LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 November 1938, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Damage to Orchards. The heavy gale of wind experienced in Masterton last night played havoc with trees in local orchards, the ground soon becoming covered with fruit shaken down from the trees. Bicycle Rider Injured. A collision between a motorist and a cyclist at the corner of Perry and Chapel streets on Saturday night resulted in the latter receiving minor injuries. The cyclist soon picket himself up and rode on his way. Garden Party Postpone. It is announced that, because of the observance of Court mourning .(for four weeks) following on the death of her Majesty the Queen of Norway, the garden party which was to have been held at Government House by the Governor-General and Lady Galway, on Tuesday, November 29, is postponed. Growth of London. When he was at Home on a visit from which he returned yesterday by the Strathmore, Mr W. Clark. Wairoa, revisited for the first time his home at Southgate, which he left 30 years ago. It was then open farm lands; but today London has grown over it, and he found it quite unrecognisablestreets of crowded houses where formerly stock grazed. Dog Film Star. New Zealanders who have made good as film stars are few. A Welling-ton-bred Alsation sheepdog, however, has won fame on the screen as star of a British cinema drama for world release, at present being screened in Wellington. He is Crumstone Storm, intelligent coal-black Alsatian owned by Mrs M. B. Griffin, formerly of Gisborne. >■ Opium Smoking Offences. Fines ranging from £l2 10s to £lOO were inflicted by Mr W. F. Stilwell, S.M., on 14 Chinese who were caught in a raid on a Haining Street, Wellington, opium den on Sunday night, and who were charged in the Magistrates’ Court, Wellington, yesterday, with offences connected with opium smoking. The fines totalled £362 10s. Cadets On Parade. A parade of the Wairarapa College Cadets, headed by the College Pipe Band,, attracted considerable attention yesterday afternoon. The boys marched along Queen Street to the tune of the pipes as far as King Street and then returned by the same route to the College. A most favourable impression was created by the cadets and the playing of the band was excellent. Attempt on Parachute Record. An attempt on the New Zealand parachute jump height record is to be made by Mr G. H. Pegley, Wellington, in Palmerston North in the near future. The present record of 10,000 feet is held by Mr G. W. Sellars, who was killed in Westport this year when his parachutes failed to open. The attempt will probably be made if the weather is suitable, when the new hangar and aero club buildings in Palmerston North are opened. It is probable that Mr Pegley will make a jump from a height of about 20,000 feet.

Shortage of Farm Labour.

There is a decided .difficulty in securing farm labour of any description where the call is for youths under 20 years of age, according to a report by the State Placement. Officer, at Christchurch. In spite of the subsidy scheme introduced by the Government for inexperienced youths to learn farming, it is stated that young men have not shown any inclination to take advantage of the scheme. The demand for seasonal workers for shearing is very pronounced, and there is still difficulty in securing competent blade shearers. Clearing of Noxious Weeds. No support was given by the Heathcote County Council to a proposal that the full control of noxious weeds should be undertaken by the Government. The request came from the Tauranga County Council, the suggestion being that the Government should arrange for land to be cleared of noxious weeds when this was not done by the owner, the cost to be a charge on the land. Mr C. Flavell commented that although the Heathcote County Council might be soft-hearted in dealing with land-owners who did not clear their properties of noxious weeds, it was difficult to prosecute when landowners could not afford to clear theii land. The council never had any trouble with those who could afford to clear their land. The council decided to receive the letter. Risks of Nursing. It was a risk of nursing in general that some nurses might contract tuberculosis, and that the disease might not be manifest, said Mr J. H. North, medical superintendent of the Palmerston North Hospital at a meeting of the hospital board yesterday when Mr A. E. Mansford said that there appeared to have been an increase during the past few months in cases suspected of being susceptible of tuberculosis. The standard of the medical inspection of nurses had recently been raised considerably, said Mr North. X-ray examinations were now made every six months and medical examinations were frequent. The policy was a far-sighted one and suspected cases were given a period of treatment. In the past three years only one nurse in the board's employ had contracted tuberculosis, and it was suspected that she had the infection before she entered the hospital. “Church of the Pioneers.” A suggestion that when the Anglican Cathedral is erected in Wellington, the pro-cathedral, St. Paul’s Church, Mulgrave Street, should be preserved as a memorial to the pioneers of the city and called “The Church of the Pioneers,” has been put forward by a member of the New Zealanders’ Association. This Church has been associated with the early history of Wellington since it was built in 1865, and took the place of a still older St. Paul’s. In it are memorials to pioneer families, pioneer churchmen, and the men who died in the war. The site is part of the Church land given in exchange for the Prime Minister’s residence in Molesworth Street to add to the area available for the cathedral. It has been pronosed that St. Paul's be removed from its site and form a chapel of the cathedral. The member of the New Zealanders’ Association interested, however, considers that St. Pauls. lemoved from its historic site, overlooking the harbour and surrounded by the old pohutukawa trees, would not be the St. Paul’s people know and love.