LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 March 1939, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Drowned in Well. Neville John Hodge, aged two years and five months, was drowned in a well on the property of Mr F. R. Roebuck in Okato, Taranaki, yesterday afternoon. The child was the only son of Mr and Mrs C. A. Hodge, of Okato. Bush Fire Under Control. A report last evening from Puketitiri, Hawke’s Bay, states that the bush fire which has been causing some anxiety during the past few days is now completely under control and with a continuance of the present conditions will burn itself out within the next day or so. Oysters Arrive. A month later than usual, but as large and luscious as ever, the first oysters of the season made their appearance in Masterton yesterday. The ferry steamer Rangatira and the coaster Holmdale each brought a shipment from the South Island. The shellfish were in keen demand. Building Permits. Six building permits for a value of £4453 were issued by the Masterton Borough Council last month, as compared with 10 permits for a value of £4349 issued in February last year. Last month’s permits . included two new dwellings and extensions to St Bride’s Convent.

Fatal Injuries. Struck by a rock which fell from a perpendicular face at which he was working in the Inglewood School ground yesterday, Sydney Richards, aged 59, a widower, received injuries from which he died later in the New Plymouth Hospital. He had a badlyfractured pelvis, internal injuries and severe shock. Mr Richards was the father of Mr Alan Richards, the Taranaki representative Rugby player.

First Aid -Course. Enrolments for the first aid course being conducted by the Nursing Division of the St John Ambulance Association are invited, and may be made at a demonstration to be held in the Lecture Room, Municipal Building, tomorrow night at 7.30 o’clock. The first lecture of the series will be given on Thursday, March 9 by Dr. Norman H. Prior. There is an urgent need these days to be prepared and in other towns women and girls are banding together so as to be useful in case of emergency.

Shortage of Trucks. A shortage of rolling stock throughout the North Island is blamed for the lack of railway trucks in New Plymouth, where, as a result, two coastal ships have been unable to work for a day, and the sailing of the motor-vessel Durham Star, which was to have left on Monday night, has been delayed. Shipping agents expressed concern at the serious position that had arisen and said it was general throughout the North Island. The peak demand for trucks was stated by the stationmaster in New Plymouth, Mr L. H. C. Smith, to be the reason for the position. It has an effect also on the waterside workers.. who complain that there is not enough work for them to do. Married Couple Charged.

Appearing before Mr J. Miller, S.M., in the Hastings Magistrate’s Court yesterday, a married couple, Donald Arntot, aged 37, and Margaret Minnie Ethel Gladys Arnott, aged 28, were jointly charged with unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under the age of 16 on or about January 17 in Twyford. Asking for a remand, Detective-Ser-geant Revell said the case had unusual features and would be very lengthy. An adjournment till March 15 was agreed to, counsel for accused consenting. Counsel asked for bail, which was opposed by Detective-Sergeant Revel. The application was heard in chambers, after which the magistrate declined to allow bail. The Potato Embargo.

No official information of the proposed temporary removal of the embargo on the importation of New Zealand potatoes into Australia had been received by the New Zealand Government up to the time the Prime Minister, Mr Savage, left his office at Parliament Buildings early last evening. “There seems something very indefinite about it,” said Mr Savage, when his attention was drawn to the cable message from Sydney containing a newspaper forecast of the Federal Cabinet’s proposal. “I was living in hopes of the time when we would see something definite and lasting in the trading relations between Australia and New Zealand.” Bronze Reliquary. An artistic and notable example of a bronze "reliquary has been designed and executed by Mr Richard O. Gross, the Auckland sculptor, for the shrine of the Wellington Citizens’ War Memorial. It is about a decade since MiGross prepared the equestrian figures that surmount the memorial and the creation of the reliquary so finely conceived and carried out with careful craftsmanship has occupied a long period. The reliquary is now in the final stages of assembly before being sent to Wellington. The reliquary embodies the idea of a large casket standing on a black marble base in which is to be enclosed a roll of the names of ■those from the Wellington province Who fell in the Great War. New Scenic Reserve. The purchase by the Government of 1500 acres of bush in the Mangamuka Gorge, near Kaitaia, is announced. The successful outcome of the negotiations for maintaining the area as a forest reserve is in pursuance of the Land and Survey Department’s policy of bush preservation. Situated adjacent to the main highway, the newly-ac-quired area of bush not only possesses rare scenic attractions, but is also considered to be of value for water conservation purposes. The beauties of the gorge are well known to motorists using the principal route to the Far North, every turn of the road offering distinctive views of the Mangamuka Stream in its setting of prolific fern and forest.

Father Admits Assault. A frail boy of 13 who wept continuously was a pathetic figure in the Auckland Magistrates’ Court when his father, Noah Gilbert Hopkins, motorlorry driver, pleaded guilty to a chaige of assaulting him. The police said that besides thrashing the boy defendant got his other boy to bring salt, which defendant rubbed in the boy’s wounds. The police admitted that defendant had been having trouble with his boys, but said it was a very brutal kind of assault. Replying to the magistrate, defendant said he did not want the boys to get into prison. “If it is going to make them any better you can give me as many years in jail as you like, ’ he said. The magistrate remanded defendant till Friday that he be medically >