MID-CANTERBURY

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18372, 4 May 1925, Page 5

MID-CANTERBURY

ASHBURTON. PERSONAL. The retirement of Senior-Sergeant DJackson, who has been in the force 33 years, is announced. He has been in charge of the Ashburton police district for the past 3i years, and from the £9th of next month he will be granted three months' leave, at the end of which his retirement will take effect. Sergeant Jackson has served in all parts of New Zealand, and about thirty years ago he was stationed at Ashburton for a period of four years. General News. The Ashburton Golf Club's match against Hororata and the final bowling match for the Gala Cup, between Ashburton and Kakaia, were postponed on Saturday on account of the adverse weather conditions, while the Methven v. Wanderers'senior and junior matches in the Ashburton Football Sub-Associa-tion's competitions were also postponed for tho same reason. Two serious accidents occurred during the Eugby comnr|)ctition games on Saturday. A. Oborn, aged 22, a Springburn player, suffered concussion of the brain through a head-on collision with a Hinds player, at Hinds. He was still unconscious at the hospital on Saturday night, but had recovered, and was reported to be improving. George Bennett, a Technical School fuorth grade player, had his kneecap broken. No other player was near him at the time. Bennett was running for the ball and suddenly stopped. It is understood the kneecap had been broken once before. The sale of work which was held under the auspices of the Tinwald-Fleni-ington Presbyterian Church in the Tancred street Hall on Friday, proved very successful. A ready sale was found for all the articles, and the proceeds are to be devoted to the Manse Fund. The Christchurch hounds were to have met at Tinwald on Saturday, but owing to the wet weather the meeting was deferred. They will meet at Fairfield today.

The euchre tournament and dance which was held in the Tancred 6treet Hall on Saturday night under the auspices of the Hakatere Lodge was attended by about 60 couples. The euchre tournament was won by Miss H. JFuffell and Mr F. Hands. The prize for the one-step, competition went to Miss Mary Gates and Mr J. Moore, while the music was supplied by Mrs Mitchel'sl orchestra.

The usual fortnightly dance conducted by the Ashburton Quadrille Assembly attracted a large crowd of dancing enthusiasts on Saturday night, when the music was supplied by Dayboume's orchestra. ' The Weather. An unexpected change in the weather conditions was experienced in Ashburton on Friday night, when, about 11 o'clock a southerly wind sprang up, and was soon accompanied by heavy clouds which brought rain. Tho shower continued heavily until early on Saturday morning, when it eased off a little, and subsequently ceased about 11 a.m., after which the sun shone out, making the remainder of the day pleasant. During April 6.70 in of rain were registered in Ashburton over a period of nine days, tho maximum being .3.931n oil the 17th. Frost, ranging from one to six degrees, was registered on six nights, and there were 131 hours 7 minutes of sunshine, with none registered on five days.- - ■■■ -■:';■] -■; \■ - ":""; '. '-; ■ Frequent heavy ; showers of rain, accompanied by hail were in Ashburton throughout yesterday afternoon and night. The atmosphere was cold. Municipal Election. The official recounts of the votes cast for tho Ashburton Electric Power Board and the weekly half-holiday question were concluded on Saturday morning by the Returning Officer (Mr W, Patterson), with the result that for the former Mr E. F. Nicoll polled 1227 votes instead of 1223, as published on Thursday, and MrW. H. Bundle 1013 in place of 1014. There was no change in the votes east in favour of Mr W. H. Woods, who secured 1160. The informals are increased to 36 froni 31. ' For the half-holiday the recount discloses that 6 votes instead of 5 were cast in favour of Wednesday, 674 in place of 675 for Thursday, and- ]173 instead of 1172 in favour of Saturday. The informals were reduced by 1 to 10, while there was no alteration in those polled for Tuesday and Friday, the figures for which are 3 and 2 respectively. Croquet. The Ashburton Croquet Club had arranged to close its season on Saturday afternoon with the playing of a progressive tournament and the formal presentation of the prizes which had been won during what has been one of the most snecessful seasons the club has yet had, but owing to heavy rain which had fallen during the early hours of the morning, the function was postponed. The presentation of-the prizes will probably now take place at a social gathering to be held at an early date in aid of the pavilion extension fund. ' Hockey. Tho Ashburton hockey season was opened in tho Domain on Saturday afternoon, when a match was played between the newly-organised ladies' team of pastpupils and a team of the present pupils of tho Ashburton High School. The match ended in a draw, two goals each. Deputation to Hon. J. G. Coates.

As the outcome of a resolution passed at the Ashburton County Council meeting on Friday, to tho effect that the Council should press for a £ for £ subsidy for maintenance work on county roads, a deputation, consisting of the chairman (Mr W. G. Gallagher) and Crs. W. T. Lill and C. Beid and the County Clerk (Mr G. Kelly), waited upon the Minister of Public Works (the Hon. J. G. Coates) and the Engineer-in-Chicf of the Public Works Department (Mr F. W. Furkert), upon their return from the south on Saturday by the second express. Mr W. G. Gallagher thanked the Minister for the opportunity of meeting him, and said that most of the roads in the Ashburton County were already con-: Btrncted, and that the principal vrork in the future would be maintenance and also reconstruction. At present they wero only getting £1 subsidy on an expenditure of £2. This the Council did not consider sufficient, and -were desirous that a £ for £ subsidy should be paid. Another difficulty with -which the Council was faced was tho fact that there wa3 no railway siding at Hackthornc, on the Mount Somers branch line. At Hackthorne they had some very large and valuable plantations, the timber from which was badly needed in Christchurch, both, for firewood and sawmilling purposes. A small loop-line would probably meet the requirements. JAi W. T. Lill said that most of the Ashburton County roads were made, and one-third tho cost on all maintenance allowed by the Main Highways Board was not sufficient for their requirements. Mr Lill then went on to show what work they required to do, which he considered would be a large item of expenditure to the Couneil if only one-third the cost

■was to be allowed. He instanced what would be required to put. in order and maintain the twenty miles of road fn»a Hinds to the Bangitata bridge. Coirtinuing, Mr Lill said that when the meetings of the Highway Board were held at irregular intervals he, as representative of by far the largest county in the group, was at a great disadvantage in advocating the claims of the Ashburton district, as he was practically one against five members, Tepresentirg much smaller counties. It was suggested that an officer of the Department should attend the next meeting of the Highways Board to be held in Tiroaru. Mr C. Rcid stated that the North and South were 11 totally different in respect to their roads. The South Island roads had been formed, and they wanted the money for maintenance. The Minister agreed to give tho matters consideration. LAGMHOR. The late rain has had a beneficial effect upon tho pastures. Owing to tho warm days that followed there has been a decided growth. The threshing is nearing to a close, the mills having had a good run. One mill has over 100,000 bushels to its credit and still has more to come. Tliero is very little clover kept in the district this season, for although the olover crops looked promising they did not fill well. Tho Lagmhor-Westerfield Branch of the British an<l Foreign BiWo Society held its annuy.l meeting at Mr V. W. "Wright's, Lairmhor. The organising secretary for Canterbury. Miss Oooper, was present and addressed the meeting, speaking of the general progress made by the society during-tho past year. Afternoon teai was dispensed by Mrs "Wright. ' MOUNT SOMERS. A perusal of the new railway timetable shows that the local branch line is not afffcted. What most travellers are interested in is the seemingly interminable time that the train takes to pull up the steady grade in the evenings. "One can never be 6iire whether it will arrive at sis or seven, and many are the weary houW spent at the station "waiting for the train." It would bo wise policy oji the part of the railway officials to look into the matter, ps many say they much prefer going and out to town bv car. On Friday evening tho youngest son of Mr Frank Gifkins fell off a shed roof on his head. He was at once ta;kcu to Ashburton for medical attention.

Friends of Mr John Hood will regret to learn that he is at present indisposed. After three days of "Indian summer" weather a change occurred late on Friday night and very heavy rain fell, continuing as light rain and drizzle during the morning. As tho temperature is 40,.this will pnt more snow on the back country, which was almost clear.

PENDARVES. The monthly euchre tournament held by the Hall Committee took place on Friday night, the attendance being fair. The ladies' prize was won I>y Miss Olive Clark with 132 points, Miss Cathio Bruce being second with 112 joints, and Miss Daisy WatSon third with 103 points. The men's prize was won by Mr W. Hurst with 120 points, Mr J. Be&ttie "being second with 11* points, and Mr C. Johnson third with 113 points. After supper a. short dance was held, the music being provided by Miss A. Watson, Miss Ida Bruce, and Mr Eric Rankin. METHVEN. The third annual meeting of. the Methven Brrncli of the New Zealand Farmers' ITnion was held in the A. and P. Association room on Friday evening, when Mr James Carr presided over an attendance of about 40 members In placing the Annual report _befcre the members Mr James Carr said that the branch had had a busy and successful vear. Representatives of the branch had appeared, before the Taxation Commission and placed the views-v of farmers in connexion with land and income-tax before the Commission. Ho dunned that the efforts of thtt Far-. | niers' Union woro largely responsible foi* having income-tax on income derived ! from land abolished. Five members of [ tihe committee had also attended the 'sitting of tho Arbitration Oonrt at .Ashburton in connexion with the threshing mill employees' dispute. I. Tho secretary (Mr J. H. Stone) read | fho balance-sheet, which showed that ■ {he branch was in a- very flourishing (•ondit.ion. The receipts for the year, : including a credit balance from last ; par of £7l 15s 6d, totalled £2H39 Is Id. the principal items being members' subscriptions -£ll3, manure rebate £32 17s 9d, ' "Farmers' Weekly" £4lss. The expenditure was £l7l 12s 3d, union fees beconnting for £BO 105. manure rebate distributed £29 9s 6d, "Farmers'Weck;lv" £ll "3s. printing and advertising £7. The credit balance at the Batik of New •Zealand stood at £B7 12s lOd, cash on 'hand £3, while outstanding subscriptions totalled £ls. The following new members were elected: —Messrs 10. J. Watson, Stanley Wilson, and H. JL. Mangin. Mr Janies Carr. who had atjtonded the recent conference in Wellington wluch had dealt with tho price Of wheat, gave an interesting Account of tho proceedings. The election of officers tor the ensuing year resulted as follows:—President, Mr J: R. D»!ilori; vice-president, Mr Hy. Maginsecretary and treasurer, Mr J. 11. Stone. The secretary was warmly thanked for hia nntiring r cfforts during tiie past year and an honorarium of £lO lOs was voted him for his services. It vas decided not to-hold regular meetings during the coming year, but to irrange a meeting whenever necessary. The president, vice-president and secretary were authorised to call meetings when required. The following records of rainfall are ! reported by Mr James Carr, "Rudstone," Methvcn, for the month onding April 3rd:—Rain fell on eight day.*; nlaxinvum fall being on 10th, when 2.46 was recorded: total for month, 4.03 inches; total for year 1923 to date 10.27 aid for corresponding period in IV£4 1179. . (The following are the vital statistics f<jr the month ending April, 'with last year's figures in parentheses: —Births -No), deaths'o (0); marriages l 0 (0). [Mr Allan Baxter, local manager of tie Bank of New Zealand, is atpresent or! leave of absence. a-nd Mr J. Dawson, oi the Rangiofa Branch, is relieving. After soveral days of beautiful weatllcr, a nor'-wester on Friday made tilings very unpleasant. A change frjmi the sou'-west came, up early on Saturday morning and 40 points of rain \rtre recorded. RAKAIA. After a week of beautiful Indian summer weather, rain rxsgan to fall earlv on Saturday morning and continued for several" hours, 32 points being recorded. The rainfall for the month of April was 083 points. The country is now looking green.