LOCAL AND GENERAL

Waipa Post, Volume 45, Issue 3211, 2 August 1932, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The capital value of Waipa county this year is £5,526,061. Other figures are as follow: Waikato county £5 390,697; Matam'ata county, £3,546,381; Piako county, £4 387,795.

Rainfall registered by Mr W. Jeffery, the official recorder at Te Awamutu, during the month of July totalled 2.45 inches, which is appreciably below the average for July in recent years.

In his address at the annual meeting of the Wellington branch of the Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children the 'Minister of Health pointed out that during the past 25 years deaths in the first year of life had been reduced from 88 per 1000 to 32.15. “ What a good job it is that a pig does not I’ve as long as we do,” said Mr C. M. Hume, Dominion supervisor of herd-testing’ addressing a meeting at Eketahuna. “If he did, and under the conditions he is generally kept, what a Totten life he would have.”

Discussing the ravages of the grass grub, in various parts of the Waikato, a Te Awamutu farmer puts forward the suggestion that the grub can be exterminated by the use of basic slag as top-dressing on pastures where the grub has made its appearance. He says that he has had considerable success, by the free use of slag. Whether there is anything in the contention we do not know, but we pass the information on in the hope that other farmers may record their experiences.

We are informed that a farm er’s wife residing not many miles from Te Awamutu has interested herself in the problem of ragwort eradication from a hundred-acre farm that was badly infested. In the past two vyears she has personally dealt with most of the area, applying sodium in a powdered form on most of it, and as a weak spray solution on a smaller experimental area. The lady is strong in her conviction that ragwort can be controlled and eradicated, if farmers will adopt common-sense . methods and not abandon the work after the first treatment has been applied. The fortnightly meeting of St. John’s Girls’ Club, on Monday evening, was again well attended, and the entertainers were Mrs D. Storey and the Misses A. Gifford and G. Ryburn, while the hostesses were the Misses M. Chamberlain, N. Reese and D. Peake. A feature of the evening was a lecturette by Mr J. Oliphant on early Maori life and conditions in the Waikato, along lines of addresses recently given by the same gentleman to the Garrison Officers’ Club (Auckland) and Te Rare. Mr Oliphant was listened to attentively throughout, and he dealt with his subject very entertainingly, as was evident by the warm applause at the close.

Local wireless enthusiasts report having heard the broadcast description last Saturday evening of the wrestling match at Brisbane Stadium between Bill Bayne, of Te Awamutu, and Paul Swaloff,of Russia which ended in a draw after the full bout of eight rounds. Reception was good, and the announcer described the contest in its entirety. Bayne won the first fall, and Swaloff equalised later. At the finish the referee declared a draw, which apparently did not satisfy the spectators, who were of opinion that Bayne had won. Incidentally, the announcer remarked that Bayne is exceedingly popular in the Queensland capital, both in and out of the ring and as an instance he stated that one ten-year-old lad seems to have adopted Bayne as his hero —so much so that during the bout last Saturday night the boy more than t nee climbed into the ring when Swaloff appeared to have Bayne in difficulties, intent upon rendering assistance.

Three years ago we urred from excess of optimism. Now we are aggravating the reaction by painting condi. tions blacker than they are. For occurs in the motor registration figures published this week. The decrease of cars in use is far less than had been imagined. Simarly ihe small decline in telephone revenue disclosed this week does not fit with the stories of wholesale disconnections. The way in which the unemployment returns are usually regarded might be taken as another instance. We talk of 55,000 unemployed when actually the number unplaced last week was 15,000. The remainder were more or less occupied on relief works or in other directions. It is a great mistake to make things out to be worse than they are That is fatal to a revival of general confidence, the essential ingredient of recovery. Just as bad, of course, is to be lulled into a mood of false security. To-day’s great need is perspective, “to see things steadily and see them whole.”

Reports from Ottawa as to Mr Coates’s proposals that New Zealand might participate in the benefit from the British conversion operation appears to over-step the mark. They speak of Mr Coates enterink negotia. tions to .reduce the interest on the whole of the debt owed to the British Government (commonly called the Funded Debt) from 5 to Si per cent. Incidently the interest being paid is slightly less than 5 per cent. The Prime Minister explains, however, that New Zealand’s proposal is ‘that she should share in the interest reduction on that portion of the Funded Debt which is actually part of the British War Loan of £2OOO millions now in process of conversion from 5 to Si per cents. The relevant portion amounts to about £11.000,000 on the remaining principal (£24 millions) of the Funded Debt and the annual saving to New Zealand would amoimt to about £153,000. That would be a substantial bonus to draw from the patriotic British investor. In the event of an all-round cancellation of War debts following upon the Lausanne agreement, and the inclusion of the Funded Debt in the scope of such cancellation, the Dominion’s annual saving over the enexpired period of the loan (36 years) would be £1,650,000,. less reparations of about £350,000.

The Te Awamutu District High School Committee meets on Wednesday evening.

A local wireless enthusiast reports having listened in to station K.SjI., Los Angeles, last evening and heard Miss Nola Luxforl, formerly of Wellington, introducing the Australion and New Zealand representatives at the Olympic Games. The first introduced was Miss Kench, of Wellington, who is competing in the ladies’ pedestrian events. Our informant states it was announced that some of the New Zealanders will be broadcasting each evening, for a few minutes at about 7.30 p.m. Dominion time. Reception last evening was very clear.