LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19767, 15 February 1927, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wanganui Collegiate School reopens to-day, after the summer vacation. A large number of new boys have entered the school, and all the boarding houses are full for th© coming term.

Ten deals in real estate gave a Wanganui land agent a moderately busy lime last week, and furnished evidence that there is still plenty of demand for property locally. The amount involved in the transactions was £12,000.

In the drawing of the Wanganui Friendly Societies’ Benevolent Fund Art Union on Saturday the 36th prize was won by ticket number 48956 and the 53rd by number 14897.

Train traffic in the Wanganui district has slackened off after the brisk holiday period, but is nevertheless being well maintained for this time of the year. On the Main Trunk line !the passenger traffic is keeping up solidly, and the Limited expresses are always particularly well patronised at the week-ends.

“Motor cars held up at the Glasgow Street crossing early yesterday evening, when a mixed train was going into the city station, were delayed for some little time. No fewer than 59 trucks weie behind the engine, and so heavy was the load that the slight gradient to the Liverpool Street crossing was only traversed very slowly.

An extremely bad case of sunburn is marring a Sydney man’s enjoyment of a holiday in New Zealand. He tottered into a Wanganui hotel yesterday, after a week-end spent in blazing sunshine at the Otaki beach. Exposure to the fiery rays had crippled the Australian and on his arrival at Wanganui medical attention had to be secured for him.

Overcast conditions yesterday morning provided a brief respite from the recent hot sunshine, and at noon steady rain fell for half an hour or so. The moisture was insufficient in quantity to benefit parched farmlands, and had no appreciable cooling effect on the atmosphere. Conditions yesterday afternoon and evening were still humid and oppressive.

An interesting development of the hot weather in Wanganui has been the added popularity of night bathing. As late as midnight, and even after, visitors to the beach have found coolness and comfort by taking advantage of the ideal bathing conditions. The recent clear moonlight nights have added to the popularity of the surf and the beaches.

The suggestion has been made that a light surf-boat should be procured for the Castlecliff beach, as an accessory to the existing life-saving gear. It is pointed out, with reference to many drowning fatalities, that lives could be saved if a boat were available to go to the aid of bathers drifting rapidly seaward. On the beaches of New South Wales the life boat of the surfing squads is an essential feature of the rescue gear.

At yesterday’s meeting of the Waitotara County Council, there were present two settlers of the Tokomaru Riding of the county who asked that the council’s grader be put into commission on the Tokomaru East Road. They stated that the metal on the road had banked up on cither side and the centre portion of the road was very insecure. One settler declared that very serious damage had been done by several storms. After discussion, the council decided to put the grader into use as soon as an overhaul of the machine had been made.

An interesting side-light at the big cricket match between Hawke’s Bay and Melbourne in Napier on Friday and Saturday was the scoring table, where a rtather unique figure, that of a lady cricket scorer, was seen. The little lady, neatly and accurately performing the not easy task of tabulating the progress of the game in the rather complicated score book was Miss M. Stephenson, daughter of Mr H. Stephenson, of Napier. She is believed to be the only lady in New Zealand who has ever kept score at a representative match and one of the visiting Australian team stated that it was the first time he had ever seen a lady cricket scorer in all his experience of the game.