GENERAL NEWS

Wanganui Chronicle, 31 January 1950, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS

Call to Grass Fires. The Wanganui Central Fire Brigade received two calls to grass fires yesterday. The first was to Konini and Parsons Street, and the second to Kawatiri Avenue, Gonvllle. Neither were serious outbreaks and damage was negligible . Bridge to be Closed. The Waitotara County Council advises that the bridge over the Opunakenui Stream on the Waitotara Valley Highway will be closed for repairs between 8.30 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, February 2 and 3. The bridge is about four miles from Waitotara. Good Golf Performance. Excellent golf was played at the Belmont links during the week-end by U. G. Williams, who completed the course in 68. Williams was out in 35 and came home in 33. Standard scratch score of the 6152 yards’ course is 73. The official course record of 68 is held by B. M. Silk, who also holds the unofficial record of 65. Jobs Plentiful. Provided there is no radical change in New Zealand economy, officials oi the Department of Labour and Employment expect jobs this year to be as easy to obtain as they were in 1949. Throughout the country for the past two years, disengaged persons have never risen above 207 out of a labour force of 720,000. Those numbered as unemployed have never constituted a serious problem.

Place Name Changed. Notice of the final decision of the New Zealand Geographic Board to assign new names to a number of locali. ties in various parts of the Dominion is given in the Gazette. The only places affected in the Wanganui district is the Mangapuni Stream in the Nukumaru Survey District. The stream will now be known as the Mangapunipuni.

Newspapers in N.Z. There are now 212 daily, tri-weekly, bi-weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly and annual newspapers, periodicals and magazines published in New Zealand, according to the latest issue of the Newspaper Press Directory. Exactly 50 newspapers are published daily in the Dominion. There are 13 newspapers published three times a week, 18 published twice a week and 35 published weekly. The most numerous are monthly publications, of which 73 are published. There are four quarterlies and nine publications are printed once a year.

Oyster Season. With the approach of the oyster season many people throughout the Dominion are eagerly awaitng a taste of this delicacy. Wanganui fishmongers have not yet been notified as to when they will receive their first, supplies, but it is expected that oysters will be available in the city in about four weeks’ time. Preparations for the new season are well under way at Bluff and merchants and oystermen are looking forward to a good year in this profitable industry. The prospects for the season will not be known until the boats make their first trip to the beds on February 15, but those concerned expect that the yield will be as large as usual. The production capacity of the beds is seemingly endless, although at times precautions have to be taken to ensure that enough oysters remain at the end of the season to maintain the necessary breeding.