LOCAL AND GENERAL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 80, Issue 7181, 27 March 1950, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Opawa Re-union Mr Sanderson of Manurewa, who is secretary of the Troopship Opawa Re-union, informed a Courier reporter at Auckland on Saturday that the re-union is to be held this year at Hamilton on a date early in May. This re-union is the most unique held in the Dominion and is attended by returned service personnel from all over New Zealand, including a number of men from Te Awamutu and surrounding districts 1 . Visit of Minister of Lands

“Te Awamutu people have been wrongly advised if informed that I do not intend visiting Te Awamutu,” said the Minister of Lands, Mr Corbett, on Friday. “Itjs correct that, on my recent visit to the King Country, time did not permit my visiting Te Awamutu but it always has been my intention, and still is, to include the town, and surrounding district in my visit to the Waikato later in the year.”

How Building Costs Rise It has been claimed that controls have resulted in increased building costs. A definite instance is on the cards, but this time the reason, is traffic control. Recently a patrol car stopped a driver in Wellington who was exceeding the 30 m.p.h. limit. He explained that he was hurrying to tender for a large building contract. This excuse failed to soften the heart of the inspector, who, as he wrote in his book of tickets, remarked: “ You’d better add another £2 or £3 to that tender.”

Inquest Closed The inquest into the death of Mr Colin John Officer, aged 50, farm manager, of Earle’s Road, Pukeatua, who was found lying dead on the 12th of March last, beside an overturned dray which had been loaded with manure was re-opened and closed before Mr W. Stewart, Coroner for Kihi Kihi district, in the Te Awamutu Court last Friday. After evidence had been taken, death was found to have resulted from a facture at the base of the skull, fractured ribs on the right side and a fractured right clavicle following the accident with the dray. Weed Control on Railway

“ I am very surprised to be told that the Railway Department’s wee.l control spraying plant treats weeds only on the width of permanent way and not the whole width of the railway reserve,” said Mr E. D. White (chairman) at the Matamata County Council meeting on Thursday. He said the method described was “ only playing with” the problem. Other councillors declared sparks from railway engines had caused fires in rubbish on railway property, which destroyed fencing and adjoining owners had to contribute to the cost of renewal or let their livestock stray into danger zones.

Presentation To Noel McMahon At the close of play at Albert Park last Saturday, players and supporters of the Waipa Cricket Association gathered for a few moments to congratulate Noel McMahon, captain of the Rovers eleven, on the occasion of his being selected for the New Zealand team which played the Australian team at Dunedin. A suitably engraved silver salver was presented to Mr McMahon on behalf of Wiaipa cricketers by Mr J. W- Edwards, vicepresident of the Waipa Cricket Association. The president of the Association, Mr M. Barnett, was unable to officiate because he had received a hit in the mouth from a cricket ball during play against Wharepuhunga at Tokanui earlier in the day. A suitable reply was made by Mr McMahon.

Vital Statistics The vital statistics of the Te Awamutu district for the two months of this year ending 28th February as announced by the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages are as follows:—A total of 52 births was registered as against 65 for the corresponding period of last year. Eight of them were Maori as against 11 last year. Sixteen deaths were registered as against 15 for the same period last year—two of them were Maori while the figures for last year included 5. There were 19 marriages, three of which were performed in the Registrar’s Office as against 8 last year, only one of which was performed by the Registrar.

First Auction Sale of Land Wfith the lid off land values and houses bringing at auction some hundreds of pounds more than what would have been permitted under theLand Valuation Act, it is interesting to recall that the first published real estate sale by auction took place in Otago, the same province in which the first sale of any New Zealand land occurred, writes “Khandallah” in the Standard. About the end of March, 1840, the following advertisement appeared in a Sydney paper: “New Zealand Estates —Mr Samuel Lyons is instructed to sell by auction at his temporary rooms, George Street, this day, March 27, at eleven o’clock precisely,—twelve important estates on the banks of the River Tetowis (Mataura), in the Middle Island of New Zealand, having a frontage of one mile to the river by twenty mles in depth, and containing twenty sections, or twelve thousand eight hundred acres each lot. The original title deeds are left with the auctioneers for inspection and the purchaser will receive a conveyance in conformity therewith; the buyers will be let into immediate possession of the land upon payment of the purchase money.” The price realised at New Zealand’s first auction sale was sevenpence per acre.