GENERAL NEWS

Wanganui Chronicle, 26 January 1948, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS

No Week-end Fires. No calls to fires were received by the Wanganui Fire Brigade during the week-end. With the strong westerly wind, it was fortunate that there were no grass fires, which have been prevalent of recent weeks. Indian Injured. When the motor lorry on which he was riding as a passenger left the road and ran into a ditch at Mangamahu about 9 p.m,’ yesterday, B. Singh, an Indian, received cuts to the face which necessitated his admission to the Wan-ganui hospital. Singh was riding on the back of the truck. There were two other male passengers and two women and a baby. One of the men and a woman received abrasions and shock but were able to proceed to their homes. The other man and woman and the baby escaped uninjured. Singh was brought to hospital by ambulance. New Zealand Fishing.

“Often when I spoke to some of you in Africa and Italy you told me about your country and often the conversation would turn to fishing,’’ said Lieutenant-General Sir Oliver Leese, a former commander of the Bth. Army in a broadcast address last night. “Your country in its beauty, its grandeur and its variety of bewildering scenery I have found beyond my highest expectations. Your people are as charming and as hospitable as your soldiers. Your rainbow trout are magnificent—l should say the best in the world. But I have still not come across that one terrific fish which you promised me.”

County Loans Paid Off. Careful administration with a view to reducing the loan indebtedness of the Waitotara County Council was mentioned by the clerk of that body (Mr. W. B. Broadhead), who was a speaker at Maxwell on Saturday, when residents of the Waitotara riding paid tribute to the long service on the county of its retiring chairman (Mr. W. Morrison). Mr. Broadhead said that in 1918 the loan indebtedness of the county was £17,000. That had risen in 1926 to £30,000. Largely due to the leadership of Mr. Morrison that indebtedness had been reduced to in the vicinity of £15,000. Tribute to 2nd. N.Z.E.F.

“I am very glad to see you once more—this time in your own country —and to find you so happy and so prosperous,” said Lieutenant-General Sir Oliver Leese, a former commander of the Bth. Army, in a broadcast address last night. "You, indeed, have a great heritage to treasure in your wonderful pastures, your great herds and your beautiful scenery, but I know that these are as safe in your keeping today as were the destinies of our Commonwealth secure in your hands in Africa and Italy a few years ago. Then you were one great team with a common purpose to win at all costs. In the future I believe that that same team spirit will sustain and strengthen your nation through whatever difficulties and dangers lie ahead.”

Unusual Resting Place. To see a face peering at them through a crack in the ceiling of the pavilion at Cook's Gardens caused cricketers on Saturday morning to believe that they had found the prisoner who escaped from the Wanganui Gaol on Friday. The police were informed and a young Maori man was taken away for questioning but was released after accounting satisfactorily for his actions. It appeared that he had nowhere to sleep and had climbed up into the attic of the pavilion where he was resting when cricketers, who began play in the morning instead of after lunch as customary, arrived. He was noticed peering through a crack by several players. Comradeship of the Desert. “They were great days. We often grumbled about the sand, the dust storms ,the lack of water, the flies, only one bottle of beer a week —or was it a month—but it is a soldiers privilege to grouse," said LieutenantGeneral Sir Oliver Leese, a formci commander of the Bth Army, when speaking of the Western Desert campaigns in his radio broadcast las', night. “I think we all have happy memories of the comradeship and friendship of the desert. We were one bi.g team. On the whole-it was a healthy and clean place in which to live and if one has to fight al all there is much to be said for a theatre in which there are few houses to destroy with all the attendant misery and horror for the civilian population.” Windy Week-end. . A strong westerly wind, which at times gusted to more than 40 miles an hour, made conditions unpleasant out of doors during the week-end in spite of the warm sunshine. Tennis, bowling, softball and cricket players found the strong wind tricky. There was a rough, dirty surf breaking on the beach at Castlecliff and only a few people were in swimming. The Wanganui Aero Club's aircraft did little flying on Saturday and activity was at a standstill yesterday. Strong winds were general throughout the lower portion of the North Island ana patrons of the race meeting at Trentham, athletes at Hatailai, and oarsmen who competed on the Wellington harbour all found the condition.trying. The wind on Wellington harbour was so strong that the mile races were reduced to three-quarters of a mile and even then were gruelling events.

Gig Days. Days when the gig was the main means of passenger transport by road were recalled at Maxwell on Saturday by the postmaster, Mr. H. Siddall. who was chairman of a social event arranged to pay tribute to Mr. William Morrison, who has retired from the Waitotara County after 42 years' continuous service .Mr. Siddall said that it was a regular thing to drive to the railway station (then Okehu, now Maxwell) in a gig and stop at the post o trice and store to collect mail and provisions. His own recollection of lirst setting up business in Maxwell was meeting Mr. Morrison himself, the first person he saw. M; Morrison was sitting in a gig outsid. the store waiting to go to the train. The store was closed while the pro prietress w-as away milking the cow Mi- Morrison painted sueh a glowing picture of the district that he (Mr Siddall) had taken over the store. “And I am still,” he added, “and croud of it.”