LOCAL AND GENERAL

Chronicle (Levin), 30 March 1946, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Peace Stamp Saies The Levin Post Office will open at 3 a.m. on Monday lor tne upeiimg day of saies of peace stamps. Food Cargo efor Britain A heavy loading of Hawke's Bay produce is being made by the vessel \ Taranaki, wiiicn berthed at Napier on Tnursday. In all, 185,000 freight carcases of meat from Tokomaru, Gisoorne, Wairoa, and Hastings are to be loaded, along with 5400 bales of wool, 2000 casks of .pelts and raliow, 350 sacks of hides, and a eonsignment of food parcels xor the United Kingdom. Level Crossing Smash The driver of the .car which was struck by the north-bound Napier express at the Waikanae level crossing yesterday was Mr. Cecil H. jnougn, oi Waixanae, who had with i .nim liis three-year-old son. Both jsuffered head injuries and after oeing attended to by Dr. Patter- ! sori, of Paraparaumu, were taken to ; the Wellington Hospital. Killing Season Closing | Killings of slipep and lambs at disrrict rreezingrworks on, Saturday mornings have ceased following a decision of the men to impiemeni the 40-hour week. Peak killings are 'now well past and the season apipears to be drawing to its close, possibly ahead of its closing date in j other years. The serious droughts i experienced over most of 'the North Island did not materially affect this ; district, and stoek, ' in the main, Ihave come forward in good cohdij cion, while lower- quality meat ha§ i been little in evldence. . ' Family Benefit As irom April 1, rehabilitation allowances to ex-servicemen will not inelude the 10s a week for eaeh child granted by Ca'binet authority I in November last, says a Rehabilita(tion Department statement. The reason is that the universal family ! benefit, also amounting to 10s a ; week, will then apply, and no dup^ i lication of the. two -benefits is pro'posed. The matter was discussed [ at a recent meeting of the Rej habilitation Board when the posi- [ uon was clarified as stated above. ! "It is impossible to pay allow- ! ances for the one child," said the chairman, the Minister of Rehabili- ; cation (Mr. S'kinner).- - I Keas and Pigs Versus Men | The alarming destruction by keas ; and pigs of slieep and lambs on I back and high country runs in I some parts of Southland was detail|ed by runholders who attended a i meeting of the • Southland Catch- | ment Board. They were invited to jhear an outline pf the policy of the Department of Internai Affairs' jto combat the deer and goat men1 ace given by Mr. B. A. Vercoe, con- ■ servator of fish and game at | Queenstown. Mr. J. N. McGregor (Mount Linton) elaimed that keas and pigs were as great a menace as deer, and that they were driving men off the runs — hundreds of sheep and lambs had been destroyed by them. " "Some runs are "iosing 500 sheep a year by the destruction caused by the kea," he said. Pigs, he added, had destroyed 20 per cent. of the lambs on one run.

Opposition to Loan Polls Loan polls were cumbersome, unsatis'factory, and unnecessary, delegates decided at the Municipal Conference at Christchurch yesterday, when it was decided to ask the Government to .review the statutory requirements and abolish loan polls, and if neeessary strengthen the hand of the Local Government Loans Board in controlling the raising of loahs. Mr. J. T. Ireland (Dupedin) said that loan polls seldom gained the support of more than a fractipn of the ratepayers. The Loans Board provisions gave ample protection to ratepayers, but if neeessary they could be strengthened, The Mayor of Wanganui (Hon. W. J. Rogers, M.L.C.) said it seemed absurd for hospital, drainage, and other boards to have authority to raise mi.llions without polls when city and boirough councils were bound to hold them. Telegraph service is restored to all places in French Indo-China. Telegrams must be written iju plain language. The M.R.E. has been awarded to Mr. R. A. Laidlaw, w.ho returned'to New Zealand in 1945 after five arid a half years' service with the soldiers' and airpien's Christiah Association in Ehgland ahd Europe,