LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 March 1939, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Stock Losses. Ergot poisoning is reported to be widely prevalent in parts of the North Wairarapa. Cattle as well as sheep have been affected and losses in some areas are reported to be fairly heavy. Shortage of Domestics. “We do not have many enquiries for work from women and girls, but there is undoubtedly a shortage of suitable domestic help in the Wairarapa,” stated Mr J. Hanaghan, Masterton Placement Officer, this morning. “There is so much other work about,” he added, “that girls are not keen to go into domestic service, particularly in the country.”

Pahiatua A. & P. Association. The most satisfactory financial position for many years was reported at a meeting of the executive of the Pahiatua A. and P. Association, when a balance sheet of the recent show was presented. The profit at the end of the financial year, May 31, it was estimated, would be £7O. The gate receipts were the largest in the association’s history and entry fees had reached the record total of £132 9s, with about £ll outstanding and considered good.

Wairarapa Rugby. Matters affecting the control of Rugby in the Wairarapa will be discussed at the annual meeting of the Wairarapa Rugby Union, to be held at Carterton next Saturday night. Senior teams, it is stated, “will be nominated by Old Boys, Red Star, Masterton, Gladstone, Carterton and Greytown. There is also a possibility of Martinborough and Featherston entering senior teams. Measures to improve on the standard of play provided last season, will, it is believed, be discussed by delegates on Saturday.

Diphtheria Immunization. Since February 20, when the campaign for the immunization of Wellington school children by means of. three injections of anatoxin was begun, more than 900 children have been dealt with. Some have received only the preliminary skin test, but others have received their first and second injections. Dr. B. Wyn Irwin, Medical Officer of Health, Wellington, who is in charge of the work, said yesterday that it was hoped to have as large a number as possible immunized before the winter, as July and August were recognised as the months of maximum prevalence of the disease.

Back to Simple Ideals. “Some of us,” said the Hon. W. Nash at the opening of the Social Security Building in Wellington yesterday afternoon, “have claimed that by the legislation which, in this building, will be translated into action, New Zealand has taken a progressive step in advance of the rest of the world. In some respects that is so, but I am not sure that we are not just coming back to simple ideals that have actuated men since they ceased to live solitary lives. The idea of social security is as old as human society, and we still have some distance to go before we regain the security that was provided in the days when life was not so complicated as it is today.” Air Mission. Arrangements for the visit to New Zealand of the British Air Mission, which is now in Australia, were, announced last evening by the Minister in Charge of Aviation, Mr. Jones. He said that members of the mission were to arrive in the Dominion on April 3, and that they would be here till April 13. The members of the mission are: Sir Hardman Lever, Bart., K.C.8., leader of the mission; Colonel Sir Donald ■Banks, K.C.8., D. 5.0., M.C.; Air Marshal Sir Arthur Longmore, K.C.8., D. 5.0.; Mr. C. Howarth, senior technical officer in the Directorate of Production, British Air Ministry; Mr. A. C. Boddis, Assistant Director of* Contracts, British Air Ministry; Mr. E. S. Jackson, secretary of the mission.

Bequests to Churches and Missions. Churches in Wellington and various missions will benefit under the will of the late Miss Eliza Boyd Cole, who died in Auckland last November. Included in the legacies are £5O to the Presbyterian Church property trustees, Wellington, for the general purposes of the debt fund of the Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church and a further £5O for the debt fund of the Seatoun Presbyterian Church. Legacies are also left to the Zenana Mission of the Presbyterian Church of Ireland, the Dublin branch of the Leper Mission, the Women’s Missionary Society of the Church of Scotland and the Belfast branch (Ireland) of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The residue of the estate is divided equally among the Home Mission fund and the Maori Mission fund and the Foreign Mission fund of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand.

An Appeal to Reason. “The National Party makes an appeal to reason, and not to mob psychology as the. Labour Party does,” said Mr Holland, M.P. for Christchurch North, in an address at the opening of the National Club in Hamilton. The leaders of the Labour Party had assured the people over and over again that they had nothing to fear, said Mr Holland, who added that the importers’ business was being wiped out by reducing imports to the extent of from £15,000,000 to £20,000,000. Business was being slashed to ribbons by the Labour Government’s policy. The tyranny of compulsory unionism was described by Mr Holland as a blot on the country and one that would not be permitted a moment after the National Party got into Power. The work on the wharves had slowed down by 35 per cent.

Scout’s Gallantry. Today in Christchurch the GovernorGeneral, Lord Galway, as Dominion Chief Scout, will present a silver cross for gallantry to Rover Scout Clifford Mahan, of the Lawrence (Linwood) Crew. Mahan saved the life of a young woman in danger of drowning in Hawke’s Bay last January. Mahan was visiting Hawke’s Bay when, on January 3, a young woman, bathing at Waimarama, was swept out to sea by a strong off-shore current. She was rapidly carried out into deep water, and was in danger of drowning. Mahan had only a few minutes earlier experienced the strength of the current, but by powerful swimming he regained the shore. Undeterred, he plunged in again, .and succeeded in bringing the girl to shore. According to Scouting tradition, Mahan immediately effaced himself, and only by accident and some time afterward, Scout authorities heard of the incident, and recommended him for the special medal awarded in cases of distinguished gallantry.