LOCAL & GENERAL.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 16 March 1933, Page 4

LOCAL & GENERAL.

The annual general meeting of the Solway Golf Club will be held to-night at '7.30 o’clock in the A. and 'P. Society’s Rooms, Ferry Street. A Wellington Press Association message reports that the Wellington groc-ea-s’ dispute is unsettled and proceedings have been adjourned until' 11th April.

A very successful garden party was held at the residents of Mr B. Roberts, Parkvale, yesterday afternoon in aid of the Keith Hooper Benefit Fund. The taking's for the afternoon amounted to £2 19s.

There are at present 104 single men engaged in the Masterton County Council’s unemployed relief camps. Each of the four camps has its full complement of men and the work is proceeding smoothly and well.

The five bells of the Wellington General Pest Office clock tower are undergoing overhaul and are silent for the first time for many years. The clock, however, continues without interruption. The bells have done duty since 1899.

A grand national concert will be held in St. Patrick’s Assembly Hall, Queen Street, on Saturday next, 18th March. An excellent programme of vocal, instrumental and elocutionary items will be presented by leading local and visiting artists.

‘‘Did you become engaged recently?” asked counsel for plaintiff of a debtor during his examination at the civil sitting of the Magistrate’s Court this morning. The debtor replied that he hald.' Asked if he had bought a ring, the debtor admitted that he had. ‘‘Tnat is hard luck for Mr ” (the plaintiff), observed counsel, as he resumed Jus seati v

There was a very large attendance at the community sing held in the Featlierston Town Hail last night. Under the talented leadership of Messrs. Owen Pritchard and Frank Grow the r 3 of Wellington, 1 everything went with a swing and the gathering proved thoroughly successful. The profits are to be divided equally between the Masterton unemployed and those in Featherston. Another sing will be held in Featlierston in about a month’s time when items will also be given by wellknown Wellington artists. Arrangements have been made for a sing to be held at Carterton next Wednesday night when an enjoyable evening’s entertainment.., is assured all who attend. Messrs Crowther and Pritchard and other artists will be in attendance.

There was a very large attendance at the monthly meeting of the League of Mothers, held in the Parish Hall yesterday afternoon. The president (Mrs J. Miller) occupied the- chair. Much regret was expressed at the impending departure of Mrs E. O. Blaniires, who has been vice-president- of the league since its inception. Mrs Blamires was presented with a bouquet and, in returning thanks, said that membership of the league had been one of her .happiest associations in Masterton. The speaker of the day was Mrs M. Cleghorn, 8.A., who spoke most interestingly and informatively of her imnressions of the work and status of women in a number of European and other countries sli-e had visited. Mrs Cleghorn conveyed a wealth of information in a particularly pleasant and easy manner and held the close attention of heir auditors. On concluding she was accorded a very hearty vote of thanks. ' The tea hostesses of the day were Mesdames Blamires, Dickens, Judd, Miller, Rich and Michael.

The offices of the solicitors practising in Masterton will be closed to-mor-row (Friday), St. Patrick’s Day. An Ottawa cablegram states that the Canadian Senate on Tuesday gave the second reading to the Charity Sweepstakes Bill, which would authorise the Provinces to hold sweepstakes. The voting was 37 to 19. A cablegram states that Mr W. T. Cosgravei’s motion in the Irish Free State Dail Eireann disapproving of the removal of General O’Duffy from the 'Police Commissionership was defeated by 70 votes to 58. Sunday next, 19th March, will see the end of summer-time, and the clocks will go back half an hour, New Zealand thereby reevrting to standard time. Summer-time began at 2 a.m. on Sunday, 9th October, 1932, and it will end at the same hour next Sunday. Ninety-four game® were needed to decide a set in a lawn tennis match in Sydney a few days ago. It iwas*in the men’s doubles of an interclub competition on hard courts. The first set was won at 20-18. Then the players battled for three hours in the second set, until, through the sheer weariness of the opposing pair, the winners of the first set had just enough energy left to win at 48-46. This is claimed to be a world’s record in tennis “marathons. ’ ’

Red rear reflectors or “eats’ eyes’’ are no longer a compulsory fitting on motor vehicles. A few years ago a regulation under the Motor Vehicles Act introduced these reflectors., The official idea was that in the event of taillight failure the reflector would be a protection against ramming from the rear. The amended regulations gazetted a fortnight ago cancel out the red reflector. Motorists in New Zealand have, .in the aggregate, spent .at least £BOOO on these accessories. Motor traders are left with unnecessary stocks. There has been some rivalry of late about the size of giant sunflowers. A South Island garden claimed one 15 indies in diameter, but this was exceeded by a Hastings claim of 17 inches. Palmerston North lias now entered the lists, for a sunflower grown at the back of the Courthouse has broken both records, says the “Manawatu Daily Times.” When two officials of the Court placed the red tape across the face of one giant it showed 22 inches. The ground was previously covered with blackberry, but with unemployed help this was cleared off and sunflowers, pumpkins, and other useful crops were grown instead. It was reported in the “Daily Times” recently that there was a- pos : sibility of the sparrow proving the enemy of the white butterfly, and assisting in its eradication, a Masterton gardener having stated he had noticed a sparrow eatcli and eat two white butterflies. Yesterday a flight of birds was noticed wheeling, diving, darting and climbing about thirty feet in the air along Rutland Road, Carterton. The cause for this commotion and excitement was at once apparent, for the birds (blackbirds) were attacking a swarm of white butterflies, and being amply repaid for their strenous exertion. It is not usual to see more than three or four blackbirds cohorting, but on this occasion there were at least twenty of them wheeling and tumbling everywhere. After lying neglected in an obscure comer of Seymour Square, Blenheim, for many years, Blinkinsopp’s gun, one of the most interesting historical relics in New Zealand, is being mounted and will bo set up on a small grass plot near the Plunket Society’s rooms in High street, Blenheim, In 1931 Captain John Blinkinsopp, of the whaling schooner Caroline, drew up a deed with the natives under which lie became the owner of the Wairau Plain, the “consideration” mentioned in the document being the gun. Subsequently Te Eauparaha and other chiefs repudiated tlxei deed, alleging that all that they had granted the captain was the right to wood and water for his ship and other facilities. The gun was retrieved many years- ago from Port Underwood, where the Maoris had left it, and brought to Blenheim.

A deputation to the Mayor of Auckland yesterday requested thta the City Council discuss with all other interested local bodies the advisability of the local bodies controlling the distribution and sale of milk in Auckland and subux-bs. The delegation represented trade unionists (including the milk roundsmen), a Labour M.P., and a member of the British Medical Association. Reference was made to the present milk war, and it was asserted that distribution methods generally were unsatisfactory and that the Arbitration Court award was being evaded. The Mayor promised to recommend the City Council that an investigation be made. He made it clear that the council could not at this time ask the ratepayers to spend a large sum such as Wellington had spent on its municipal milk supply system. . When replacing piles at the steps of No. 1 wharf, Timaru, harbour"" board workmen found a .wood-borer of the teredo species, measuring fourteen inches in length. The iron bark piles ■were riddled with holes, bored as neatly as if by a machine, due to the depredations of these sea creatures. Captain MeD.ougali, harbour master, stated that this specimen was the largest he had seen so far south. In -warmer climates, such as those of Sydney and Auckland, the teredos were prolific, and had been found in lengths up to eighteen inches. He stated that one of these creatures would go from end to end of a softwood pile in a few days. A portion of a hickory hammer. handle, which was dropped into the v/taer about a fortnight ago, was shown, and this also was riddled with - neatly-bored holes. “The feeling of the Irish. Free State toward England is the same as it has always been,” said Major F. A. MeVeagh, of the Irish Fusiliers, who arrived in Wellington by the ’Rangitanei from England yesterday. Major MeVeagh, who is here on a short holiday visit, said that much of the talk about the two countries being on unfriendly terms was purely newspaoer gossip. “Englishmen still come over for their hunting and shooting,” he said, “and are treated just the same as ever.” Northern Ireland and the south were certainly at loggerheads, but that had always been the .case, he said. The two peoples were directly opposed to each other in many respects. Major McVeagh did not wish to discuss political matters, but he gave it as his opinion that many of Mr De Valera’s schemes, although they looked very good on paper, were actually impracticable.

A London cable states that Mr De Valera will visit Rome on 15th May, and is expected to meet Signor Mussolini.

An electrician employed by the Auckland Harbour Board. John McKenzie, fell 30 feet from, the platform of a crane on the King’s Wharf yesterday. He crashed to the edge of the wharf and rolled over into the harbour, but was rescued by waterside workers with a loading net. He was unconscious when taken from the water, and was sent to hospital with a broken leg, arm, and severe back injuries.