Town Talk

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 278, 26 November 1935, Page 6

Town Talk

Incipient Fire. The Wanganui Central Fire Brigade received a call at 4.56 p.m. yesterday to 95 Ingestrc 'Street, the residence of Mrs. H. Ritchie. An incipient outbreak was extinguished before any material damage was done to .the building. Optimists’ Club. * The Wanganui Optimists’ Club has received an invitation from the Palmerston North Optimists’ Club to attend its weekly meeting on Tuesday, I November 3. Arrangements are being made for as many members of the Wanganui Club as possible to make the trip. Boisterous Weather. After two days of summer weather boisterous conditions prevailed in Wan ganui on Sunday with a strong westerly wind and frequent heavy showers of rain. The weather yesterday was tine, with a strong south-westerly wind following heavy rain during the night. Conditions were on the chilly side out of doors. The hot weather on Saturday drew large crowds of swimmers to city baths and to the Castlecliff beach. .Heavy seas w'fere pounding the coast on Sunday and yesterday. Wanganui Building Society. Advice has been received from the Registrar uf Building Societies that the revising barrister has approved of the rules of the Wanganui Co-opera-tive Building Society, and it follows that the certificate of incorporation will be issued in due course. The directors are therefore now able to proceed with the formation <f groups and full details will shortC- be issued to the public. Intending members should note that the society will soon be in full operation. Collegiate Rowing Crew. Wanganui Collegiate School’s annual “boat race” with Christ's College will be rowed on the Avon River on December 16. The School representatives have been selected, the personnel being as follows;—Didsbury ma. (bow), Clere (2), Bidwill ma. (3), Beadie (str.); Maunsell (cox). Reserve; Smith iii. The crew will be coached by Major R. O. C. Marks, who will also travel to Christchurch with them. They jvill row the Wanganui Rowing Club’s youth crew on Saturday and will also row the Wanganui Technical College four next week. Australian Tourists. A party of 39 Australian tourists from the liner Strathnaver, which berthed at Auckland on Friday, arrived at Wanganui, c-n Sunday night, where they were extended a welcome by the president 01. the Wanganui and District Development League, Mr. AV*. J. Gilberd. A. number of the league’s booklets dealing with t-hc tourist attractions and business resources of the city were distributed among the tourists. The party, which came tu the city from. Auckland via the Parapara Road, left for Wellington yesterday morning to rtjoin the liner, which | was scheduled to sail for Sydney at | 6 p.m. Peculiar Waterspout. The vagaries of the wind are sometimes humorous and curious and often its strange actions seem incredible unless actually seen. A Wanganui resident, however, can vouch for an unusual happening on the river yesterday morning. As he was passing Dublin Street Bridge, his attention was attracted by a small, fast-moving disturbance on the water. It was a miniature waterspout, peculiarly formed, making it appear like an ‘‘Alice in Wonderland” mushroom, the stalk uf which was as thick through as the trunk Of a. medium-sized pine tree, and about three feet in height. Surmounting the spout was a circle of fast-re-volving white spray, which extended doVvnwards about a foot. The freak travelled about a hundred yards before it suddenly disappeared into a whirling mass of foam. Peculiarly enough the path down, which the waterspout sped was unruffled, while the rest of the river was unusually rough. Inefficient Weed killers. Contending that there are on the mar ket a number of so-called weed ex terminators, some of which are most inefficient, the Dominion executive of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union took the matte'r up last month with the Minister of Agriculture and suggested that all weed-killers offered for sale be registered and approved by the Government. The Minister has since advised the union that the point raised is covered in section 8 of the Fungicides and Insecticides Act, 1927. This section provides that an offence is committed by a person if he sells a fungicide, insecticide, or weed-killer which does not and is not likely to bring about the re suits claimed for it on the package in accordance with the directions for use. The Minister has asked the union to furnish the Department of Agriculture with the names of any weed-killers that are considered to be inefficient. ( ‘The Department," states the Minister, “will be glad to examine the position with a view to determining whether action should be taken under this section.”