General News

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 301, 21 December 1945, Page 4

General News

Christmas Carols. Following its usual custom, the Wanganui Garrison Band will again play Christmas carols this year. The band will be in the suburbs on Sunday morning, and on the morning ol Christmas Day will play in the city. City’s Claim B’or Contest An application is to be made at the annual meeting o f the New Zealand Brass Band Association in Christchurch next March for the 1937 New Zealand brass band championship contest to be held in Wanganui. The last occasion on which the New Zealand contest was held in Wanganui was in 1929. Wanganui delegates in Christchurch next March will strongly press the city’s claims. Carols in Maori.

A gesture which was greatly appreciated by inmates of the Wanganui Hospital on Wednesday night was the singing in Maori of Christmas'Carols by Maori members of the domestic staff of the hospital. Each ward was visited, and the effect was heightened by each singer carrying a lighted candle.

Company Registered Details of a new company registered in Wanganui, that of Whiting (C.F.), Ltd., are given in the Mercantile Gazette. The registered office is in Copeland Street, Wanganui, and the capital consists of £2500 in shares of £1 each. Subscribers are.—Dannevirke: C. F. Whiting 2499, E. L. Whiting 1. Objects: Dealers in cement, lime, plaster, gravel, minerals and incidental.

The Year’s Epidemics. “During the ten years I have been making these reports, each yeai lias been stated to be a difficult one on account of epidemics,” stated the headmaster of the Marton District High School, Mr. W. A. Tucker, in his annual report, read at the breaking-up ceremony yesterday. “I can therefore say that the year has been a normal one on that account. The recent measles outbreak came at a most inopportune time—the third term.” Westerly Gale

Springing up early in the morning after the wind had changed from a northerly quarter, a strong westerly gale was experienced in the Wanganui coastal district yesierday. Heavy seas were running and shipping movements were doubtful. After overnight rain, the day was line with passing clouds, but very gusty. Compared with the humidity of the previous day, temperatures were cooler. At 3 p.m. the barometer was comparatively low, but rising very slowly. The reading was 29.65in5. Educational Facilities Wide educational facilities were available for returned servicemen, said ihe chairman of the Wanganui Rehabilitation Committee, Mr. J. B. F. Cotterill, yesterday. Applicants had been granted full-time bursaries to attend universities at Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. Correspondence courses on many subjects had been arranged through the Education Department, private colleges and correspondence schools, and the Wanganui Technical College had arranged classes on various subjects for ex-servicemen students. Facilities for education were also available through the Army Educational Welfare Service and ex-servicemen were taking advantage of this opportunity. Taupata in Port Making her lirst visit to the Port of Wanganui for more than three years, the Anchor Company’s coastal motor-ship Taupata arrived on Wednesday morning with about 200 tons of cement from Tarakohe. The last occasion on which the Taupata called here was on September 17,1942, shortly before she went to Auckland for service with the Royal New Zealand Navy. About a year ago the vessel was handed back to her owners and since then has been engaged in the coastal trade, principally between Nelson, Lyttelton, Tarakohe and Wellington. The Taupata is a wooden vessel of 288 tons gross register. Her twin Diesel engines, wheelhouse, messroom and officers’ quarters are all located aft. The vessel completed discharge at the Town Wharf yesterday and was to have sailed last night. Busy Night on Main Trunk.

With seven trains running on express schedules from Wellington to Auckland last night, and four en route from Auckland to Wellington, the Main Trunk Line was thick with traffic. The heavy flow was created by the arrival at Wellington yesterday morning of the transport Mooltan and the beginning of the Christmas rush. Three pasenger trains and one express freight had already been scheduled each way when train running staffs were required to plot schedules for three troop specials from Wellington to Auckland. The net result was 11 expresses—including the two freights —running on the single track through the King Country at the same time. Tightest spot on the section last night was between National Park and Taumarunui, where several opposing trains converged for crossings within a short time of one another. The express freight trains run daily each way between Auckland and Wellington and maintain the same speed as passenger trains. i