Local and General

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 34, 10 February 1937, Page 2

Local and General

HAWKE’S BAY NEWS. Three of the four people concerned < in the accident on the Takapau Plains on Wednesday last when a car crashed into a telegraph pole because of the steering gear suddenly breaking down aro still inmates of the Waipukurau Public Hosjjital, but are making satisfactory recovery. Those in the car were Mrs. G. D. Robertson, of Hastings, the driver, her two sisters, Mesdames-A. J. Driver, of Napier, and H. Lomas, of Hastings, and her father, Mr. W. Sinclair, of Hastings. Mr. Sinclair was the most severely injured, suffering a broken collarbono and fractured ribs, but both Mrs. Robertson and Mrs. Driver suffered from shock. A nasty cut on the ball of the left foot was suffered by a young woman from Gisborne while in tho water at the bench at Waimarama on Sunday afternoon, tho injury being inflicted by a broken shell. Fortunately first-anl was readily given by an A.A. patrol officer, and tho visitor is not seriously injured, though it will be a few days before she will bo able tq rest her' weight upon the foot. The proposed visit to Mr. J. A. Lee, under-secretary to the Primo Minister 4 and member in charge of the housing scheme, to Hastings is expected to eventuate towards the end of this week. Ho will bo called upon to inspect at least five blocks of land whicn have been offered to the Government as ocing suitable for housing purposes. Air. Leo is to visit Napier next week, according to information received from , aim by the Hon. W. E. Barnard, M.P. The present season has been a good one for tomato-growers at Bay View. In most of the grounds at Bay View and Riverslca crops were not planted |so early as in some other parts of tho district, and frosts were not so severe there, so that damage done by frosts was not so great as elsewhere. Tho partial failure of tomato crop* in other parts of the Dominion and tho small supply of soft fruits also helped to provide a fairly extensive' and more lucrative market for tomatoes than had uitherto been the case for several year*. However, as tho last few seasons’ trading has been tho reverse of profitable to growers, this season’s turnover Is likeJy lo provide a very welcome change. 4 The laying-down of the foundations for the widening of the main HastingsNapier main highway from the To-, moana Showgrounds to Clive has begun. The work is being carried out by the Hawke’s Bay County Council ou behalf of tho Main Highways Board. Tho actual extent of the widening has not been definitely decided upon, the latest proposal being to increase the * present roadway by three feet on bota sides instead of 18 inches, as originally suggested. In tho meantime, however, the necessary foundation is being prepared, the shingle on the roadsides is being graded, and where necessary, additional metal is being jdaccd. The Health Stamp campaign, concluded last month in Hastings and Havelock North, raised £ll 13s lOd more than last year’s campaign, which extended over a longer period. The final returns, with the 1936 figures in parentheses, were.—Sales of stamps: Hastings, £219 9s 8d (£223 6s 4d); (Havelock North, £35 4s 4d (£47 Is ilOd); total, £254 14s (£270 8s 2d). Donations: Hastings, £69 fis 5d (£SB Ss 9d); Havelock North, £2l Is 6d (£l2 11s 3d); total, £9O 10s lid (£206 4s Id). 4 Grand totals: £217 17s lid (£206 4s Id). The treasurer of the fund, Mr. C. Clark, postmaster, describes the total as a most gratifying result. The opinion that tho recent settlement concerning general labourers on local-body work in Hawke’s Bay would be registered and the fact that its validity would be tested were mentioned to a reporter in Wellington by Mr. P. M. Butler, secretary of the Wellington and District General Labourers* Union, when commenting upon tho agreement arrived at last week at the sitting of the Conciliation Council in Napier. “The Hawke’s Bay Labourers’ Union had no authority to enter upon such an agreement; the authority is vested in tho Wellington and District General Labourers’ Union,” said Mr. Butler. “The validity of the agreement will be tested by reference to the * Court. I am confident that the Court will rule that the Wellington Union is the only union with tho authority to enter into an agreement with the employers. A ruling to this effect, however, would not mean that the decisions as to wages and conditions arrived at by the conference of representatives at the recent settlement would be prejudiced,” ho said. “I am satisfied that the rate of wages arrived at in the Napier negotiations will at least be preserved, if not improved upon, by an award obtained by the Wellington and District General Labourers’ Union. *•