NEWS OF THE DAY

Manawatu Times, Volume 69, Issue 58, 11 March 1944, Page 4

NEWS OF THE DAY

Conference Adjourned The annual conference of the Associated Churches of Christ, which was to have been held in Nelson at Easter, has been adjourned owing to the railway restrictions. Area conferences are being arranged at which the theme of a century of Christian work by the above churches will be emphasised'. National War Savings The organiser for National War Sav-. ings is making a special appeal for £353 to secure this weeks quota, it will be most unfortunate if the city's long sequence of successes is to be broken at this stage, with only two weeks to go to the cud of the quota year! Surely this can be achieved by noon to-day (Saturday). Ring 7S7S to make sure of your deposit or National War Savings bonds. Deposits are repayable after June 3U, 1946! The figures for National War Savings for the city on Friday, March 10, 1944, were £365 15s. Apples for Schools on Monday The Internal Marketing Division in a statement yesterday says apples are again to be supplied to all schools throughout New Zealand during the next two months. Schools have been asked to inform the Division of their roll numbers und transport arrangements. However, owing to the particularly heavy demands of the civilian markets it has been found impossible to start distribution as originally intended on March 13 except among schools supplied from Auckland and distribution elsewhere will begin on March 20. Farmers and Railway Travel ‘ ‘ Ive not hud a holiday for four years and when 1 approached the stationmaster at Feilding for a permit to travel with my wife to Wellington for a holiday the other day I was told I could not go,” said a farmer at yesterday’s meeting of the Feilding branch of the Farmers’ Union. He stated that he had stuck to his farm for four years and felt he was entitled to a holiday but found he could not travel. He thought this was unfair. Farmers, he declared, could not be expected to carry on without a reasonable break. It was up to the Government to consider the case of those who were working on without labour and doing their best. Tongariro River Fishing According to fishermen recently returned from Lake Taupo, the fishing in the Tongariro is likely to be off for some time owing to the pollution of the river by sulphur from au outcrop on Ruapehu. Heavy rains in the area had discoloured the river, but while travelling over the Desert Road the fishermen noticed a stream from the mountain which runs into the Tongariro looking unusually white. From an investigation it appeared that this stream was heavily charged with sulphur which had presumably come from a discharge

on the mountainside. With this running into the Tongariro River it was felt that fishing would be out of the question for some time.

Hoeing of no Benefit? That hoeing had no more beneficial effect towards the betterment of a plant, apart from the killing of weeds, was a point made in au address on plants at the Falmerston North Citizens’ Lunch Club yesterday by Dr. J. S. Yeates, of Massey College. The doctor stated that experiments carried out recently in America by botanists on this subject had brought forward this* conclusion. Among other interesting facts given were those dealing with the enormous quantities of water plants used. A single cotton plant required three pints of water a day, while a big oak tree, in a year, Le., when the tree was in leaf, was found to account lor 50,000 gallons. The rooting system of plants was incredible. The roots of one square foot of pasture placed end to end hud measured 50 miles. Lucerne roots had been traced 20 to 25 feet down.

Pohangina Postal Service Discussion took place at a meeting of the Pohangina County Council on delays that were occurring with letters posted in the valley und the fact that they were sorted at Ashhurst and again at Palmerston North. Under this arrangement, it was stated, letters took from three to four days before they were delivered in Napier or New Plymouth. A reply from the Acting Chief Postmaster in Palmerston North (Mr. E. J. Smith) stated that tho delays were unavoidable. Cr. H. B. Clapham said the position in the valley was worse now than it was 2U years ago, and Cr. N. H. Moar stated there would be no post office in the valley as from next Monday as the Post and Telegraph’s representative was not continuing this work. Twenty residents would be without post office facilities. It was decided to leave the matter to Cr. Moar and the clerk and if necessary get in contact with Mr. M. H. Oram, M.P. Windspout Observed During the thunderstorm which occurred over the Feilding district on Thursday evening those who wutched the sky to the north had the unusual experience of observing a windspout very clearly defined. The evening was very hot and still as the intensely black belt of cloud covering the northern sky commenced to approach Feilding’s back country and at round about 5.35 p.m. a spike of cloud thrust downwards to earth and remained for a considerable time. It was very clearly defined and according to reports from settlers in the Waituna district the windspout reached the earth not far distant from their properties. There was torrential rain for some time and the curious funnel-shaped spike twisted about in its long drop to the earth. The storm did not reach Feilding but passed about eight miles to tho north. Only a few drops of rain fell for a few minuteß accompanied by strange gusts of wind. Electricity Wanted in Backblocks The necessity for the reticulation of backcountry areas with electric power, especially horn the production point of view, was stressed at a meeting of the Pohangina County Council, w’hen a letter signed by six residents of Zig Zag Road stated that the settlers on the road were of the opinion that the matter of reticulation of the area should be part of the rehabilitation scheme. The chairman (Mr. S. J. Strahan) said that everything should be done to see that these backblock areas were reticulated. When a worker was being engaged for a farm position and he was told there was no electric power he promptly turned down the job, irrespective of what the wages were. The speaker maintained that every housewife should have electric power. Cr. W. McKay, the council’s representative on the* Manawatu-Oroua Power Board, said the board could not possibly entertain hopes of reticulating back areas at present. He admitted that there w-ere large areas of back country which needed power, but costs had risen tremendously of late and this meant that larger guarantees were required from the settlers, lie assured the council that the board was very sympathetic towards the backblock areas. In reply to a further remark by the chairman, Cr. McKay admitted tho board was creating large reserves, but those were necessary, so as to be able to catch up on arrears of maintenance. The council decided to support the recommendation asking the Power Board to give the matter favourable consideration.