Town Talk

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 308, 29 December 1937, Page 6

Town Talk

False Fire Alarm. Yesterday at 11.15 a.m. the Wanganui Central Fire Brigade received a false alarm to the timber mill of Bassett and Co., in Wilson Street. Greyhound Championship. A Wanganui dog, Mr F. Riding’s Mosquito Boy, won the New Zealand greyhound racing championship at Napier on Boxing Day. Military Camp. The band of the West Coast Regiment is to go into camp at Trcntham on February 26, and will remain there for six days. During this time they will function as the band of the Central District officers and N.CO.s course. Filming of Bi ver. Representing the Wanganui Tourist and Development League, Mr. W. J. Gibson Hughes has received a communication from the Tourist and Publicity Department with regard to the filming of the Wanganui River. It is stated in the letter that there is a great possibility of filming the river during this season. It is considered locally that there is every chance of the big regatta also being filmed. Swarm of Bees Motorists and pedestrians travelling along Ridgway Street yesterday morning near Drew’s Avenue were inconvenienced by a large swarm of bees which flew about near the centre of the street. The swarm was a large one, and presented a striking sight as it hummed and buzzed in flight. After being in the locality for some time the swarm suddenly left, and in a few minutes only a few insects remained where previously there had been thousands. Baek to Work After the holidays many shops and offices in Wanganui opened for business yesterday. Some offices are to be closed for the whole of this week, ■ but. the majority are again in opera- ' tion. Evidence of the fine weather and days in the open are given but the sunburnt countenances and the cautious movements of many sufferers. Housewives welcomed the resumption of the usual routine after the problem of keeping food fresh in hot weather for a number of days. Tram Takings. Tram takings on Christmas Eve in Wanganui, compared with Christmas Eve, 1936, showed a decline. Comparative figures with last year’s in parentheses, are as follow:—£148 18s 5d (£154 13s 5cl); Christmas Sunday, £53 3s 7d (£lO5 15s 9(1); Boxing Day, £95 9s lid (£lO5 4s Id). One of the reasons for the decline was that last year there was a Wanganui Carnival, and another factor is the great increase in the number of private motor-cars this year.

Extension to Hangar. A commencement was made yesterday with the extension of the hangar at the Wanganui Airport. The back wall of the hangar is being moved back 20 feet, which, in addition to providing extra accommodation for aircraft, will house an oil store, a workshop, bathroom and shower. The additional space for aircraft has become necessary as the club’s fleet will be increased to four ’planes in the near future with the arrival of Mr. J. R. Franklin’s Taylor Cub and t h e Government Tiger Moth.

Aeroplanes for Clubs. The seven Tiger Moths ordered from the De Havillancl Aircraft. Company, Limited, by the New Zealand Government for the principle clubs in the Dominion will all arrive# next month. Two were shipped by the Northumberland, due at Wellington on January 15 and at Auckland on January 2l). The remaining live are to come on the Imperial Star, clue at Auckland on January 27. They are all powered with Gipsy Major I 130 h.p. engines, and embody the improvements suggested by the worldwide use of some 5000 Moth aeroplanes.

Sea Scouts in Camp. More than 80 Sea Scouts, from Nelson, Wellington, Petone, Auckland and Wanganui are at present under canvas near Landguard Bluff, in an ideal site between the Wanganui Airport and Mitchell’s Reach. The campers include 22 members oi the Iron Duke Sea Scouts from Nelson, who hold the Lord Jcllicoe Silver Trident. In anticipation of a visit from- Dominion Chief Commissioner H. Christie, of Wanganui, the camp was made all spick and span yesterday morning and uniforms were brushed up and cleaned. However, the commissioner was unable to be present, and will now make his inspection to-day.

Visiting Aircraft. Accompanied by Messrs. D. Watts, W. T. Lowe and Free Holmes sent., as passengers, Mr Ernie Clark left the Wanganui Airport yesterday morning for Mangere in his Percival Vega Gull cabin monoplane. The passengers, who were from Christchurch, were proceeding to the Auckland Trotting Club's meeting. During the morning Mr. H. Lightband called at Wanganui when flying to Christchurch, via Nelson, from New Plymouth in the club’s Moth ZK-ABP. He passed over Wanganui on his homeward journey late in the afternoon. At 6.15 p.m. Mr. C. Sutty, of Christchurch, who was accompanied by a passenger arrived in the Canterbury Aero Club’s Miles Whitney Straight. He is leaving for Auckland this morning.

N.Z. Through American Eyes. The following appears in a letter i just received by a Wanganui resident from an executive oliicer of one of the largest welfare organisations of the United States of America: “I hear New Zealand is prosperous by the spending of the nation's Budget money. America has tried that under 1 President Roosevelt and spent thirty million. That is not the way I am convinced, although no one can be allowed to starve in modern civilisation. We seem to have reached the end of that, experiment, and seem to be developing a new slump. What a world! 1 heard Lord Robert Cecil, of London, to-day. He stated: ‘This is a crisis of civilisation, not a crisis in civilisation.’ The world is not taking the right road. God’s way is the way, and the world seems to be rejecting Him.”