Local And General

Chronicle (Levin), 19 December 1949, Page 4

Local And General

Early Mushrooms. Early niushrooms, grown locally, were on sale at Christchurch mari kets this week. They were retailed - j at from 2s 6d to 7s 6d a pound. • I depending on $ize and quality.

; Forest Terms. ; "You talked in the plural of ' 1 a bevy of roe \ and a lease of ! buck or a riches' of martens, tor ! a labour of moles. You didn't talk 1 of a boar's tail, you called it his ! wreath. And a fox didn't have a I brush in those days — it was a bush, ; or a holy water sprinkler."— From ; a talk about. forest laws and old- ; time hunting jargon in a B.B.C. ; . programme. ; ' Biggest Taxpayer. ; | The smoker again was the largest ; I single contributor to the revenue ; 1 of Britain's Exchequer. » The ' smoker paid 39 ' per cenf. of- ! revenue, or £291,000,000 for the year ! to March 31, 1949, states the an- ! inual report of the Commissioners ! of Customs and Excise published ;! today.- The total revenue reached 1 a record of £1,557,000,000— £136, 000,- ! .000 more than in 3947-48. *The Ex- ; chequer earned £12,300,000 from ; football pools and £9,360,000 from ; ground totalisatori*. ; i Vandalism At Cambridge. i Members of the Cambridge Bor- !• ough Council were indignant at |' their December meeting when it j» was reported that a big -elm tree > in Upper Victoria Street, on which : £70 had recently been spent, had I , been the victim of vandalism. The ! tree, which had been making good ! progress, appeared to be dying, said ; . the Mayor (Mr. K. L. Wilkinson) ; and an investigation by a gardener ; revealed four large auger holes ; bored in the base and filled with !; some poisonous liquid. ;l 1 ' i| Erosicn Problems. !' | The need for the introduction of i'llessons on erosion problems in the I'lschool curriculum was emphasised ;! at a meeting of the Canterbury |! Education Board hy the chairman of the board's agriculture commit- !| tee (Mr. F. G. Armstrong). He i| recommended that the matter bs discussed with. interested bodies !; such as Federated Farmers. Such > teaching should oe introduced into !: the syllabus at the infant school level and continued through to ad- !■ I vanced pupils, Mr. Armstrcrng said.

!| Effective Road Sign. . !; The Automobile Association I; (Wanganui) has reaffirmed its !' policy that the most effective signs ? tor country roads near intersections > with main roads should be one ;! bearing the legend: "Main Road— Give Way." At the meeting of the ! executive last week it was elected :: that the North Island Motor Union !; be informed of this; also that it was the association's opinion that !; this sign should be adopted and !; the necessary amendments be made !; to the regulations to permit such !; a sign to be ilsed. !; Sixty Years Ago. !' Sixty years after they sat together in his class at Wellesley St. 5 School, Auckland, two dozen former \ pupils of Mr. T, U. Wells gathered j! to tender to their erstwhile teacher ;! a complimentary dinner. Mr. Wells j! is in his 83rd year, and not one of his former pupils who were at the dinner was younger than 72. Among !; them were men who are today well known in Auckland professional !; and commercial circles, and a for- !■ mer .Cabinet Minister, Sir Alex- ;! anderi Young, Apologies for absence !' were received from many other for- ;! mer pupils of the class of 1889 from ;l all over the Dominion and from j! Australia, all of whom sent mes- ; sages of affection and respect to !; their teacher; whose record in pub- !; lic life has now become part of the !; history of the development of edu- { jcation in-New Zealand.