LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 February 1944, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Attempted Murder Charge. On a> charge of having attempted to murder Godtrey Neville Green at Pahiatua on January 17, William Robert Alfred Hollis was further remanded yesterday in the Magistrate’s Court, Wellington, to appear on February 15. A Serious Charge.

When the trial of a woman on six charges of unlawfully using an instrument and one charge of attempting to use an instrument unlawfully had to be postponed till next week in the Supreme Court, Wellington, on Monday, due to men on the jury panel having been allegedly approached on behalf of accused, the Chief Justice (Sir Michael Myers) said every effort should be made to carry the matter further. Yesterday afternoon a man, aged 64, was arrested at his residence in Wellington on a charge of interfering with the course of justice. Army Farm Labour.

Farmers in the Central Military District, which extends as far north as Gisborne and part of the King Country, have availed themselves of all the Army labour provided at the request of the various primary production councils and, on occasions, extra men had to be called upon. The scheme in this district is reported to have worked well and the only times men were idle were during wet weather. A statement from Christchurch, published yesterday, reported the Minister of Supply, Mr Sullivan, as saying that primary production councils and farmers in Canterbury called for 500 men urgently but the daily average used was only 107 and nearly 400 every day were not used. A batch of men has already been sent to the South Island from the Central Military District and more are due to go at the end of this month. A Heavy Fruit Crop.

“We have managed to keep the territorials busy to date, and will certainly do so from now on,” declared Mr F. Steel, secretary of the Hawke’s Bay Primary Production Council, yesterday, when commenting upon the proposed large call-up of territorials next month. Eighty territorials are required by the Hawke's Bay Primary Production Council next month to assist in harvesting the pip fruit crop in the Hastings district. At present 23 territorials are being fully occupied at fruit picking. The crops of apples and pears this year are generally conceded to be record ones, and the fruitgrowing industry has had to make an! exceptionally big call for additional labour. Women and high school pupils have given splendid service to the industry in harvesting the stone fruit, and it has been conservatively estimated that during the past few weekends fully 200 women and school pupils have been engaged picking stone fruits. South Island Main Trunk.

No date has yet been fixed for the opening of the railway from the north to Kaikoura, but it is expected that the ceremony will take place toward the end of March. The tracks were complete to Kaikoura before Christmas, but the opening of the line was held up pending completion of the Kaikoura railway station. The construction of this is now well advanced and.should be finished about the middle of March. Work in the Kaikoura yards is also proceeding apace, and only two sidings remain to be put in. Approximately six miles of track still have to have the final lift. Good progress is being made with the construction of the line from the Oaro end also, and provided manpower is available it is hoped to have the two sections linked up before Christmas. The tracks have now been pushed on well beyond Oaro, present terminal of the southern section.

Lead on Land. Speaking at a meeting of the Masterton County Council yesterday Councillor G. Moore said that out of revenue from the land, hospital, road and rate levies had to be met, in addition to Government tax and Social Security. The demands were ever increasing, until all the revenue was going. It was hardly possible to maintain the land, let alone improve it. Councillor’ Moore said he did not know how the land could carry rates levied by a Catchment Board.

Rotary Conference. The District Governor of Rotary for New Zealand, Mr C. H. Taylor, Christchurch, told the Hawera Club that he had no intention of abandoning the annual conference, to be held in Christchurch on March 14 and 15. If Rotarians at Calcutta could hold a conference while the city was being bombed and make an outstanding success of it, he declared, New Zealand could make a success of its annual conference, in spite of the railway restrictions. Rotarians would be asked to find some way of getting to the conference.

Portable Schools. To alleviate serious overcrowding in Auckland schools the education authorities have ordered the construction of 45 pre-fabricated classrooms. The rooms will be compact, with a stove in one corner, and will have a northerly aspect, being lighted by five windows. They will measure 27 feet by 24 i feet and should accommodate 50 pupils. Outside the walls will be of three-ply covered with Malthoid, and inside they will be panelled. The rooms will be easily removable from one school to another as necessity arises. It is expected that the first of the rooms will be in use this month,

Scarcity of Gold Miners. In view of the shortage of men for coal mining, the Minister of Industrial Manpower, Mr McLagan, has stated that there is very little possibility of skilled miners being directed to Waihi for work in the Martha mine. Making this statement in answer to representations made through Mr Thorn, M.P., relative to the urgent need of experienced miners by the Martha Gold Mining Co., Ltd., the Minister pointed out, with regard to the suggestion of the diversion of labour from Karapiro, that any skilled miner there would, in the public interest, be diverted to coal mining rather than to employment in a gold mine. The mine superintendent, Mr A. F. Lowrie, stated that the need of experienced miners was desperate, and he emphasised the importance of being able to proceed with development work as affecting the future production of the mine.

A Six-Day Week. Members of the Auckland Transport Board traffic staff will commence working longer hours early in March, when a full six-day week will come into operation. The longer week was decided upon at a meeting of the manpower utilisation committee for tramways, following many weeks’ agitation by thte Auckland Tramway Workers’ Union. In a report to the board on Monday on the longer working hours and absenteeism, the engineer and manager, Mr A. E. Ford, said that the staff would now work about 54 hours a week, instead of the present average hours of between 48 and 50. With the Board’s other representative, Mr R. Armstrong, he had emphasised that it was not in the public interest to impose the strain of longer working hours on the traffic staff, said Mr Ford. Mr Ford said the longer hours would before long bring increased absenteeism. In view of the committee’s decision, said the chairman, Mi’ W. H. Nagle, the board had no option but to comply.