LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 February 1939, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Serious Bush Fire. A serious bush fire broke out on the property of Mr A. F. Dampney, Tcuri. Ormondville, on Friday and raged throughout Saturday. A call was sent out for helpers, and the fire was stopped yesterday after 500 acres of bush had been destroyed. Chimes of Town Clock. Wellington visitors who stayed at a Masterton hotel over the weekend complained that their rest was disturbed by the chimes of the town clock. In a number of other towns, for instance Lower Hutt, Petone and Hastings, they stated, from 11 p.m. the clocks only strike the hours. Aero Club Cabaret. Another successful cabaret was held by the Wairarapa and Ruahine Aero Club at the clubhouse, Hood Aerodrome, on Saturday night. There was a large attendance of patrons <from many parts of the district and the gathering was considered one of the best evei' held by the club.

Parched Farm Lands. Wide areas of farm lands throughout the Wairarapa are wearing a very parched appearance and in some districts the prospects of a serious drought cannot be ruled out should the prevailing weather continue. The menace of fire is very dangerous and motorists and others are cautioned against throwing cigarette butts or matches on to long dry grass by the I’oadside. Staff Dance. The first annual dance of the staff of the State Kitchenette was held in the Masonic . Hall on Saturday evening. The gathering was a most successful one both financially and socially, the funds being in aid of the girls’ inter-house costumes. There was an attendance of fully 75 couples and the Blue River Dance Band provided the music. A ladies’ committee attended to the supper. arrangements. Physical Fitness. “If we are to hold our own against those nations where physical fitness is almost a religion, we must see to it that our: people are fed well and correctly, and that they take their place equally with those of the physically fit nations,” said the mayor of Lower Hutt. Mr J. W. Andrews (and formerly of Masterton), in Petone on Saturday, when the Lower Hutt and Petone boroughs commenced their Fitness Week programme with a life-saving demonstration and swimming carnival in bleak conditions. New Zealand Newspapers. “I enjoy reading your newspapers; they are so clear and concise,” said Mr A. C. Schueren, a machinery manufacturer of Chicago and an international sportsman, in an interview in Christchurch. “The news is not spoiled by imaginative; effects, and it contains a lot more facts than some of the overseas papers. But why don’t you put your news on the front page?” he asked. Another American visitor, Mr Harry P. Kuhn, of Pittsburgh, also spoke in admiration last evening of the quality of the New Zealand newspapers. He said he was amazed at the speed at which “The Press” was delivered throughout the province and the West Coast. . . Large Australian Moth. A giant moth caught by Mr M. Dromgoole, of Salisbury Street, Christchurch, and taken to the Canterbury Museum, has been identified as one of the species Zyleutes boisduvali, by Mr Stuart Lindsay, an honorary entomologist to the museum. It is one of the family of Australian woodmoths, of which the larvae burrow their way into the heart wood of trees and later burrow their way out. It is therefore probable that it came over in a shipment of timber. This moth, which is fully three inches long, is by no means a large one of its kind, for in some the wing span is 10 inches and the body the size of a small banana. A Fierce Gale. A fierce northerly gale with frequent gusts of more than 70 miles an hour swept Wellington ‘on Saturday, causing minor damage and interrupting Cook Strait Airways’ service to Blenheim. At Miramar part of the roof of a house in Weka Street was blown off and damage was done to the wooden framework of a factory being erected in the same street. Several windows in the new school at Miramar North were blown in. The gale blew throughout the day and increased in velocity in the evening. The maximum velocity was 77 miles an hour, recorded at Kelburn at midnight. Thereafter the wind gradually decreased, and at 7.30 o’clock yesterday morning changed to a moderate breeze from the south.

Cancer Treatment. Reports on the nature and effect of treatment of cancer cases with the Baker and Koch fluids were considered at the Australian and New Zealand cancer conference in Wellington last week, when it was decided that as a result of its investigations the conference did not approve, and therefore could not recommend such methods and treatment. The discussions were not open to the Press. A report supplied by the conference states: — “The patients that have been investigated in Australia and in New Zealand have not, in the opinion of the conference, derived any benefit from Baker’s or Koch’s treatment. The conference is of opinion that it is highly improper for any person, medical or lay, to claim success for an alleged cure unless such treatment has been investigated by competent observers, particularly when by so doing they are exploiting a secret commercial nostrum.” Roads or Defence? “Everyone admires the ethics of Mr Semple in saving lives on the roads and congratulates him on their success,” said Major-General Sir Andrew Russell when replying on Saturday to Mr Semple’s comment on the respective merits of money spent on road safety measures and that spent on defence. “That,” said Sir Andrew, “was not the point raised. You can only spend a pound once, unfortunately. What is spent on defence must come off some other vote. It is a question of the golden mean, that is, on what at this moment will the money be most wisely spent.” Sir Andrew’s attention was drawn to Mr Semple’s statement that “those who attempt to get rid of this slaughter (on the roads) surely deserve to be called something better than fools, even by an officer of the rank of Sir Andrew.” "No,” said Sir Andrew, “the word fools was not used."