LOCAL AND GENERAL

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 113, 25 February 1950, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

County Rates Up till yesterday afternoon the rates paid in at the Ashburton County Council office totalled £68,749 out of an amount of £78,705, approximately 87 per cent. There are still two business days before the 10 per cent, penalty is due to he imposed.

Spinal Chair for Hospital It was reported at yesterday’s meeting of the Mid-Canjerburw Red Cross that a chair for spinal cases, the property of the Eiffelton Red Cross Branch, now disbanded, is to be presented to the Ashburton Public Hospital. It will he formally handed over next Thursday by Mrs J. Cocks and Mrs H. White.

The Foreign Legion The French Foreign Legion,! famed in history and fiction, ,has changed in pattern since the last World War. In the old days nobody cared about the name or the past of anyone enlisting in the legion. To-day, largely because of the attempted influx of largo numbers of war criminals, the name and record of each recruit is insisted upon.

Rannerdale Home At yesterday’s meeting of the executive of the Mid-Canterbury Red Cross Centre a report was read from the Joint Committee of the Red Cross and the Order of St. John on the Rannerdale Soldiers’ Home. It was stated that there are still 20 soldiers in residence, and that in common with other public institutions, staffing was at present the main problem.

County Ewe Fair Entries Although the number of entries in the ewe fair of Ashburton County breeders which will be held at Tinwald next Tuesday is far in excess of the entries last year, it does not constitute a record. The total number of entries is 21,685, compared with 17,920 last year. The approximate number of breeders exhibiting is 90. One breeder lias an entry of 1400 sheep. The number of ewe lambs entered is 1040, of two-tooth ewes 10,175, of fourtooth ewes 110 and 'of four and five-year-old ewes 10,360.

Warrants and Certificates

The transport department is to be asked to explain the difference between warrants and certificates of fitness and the causes for such “stringent” detail in the legislation. This was decided at a -meeting of the South Canterbury executive of Federated Farmers yesterday after members had discussed the necessity of certificates of fitness for market gardeners’ trucks. “If there is even such a thing as a loose tail-shaft you* have to replace it,” said Mr G. Slater. “They are even asking for new up-* holstery in trucks. You would suppose it was a passenger service,” he said.

N.Z. War Artists’ Work Auckland can have some of New Zealand’s war artists’ paintings if it cares to ask for them, said the Undersecretary of Internal Affairs (Mr A. G. Harper), yesterday, commenting on an Auckland Press Association report indicating that' a claim would be entered for some of the war artists’ work stoi’ed in Wellington. Mr Harper said that similar requests had been made by other centres, and had been granted. He said that until a permanent. home was established for the work of New Zealand war artists, the department was allowing it to be distributed on indefinite loan to art galleries, museums, and servicemen’s organisations which desired to have it and care for it. —P.A.

Famous Wrong Guesses , A Boston newspaper of 54 years ago reported: “Joshua Coppersmith has been arrested for trying to extort funds from ignorant and superstitious people by a device which he says will convey the human voice over wires. He calls the instrument a telephone.” In a book published in 1933, Dorothy Thompson related that it took her 50 seconds after meeting Adolf Hitler to decide that “that formless, almost faceless man” would never become dictator of Germany. In many a public speech the great Daniel Webster expressed his doubt, of the ultimate success of American railways. He argued that frost on the rails would prevent a train from moving—or, if it did move, from being brought to a stop.

Full Bag Starting from my house one very wet morning, I discovered that five ol our umbrellas required repairing. On the impulse of the moment I took all five and left them at a repair .shop near my office. Later that day, having finished my lunch in a restaurant, I rose and automatically grasped the umbrella leaning against table. Whereupon the young lady sitting opposite me informed me that T had taken her umbrella. On my way home in the* bus, with my five repaired umbrellas up against the seat, T looked up from my paper and met the eyes of the young lady who had been in the restaurant. She smiled at me and looking me straight in the eyes said, knowingly, “You have had a successful day, to-day, haven’t you?”

Cost of Rugby Tour, . The cost of the British Isles Rugby team’s tour of New Zealand this year is expected to be at least double that of the 1930 tour, says a Press Association message. For this reason the New Zealand Rugby Union has increased admission charges for test and ordinary games, although 'the increases are not in ratio with the cost increases. Admission to grounds for test matches will bs 3s 6d. Charges for temporary and open stands have been left to the unions concerned. All covered grandstand seats will be £l. For ordinary matches, admission to the ground will be 2s Gd. Charges for temporary and open stands are in the hands of the unions concerned. All covered grandstand seats will be 12s Gd. Largely as a result of a non-recur-ring item of £3OOO for outfitting the All Blacks for South Africa, the union showed a loss last season of £1679.