LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS

Marlborough Express, Volume LXXVI, Issue 242, 14 October 1942, Page 4

LOCAL & GENERAL NEWS

Bottles of whisky brought up to £2 each at a sale of spirits impounded by the Customs in Auckland. About 40 bottles were offered, and approximately the same quantity of brandy and gin. Brandy realised up to 35s and gin 31s. High prices were also paid for parcels of 500 American cigarettes, one assorted parcel bringing £2 15s, the rest selling at £2 7s 6d. These two categories brought most attention from buyers. Whether the Council had power to stop a rooster crowing was debated at the Ashburton Eorough Council meeting, when nothing could be found in the local by-laws to show that the Council had any jurisdiction

in the matter. A complaint was received from a resident in Victoria street that a rooster kept in a pen by a neighbour annoyed the neighbourhood by crowing in the early hours of the morning. It was decided to reply that the Council had no power to stop the rooster crowing. The discovery of large numbers of hifherto unknown Presbyterian families as a result of the house-to-house visits that have been undertaken as part of the campaign for Christian order was reported to the Auckland Presbytery last week. "In our part of the parish we discovered 100 Presbyterian families that we knew nothing about previously," said Mr H. B. Burnett, of St. Luke's, Remuera. The Rev. A. J. H. Dow said that as a result of systematic visitation they now knew of 500 Presbyterian homes in Onehunga. Others made similar reports. New Zealand stocks of hardwood being very low, and prospects of replacement remote, existing supplies must be carefully conserved for essential purposes, the Minister for Supply and Munitions, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, informed the Whangarei County Council, which was asked to substitute local timbers in important bridge-building works. The county chairman, Mr MacKay, said apparently there was no effort by the Government to import hardwoods or appeal against existing stocks being taken over by the authorities. Salvaged from the branch of a tree where it had swayed in the winds, discarded for many years, a bicycle tyre with a history lies in the waste rubber depot at New Tlymouth. It is solid rubber, not hollow, like the modern pneumatic tyre. About 1890 the late Mr Thomas Avery visited Australia with a team of New Zealand bowlers, and when he returned he brought the first geared bicycle the town had seen. To New Plymouth at that time . the machine looked just as extraordinary as the big-wheeled penny farthing would look to-day. Support of the attitude adopted by the Newspaper Proprietors' Association relating to the censorship of newspapers was contained in a letter written to the Association by the Awake New Zealand Campaign Committee. The committee stated that some months ago it made earnest endeavours to have the censorship fa-ults rectified, as it recognised that free criticism was a fundamental essential to the best war effort. The association was assured of the committee's support in any steps it might take to check the unwarranted interference with the people ;s democratic rights. "I am jealous of the respect due tc the office of Mayor of Christchurch," said the Mayor (Mr E. H. Andrews) at an Emergency Precautions Serviees meeting. "I have not always had it from some Government officials." Mr Andrews said ane man had declared that he would not confer with any "tin-pot" Mayor. The Governor-General or a Minister of the Crown would not visit the city without informing the Mayor, but some Government officials had even arranged Emergency Precautions Serviees meetings without telling him about it, added • Mr Andrews. They did not know the proprieties.

The Yank.s like action — on the run. An American officer who arrived by air yesterday made some inquiries about a hurry-up run to Picton. "The train leaves at ," a polite informant began — but that was as far as he got. "Say, guy," the gentleman from the U.S.A. cut in with a reminiscent glitter in his eye, "I've ridden in your little old trains before and I don't reckon your Picton express is any different from the sample seen." "Rather slower," the local adviser suggested. "Is that so?" The American's eyes twinkled. "Maybe you've heard it before, maybe not, but anyway your New Zealand trains are mentioned in the Bible. I wouldn't disparage the good Lord's handiwork, which your trains are, because the Book of Genesis says that God made every creeping thing; but — I'll get me a taxi!" A metliod of saving tea, sugar and coffee by making substitute coffee from parsnips was described yesterday afternoon by Miss M. Cocks Johnston in a lecture at the Masonic Hall. Fresh parsnips should be scrubbed, cut and minced, she explained, end if the addition of chicory was desired, dandelion roots could be treated in the same manner and added in the proportion of a quarter to the whole. The minced material should then be spread on a sheet of paper and placed in a cool oven to dry, the door being left ajar. The time required was from three to four hours, the product being browned off in the last half-hour. It had then only to be rolled, put through a sieve, and stored in a tin or jar ready for use. Miss Johnston added that this made a really good drink, and was sweet enough for sugar to be dispensed with — an important consideration in these times.