LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Wairarapa Age, 15 August 1928, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Mr. J. F. Thompson, of Greytown, will give an address on “Arctic Expeditions” at the Optimists’ . Club today. Optimist O. S. Jansen will introduce the speaker. A Pahiatua Press Association message reports that a well-known settler, Harry Cornelius, while working among sheep on his property at Mangahao, was knocked over into a gully and dislocated a thigh.

Robert Kean, a boatswain of the steamer Huntingdon, who was admitted to the Dunedin Hospital on Monday with both legs fractured and head injuries, received through falling into the hold of the vessel, died from his injuries yesterday morning. An inquest will be held this morning.—(P.A.)

At the meeting of the Wairarapa Power Board, yesterday, the- SecretaryManager (Mr. G. Brown) said that in his opinion the Telegraph Department had given up using concrete poles for its lines on account of the cost of shifting them. It was not uncommon, he added, to see them shifting their poles every three or four years as the number of lines increased.

At a meeting last week of these interested in tho new sports ground in Martinborough which was lately acquired it was resolved, after a lengthy discussion, to have th Agrounds ploughed and levelled, and that a canvass be made among members of the athletic and football clubs for funds to improve the grounds.

The body of Mrs McCallum, who was lost in the Manawapou River near Hawera, about five weeks ago. when a car containing herself and her husband went over the bank on the Main South Road was recovered yesterday afternoon. The body was found about 220 yards from where the car entered the water. —(P.A.) Thieves entered a small branch Rost Office in Princes Street, Dunedin, on Monday evening by forcing open the front door. A small safe was broken into and the contents strewn about the floor. About thirty shillings’ worth, of coppers and stamps valued between £l4 or £l5, were abstracted. The postmistress discovered tho robbery when she came to work at 8.30 o’clock yesterday morning.—(P.A.) Since the Wairarapa Power Board commenced house-wiring operations, installations to the value of over £93,900 have been carried out by its staff. The total amount outstanding, most, of which is being paid off by instalments, is £7861. The Secretary-Manager stated yesterday that as far as he could see not more than £3O or £4O out of the £93,000 would have to be written off as bad debts. “I wish could do as •.veil,” a member of the board commented with obvious sincerity. A meeting of the executive of the Masterton branch of the Wairarapa Progress League was held last evening, every member being present. Accounts amounting to £l3 9s 6d were passed for payment. Two delegates were appointed to attend the next meeting of r tho Mount Holdsworth Club, and that of the Castlepoint Improvement Committee. A committee was appointed to deal with a tourists’ guide, to be issued under the auspices of the Progress League. The railwaymen held their annual sports gathering in Mr. W. Howard Booth’s property, Carterton, during the week-end. In the afternoon an enjoyable and amusing game of football was played between teams representing Masterton and Carterton stations combined and Cross Creek. The latter won by 14 points to 3. Prior to the match the local men picked l the stones off tho gre-und, erected goal posts and marked out a really good field of play. AH parties, although tired by their efforts, were quite satisfied fhat the fixture was one of the best held to date.

The fortnightly meeting of the- Loyal Masterton Lodge was held on Monday evening, N.G. Bro. L. Ball presiding over «a good attendance of members. One brother was declared on the sick fund and one declared off. One new honorary member was initiated into the order. Bro. Gooding was elected Lecture Master for the remainder of the year. Bro. B. Seddon gave a very interesting report on the last meeting of the Juvenile Lodge. Bros. A. Torrance, P. Watts, A. E. Cooke, W. Darvill and W. Yates were appointed the football committee to make arrangements for the annual match with the Dannevirke Lodge. Members of the Wairarapa Power Board found themselves in complete agreement yesterday in refusing to permit advertisements to be displayed on power line poles. The chairman (Mr. J. W. Kershaw) mentioned an offer by the W.F.C.A. for advertising rights on the board’s poles in Queen Street, Masterton. The Post and Telegraph Department, ho said, did not allow any advertisements to be placed on its poles and he thought the board should adopt the same policy. Mr. W. Howard Booth’ said he hoped the Counties’ Association would take the same line. Mr. T. V. Moore observed that the counties were absolutely opposed to advertisements being displayed along the road lines. Several members declared emphatically that the countryside should l not be disfigured in this way. Robert William Gunter, who was deported from Sydney after serving six months’ imprisonment for false pretences, having posed as Sir Robert Gunter, engineer to tho London General Omnibus Company, arrived at Auckland, by the Marama yesterday. “There was no order for my deportation from Australia,” ho said in an interview. “I was about to write a story of my life for an Australian newspaper when I was shanghaied on to this steamer. I had just been offered an important position as assistant manager of a bus company too.” He added that he was “completely broke” and was going to try to get back to England. In Auckland in Aprii, 1927, he was sentenced to imprisonmoht for obtaining money by falsely representing that he was Surgeon Commander Joy, of the Royal Navy.—(P.A.)