General News

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 8, 10 January 1946, Page 4

General News

Band Concert. Provided the weather is suitable, the Wanganui Garrison Band will play at Aramoho Park to-night. On Sunday the Queen Alexandra Band is scheduled to play at Virginia Lake. Croquet Tournament. Rain has delayed progress in the North Island croquet tournament, which is being played in Wanganui, and the fixture is not likely to conclude untily early next week. Library Stocktaking. With the exception of the public reading room, ail departments of the Wanganui Public Library will be closed to-day for stocktaking purposes. The work involves the checking of about 12,000 works of fiction.

Impaled on* Hay Grab. Serious injuries were received by a Pukepoto farmer, Mr. William Beckett, when he betame impaled on one of the forks of a grab being used for stacking hay on a neighbour’s farm. He was admitted to the Kaitaia Hospital. Defence Rifle Club.

With a view to reviving the Wanganui Defence Rifle Club, which has been in recess during the war years, a meeting to resume activities is being held to-night in the Drill Hall. Supplies of ammunition have become more liberal since the cessation of hostilities, and there is every prospect of the club getting away to a good start. First Nelson Apples. The first of the new season’s apples have arrived on the Nelson market. They are Beauty of Bath, Irish Peach; and Duchess of Oldenburg, with a few Gravensteins of cooker size. Prospects for the main crop are good. On present estimates, the district will produce more than 1,000,000 cases of apples and 80,000 cases of pears. This would be higher than last year’s yield in apples and slightly less in pears. Taupo-Rotorua Bus Service

A new bus seervice was started on Monday by the Railways Road Services between Taupo and Rotorua. The bus leaves Taupo at 7.30 a-m., and returns at 6.45 p.m., remaining approximately eight hours in Rotorua. This service will enable visitors to Taupo to spend a sight-seeing day In Rotorua. It will also connect with the inward and outward AucklandRotorua expresses. Change in Naval Command. The appointment of naval officer in charge at Auckland was relinquished at sunset on Monday by Commodore W. K. D. Dowding, D.S.C., R.N., and temporarily undertaken by Captain D. A. Bingley, O-8.E., R.N. (retired). During the day naval control was transferred from the base at Mechanics' Bay to H.M.N-Z.S. Philomel. The only naval personel now remaining at the Mechanics’ Bay base is a section which controls merchant ships recording their arrivals and departures and issuing routine instructions. Nelson Short of Meat.

Nelson ran short of meat on Friday, and by the middle .of the afternoon there was none to be had in the shops. Butchers say they provided in advance for what were considered adequate stocks judging by the past day to day demand, and remembering about Saturday closing. There were a large number of visitors in town, and this factor, with the cooler weather, had something to do with the excessive demand. Both butchers and disappointed consumers are now wondering whether Saturday closing is going to alter the meat eating habits of the people. More Westerly Weather. Followed by heavy rain which last ed for the greater part of yesterday morning, a westerly wind freshened alter lunch and reached gale force later in the afternoon. It was another example of the unseasonal weather which will make the summer of 194546 famous in Wanganui’s meteorological history. The wind was also in a changeable mood, veering from a strong westerly on Tuesday to a light northerly yesterday morning, and backing to westerly again in the afternoon. Temperatures were lower and seas at Castlecliff were rough. At 3 p.m. yesterday the barometer was falimg at 29.55 in. Gift for Mr. Churchill.

A suggestion that a wine and smoking cabinet made of New Zealand wood should be presented to Mr. Winston Churchill, by the Returned Services’ Association of New Zealand has been made by Mr. J. D. Hicks, a member of the Wanganui branch. In a letter to the Wanganui R.S.A., a copy of which has been forwarded to Dominion headquarters, Mr. Hicks has suggested that the cabinet, which should be in a V shape and contain a suitably inscribed plate, should be met by voluntary contributions from members of the R.S.A. of some rbminal sum. such as sixpence. A choice!selection of New Zealand’s best wines, and an appropriate number of Mr. Churchill’s favourite cigars would complete the cabinet. The president of the Wanganui R.S.A., Mr. C. S. Smith, commented yesterday that this was ah excellent suggestion.