CENTRAL OTAGO

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24403, 14 September 1940, Page 16

CENTRAL OTAGO

QUEENSTOWN Patriotic. Committee A meeting of the Lake County Patriotic Committee was held at Arrowtown on Tuesday, Mr D. H. Cockburn presiding. The secretary of the National Patriotic Fund Board forwarded a map Indicating the boundaries of the South Island provincial patriotic districts.—lt was decided to recommend that the map should be made public. Mr N. S. Blakely, secretary of the Garston Patriotic Committee, wrote stating that all money collected for patriotic purposes in Garston, which had been forwarded to the Zone Committee, should be paid to the Southland Central Committee, Invercargill.—Advice was also received from the men at Hollyford that over £6O had been forwarded to the Invercargill Central Committee.—lt was resolved, after long discussion, to write the Otago Provincial Council asking if the military district from which men were going had any bearing on the area set out for patriotic purposes. Dr Anderson was of the opinion that the town areas should confine their activities to Southland. People were not giving as freely because of a doubt whether their men would reap the full benefit under the Otago patriotic scheme. —It was resolved to refer the Hollyford letter to the Otago Executive. The Wanaka District Patriotic Committee submitted for consideration a resolution that a compulsory tax of Id in the £ for patriotic funds should be instituted. —The proposal was rejected. The meeting resolved that a recommendation should be sent to the Otago Provincial Patriotic Council that there should be a fixed closing date for all appeals. It was decided to invite the various committees within the zone to obtain contributions by the end of this month for Christmas parcels for the soldiers. —It was also suggested that everyone who gave the price of a parcel (10s) should be permitted to send a card or note for enclosing in the parcel. Six permits were issued for raffles not exceeding £5 in value. It was decided to ask Mr R. J. Fuller to take charge of the art union tickets. One member each of the Queenstown, Arrowtown, and Country Committees, in addition to the chairman, secretary, and treasurer of the Zone Committee, were appointed to take the necessary steps in connection with the local effort.

Railway Cricket Club The annual meeting of the Railway Cricket Club was held on Wednesday. An appreciation of his services to the club since its inception, Mr T. Wilson was unanimously elected a life member. The election of officers resulted as follows: — Patron, Mrs John Mackenzie; president, Mr W. Kelly; vice-presidents—Captain Her- . bert, Messrs J. W. Gardiner, G. V. Wilkinson, H. Ross, S. and D. K. Knowles. J. Burnett, G. E. Warnock, L. Jamieson, G. Cockburn, D. Galbraith, F. W. Bailey, and C. Elms; secretary and treasurer, Mr S. Dalgety; club captain, Mr T. Wilson; acting chairman, Mr R. G. Seymour; committee—Messrs T. O'Connor, T. Wilson, P. Bennetts, R. McSorlley, and L. Heenan; Selection Committee—club captain, Messrs R. McSoriley, J. Thomson, and T. O'Connor. The opening day was fixed for September 22. Soldier players are to be exempt from paying subscriptions. Opportunity was taken to present the retiring secretary, Mr R. G. Seymour, with a smoker's, outfit in appreciation of the valuable services he had rendered to the club. Mr Seymour suitably acknowledged the gift. OTUREHUA School Bazaar , Last Saturday evening the pupils of the Oturehua School staged a successful bazaar in aid of patriotic funds. The children had worked hard for some weeks, and as a result there were well-stocked handwork and fancy goods stalls. A produce stall also did good business. Following the sale of work a short programme was given as follows: —Scottish reel, Highland fling (school children), sailor's hornpipe (Margaret Smith), Irish jig (Doreen Gilchrist), and sword dance (Mrs N. Barber): An operetta, " Soot and the Fairies," was presented by the children. A community sing, led by Mr J. Becker and Mr D. MacDonald, added to the enjoyment of the evening. The very gratifying sum of £35 7s 2Jd was made, and will be given to the fund for providing Christmas parcels for the soldiers. ALEXANDRA Centennial Celebrations The Alexandra Centennial celebrations were brought to a close on Wednesday, when the plane trees which will form the avenue were planted out on the street now known as Centennial avenue. A considerable amount of work had been undertaken in grading up the street, and from the Alexandra Returned Soldiers' Memorial to the Clyde road has now been planted out in trees. In the afternoon the children of both local schools planted trees. They were addressed by the Mayor (Mr W. Bringans), Mr W. A. Bodkin, M.P.. and Mr W. H. Hinton. chairman of th" School Committee. Patriotic Organisations The residents of Earnscleugh held a public meeting on Monday evening to set up a patriotic committee to further the interests of the Air Force Queen, Miss Mary Pratt. Mr E. J. Iversen was ap- : nointed chairman, and a strong commit- ,

tee was formed. The.first functions to be held are a dance at Earnscleugh to-night, a Paddv's market at Alexandra on September 21, and a dance on Labour Day Drama Club Presentation On Thursday evening the Alexandra Drama Club presented the play " Checkmates" in aid of patriotic funds. The play was produced by Mr F. R. Whitelock. and the assisting artists filled their roles satisfactorily. The first part of the programme comprised vocal and instrumental items, and met with general approval ROXBURGH New School Department The official opening ot a new "manual training department, which was built at a cost of £2500, was held at the Roxburgh District High School yestreday, in the presence of a large attendance of townspeople. The chairman of the School Committee, Mr R. S. Glendinning, welcomed Mr W. A. Bodkin. M.P., and Messrs C. E. Richards and E Morgan, of the Otago Education Board. Mr Glendinning stated that the opening of the new building was a "red-letter" day for the school, because after having overcome many difficulties, the committee was now more than gratified that the clhldren of the district could enjoy the same educational facilities as those to be found in the cities. ' Mr Bodkin, congratulating the district on its new acquisition, said that the children would have all the facilities necessary to equip them for the positions in civic life that they were to occupy. The Mayor (Mr F. A. Laloli) also congratulated the committee, and expressed full confidence in the staff and the future of the school. Mr J. H. Waigth. sen., the secretary of the committee, Mr C. S. G. Nicholson, and Messrs Richards and Morgan spoke on similar lines. Mr Richards, who is the local representative of the Education Board, formally, presented the keys of the building to the chairman. EASTERN DISTRICTS Basketball Sub-association An enjoyable evening basketball tournament was held on Wednesday, 20 teams taking part. The winning team in the women's games was School A, and that in the men's, Flag Swamp I. A friendly game between these two teams at the conclusion resulted in a win for Flag Swamp I by 4—nil. The section winners in the women's basketball were School A, Seacliff, and Flag Swamp. In the semi-final between School A and Flag Swamp the score was 1 all, so that play had to be continued till the first goal. School A secured this, making the score 2—l. In the finale, School A defeated Seacliff 14—2. In the men's basketball, the section winners were Flag Swamp I and Railway I. Flag Swamp I defeated Railway I 5—2. Tournament badges were presented to the players in the winning teams by Mrs Brown, the president.