Town Talk

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 4, 6 January 1939, Page 6

Town Talk

Criticism of Tennis. Criticism of play in the Wanganui Lawn Tennis Association's New Year tourney which concluded yesterday will be published in next Wednesday’s "Chronicle” by Mr. A. N. Campbell, the association's professional. By Rail to Napier. A rail excursion from Wanganui to Napier and return is to be conducted by the Railways Department on Saturday and Sunday, January 14 and 15. The excursion will leave Wanganui on Saturday afternoon and, leaving Napier at four o’clock the following day, will arrive back at Wanganui on Sunday night. Rapanui Highway. Tenders are being called by the Waitotara County Council for reconstructing, metalling, and sealing five miles of the main highway to Rapanui. A survey for this work was made last year by the council’s engineer, Mr. T. Dix. Land has been acquired from settlers where deviations will be made to straighten the road. Three Fire Alarms. The Wanganui Central Fire Brigade was called out three times yesterday afternoon. The first call, at 12.54 p.m., was to the railway station yards in London Street. However, the alarm proved a false one but was justified, as men were engaged burning grass. The second call, at 2.40 p.m., was to burning pine trees in Shakespeare Road. The blaze was extinguished with the aid of the brigade's pumping plant. The third call, at 4.20 p.m., was to a grass fire on the railway line, at the rear of the gaol, which was put out without damage being done. An Important Conference. One of the most important local body conferences during 1939 will be the annual conference of the New Zealand Hospital Boards’ Association which is to be held at New Plymouth on February 7. The question of hospital administration will be subject to review because of the health and medical scheme embraced in the social security legislation and matters pertaining to this matter will be discussed at length. The Wanganui Hospital Board will be represented by its chairman, Mr. W. E. Broderick. Mr. T. C. Kincaid and the managing secretary, Mr. L. V. Kerby.

Chess in Schools. “Among the matters the council placed before the Government during the year was the question of teaching chess in secondary schools and colleges, " said Mr. J. Mcßae (Wellington), secretary of the New Zealand Chess Association, wb v speaking at the chess congress last -.'.ght, Mr. McRae said that chess was now being taught in a number of schools in Wellington, Gisborne and Aucklanu. Mr. L. Pleasants, president of the Wanganui Chess Club, said that the game was being taught at the Intermediate School and was played by many boys at the Wanganui Collegiate School. Remains Not Recovered. One month has elapsed since the fatality occurred in the surf at Tangimonana, when Mr. Maurice Parkes, of Awahuri, was drowned through the capsizing of an open boat from which he was fishing. He was accompanied at the time by two others from the same district, Messrs. Nicholson blotters, who swam to safety. When the craft capsized Mr. Parkes was given assistance by his companions, but a very heavy breaker eventually separated them and nothing more was seen of the young man by the brothers. Au exhaustive search was at once inaugurated by the police, but no trace has yet been found of the missing man. Escaped Prisoner. No information had been received in Wanganui last night as to whether Robert Clarence Clarke, labourer, aged 19, who escaped from the prison camp at Rangipo, near Tokaanu, between Sunday night and early Monday morning, had been recaptured. This was the prisoner's second escape within three weeks. He made his previous bid for liberty on December 15, but was recaptured the following day while making his way through dense bush some miles from the camp. Tiie description given by the police is as follows: —Height, sft. Bin.; fresh complexion, brown curly hair, blue eyes, strongly built, scar under left eye. The tip of his right forefinger is missing. Dear Kindling. The extraordinary ignorance and indifference shown by many pakchas to old Maori culture was revealed recently at the Alexander Museum at Wanganui. A well-dretsed, apparently prosperous farmer, gazed at some of the carvings. "Why ever do you people collect that stuff?” he asked "\yhy, we pulled down a lot of that sort of carving recently, and boiled the billy with it." Then the sad story was revealed of an old and deserted whare whakairo, way in the back country of Wanganui. The new owners knew nothing of its existence until when mustering they came across it, and then forgot all about it. Then it so happened that district decided to make a rough golf course, and the old whare was right in a fairway, so it was pulled down and sledged back to the new little golf house and the old carvings boiled the billy during the whole of last winter! The teller of the story was very downcast when he found that the museums of the world place a solid cash value on • h things.