LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 May 1938, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Graduation Ceremony. The Victoria University College annual graduation ceremony will be held in the Wellington Town Hall on Friday night. Chimney Fire. The Masterton Fire Brigade received a call this morning to a chimney fire in Cornwall Street. No difficulty was experienced in quickly putting out the fire. A Destroyer of Trout. A Masterton resident caught an eel weighing about 141bs. the other night. Inside of the eel were found a trout measuring 11 inches, and an eel 18 inches in length. Stock Impounding. The ranger reported to the meeting of the Masterton County Council yesterday having dealt with 12 head of cattle and one horse during the month. Fees collected for the month totalled £1 12s.

Slump in Private Building. The slump in private building continues in Wellington. At the present rate the amount of building, apart from Government construction and the exhibition, for the current year is going to show a decline on that of last year. The total value of permits issued by the city engineer’s department of the city corporation in April for new buildings and alterations was £63,684, as compared with £128,673 for the corresponding month last year, a 50 per cent drop. Schoolboys’ Assistance. Every day during the next fortnight a party of 25 Napier High School boys will go out to the Esk Valley to assist in the work of cleaning up settlers’ homes. The boys were showing a very fine spirit, said the Hon W. E. Barnard, M.P., when he told a meeting of settlers of Eskdale that the boys were coming out. The settlers expressed their high apreciation of the boys’ offer and of the action of the Government in providing transport for the boys. Scarlet Toadstools.

Large scarlet toadstools have appeared in Hamilton, and, while this species has been noticed in other years, the fungi are much more common this year. Resembling a mushroom in some respects, these toadstools grow up to eight inches in diameter, and when clustered under’ trees or hedges make an attractive display. This particularspecies is fairly common in Auckland and further north, but does not appear regularly in the Waikato.

“A Bit Overdone.” “I think that is a bit overdone,” commented the Hon Mr Justice Blair in the Palmerston North Supreme Court yesterday when counsel, pleading for two prisoners up for sentence, suggested that what his Honour had to consider was whether he would grant them probation or send them to gaol to mix with more hardened criminals and come out worse for the experience. “Some come out very much better than when they went in but we don’t hear about them only those who come out devils. Some are potential devils before they go in,” added his Honour.