LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 January 1939, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Knox Sunday School Building. The building of the new Knox Sunci ly School is now well under way. The walls give some indication of the firm edifice lh:it is being constructed

a,id which will add to the appearance ihe town. The building will be as i "ar lire proof and etirlhqtiako resist* i:if a.-i it is possible humanly to make

Cur Spurned Potatoes! An Australian lady visitor to New Zealand was discussing articles of food v. nti a friend the other day and was ],.ud in her praise of Now Zealand potatoes, which she declared were lar Superior to Australian grown. The latter she described as. generally speaking, not ill for human consumpt.on. Interhouse Association. At a provisional meeting hold last night it was decided to hold another rr.voting of the Interhousc Association v, hen a large attendance of employers and employees in Masterton is reel nested. This movement is not confined to retailers and their stalls but is open to all employees in the town. Clerical workers, civil servants, gar- :< <e hands and shop staffs are asked to attend a meeting in the Toe II Rooms, Perry Street, tomorrow night at 8 o’clock.

1 rces Battered by Wind. Following the high winds over the past few days, the paths in Miriam and Archer streets, as well as footpaths in other parts of the borough, have been covered with ripe prunus plums. The prunus trees, which have been a wonderful sight with their bright red plums and lovely foliage, are now sadly battered after a week’s buffeting by westerly winds. In private gardens fruit and other trees have been considerably damaged by the wind' and the ground covered with plums, apricots and other fruit.

Early Morning Fire. The six-roomed wooden house of Mr Cyril Osborne, a well-known farmer, of Apiti, was destroyed by fire early on Saturday. Mi- Osborne was awaited by the noise of flames and attempted to leave his bedroom by the door, but he was driven back, and had to make a hasty exit through a window. Mr Osborne was alone in the house. Though a neighbour came to his aid, they could do nothing to save the building, a high wind fanning the flames and making it impossible to approach to a close range. The origin of the fire is unknown. Blind Pedestrians. “It has been brought to my attention that' there are still a great many road users who need reminding of the fact that the pedestrian who carries a white walking-stick is blind,” said the Minister of Transport, Mr Semple, in a statement yesterday. “One can only conclude that this state of affairs is due to lack of knowledge on the part of those concerned. I should like to ask the general public to remember that the pedestrian who carries a white walking-stick is deserving of the utmost assistance. It is still possible to aid the aged'and the afflicted on our streets today.” :

Power Again Fails. For the second time in less than 24 hours. Wellington was plunged into darkness last night when, shortly after 10 o’clock, the power supply for the city and suburbs and also the whole of the Hutt Valley failed completely. Both lines supplying power from Mangahao were affected, and the standby plant at Evans Bay had to be used to take over the city load. The suburbs remained in darkness, however, till ithe main service was restored at 10.47 p.m. Last night's blackout and also an earlier one at 12.54 a.m. were caused by salt spray on the insulators between Paekakariki and Mangahao. Motor Car Overturns.

Several young men had a remarkable escape from serious injury when the car in which they were travelling toward Wellington overturned in the Taita Gorge at about 6 p.m. yesterday. The car was badly damaged but the five or six occupants escaped with scratches and bruises. The party was returning to Wellington from the Government Printing Office’s annual picnic at Maidstone Park, Upper Hutt, and had reached a point about half a mile on the Wellington side of the Silverstream railway bridge when the car capsized, coming to rest with the wheels in the air.

Long Caravan Tour. After a 14 months’ tour of New Zealand in a single-unit caravan, Mr and Mrs R. W. D. Cahill have returned to Dunedin filled with enthusiasm for the wealth of scenery in the Dominion and convinced that anyone wishing to spend an enjoyable and healthy holiday could not do better than follow their example. They left Dunedin in November, 1937, and during their long tour covered 7300 miles. There was practically no place of interest in the North Island that the couple did not visit in their search for health and sunshine. Not content with this trip, Mr and Mrs Cahill intend leaving today for a brief visit to .Bluff and Riverton, after which they will make a tour embracing Milford Sound, the southern lakes and Central Otago.

Tunnel Leak Sealed. The leakage in No. 1. tunnel at Lake Coleridge, which caused concern some months ago, has now been sealed. On Christmas Eve the intake gate of the tunnel was closed, and repairs were finished last Friday. For three chains from the surge chamber grouting was forced through the walls of the tunnel, and a thin coat of cement was placed on the lining. This work had the desired effect of closing up the leak. Seepage from the tunnel had made its way through an old natural drainage outlet in the surrounding country, and steps were taken to seal that outlet. The Minister of Public Works, the Hon R. Semple, expressed satisfaction yesterday that the trouble at Lake Coleridge had been disposed of satisfactorily. New Industry.

As soon as licences can be obtained to bring in the necessary raw materials, a firm, which for the last 20 years has been operating on an import basis, intends to establish in New Zealand a factory for the manufacture of certain electrical appliances, a Wellington message states. The decision to establish the industry in New Zealand was made some time ago, but the move has been accelerated by the introduction of the import restrictions. The factory will be situated in Wellington. From the beginning 20 to 40 hands will be employed, and it is expected that within two years the staff will be enlarged to 60. The men required are of a semi-skilled class, and the average intelligent workman can be trained fur his job in about a month.