LOCAL AND GENERAL

Waipa Post, Volume 43, Issue 3327, 25 July 1931, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Early lambs are to be seen on a number of farms in various parts of this district. Several are at present gambolling with their mothers on Mr A. S. Wallace's property on the outskirts of the borough. Bankruptcy discharges were granted by Mr Justice Herdman in the Hamilton Supreme Court on Thursday to Lionel Shafto Chamberlain, farmer, Hairini, and John Corrigan, farmer, Ngaroma. Mr S. S. Preston appeared for both bankrupts. The official assignee, Mr V. R. Crowhurst, offered no opposition.

An instance of the disadvantages under which New Zealand manufacturers are working is provided by the purchase of an Otago resident, who has received an Italian made suit at a cost of 18s 9d. It is of a material very suitable for hard wear, and is also a perfect fit and smart in appearance.

Word has been received in Te Awamutu that the Papakura Orphans' Club intends to pay a fraternal visit to Te Awamutu on Saturday, August Bth. This will be the first visit here of Papakura Orphans as a body, and the northern club is a strong and enthusiastic organisation.

A family at Whakarewarewa village went without breakfast last Wednesday morning. The family pot and kettle were placed on the small steam vent which has been used for the purpose for many years, but when breakfast time came round both food and pots had disappeared. Instead, a boiling hot spring had appeared where formerly there was only steam.

A "pound" parcel afternoon is being arranged locally by the Mayoress for next Wednesday, when Mrs Dowries will entertain all ladies interested at afternoon tea. Each guest is requested to bring a lib parcel of something usable in the scheme for affording relief to distressed families in and about the borough. The parcel idea has "caught on" in several southern centres.

During quite a long quotation from the modern book, " Man and Machines," in the course of the junior debate at the Town Hall last Thursday evening, one of the advocates sought to make use of the phrase "fleet of tanks," but she actually misconstrued it to " tank of fleets." Apparently serenely unconscious of the lapsus linguae, she proceeded with her array of facts, in the effort to disprove the claim that war is inevitable.

The .volunteer system of military training is now being firmly established and a meeting is being held locally next Tuesday evening for the purpose of forming a volunteer corps in Te Awamutu. It is hoped to raise at least 20 men locally to specialise in Vicers and Lewis machine gun work. Lieut. E. R. Petrie, of the New Zealand Staff Corps, will address the meeting, when details of the scheme will be explianed. Several ex-mem-bers of the Territorials have expressed their willingness to join under the new system.

"This man does his best," said the maintenance officer in the-New Plymouth Police Court, "only his wife won't believe him." The comment was made when the case of a man was being dealt with who was on relief work, and received only three days' work per week out of every four. The matter was adjourned, as the maintenance officer said the position was extremely hard for these men—in fact, at the present time they were in an impossible position, but the wives kept writing to the Court and the Hospital Board was in some cases pressing also.

An additional storey containing 34 bedrooms has been added to the nurses' home at the Waikato Hospital. The work has been carried out in brick and reinforced concrete, the contract price being £5453. The additibrTwas rendered necessary by the proposal of the Hospital Board to allow all nurses one day off a week. To do this more accommodation had to be found for the increased staff. Owing to the present need for strict economy, however, the board has been unable to employ the additional nurses, and as a result only a section of the new storey will be used at present.

A speaker at the Literary and Debating Society's debate on Thursday evening when elaborating her view that war is inevitable, remarked naively that Britain says " Buy Empire goods," and New Zealand says "Buy in our own country," yet we see American goods (motor cars) everywhere! A little later she asserted that war does do away with excess population of nations, but she disputed the assertion that only the flower of a nation's manhood is killed in wars. She claimed that just as good men came home from the wars fit and well, and it was these who would make their nations even greater than before the war. Nonmilitarism leads to decadence, and wars clear misunderstanding and satisfy the combatants as no arbitration court awards or peace conferences could do.

The good intentions of the League of Nations was admitted in the debate at the Town Hall on Thursday but its actual usefulness was doubted by one earnest young debater on the subject of war's inevitableness. He said that the League must fail and the time is not far distant when it will be broken up as impotent. Some members are breaking away already. America will not join because that would mean abandonment of her Monroe Doctrine. Russia will not join, either. Then he asked: Could the League interfere in the event of civil war in any one country? A little later he advanced the opinion that the League of Nations must develop into a league of debtor nations arrayed against a creditor nation, and rounded off his discourse with the assertion that apparently the only reason for a continuance of the League was that it provided jobs for superfluous politicians! Some of the audience -gathered, the impression that the speaker ha% confused the League with the Legislative Council.

A meeting of Te Awamutu branch of the Farmers' Union is being held to-day, and a report of the proceedings there will be published in Tuesday's issue.

In response to the request of an enthusiastic gathering of Reform supporters at Morrinsville to-day, Sir James Parr consented to stand for the Waikato seat at the general elections.

" The victor in a war of nations is not necessarily the gainer; the loser, faced with reparations, must sell her products to make those payments, and the victor must afford facility for so doing, otherwise she cannot be paid."—A speaker in the junior debate locally last Thursday evening.

One speaker in the Debating Society's' discussion on the inevitability of war, on Thursday night, avowed that "It is man's nature to fight." Ten minutes later another speaker just as definitely asserted that "Man is naturally peaceable."

It transpired at the close of the meeting of combined school committees on Thursday that Mr A. J. H. Benge, secretary of the Education Department, is an old Te Awamutu boy. Mr Benge remarked that the present was his first visit to Te Awamutu since he was a child, and he added that his father was at that time master at the local school.

The Education Department's officials who visited Te Awamutu district this week were much impressed with the very cordial and hospitable welcome accorded them. At one of the district schools visited yesterday morning the party had hardly arrived when a lady member of the school committee appeared with a dainty morning tea all ready to dispense, but the visiting party nad reluctantly to decline the hospitality, as they were then travelling behind schedule, and further delay at that stage would have dislocated the arrangements. It was, nevertheless, a very thoughtful provision by the lady, and Mr Strong was not alone in his regret at being unable to partake of the hospitality.

During the course of the debate at the Town Hall on Thursday evening one of the speakers mentioned a proverb or two bearing on his argument. Later a young lady on the opposition benches remarked that some proverbs are out of date, such as the one about an Ethiopian being unable to change the colour of his skin. She suggested that modern beauty specialists could do that for the Ethiopian, at small cost! There was some applause at this neat sally, but a little later another speaker remarked that it would be difficult for an Ethiopian to gain admittance to a modern beauty parlour, and it was extremely unlikely that a modern beauty specialist would give the Ethiopian home treatment! (Laughter.)

Speaking on Thursady at the close of the meeting of combined school committees at Te Awamutu one of the departmental officials paid a worthy tribute to the activities of our parliamentaary representative, Mr W. J. Broadfoot. "He is, from our point of view as officials," said the speaker, " too active on your behalf, and never lets any opportunity escape of representing your claims. In the Departments we have come to the realisation that there is no denying Mr Broadfoot, or, at least, if denial there must be, then there must also be some good and sound reason. You people send him to Wellington as your representative, and he does not let the Departments forget the fact."

Mr J. McSweeney, of Peria, Matamata, has just received a letter of congratulation from the board of directors of the New Zealand Co-op. Herd-testing Association, notifying him that his cow, " Lady," has -topped the whole of the association's records, which embraces some 90,000 cows. "Lady" produced 7241 b. of butter-fat in 324 days on twice a day milking, and was rugged until May. " Lady " ran with a herd of 32 cows on 50 acres, and at the time of the first and second tests was not in good health, otherwise an even beter yield would have been credited to her. Mr McSweeney also has in his herd a 4-year-old cow, " Pebbles," with 4461 b. of fat, and a 2-year-old heifer, "Phyllis," with 3651 b. of fat, both by his herd sire, " Marshlands Sungod."

The Government's appointment of a Select Committee to investigate Main Highways Board finance and the allocation of portion of the petrol tax is a significant move, which will lead to legislation this session. The Prime Minister, in view of the large number of issues associated with highways finance, has prferred to send the matter to a special Select Committee, and it will report in time for the Government to consider its recommendations when framing the financial legislation, which must be passed before the session ends. The committee will comprise the Hon. W. B. Taverner, Minister of Puclic Works, the Hon. E. A. Ransom, Minister of Lands, and Messrs H. T. Armstrong, W. J. Broadfoot, H. M. Campbell, C. H. Clinkard, A. Hamilton, E. P. Healy, C. E. Macmillan, and W. Lee Martin.

" I say our Prime Minister was made a political football of in Canada," declared Mr T. Makitinara, M.P. for Southern Maori, in the House on Thursday. "He was harassed from pillar to post, and on getting to Canada was told to go to England, where an arrangement might be further discussed. After all ways and means of negotiation were gone through, the door was slammed in his face. The only honourable course he could take in promoting the welfare of our dairy farmers was retaliation. The member, in spirited tones, declared for the Prime Minister's motto: "I buy where I sell." That, he said, was logic, though some members, after seeing the door slam, wanted to get down to the lowest rung of the political ladder and go again to Canada asking, " Please give us something." Mr J. A. Nash (Reform, Palmerston): You are not blaming the Prime Minister? Mr Matitanara: No, I am praising him. (Laughter.)

The Borough Council will meet on Monday evening next.

Waipa hockey players will be interested to note that the success o± the Whangarei hockey team in winning the White Horse Cup in the recent tournament in Auckland has encouraged the hockey association to look further afield, and a challenge has been issued for the Norden Cup, at present held by Manawatu.

An unique style of flower-plot bordering was noticed at one of the district schools visited yesterday by Mr T. B. Strong, Director of ducation. The school garden was divided into half-a-dozen plots, and each was surrounded with a row of mussel shells, stuck in the ground, the whole making a neat border that at once arrested attention.

Members of the Cambridge Orphans' Club are to be the official guests at the local Orphans' Club this evening. A strong representation is anticipated. The programme will include items by the Cambridge brethren, and Bro. Bert Hey will be heard in some new numbers. The choir will render new chanties and a humorous musical sketch entitled " Shall Cambridge have a Pump ? "

Ratepayers in the Rangiaohia riding must have gasped when they read in our report of the discussion at the Waipa County meeting re Chamberlain's road, that the arrears of rates in that riding aggregated £9BOO. But we are glad to be able to relieve their minds by stating that the arrears actually total £BOO. That, however, is sufficient to preclude the possibility of the riding being able to bear the cost of metalling Chamberlain's road. It would seem, as stated by the chairman, that the best plan is for the settlers affected to form a special rating district to raise a loan, and obtain a subsidy from the Government and probably another from the riding fund.

During his visit in the Te Awamutu district yesterday Mr T. B. Strong, Director of Education, exploded any prevalent ideas of what is commonly known as "Government stroke." Instead, he demonstrated clearly that the departmental method is quick acting and purposeful. Within the short space of four hours he journeyed 49 miles around the district, and inspected no less than nine schools. And the inspection was by no means casual, the records carried with him back to Wellington containing not merely such details as staffing and attendance, but also a review of the school grounds, gardens, appointments, and general statistical information about fhe school buildings. It was made manifest that Mr Strong had a purpose for his visit, and in a minimum of time he gathered all essential facts.

A visitor to Te Awamutu last Tuesday with Rev. and Mrs H. G. Gilbert, of Hamilton, was Rev. Dr P. Bruce Thornton, Minister of St. Paul's Church, Winnipeg, and delegate from the United Church of Canada to its mission fields in India and China. Dr Thornton is spending a month in New Zealand studying conditions, meeting representatives of the Church, and addressing its yoiuth. While the guest for his brief visit to .Te Awamutu of Rev. and Mrs A. C. Whitelaw, Dr Thornton visited St. John's Anglican Church and the Orakau battlefields, being particularly interested in early history of New Zealand and Maori associations. He spoke to the Women's Missionary Union for a little while on expriences in India, a talk keenly enjoyed.

Roading costs have become so high in the Waitomo County that the ratepayers have petitioned Parliament "to make it possible for the Highways Board to take over the maintenance of all the highways in the county." It is claimed that increased rating is impossible in view of the parlous condition of the finances of the majority of the ratepayers. The following comment by the Dominion is interesting: There are special circumstances which apply in Waitomo, but the admission of its plea would open the door for other suppliants who could also put up good cases for consideration. The result would be to break down the finances of the Highways Board. In fact it seems probable that we in New Zealand have set up extravagant road standards which we found it possible to keep up in good times but may not be able to maintain. It may be that in future we shall have to scale down our ideas of what is a sufficiently serviceable road. »