Local & General

Chronicle (Levin), 14 July 1949, Page 6

Local & General

Main Highway Improvements. A total of £11,556 has been spent on main highways in the Horowhenua County during the last financial year. The- Main Highways Board's share has been £8640 and the county share £2916. Fire In Ship's Hatch. Government ihspectors examined 1600 carcases of lamb 'discharged from the freighter Condesa after the fire in a hatch at Auckland on Tuesday. The carcases were taken by rail to Westfield and were inspected in the trucks. Cargo loading in the affected hatch will be resumed after a check on the effect of smoke on the remaining cargo. Whaling Research. A New Zealand scientist who is doing work of value in the New Zealand zoological world is Mr. W. H. Dawbin, M.Sc.r of Wellington, son of Mr. and Mrs. Dawbin, Bailey Street, Feilding. Mr. Dawbin is at present doing research work into the habits of . whales, fo.r: tjiougb. whaling was the first industry to draw traders to New Zealand and though its Ross Sea Dependency skirts what is probably the best whaling ground in the world, it is only recently that research into the whale itself has been undertaken. At present Mr. Dawbin is concentrating on the migratory habits of the hump-baeked variety which is the most frequent visitor to our shores. County Building. The growth of building in the Horowhenua County is indicated by the fact that since the financial year ended on Mareh. 31, 1944, permits issued have risen from 66 in that year to 279 for the 1949 financial year. Detailed figures with values in parentheses are a s Tollows:— 1944: 66 (£31,172) ; 1945: 128 (£48,022); 1946: 142 (£63,602); 1947: 183 (£88,505); 1948: 202 (£103,004); 1949: 279 (£119,158). County's Public Debt. At the end of the' previous financial year the Horowhenua County Council's public debt was £102,826, During the year Treasury inscribed loans amounting to £4819 and State Advancfes loans amounting "to £888 matured, a total of £5707. The debt was, therefore, reduced to £96,645 during the financial year., This was stated by the treasurer, Mr. F. H. Hudson, at the council's estimates meeting yesterday. Trampers' Shelter. Permission 'to erect a shelter she-d in Gladstone Road was granted the Levin-Waiopehu Tramping Club by the Horowhenua County Coimcil when it met yesterday. The club stated that it was willing to build the shed on to skids. It would be 12 feet.long and five feet wide, situated^ust off the rfiad near the Pipe Bridge. It was necessary for t'oe sheltering of trampers when awaii:ing transport back to Levin. It was stated by the chairman that the request seeme'd a reasonable or.e, and that it could be granted provided it was made clear that the hut was there only at the pleasure of the council, and that it was built to the county engineer's satisfaction. The Wallaby Pest. The campaign to eradicate the wallaby pest in the few areas they infested in New Zealand was making progress, said the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr. Parry) yesterday. It was estimated by the wild life branch of the Internal Affairs Department that the eradication of 2000 wallabies on Rangitoto Island, in the Auckland Harbour, would be completed by midSeptember. "The area most affected is the hill country northwest of Waimate, in South Canterbury," continued the Minister, adding that in a period of three months in 1947 5000 wallabies were killed, and last year 7000. A party of 12 men began shoo'ting last month and their work was making satisfactory progress. p