TIMARU AND SOUTH CANTERBURY NEWS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19177, 7 December 1927, Page 6

TIMARU AND SOUTH CANTERBURY NEWS.

TIMARU. I

THE WEATHER. Summer weather has now commenced in earnest, the past few clays being line, although the weather yesterday was marred by a gusty nor'-wester. The cereal crops are benefiting by the warm weather and show rapid growth, ilanv fields of oats are fully shot, and some of the autumn sown wheat is now coming to car. There is a demand for shearers, as the sheds are all working at high pressure owing to the long delay through broken weather. The Holiday Season. There is every indication of the coming holiday season being one of the busiest experienced here. There have been heavy bookings with the Chamber of Commerce Accommodation Bureau, and most of the hotels arc fully booked over Christmas and New Year. Pure Milk Supply. Consideration of the proposal to establish a pure milk supply here has been postponed by the Borough Council until February. When the matter is again brought before the Council, a report by Mr R. E. Herron (general manager of the Wellington City Council's milk department) will be discussed. General News. It is reported that the fire which existed for some time in the Albury coal mine has been completely subdued. The water charges within the Borough will be the subject of a special meeting of the Borough Council on December 20th.

A considerable number of bicycles have been taken to the Police Station recently, and three still remain unclaimed. The first of the summer excursions to Timaru will take place to-morrow, when special trains will convey school children from Kurow and Ashburton. On Saturday .school children on the Ngapara branch line will spend the day here.

Although the railway summer timetable commenced on Monday, there has not yet been any appreciable increase in the number of people travelling.

. As the result of a conference between the Board of Managers of the Timaru Technical College, and representatives of the South Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Society of Accountants, it has been decided to include classes in book-keeping (stage 1), economics, mercantile law (stage 1), and company law, in the syllabus for next year. Christmas Holidays.

The Committee of the Timaru Retail Section of the Soutb Canterbury Employers' Association has revised the Christmas holidays. The following holidays will now be observed—Christmas: Half-holiday, Wednesday December 21st, late night Saturday December 24th, closing at 10 p.m.; close holidays, Monday, December 26th, and Tuesday, December 27th. New Year: Late night, Friday, December 30th, close at 10 p.m.; halfholiday, Saturday, December 31st; close holidays, Monday, . January 2nd, and Tuesday, January 3rd.

WAIMATE.

FARMERS' UNION. In connection with the complaint of the Waimate Branch of the Farmers' Union that the North Otago branch was cutting into the Waimate Union's territory regarding insurance business, the North Otago branch has advised that they quite appreciated the complaint, and thore is no desiro on the part of the North Otago Union to cause trouble. The latter's agent at Glenavy had merely accepted the business thinking the farmers concerned had given it to him for the sake of convenience.

■ The Waimate Farmers' Union have decided to arrange a tour of inspection of the farms of the district, which will take place in January. It is hoped that a large number of farmers will take advantage of the opportunity of visiting the farms on which various tests and experiments have been carried out, and that there will be a mutual benefit as a result of the tour and interchange of ideas.

With the advent of fine weather farmers are getting ahead with farm work,, which was considerably held up by the wet weather experienced during October and November. Little or turnips have yet been sown, and the grain crops are showing the effects of the continued wet weather. However, with a continuance of the present conditions, a marked chango should soon be noticeable in the crops, and the arrears of work should soon be overtaken. Methodist Sunday School. The Rev. A. C. Lawry presented the prizes won by the scholars of St. Paul's Methodist Sunday School, as follows :

Class 1—Boys: W. Tooley 1, Ed. Williams 2, Eric Hicks 3. Girls: Jean Tav" lor 1, Annie Brown 2, Gladys Preece 3. Class 2 —Boys: Jas. Hoskins 1, Gavin Wilson 2, James Taylor 3. Girls: Lena Williams 1, Uniee Barford 2, Leonie Williams 3.

Class 3 —Boys: Clarence Hoskins 1, Horace Tooley 2, R. Campbell 3. Class i—Boys: D. Hicks 1, W. White 2, T. Hawkins 3. Girls: Cassie Taylor 1, Grace Campbell 2, Isobel Peck 3. Class s—Boys: W. Hoskins 1, Len Keen 2, George Otley 3. Girls: Mora Taylor 1, Bath Luinsdcn 2, Mary Coventry 3.

Eacli of the infants also received a prize.

Knox Church Sunday School,

A programme which reflected great credit ou its organisers was presented by Knox Church Sunday School scholars at their annual concert. The audience was quick to show its appreciation of the young performers, each item being received with well-merited applause. Recitations were given by M. Willetts, M. Nichol. E. Chute, V. Chute, iL. Gillon, E. Willetts, J.' Woods, J. Sanson; dialogue, Alec. Calder, Tim Calder, Gordon Anderson; piano solo, N. Rollinson, solo and chorus, Elsie illetts. In "Rendez-vous," a pretty romance of a shepherd and shepherdess, the part 3 were taken by Marjory Gillon, and Jean McKenzie respectively, with little Lindsay Gillon, who made a charming Cupid. "0.5.F.5.," a sketch, was given by Sunday School boys. In both these items the young folk excelled themselves and delighted their audience. A fine exhibition of the flag drill was given by the girls, who made a very pretty and patriotic picture with their white dresses and flags. The elocutionary efforts of the tiny tots soon won the hearts of their hearers. The children were trained by Miss Strong, assisted by Misses F. Macvean, M. GunnandJ. Elliot. Miss Skevington gave helpful service as accompaniste. The coloured light effects which contributed greatly to the success of the evening were skilfully manipulated by Masters Kernick and Anderson, to whom great credit must be given.

TEMUKA.

PERSONAL. !Miss Beatrice Eagle, a student of the Christchureli Training College, is spending the vacation with her parents, at Winchester. Band Committee Meets. At the meeting of the Band Committee held in the Borough Council Chambers on Monday evening, there were present —The Mayor (Mr T. E. Gunnion), Mrs W. M Coombs, Messrs A. H. Penn, J. M. King, Chas. Double, Jas. Allfrey, L*. Benbow, and the secretary, Mr G. H. Clements. An apology was received for the abseneo of Mr A. "VV. Buzan.

A vote of condolence was passed with the relatives of the late Mr Penn, sen., and Mrs Gillian.

The secretary reported on the ar.' rangemonts which he and the conductor made recently in Christchureli for the accommodation of the bandsmen during the forthcoming contest there in Feb. ruary, 1928. The question of contributing towards the bandsmen's expenses was left in abevancc.

It was reported that the net financial result of the Winchester concert was a very fair sum, and during the week-end collections were taken amounting to £lO 14s Id.

The secretary reported that arrangements had been made for the concert in Hilton, and also that Mr and Mrs Fletcher had offered to entertain the band. The matter of transport was left in the hands of the secretary and Mr King. The secretary, Temuka Business Men's Association, wrote regarding the loss sustained by the Temuka contest, and while some measure of relief had been promised, the loss was over £IOO. The contest music, which cost £SO, had been served out to the bands and the Bands' Association executive suggested that when refunding the entry fees, the value of the music should be retained. It was decided that the request could not be entertained, as the now postponed contest had involved the Band Committee in expense to the amount of about £IOO.

Mrs A. Routledge, hon. secretary of St. Peter's Ladies' Guild, forwarded £1 Is in appreciation of the band's kindness in playing at the Guild's recent garden party. The Town Clerk's request that the band take part in the procession of pioneers on Sunday morning, December 18th, was granted. Resignations were received from two members.

It was stated that the prospects of a successful shop day in December were quite good, and the location of the shop was left in the hands of the secretary and Mr Fenn. Arrangements were made for a comprehensive canvass of the district for goods. The Milford Lagoon Association desired the band to play at the annual picnic at Milford at the fee of £5 ss. Lunch would be provided for the bandsmen. It was agreed that the request be granted. Mr King was authorised to complete details in connexion with the issue of the debentures for new uniforms. Road Improvement. Mr A. Donald Paterson, representing the British Pavements Co., Ltd., arrived'in Temuka by motor yesterday to arrange preliminaries for starting the Geraldine County Council's contract for bitumenising the road between the Te. muka borough boundary and the Arowhenua bridge. The Levels County Council is endeavouring to arrange for an extension of this work southwards from Arowhenua bridge for a quarter of a mile, and it is hoped that the Temuka Borough Council may be able to see its way to connect up with their tarred surface at the junction of Fraser street. This latter proposal will probably be considered at next meeting of the Borough Council, to be held next week. It is expected that the work will be well under way before Christmas, and finished early in the New Year.