Town Talk

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 279, 25 November 1931, Page 6

Town Talk

The New Zealand Friends’ . School, Wanganui, report for 24 hours up to 6 p.m. yesterday: Shade temperature, maximum 63 deg. Fahr., minimum 52 deg. Fahr., rainfall, .14.

Miraculous Escape. Late the other night a six-ton motorlorry, driven-by Mr. Thornley Franks, of a Gisborne-Wanganui transport service, crashed through the side of the Marakekc railway crossing bridge in Hawke’s Bay, falling some 30 feet un to the railway track below. Mr. Franks suffered only a few bruises, whilst two passengers miraculously escaped without injury of any kind.

Japanese Oak. Speaking at the Rotary Club luncheon on Monday, the Rev. L. H. Ker, of Gouville, brought a laugh in stating that when he and Mrs Ker had returned from Manchuria, they were very interested to find that the bedroom furniture in their Wanganui house was made of Japanese oak. That wood, he said, was being drawn from Manchuria and put on the market by the Japanese. Accident in Avenue

As the result of a collision injuries were suffered by a lauy and by a Technical College boy shortly after mid-day yesterday. The lady was crossing Victoria Avenue opposite the Health Food Depot when tho boy, on a bicycle, collided with her. They were both removed to their respective homes, the lady suffering from injuries to her mouth and teeth and tno boy from scalp injuries. First aid was rendered by two Wanganui Rovers.

City’s Water Supply. With the exception of the area where the water-pipes are tunnelled and where a certain amount of dr mage has been done, the Works Committee of the Wanganui City Council considered at a meeting last night that the water supply was in good order. The matter of supplying a pumping station near Kai Iwi is to be brought before the next meeting of the council when a report of the system and other recommendations of tho Works Committee will be discussed. Motorists’ Mishap.

As a result if the bank of the road giving way yesterday, a car being driven from Bulls to Wanganui was precipitated over the side with the result that its two passengers were injured. It is understood that the car was giving way to anothc” and dro i too near the edge of the read which was evidently in a weakened state owing to the recent rain. The occupants were Messrs Joseph Mayclair, aged 24, of Frankleigh Park, New Plymouth, and Frederick Johnson, aged 43, of no fixed address. They were conveyed to the Wanganui Public Hospital and were reported to be progressing favourably last night.

“Group of Agitators.’’ “In New Zealand we have the reputation of being a solid, stable people* and arc proud of the fine record that our men who went to England left behind them during the war period,” said Mr H. G. Dickie, Coalition candidate for Patea, at his meeting at Mosston last night. “I am perfectly certain that our citizens will not fail us in the present emergency by taking tho management of the country’s affairs out of the hands of responsible people of December 2 and handing it to a group of agitators, because that is what I am satisfied the Labour Party in Now Zealand is—a group of agitators.” Extensive Electorate. Speaking at Mosston last evening, Mr A. G. Dickie, Coalition candidate for Patea, said that it had looked as if there would be no contest between candidates in his district, but a quarter of an hour before. the closing of nominations, Mr W. G. Simpson, of Hawera, had been nominated as a Labour candidate. Although the time was short, they were trying to got round as much of the district as possible. But when it was realised that the electorate extended from round tho suburbs of Wanganui to Eltham in Taranaki, ind up to the Houseboat on tho Wanganui River, it would bo seen that tho district was a large one. Unemployment. Returns at the Department of Labour at Wanganui show that during the past week there has been a further decrease in the number of unemployed to tho total of 25. Last week 797 men registered at the Labour Bureau as being unemployed as compared with 822 the previous week. The number of men given employment last week under tho No. 5 scheme was 715, as compared with 736 the previous week —a decrease of 21. During the last week six men were given employment under the No. 4a scheme, five were sent to public works, two to private employment, and 12 to the camp for single men. Tho allocation available to local bodies during this week will bo £7BO ss. Old Motor-car Plates. (Discarded motor-car number plates have been used for all sorts of strange purposes. Small boys tack them fore and aft on soap-box carts and many a private garage door has the full series displayed one above the other for no more apparent reason than ornamenta lion. With the expiration of each registration period hundreds of thousands of these plates are thrown away as so much waste material for which invention has devised no means of turning to profitable account on a massed scale. Necessity is said to be tho mother of invention, however, and one Wanganui resident has cut out one of the numerals to replace a lost numeral in the street number of his residence. The workmanship is quite effective, and tho idea commends itself to residents who have a few old number plates, a pair of tin snips and a street gate devoid of the usual residence number.

Agricultural Banks. That he was definitely in favour of the establishment of an Agricultural Bank in New Zealand. was an announcement made by Mr W. A. Veitch at his meeting at A ram oho. The establishment of an agricultural banking system would mean co-operative lending and co-operative borrowing. Individuals bought bonds in the Agricultural Bank and tho money was loaned to groups with proper supervision. Tho Agricultural Bank had the effect of inducing closer settlement. People who had grave doubts about the Agricultural Bank did not know much about it he thought.- If ho had his way. he would change tho State Advances Department into an Agricultural Bank. Tho State Advances Department did not meet live per cent of tho country's requirements in the direction of assisting farmers and assisting the building of homes.