Town Talk

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 53, 4 March 1939, Page 8

Town Talk

Days of Ancient Rome. The Rev. A. C. McLean will be the speaker at Monday’s luncheon of the Wanganui Rotary Club. His subject will be “Days of Ancient Rome.”

College Rugby Tourney. The annual quadrangular Rugby tourney between teams representing the Wanganui Collegiate School, Christ's College (Christchurch), Nelson College and Wellington College will be played at Wanganui during August. The tournament was last held in Wanganui in 1935, when the competition was won by the Wanganui Collegiate School.

Car Overturns. An accident occurred at Moumahaki, near Waverley, at five o'clock last night. A light car from Auckland, when overtaking another vehicle, hit the rear mudguard of the car in front, swerved away and skidded before turning over. An elderly lady in the overturned car received a cut on her head and abrasions, but was able to proceed to Wanganui in another car. Still at Large.

The Maori prisoner, Tom Tu Taaka, who escaped from Waikune prison camp a second time last Tuesday, is still at large. He was last seen entering a large piece of bush near Kaitieke, on Thursday. The area was surrounded by police and warders and it was expected yesterday that Tu Taaka, who was naked when last seen, would be recaptured before dark. However, no word of his recapture had been received up till nightfall. Regatta at Napier. Twenty-one crews will represent the Wanganui rowing clubs at the Napier regatta at Clive to-day. The boats left Wanganui last night by motorlorry for Palmerston North and will continue the journey to Napier today. the halt being necessary because of a traffic inspector in the Manawatu district refusing to permit the lorry to travel at night. Seventythree crews will compete in eleven events at the regatta, which is usual--1 ya popular event for rowers. Left Book Club Formed. At a well-attended meeting it was decided to form a branch of the Left Book Club in Wanganui. Meetings will be held monthly when lhe latest book issued to club members will be discussed. This club is now world wide and has over 60,000 members in lhe British Empire. Membership entitles one to some of the best and most, expensive books published. Mr. H. Rowell, bookseller, has been appointed to import and distribute the Left Books for Wanganui.

Wanganui’s Development. Developmental work in Wanganui

was favourably commented on yesterday by Mr. C. Williams, private secre-

tary to the Hon. Adam Hamilton. Mr. Williams is an old boy of Queen’s Park School, and the Technical College. He was particularly impressed with the work being done on Cook's Gardens. “It will be one of the best sports grounds in the Dominion,” he said. “As a matter of fact, it will be hard to beat.” Mr. Williams was also impressed with the fine airport Wanganui has.

Imperturbable Killen. A small, dirty black and while kitten asleep in the middle of the roadway in Wicksteed Place while motor-cars and lorries passed dangerously close to it on both sides, attracted the attention of passers-by yesterday afternoon. The kitten, basking in the warm sunshine, took no heed of the passing traffic although its nine lives were frequently in imminent danger. At last, however, it was removed to a safer haven by a pedestrian apparently with a warmer heart for animals than his fellows. Wool Falls Into River. A dump of wool ready for loading into the coastal vessel Storm at the Wanganui Town Wharf yesterday, fell into the river off a lorry. It was quickly rescued, taken back to the wool store and dried. A dump of wool consists of two bales tied together with steel after having been placed under hydraulic pressure. With lhe wool so tightly pressed the water did not gel far into lhe centre, but the whole dump had to be opened out for drying. The wool, which had been bought at the last Wanganui sale, was being shipped to Sydney.

Surf Championships. Good entries have been received for the West Coast surf life-saving championships which will be held at Castlecliff beach to-morrow. The teams come from Wellington, Wanganui, Patea, Taranaki and Paekakariki and keen competition for the titles is expected. The trophies to be competed for are the HackshavvSearle Shield for the West Coast championship, the Gibson Cup for the four-men alarm event and the Williams Cup for the march past, one of the most spectacular events of the day. Other competitions will be the junior rescue and resuscitation, the senior surf race and the junior surf

Floodlighting Cook's Gardens. The mounting of equipment for the floodlighting of the centre of the oval at Cook's Gardens in preparation for the New Zealand United Fire Brigades’ demonstration next week, is now well advanced. Already one of the 60-foot steel towers, which will carry the 24 1500-watt floodlight projectors, has been erected, and the remaining three need only to be raised. The projectors are being erected on the high steel towers in order to minimise glare for both spectators and performers, and to ensure an even distribution of light from the beams. The old system of floodlighting, by which lamps were suspended above the ground by complicated overhead gear, was regarded as unsatisfactory, and under the new scheme the oval will be illuminated from both sides and the former apparatus abolished.

Fewer Sunday School Scholars. Stating that the statistics of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand for 1938 show a decrease of 1163 in the number of Sunday School children, the Outlook (the official publication of the church) makes an appeal for all Sunday School teachers to embark on some definite recruiting this year. “The fact that in New- Zealand during the decade 19261936 children under five years of age actually decreased by 17,693, and children between five and 10 decreased by 4407, may to some extent account for the drop in Sunday School numbers," states the Outlook. "Nevertheless, it is also a fact that at a conservative estimate more than 50 per cent, of

young nominal Presbyterians are out of touch with Sunday School and Bible Class. The youth committee is appealing to teachers, leaders, and sessions to arrest what is a serious drift.”