Town Talk

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 245, 17 October 1932, Page 6

Town Talk

Address at Rotary. The speaker at to-day’s meeting of the Wanganui Rotary Club will be Dr. IT. D. Robertson. His subject will be “A Brief History of New Zealand Work for BoysFive positions on farms are availabl to boys wishing to obtain employment. Mr. J. Manley, of th e Y.M.C.A., has the | full particulars am] any boy who desires to obtain a position in the country is requested to communicate with him. Wanganui River Dairying. About 900 cows will be milked this year at Jerusalem and Ranana, on the Wanganui River, said a Wanganui man who paid a recent visit to the two places. There would be about 200 cows at Jerusalem, and "00 at Ranana. There was every prospect of a good dairying season ami the pastures and stock were looking well. The Jersey breed predominates. Membership Maintained. “ Despite the continued financial depression. the membership has not decreased to any great, extent,” says the annual report of the Wanganui Automobile Association. The membership of the association now stands at 1347, compared with 1552 at the end of the last year, a decrease of 250. During the year a number resigned and a. number of names of members were struck off the list, the total number being 350. The number of new members for the year was 145. Whitebaiting.

Two Wanganui enthusiasts tried the Wangaehu River on Saturday for whitebait. They had plenty of patience and stayed until nightfall and got no fish. A Maori enlightened them as to the reason why. The mouth of the river was completely blocked by nets the Maoris had rigged across it and no fish, or very few indeed, were getting upstream at all. There were some hard things said when the true facts were known. Seemingly, it would pay whitebait seekers to search the mouth of any river first and work inland instead of picking a likely spot too far upstream. Faith in Mankind.

“A man has nothing to fear in life if he has faith in his fellowmen,” said Mr R. G. Taiboys, president of the Wanganui and Old Boys’ Rugby Football Club, at the annual reunion on Saturday night. There are three cardinal principles in life,” he added. “Faith, hope and charity, and charity is probably the greatest of them all. One thing the boys of the Old Boys’ Club has taught me. That is to be as great in defeat as in victory. I felt they had let me down at football after I had stormed at them and appealed to them to win. But they proved to me that there was something better than winning—having faith in the game and each other.”

Automobile Finances. The annual report of (he Wanganui Automobile Association, to be presented at the meeting on Wednesday night, says that the year ended on August 31, 1 32, had been most satisfactory financially. “The gross income was £1250 5s 6d, compared with £1687 3s lid last year, a decrease of £436 18s sd; yet it is pleasing to note that as a result of strict economy without any decrease in the service to members, there is a surplus of income over expenditure of £lB5 18s,” says the report. “The secretary voluntarily reduced his salary by 20 per cent as from February last and the patrol by 10 per cent.” Sea Soouts’ Races. A feature of the opening of the rowing season in Wanganui on Saturday afternoon, was the races in whale boats by Sea Scouts. With a crew of four the boats moved along at an astonishing pace and created quite a wash. Both ’ interest and amusement was caused in these events, which provided a happy interlude to the races carried out in the orthodox racing fours. It was evident that the timing of the stroke was not all that counted in the race but rather the thought of getting to the finishing post first. The result was that there were often as many as four strokes set, while an occasional “crab” was evidence of over-enthusi-asm. Working for Safety. “In futherance of nur 1 safety first’ campaign our patrol has been givinb lectures in the school throughout our territory,” says the annual report of the Wanganui Automobile Association, to be presented at. the annual general meeting to be held on Wednesday night. “The classes are grouped, a large chart with movable figures being used to illustrate the six simple rules for pedestrian use. These lectures have had a wonderful reception, the teachers being thoroughly satisfied as to their worth. Even the children keep asking the patrol when he is coming back to talk to them again. This year 62 schools were attended and 130 addresses to 10,300 children were given. One lecture was given to the junior members at Y.M.C.A.”

Sailing of Main Body. Eighteen years ago yesterday, on October 16, 1914, the Main Body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, a contingent 10,000 strong, sailed from Wellington. The eight grey-painted transports were guarded by two armoured cruisers, the British Minotaur and the Japanese Ibuki. Three weeks earlier the convoy had left the coast under the escort of three third-class British cruisers, the Philomel, Pyramus and Psyche, but had put back when it was known that Admiral von Spec’s illfated squadron was in the Pacific. The convoy joined the main body of the Australian force at Albany and some of the transports called at Colombo, while others wont direct to Aden and then to Egypt, the training-ground for Gallipoli. Reports of Flights. At a meeting of the council of the Western Federated (N. 1. Flying Club at Hawera on Thursday night the president, Mr. A. S. Burgess (Wanganui) deprecated the actions of pilots in placing unofficial reports in the hands of newspapers, ana it was resolved that no (Ivor should give information of flights to the press without permission from an executive officer of his club. The question arose out of a report from the ground engineer at New Plymouth, who stated that Mr. J. A. Pankhurst, of the New Plymouth Club, had departed on October 8 for a destination without having notified either the ground ongin eer at. the place of departure or anyone at his intended place of arrival. A report of Mr. Pankhurst*? fight bad ap pe.arod in the press, but Mr. Pankhurst stales that so far as he is concerned he had given no information for publication.