Local and General News

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21785, 15 October 1940, Page 4

Local and General News

Timaru Library Book issues in the Timaru Library last month totalled 23,711 volumes, an increase of 2536 on the figures for the corresponding month last year. Name of Street Changed Acting under the power conferred on it under a section of the Municipal Corporations Act, the Timaru Borough Council last night changed the name of Wharf Street to Ritchie Street. Bequest to Church Under the will of Thomas Gilchrist, a merchant of many years’ standing in Oturehura, which has been sworn for probate at under £35,000, a bequest of £3OO is made to the Ida Valley parish of the Presbyterian Church to be applied to the funds of the Presbyterian Church at Oturehua. What is “Vicinity”? “It is not quite so bad as that,” commented Mr W. H. Woodward, S.M., when a defendant at the New Plymouth Police Court stated that he understood a person broke the law if he was found with liquor within half a mile of a dance hall. “The law defines the term rather loosely as ‘in the vicinity of’ a hall where a dance is in progress,” added the magistrate. A Politician in Embryo The following comes from a backblocks town in Taranaki. A schoolmaster was emphasising the importance of individuals and nations keeping their promises, and that Britain had a reputation of always keeping her word. “Suppose.” he asked, “a man was to come to this school and promise you that he would give you a picnic and pay for it out of his own pocket, and that he, in spite of that you took him at his word, absolutely failed to do so, what would you call him?" There was a deep silence. Then up spoke a young cowspanker, who said: “I would call him a politician!” Men Seek Work on Farms It was stated at a meeting of the Whangarei sub-provincial executive of the Farmers’ Union that men were leaving non-essential jobs and trying to secure work on farms with the idea of obtaining exemption from military service. One speaker said he knew of cases where men had left towns for the first time to take up farm work. The executive was discussing the position of farm labour called up for service with the territorials after so many farmers and farm employees had already left for overseas. It was considered that calling up men during the summer months would create further difficulties in securing farm labour. Waste Material The collection of waste material in Timaru during the clean-up week amounted to approximately two cwt. of brass and approximately two cwt. of copper, according to a report presented to the Borough Council last night by the engineer (Mr R. J. Comrle). The engineer added that it was also estimated that approximately two tons of scrap cast iron had been collected, but this material was not listed in the reclamation of waste material. This, together with scrap cast iron on hand, would make up approximately five tons. It was recommended that tenders be called for the disposal of this scrap cast iron, and the moneys thus received from the material collected during the clean-up should be paid into the Patriotic Fund. The recommendation was adopted. Dangerous Bend Reporting to last night's meeting of the Timaru Borough Council regarding the bend in Evans Street at the northern boundary, the Borough traffic inspector (Mr C. H. Newcome) stated that owing to the narrow portion of bitumen on the roadway at this point motor vehicles, negotiating the bend proceeding north and south, in endeavouring to keep on the bitumen had been known to have been pushed off the bitumen track by a vehicle coming in the opposite direction, thus creating a danger and a possibility of a collision with the adjacent fences. Recently a motor vehicle left the road and ran into the fence of a private dwelling. There had also been other occasions when slight collisions had occurred. He recommended that the road be tar-sealed from kerb to kerb for a distance of three chains. The Council decided that the engineer should report on the cost of the work. Flax and Ryegrass In connection with Great Britain’s appeal for linen fibre for war purposes, more than 2000 acres of linen flax has already been sown in South Canterbury, an officer of the Department of Agriculture informed a “Timaru Herald” reporter yesterday. Approximately the same areas had been sown in the northern and southern portions of the district. The crops would be harvested during January and February. In referring to perennial and Italian ryegrass the officer said that if it were being kept for seed, farmers should now keep stock out of the paddocks. Areas which had previously seeded, he continued, should be shut off from stock earlier than areas from which no seed had been taken. First year stands, which were later sown, could be shut off now, but early autumn sown stands, where the growth had been good, should be grazed until towards the end of the month. A Dean on Democracy “It has been said that democracy would be all right if only all men were saints and philosophers. The truth is that democracy is necessary because men are not saints and philosophers,” said the president of the Waiapu Diocesan Synod, Dean J. B. Brocklehurst, in his charge to members when the Synod assembled at Napier- last week. Democracy, he said, was not simply a matter of government; it was not just politics or election by the majority and the rule of Parliament. All that was simply the machinery of it. Democracy in its essence was the fine flower of the Christian religion, and would never have come into being but for the Christian faith. The dean stressed the tradition of respect for the individual. The tradition, he contended, required to be more widely known. “It is man's divine origin, his spiritual nature and his possibilities that lie at the root of our Christian civilisation,” he declared.