MID-CANTERBURY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXL, Issue 20283, 5 December 1935, Page 4

MID-CANTERBURY

LOCAL AND DISTRICT NEWS ASHB~JRTON, December 4. Examinations: Proficiency examinations were held at the County and Borough primary schools to-day. Those pupils of Standard VI. who have been granted certificates on the recommendations of headmasters did not sit for the examination, and pupils of the lower standards were not at school. Pupils from the Borough, Dromore, Convent and St. Joseph’s Schools sat at the Borough School, where the inspector was Mr S. A. Clark, M.A. Allenton pupils will be examined to-morrow. Seven candidates for the State examination for general trained nurses, maternity nurses and midwives was held at the Ashburton Public Hospital to-day. The papers for the written section were set by State examiners and the oral section was conducted by Miss Barnett (tutor sister at the Christchurch Hospital) and Dr. G. I. Miller. Competitions Society: The annual meeting of the Ashburton Competitions Society was held on Monday evening, the president (Mr P. Pritchard) presiding over a fair attendance of active members. The eleventh annual report stated that the festival in August was a very satisfactory one. Entries totalled 850, the second largest in the history of the society. The balance-sheet disclosed a credit of £7O/4/3, compared with one of £B6/11/2 last year. The election of officers resulted as follows:—Patrons, Mr H. E. Herring, M.P., the Mayor (Mr W. H. Woods), the county chairman (Mr D. J. Morrow) ; president, Mr W. H. Higgins; vice-presidents, Mrs A. T. Smith, Messrs A. P. Raven and W. C. Bishop; treasurer, Mr R. J. Thompson; solicitor, Mr R. Kennedy; auditor, Mr F. Pritchard; executive committee, Mrs M. C. Cowan, Messrs M. J. Burgess, A. H. Todd and E. R. Easterbrook; secretary, Mr C. J. McEaclien; assistant secretary, Mr H. W. Sherratt. Votes of thanks were accorded the retiring officers and the newspapers. Lamb Competition: A strong bid for supremacy in the export lamb competition promoted by the New Zealand Meat Producers’ Board is being made by growers in Mid-Canterbury, no fewer than 152 entries having been received by the Ashburton Agricultural and Pastoral Association for the Ashburton section of the contest. This is nearly double the number of entries received a year ago, the figure then being 77, while in 1933 it was 70. The season has proved to be a good one for lambs of the size most suitable for the competition, and in view of the

recent discussion whether, seeing that the other provinces have been able to capture all the prizes, the quality of Canterbury lamb has deteriorated or has remained as' of old but been surpassed by outside entries, producers appear to be anxious to win back the title that Canterbury held for so long. An address on the work of the Meat Board in England will be given by the Board’s London manager (Mr R. S. Forsyth), who recently returned to the Dominion on furlough, after having spent 11 years in London. Cmtenary of Butler’s Birth: The centenary of Samuel Butler’s birth falls to-day. Born at Nottingham, England, on December 4, 1835, he died on June 18, 1902. To the present generation, Samuel Butler is little more than a name, yet it is only thirty-three years since he died, and moreover, it is within the present century that this eminent pioneer of the Mid-Canterbury Hinterland, and perhaps better known as the author of “Erewhon,” has come into his own, and won recognition long overdue.