LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 June 1938, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Charity Ball. Miss M. Diggins and Mr E. K. Eastwood have been appointed secretaries for the Charity Ball to be held in Masterton on Wednesday, August 3. “I’ll Do the Boxing.” During an argument in the Magistrate’s Court at Lumsden, about the killing of a dog, a witness (the plaintiff) became somewhat heated under cross-examination. “I’m a son of the soil,” he told counsel. “Do we box with the gloves on or off?” The Magistrate (Mr R. C. Abernethy) intervened and said to the witness: “You answer the questions. I’ll do the boxing.”

Expectation of Life. “The normal expectation of life of persons in New Zealand is increasing,” said an expert witness, when giving evidence in a civil case before Mr Justice Callan in the Auckland Supreme Court. From calculations he had made from information contained in the New Zealand Year Book, witness estimated that the approximate expectation of life of a man of 38 years was 34 years. "Which makes a total of 72, the age at which Judges retire,” remarked His Honour. Indoor Basketball.

Teams taking part in the inter-house basketball competition in Masterton played preliminary games at the YM.C.A. last night. The competition games will commence next Thursday night, and teams wishing to enter are asked to get in touch with the Y.M.C.A. secretary by Monday next. Last night’s games resulted as follows: —Reliance Tyre Co. beat Diehards (P. Hamill and Co.), 12/10; Premiers (C. Smith, Ltd.) beat Faulknor’s Service Station, 13/4; Kiatere Harriers lost to a scratch team, 11/14.

Road Cycling. The following are the handicaps for the Wairarapa Club’s road cycling race tomorrow, starting from Messrs Fly and Young’s corner, Bannister Street, at 2.30 p.m. The course will be to the Greytown Hospital and back, a distance of 30 miles: —L. Clark, K. Woollett, B. Harman, J. Brader, R. Copp, scratch; J. McAliece, C. Dykes, J. Duckett. 3min.; M. Graham, G. Swain, 6min. 30sec.; B. Dooling, L. Green, A. Morris, C. Gourley, 9min.; W. Gay, E. Lefort, S. Brannigan, D. Wishart, R. Killington, llmin. 30sec. Trotters and Pacers.

A special race for trotters and pacers has been included in the programme for the August meeting of the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club, a Christchurch P.A. message states. The prize is £BOO and the distance is two miles. The field will consist of six pacers and six trotters, selected by the club from the nominated horses. A special handicap has been arranged, the trotters beginning from scratch and the pacers from 72 yards'behind. The contest will serve in a measure to decide the debated question of stamina in the respective classes. New Zealand’s Cities.

New Zealanders should be proud of their cities, said Mr R. A. Willoughby, an American business man, who arrived in Christchurch recently on a brief visit to the Dominion. Mr Willoughby said he had been impressed by the general cleanliness of all the cities he had visited. New York and San Francisco had dignified and imposing sky-lines, he said, but the cities of New Zealand were built so that the naximum amount of sunshine and fresh air could be admitted to every street. This was not always possible in great cities, where towering buildings obscured all but a rift of sky and where electric light had to take the place of sunshine. Samoa Administration. “The question of appointing an Administrator of Samoa has not been considered by the Government,” said the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon M. J. Savage, when he was questioned in Wellington. Reports that some action was contemplated were current as long as 18 months ago, and have been denied from time to time by the Prime Minister. “The Acting-Administrator, Mr A. C. Turnbull, has been doing good work,” Mr Savage said. “We have had so many other things to do .and we have simply allowed the arrangement to stand. Mr Turnbull was acting when we came into office, and he has been acting ever since.” “Conscription in Sport.” “I call it conscription in sport,” said Mr J. E. Jones, chairman of the management committee of the Canterbury Football' Association, at a meeting of the committee, referring to the dominance of Rugby football in secondary schools. He contended that opponents of the introduction of the Association code into secondary schools had not the "moral support" of those administering Rugby. Administrators of Rugby had admitted to him the justice of the Association code’s claim for recognition. “A man has a right to his own sport, just as he has to his own religion,” he said, adding that he would claim the same rights for Rugby as for Association. No Racial Troubles. That New Zealand experienced no racial troubles was commented on by Miss Elsie Andrews, president of the New Zealand committee of the PanPacific Women’s Association, ' when addressing a Hamilton audience last week. She said one reason why New Zealand had been chosen as the venue for the 1940 conference was because of that fact. The Maoris and Europeans lived peacefully side by side and it was hoped that at the forthcoming conference the co-operation of the natives would be obtained. Miss Andrews mentioned Princess Te Puea Herangi as one member of the Maori race who was noted for social work among her people. Wages and Prices.

"It has been said that the cost of living has risen to such an extent that the people are no better oil' than when their wages were smaller,” the Hon P. Fraser observed at Dunedin. “That is not right. Wages have risen by 23.3 per cent., or nearly a quarter, but the cost of living has increased by only 12J per cent, oi’ one-eighth. It is important that there should be good wages, but it is also important that they should be regular and assured to the people and should go into the homes of the people at a fair rate during everyone of the 52 weeks in the year. The important thing is the size of the income that comes into the home so that the housewife can see that everyone in the family is adequately provided for. By that test the Labour Government’s policy has conferred an immeasurable benefit on the homes of this Dominion."

Women sent to prison in Britain during a recent period of 12 months numbered 3869; of this total more than half were penalised because they could not pay debts or fines.