LOCAL AND GENERAL

Chronicle (Levin), 9 August 1947, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

; ° Queen's Birthday The Governor-General (Sir B.ernard Freybergj. has received the foilowing reply to the message sent lo the Queen on the occasion of her birthday: "I was much touched by • your kind birthday message, and I nope you will convey to the Go.Vr drnment and people of New Zeaiand, its island territories and Wespern Samoa, my heartfelt ihanks for their good wishes. Eliza- ; beth R." s Deer Extermination The Government was still pursuing its policy of deer extermination in New Zeaiand forests, said- Mr. R. H. Carter, secretary of the Forest and Bird Protection Society, answering a question at a putake meeting. The control of deer was now an accomplished fact, he said. It had taken 15 years, but the position now was satisfactory. He mentioned; however, that the opossuin menace was still great. " Observatory Damaged The malthoid roof of one of the buildings which comprise the Magnetic Ooservatory at Amberley, was blown off by a gust of wind this week and whs shattered when it struck the ground. The building houses a magnetpgraph, an instru-r ment for recording a continuous photographic trace of the directior^ of a compass-needle and magnetic forces. The station is the only one of its kind in New Zeaiand and probably the most southerly one'in ihe world. Training in Shearing A scheme to train men in sheepshearing is being supported by the New Zeaiand Wool Board, which is making funds available for the work. This was decided at a recent meeting of the board. Under the scheme potential shearers are to be given a thorough training, and it involves instruction for up to 100 learners in each island. The scheme, which is to begin shortly, will be administered. by the National' Service Depqrtment in conjunction with committees formed by sheep-farmers in "shearing districts throughout New Zeaiand. Beneath Their Dignity Many youths in this district seemed to think it beneath "their

dignity to display "L" plates on their mo'.or-cycles, said the traffic inspector, Mr. M. Kehoe, durirg the prosecution of an offender in the Magistrate's Gourt, Levin, yesterday. Following the issuing of a licence for such a vehicle, the drivers were compelled by law to display such plates for the first three months, not only in their own interests but for the safety of other users of the road. If other drivers saw the plate they realised the rider was.r-ot fully experienced, in the handling of the machine, and exercised more than normal consideration and care when passing him. A World Search Two New Zeaiand engineers ftave rccently left fof overseas to investigate ways and means of improving the D.ominion's power supply.. They are Messrs A. E. Davepport, chief electrical enginee? of the State Hydro-Electric D.epartmeiit, j and J. T. Gilkinson, Waikato dis-' trict engineer. Mr. Davenport's objective is -the purch,as.e of gener-. ating plant from the U-pited States, B,ritain, Canada or Sweden, and Mr. Gilkinson will yisit power stations, just built or being built, to' study the latest developments in constructional engineeping. Although these countries are the world's leaders in the' m^ufacture of generating plant, they shar-e with New Zeaiand a present dearthof electrical pov/er. •