Town Talk

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 104, 4 May 1937, Page 6

Town Talk

April Building Figures. The Wanganui City Council Issued 22 building permits of an aggregate value of £7451 12s 6d during April. Okoia Rainfall Rainfall recorded at Okoia last month by Mr F. Pratt amounted to 3.87 inches on ten days as against 3.63 inches on twelve days for the corresponding period last year. Motor Drivers* Licences. Fifty-three motor drivers’ licences were issued by the Wanganui City Council during April, the total for the eleven months of the licensing period being well in excess for the figures of the 1935-36 period. During the same month, the council collected £33 19s 4d in heavy traffic licence fees. First Term Holidays. Primary schools under the jurisdiction of the Wanganui Education Board will break-up for the first term holidays on Coronation Day, May 12. The schools will re-open on May 24. Pupils of the Wanganui Girls’ College will also break-up on Coronation Day but they will not resume their studies until June 1. Flags Torn Down During the week-end dozens of flags which formed part of the Coronation decorations scheme of a'Wanganui theatre were deliberately torn down. The theatre front presented a striking sight on Saturday night, but when the manager returned yesterday morning a sorry spectacle met his eyes, only two flags being left by the hooligans responsible for the damage. Dearer Porridge. An advance of approximately 10 per cent, in the prices of all New Zealand oaten packet breakfast foods has been made. The rise is attributed to the higher costs of oats, which are reported to be over Is a bushel dearer than at this period last year, also to an increase in all packing costs and freight from the south. The wholesale price of honey has also been raised by Id a lb. Chrysanthemum Club’s Win. The annual competition between members of the Palmerston North and Wanganui Chrysanthemum Clubs was held at the Palmerston North Horticultural Society’s chrysanthemum show on Saturday. Each club exhibited 24 blooms, Wanganui winning by the margin of a quarter of a point. Wanganui scored 89 points. The judge of the novice chrysanthemum classes and the cut flowers was Mr R. McCheyne Miller, of Wanganui. Phosphate Cargo e * Bringing a cargo of rock phosphate from Ocean Island, via Auckland and New Plymouth, the Bank Line's motor-ship Larchbank is expected at Castlecliff to-day. The vessel will be on her first visit to Wanganui and will complete discharge at this port. She is a twin-screw vessel of 5150 tons gross register and was built in 1925. Her port of registry is Glasgow and her cargo is for Messrs Kempthornc, Prosser and Company’s chemical works at Aramoho.

Aeroplane Wreckage Found. A section of the left wing of a Gipsy Moth aeroplane, which was washed up on Island Bay beach, Wellington, is stated to be presumably a further section of the Western Federated (N. 1. Flying Club’s aeroplane which disappeared off the Makara coastline a few weeks ago. The wing section, which is covered with fabric and painted silver, was left on the bench by the receding tide and was found by the custodian on his morning rounds about 50 yards to the west of the surf club buildings. Castlecliff School Closed.

Owing to the admission of a mild positive case of infantile paralysis from the district to the Wanganui Hospital on Saturday, the Wanganui Education Board has closed the Castlecliff School and the side school until further notice. The school will not re-open before the end of the term on May 12. As a precautionary measure, the St. Vincent's School at Gonville has been closed. The Wanganui Education Board is endeavoring to arrange for correspondence lessons for the pupils of these schools.

New Trainer Aeroplanes. Although no advice has been received that the £o’<r Miles Hawk trainer aeroplanes ordered by the Government have been shipped from England, it is expected that they will arrive shortly, according to information received from the Minister of Defence, the Hon. F. Jones. The Government originally voted £4OOO for aeroplanes for loan to aero clubs, this being sufficient for only three Miles Hawk Trainers, but later it was decided to purchase four of these machines.

Mission Ship’s Visit. Now in the course of a coastal cruise of Dominion ports, the new motor-ship Southern Cross VII., belonging to the Melanesian Mission, is expected at Wanganui- on Friday from New Plymouth. She is due on the morning tide and will probably berth at the Town Wharf, remaining in port all day and sailing for Wellington in the evening. The Southern Cross is a modern Diesel vessel of 240 tons gross register and is under the command of Captain R. A. Williams, who was formerly in the service of Burns, Philp, and Company, of Sydney. The ship is similar to Southern Cross VI. which was wrecked near the New Hebrides when on her maiden voyage to the Islands.

Unusual Garden Decoration. There is no limit (says the Auckland Star) to garden attractions. Some industrious people cut their hedges and shrubs in various ways to represent figures or objects, but something entirely different in the decorative line has been achieved in the garden of Mr. David Kasper, of New Lynn. There the taste has been nautical, and a land battleship has been created. In the first place, the shape of a battleship on a miniature scale, was marked out on the front lawn, and then the soil was built up to a height of about two feet. A grey rock-plant was grown on the sides of the “hull,” and the necessary nautical and warlike trimmings were added. Two steel rods have been used for the masts, and-a light wire, suspended between them, makes an impressive aerial. The funnel is a drain pipe, painted yellow, with a buff top, and set at a rakish angle “amidships.” There are iron davits “amidships” on the side of the “hull.” The boats are hoping baskets of greenery.