Local & General

Chronicle (Levin), 12 April 1949, Page 4

Local & General

Infectious Diseases. Five cases of infectious disease were notifted in the Wellington-Manawatu-Hawke's Bay health district during the past week. They were: Streptococcal sore throat, including scarlet fever, -2; tuberculosis, 3. One death resultmg from tuberculosis was reported. Conscience Money. About two years ago a Nelson shopkeeper noticed that a sum of 30s had been taken from his till. Last week he received a letter bearing a North Island postmark and containing two £1 notes and a note which stated: "A little cash I once used from your till I now return with interest." Signed "Coniscience." Post Office Holidays. With the exception of ' the telephone exchange, which will fce open continuously, the Levin Post Office will be closed on :Good Friday and Easter Monday. On Thursday the :postal and money. order counters jwill be open between 7 and. 8 p.m. iOn Easter Saturday the usual Sat1 urday morning hours will. be !observed, hut no mail deliveries by ipostmen will be made.

' Polecats Kill Poultry. j Polecats are being blamed for the Iwholesale massacre of poultry in i Wanganui East runs. Originally jthe blame was attched to stoats, 'but the animals trapped on a rejcent night were positively identified rns polecats. Acclimausation Solciety officers say that po'ecats were jcnce known generally by that Iname, but are often called ferrets 'now. The trapped animals had most of the typical markings speciffied by the authorities as be'ongJing to polecats, but lacked the white patch on the head. However, they emLted an offensive odour when trapped. Early Tax Returns. Though it is only a month since last year's income tax payments were due, a number of Auckland wage-earners have aheady posted in their returns for this year. "The forms are beginning to roll in. We would like to see more of them, too, because the sooner the better for us," said an officer of the Department. "We can't see it being any diiferent from past years — a terrific rush in the last week before the closing date on June 1." The Department gets a certain number of reurns all the year round. They come from companies and buslnesses with irregular balance dates. Considerate Watersiders. Auckland watersiders have agreed to pos.pone their monthly stopwork meeting until Apri1 19 to permit a number of ships to clear •port before Easter. The action was taken at the request of the Port of (Auckland Shipping and Stevedoring Association. It will avoid the possibility of five passenger vessels and one cargo ship being heid in port over Easter through the loss of half a day's work on Thursday. The ships due to leave on Thursday are the Tamaroa for the United Kingdom, Wanganella and Aorangi for Sydney, Maui Pomare and Matua for the Islands, and Katui for Suva. Opossum Menace. The opossum menace is causing the Manawatu-Oroua Electric Power Board some concern. At the monthly meeting yesterday, Mr. T. Donaldson (engineer) stated that a power interruption on the Feilding feeder on March 23 was caused by an opossum oontacting the 11,000volt line near Johnston Park, Feilding. The opossum menace was n'ot only confined to power lines, he said. Recently one had found its way into the windings of a large motor used at a sawmill of ooiie of the consumers. On starting tlie machine, the animal became j ammed in the rotating part of the motor which had to be completely dismantled in. prder to free the moving parts. This entailed a considerable amount of work and, loss of time.