LOCAL AND GENERAL

Chronicle (Levin), 9 May 1946, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Amalgamation of Rugby Unions A suo-eommituee irom ihe lvianawatu Rugby Union is to discuss amaigamauon with the Horowhenua Union at a meeting in Levin to-morrqw night. Heavy Rain Laue ia^E evening there was a sudden southerly cnange, bringing winter weather in earnest. Whippea up oy a strong wind, heavy rain rell during the .night, a total of 1.4 mciieo bemg r^eorded from 3 p.m. yesterday to 9 a.m. tnis mornmg. Next M.U.LO.O.F. Conference I An invitation by the Taranaki | district to hold the next movable ! conference .at New Plymouth in 1 1948 has been accepted by the I Dominion Conference of the Manj chester Unity of Oddfellows conference, which concludes to-day at ; jNo,plfcr. Federated Farmers - ! a comoinea meeting of the Manaj Watu, Wanganui, and Wellington | Oentral provincial. executives oi : Federated Farmers is to tae held for the purpose of discussing a pro- : posai to combine tne three distncts | mto two or one large province and | to appoint a fuii-time organioing j secreoary. i Y.E.-Bay Anniversary Tweive montns ago yesterday, the | riioHientous announcement was j made in New Zealand that the German High Command had uncondi- | tionally surrendered' all its forces to | Great Britain, America and Russia, J thus ending the war-in Europe. The i surrendel" instrument was signed at ! 2.41 a.m. on May 7 in a schoolhouse ■ in Rheims. It came into force at five mmutes past noon on the same day.

Hospital Rating | Pahiatua Borough Council has sent a telegram to the Prime Minister (Mr. Fraser.) and the Minister Jof Health (Mr. Nordmeyer) expresi sing great concern at the everincreasing burden of hospital rating and strongly urging that steps bt taken to give relief to ratepayers by pegging the hospital rating b;y adopting the 1938 levy. The levy made by the Wairarapa Hospital Board had increased 40 per cent. over the previous year's amount, representing a rate increase of |a in the £. Size of N.Z. Classes The backwardness of New Zealand education in the size of schooi ciasses was mentioned by the principal of the Kowhai Intermediate Schooi, Mr. J..F, Wells, ih his repoift to the an'nual 'meeting of parents and guardians. "The Swedes "are so far ahead of us," said Mr. Wells, •that they do not burld classroomi to accommodate more than 35, and ihe average class is 30. The argument for small classes is sound and unassailable," he added, "for 3C children can be given individual attention and sympathetic personal guidance not possible with classes oi 50 or 60." Dairy Farming in Canterbury "Once there were nine dairy herds ■in Port -Levy. To-day there are none," said a speaker at a meeting oi the North Canterbury executive of Federated Farmers. He was discussing the deeline in dairy production in the province which, he said had now reached the stage where Canterbury could not fill its yearround needs for butter, and where milk for Christchurch had to be orought from as far away as Leeston. Mr. I. L. Coop, agreeing with previous speakers, said that in his own district, Kaituna, productibn had dwindled by more than 100 cows. Other speakers said that where sheepmen once ran foui' or five cows, they now ran only one for their own use.

Girls' Efforts Rewarded Ciose co-operation between employees and employer in combating Aie electricity shortage has been 3hown by one Auckland firm which has a staff of about 60 girls. When the afternoon power cut-pffs were instituted the firm appealed to the girls to begin work at 7.30 a.m. instead of 8. Although many of them lived in such outlying districts as Alban-y and Papatoetoe and therefore had to leave for work at a very early hour, the response of the girls was wholehearted and the firm's output did not suffer. On Monday all the girls received a letter of thanks in their pay envelopes as well as a gift df an embroidered tablecloth, as a mark of the firnfis appreciation of their efforts,