LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 November 1942, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Destructive Forest Fire. Nearly 300 acres of pine trees in the Tahorakuri block, the property of New Zealand Forest Products, Limited, have been destroyed by fire. The plantation, which was situated 75 miles south of Putaruru, consisted of young trees planted in 1931 and 1932. The area of the block is 30,000 acres. Charitable Aid. Expenditure by the social welfare committee of the Wellington Hospital Board for the first seven months of the current financial year has been £3178. Mr G. Petherick, chairman of the committee, reminded the board last night that in November of one year of the depression the month’s expenditure alone was £2618. Aircraft Passenger Injured. When an aircraft of the Royal New Zealand Air Force made a forced landing early yesterday morning, due to poor visibility, the passenger, Mr C. W. Turner, of the Public Works Department, Wellington, received injuries which necessitated his admittance to hospital for observation. The pilot, Squadron Leader E. Smart, was not injured. Wardens Obstructed. Considering that two wardens who visited his home at Karori on the night of October 8 had adopted a hectoring tone and had called him a liar, William Robert Bradley, company manager, refused to give them his name and referred them to his solicitor, whose name he also refused to disclose. In the Magistrates’ Court, Wellington, yesterday, Bradley pleaded guilty to having driven his motor-car with its headlights full on on the main road at Karori on the night of October 8, but not guilty to having obstructed wardens in the exercise of their duty. Leonard Huia Smith, district warden at Karori, and Hugh William Kelleher, deputy-district warden, said that Bradley had driven his car for half a mile with the headlights full on. He had been signalled to stop with a torch, but had not done so. When the wardens called on him at his home, he had been definitely hostile. Both wardens denied that they had adopted a bullying tone, or had called him a liar. Holding that defendant must have known that' his visitors were wardens, Mr J. L. Stout, S.M., imposed a fine of £1 and costs, for obstructing a warden, and a similar amount for driving with undipped lights.

First Aid Passes. The following obtained passes in a recent first aid examination held in connection with St. John Cadets: — Lesley Blick, Barbara Copp, Noeline Dewar, June Grant, Jean Graham, Shirley Brown, Claire Harrington, Noelene Spackman and Margaret Millward. Grain and Potato Areas. Estimated areas of wheat, oats, barley and potatoes for the 1942-43 season are published in last night’s Gazette. The total acreages sown last year were: Wheat 260,603 acres, oats 282,408 acres and barley 44,431 acres. The estimated acreages for this year are: Wheat 288,000 acres, oats 234,000 acres and barley 36,400 acres. The total area planted in potatoes last season was 15,201 acres and the estimated planting this year is 21,500 acres. Divided Opinions. An appeal to school teachers to volunteer for special duties during the summer holidays in providing recreational and welfare facilities for children whose parents were absent from home either on service with the armed forces or in industry was made by the director of education, Dr C. E. Beeby, to a meeting of Wellington teachers yesterday. After outlining the scheme, the director heard the opinions of teachers, which were sharply divided on the manner in which the scheme should be organised and on the question of remuneration. It is proposed to call further meetings to discuss the matter. Absenteeism in Industry. >

Acting on a recommendation of a special committee set up by the Industrial Emergency Council, the Minister of Labour, Mr Webb, has arranged for a departmental inquiry into the question of absenteeism in industry to be held in the four principal centres. Mr Webb said yesterday that recent inquiries made by the Department of Labour in Wellington disclosed that absence from work varied very materially in the different industries. One noticeable feature was that the cause of absence was not recorded by most employers, and it was therefore not possible to distinguish clearly between legitimate absence and absence without proper cause. Some, absences are, of course, necessary and unavoidable. It was evident, however, that there were many cases where workers absented themselves without proper cause, the effect being not only to bring about a loss in their own production. but in many cases the absence affected the production of other workers.