and Morrinsville for his public activities. His interest in local body affairs is evidenced by the fact that while in Waiotahi he was a director of the Dairy Company, chairman of tty? School Committee, chairman of the Sports Committee, and an Association football referee. His experience includes ten years of road and bridge construction, nine years of farming, and ten years as a business man in Morrinsville. Participation in local body affairs makes demands on the time, leisure, and pocket of a publicminded citizen, and infers the possession of another very necessary qualification in a prospective councillor — that is, a complete lack of selfI interest.