Town Talk

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 250, 21 October 1937, Page 6

Town Talk

Visiting Aircraft The only ’plane to visit Wanganui yesterday was the Wellington Aero Club’s Miles Hawk which, piloted by Mr E. Ransom, arrived about 12.30 p.m. The Miles Hawk returned to Wellington shortly after 1 o’clock. New Post Office

A post and telegraph branch offic? has been established in a store near the Aramoho motorists’ camping ground and will prove a boon to campers during the coming holiday season. The new office, which was opened on Tuesday for business, is to be known as the Aramoho Park Post Office. Technical Celebrations Many enquiries are being received by the Technical College regarding the reunion celebrations which are to extend over the coming week-end, and it is anticipated that the attendance of past pupils will outdo even that of last year when the jubilee was held. Mr and Mrs I. E. Newton are to provide an “at home” function to past pupils on Sunday afternoon ana a special service is to be held in tha school assembly hall that night.

Bicycles and Pedestrians. Complaint that cyclists were not fulfilling their obligations to pedestrians at the marked crossings in the Avenue was made at Tuesday’s meeting of the Wanganui City Council by Cr. T. L. Sperring, who said that during the day he had seen an aged woman almost knocked down by a cyclist. He considered that something should be done to make the cyclists more acquainted with their obligations. Motorists, he added, were giv--1 ing way to pedestrians but the cyclists were not taking any notice of the white lines. The city engineer, Mr. L. F. Row, said that the traffic inspectors had been keeping an eye on the crossings. Young people on cycles were the chief offenders so far as careless cycling was concerned.

Voice of the Farmer. “I have sensed of late that the Government is showing a tendency to be less solicitous for the farmers’ welfare,” said the president of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, Mr. W. W. Mulholland, when addressing a public meeting at East Tamaki on Saturday night. “I put that down to the fact that there are over 250,000 trade unionists in New Zealand,” he said. “If any section of the community gets more than its share from the common pool, who is going to suffer?” the speaker asked. “The only large section of the community from which a larger share can be taker, by the trade unionists is the farming community. The Government’s feeling for us will grow colder and colder unless we become eificiently organised and speak with one voice,” added Mr. Mulholland.

Two Grass Fires. In. indication of the fact that there is an increasing danger from grass fires in the present dry spell the Wanganui Fire Brigade received two calls to outbreaks yesterday. The first was at 7.44 a.m., to a blaze near the overhead traffic bridge in Ridgway Street, extension and the other was to Ferguson Street, at 4.15 p.m. In neither case was any damage done. Superintendent N. Ross states that extreme care should be exercised at present in view of the fact that there is a great deal of undergrowth in various localities within the city area. With the continuous dry weather it has become like tinder. It was noticeable in both outbreaks yesterday that while the grass was green on top the underneath portion, next the hard, dry earth, was very inflammable.

Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs. A report covering the second term work of the Boys’ and Girls’ Agriculturial Clubs in the board’s district was presented to yesterday’s meeting of the Wanganui Education Board by the agricultural instructor, Mr. E. H. Lange. The officer reported that the entries for the new season’s work totalled 617 calves and 490 plots, made up of 377 and 211 respectively in the Manawatu-Oroua division and 240 and 279 in the Wanganui-Main Trunk division. “The total of 1007 is 72 less than last year,” reported Mr. Lange. “The closing of certain country schools under the consolidation scheme is partly responsible for the drop in numbers. The entries of senior animals are not considered in these totals and, as there is a tendency for these numbers to increase each year, it is probable that the completed projects will be greater than in 1936-37.”

Young Men and Teaching. Reference to the poor educational standard of many of the young men presenting themselves last year for admission to the training colleges was made by Mr. M. H. Oram at yesterday’s meeting of the Wanganui Education Board when Mr. Oram, the senior inspector (Mr. W. J. Foden) and the chairman (Mr. E. F. Hemingway) were appointed to examine this year’s Wanganui candidates. The examination officers last year presented a special report on the type of young man offering as teachers and yesterday Mr. Oram said that it was time that steps were taken to make the teaching profession more attractive for young men of the right type. “Definitely the right type of young man is not coming forward. There is no inducement for them to take up teaching,” commented Mr. R. Dukeson. He added that most parents were unable to afford to educate their children to the required standard.

Ships and Meteorology. In forecasting the Dominion’s weather, meteorologists are frequently at a disadvantage in that tey ave no reports coming in from the vast expanses of ocean which surround the country. Reports of course come regularly from Australia, but nothing is known about what is happening over the sea unless a vessel happens to send in a report. But it may happens, and frequently does, that a disturbance develops over the ocean and approaches these shores unheralded and perhaps unsuspected, simply because no vessel has happened to be in its vicinity. On Tuesday morning, however, the Meteorological Office was the recipient of valuable information, not otherwise obtainable, about an intense and extensive cyclonic disturbance operating some 700 miles away to the north-east of New Zealand. This information was supplied by the Cumberland, which was able to give the location, depth, and course of this disturbance, which is one which will materially affect the forecasts in the immediate future.