LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 March 1939, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Fire In Tararua Foothills. The reflection of a fire in the foothills of the Tararua Ranges attracted considerable attention in Masterton and Carterton last night. The bright glow indicated an extensive outbreak. The fire, which was on the property of Mr L. Taylforth, Norfolk Road, was on the fern-clad slopes of a hill facing the Waingawa River.

State Housing Scheme. Cabinet has approved further contracts for the erection of dwellings under the State housing scheme. Details of these were announced yesterday by the Minister of Housing, Mi’ Armstrong. Fourteen separate contracts are involved, and they provide for the construction of 57 single-house units, four two-house units, four two-storied single-house units and one four-house unit. Wellington, Khandallah, Upper Hutt, Lower Hutt, Hastings and New Plymouth are the localities concerned.

Old Landmark to be Demolished.

A 60-year-old building, now occupied as the office of a taxi company in Dixon Street, Wellington, is about to be demolished. It was erected by a sect known as the Particular Baptists, and for a quarter of a century served as a place of worship. It stands on the corner of Dixon and Eva streets, a modest little wooden building, with a quaint side entrance. Half a century ago, the corner opposite was occupied by another place of worship, the Church of Christ, and the old storeroom, halfway up Herbert Street (off Manners Street), was known as- the Bethel for some 30 years.

First Aircraft Factory. New Zealand’s first aircraft factory will begin production at Rongotai, Wellington,' within nine months. It will at first assemble machines imported from overseas, but will as quickly as possible make use of local materials as far as may be feasible. Though primarily concerned with the manufacture of light aircraft for civil training purposes and private flying, it will be prepared, if necessary, to co-operate with the Government’s plans for the defence of New Zealand. Yesterday, Major A. Murray Jones, a director of De Havilland Aircraft, arrived at Wellington by the Awatea. He said that his company was now registered in New Zealand as aircraft manufacturers, had secured a site at Rongotai, and would set to work immediately to erect a factory. Progressive Industry.

Progress of the coachbuilding and motor engineer industry is referred to by the New Zealand Coach and Motor Body Builders’ Industrial Association of Employers in its annual report. The association quotes the following increases between 1936-37 and 1937-38: — The number of persons engaged in the industry is 9909, an increase of 1724. The salaries and wages paid, £2,120,280, show an increase of £519,550. The value of output last year amounted to £5,588,433, an increase of £1,254,197. “This is the greatest value increase in factory production of any industry in New Zealand,” the association says. “The cost of materials used shows an increase of £257,072, and the land and buildings, plant and machinery have increased by £360,948.” Moa Skeletons.

Three moa skeletons have been obtained from a cave on Mr S. Ronaldson’s farm at Mangaotahi, near Piopio, and will comprise valuable material for completing a revised study of this extinct bird. The skeletons were carefully disinterred by a party consisting of Mr Ronaldson, Miss Marion Marks, Mr A. L. Rich, and Mr Gilbert Archey, director of the Auckland War Memorial Museum. One skeleton was found of a large variety which stood seven or eight feet high. The middle part of the backbone had decayed, but the head and upper neck and the leg bones were m excellent condition. The smaller moa, of which two skeletons were found, was shorter but rather stouter. Many caves in the Mangaotahi district have been searched by an Auckland Museum party during the last six years, and several good skeletons have been found.

Bombers for New Zealand. The majority of the additional 250 aircraft which were ordered for the Royal New Zealand Air Force last year are to come from the Near East, principally from Egypt. An official announcement is to the effect that the first batch of these machines—Fairey Gordons —would be picked up in the Suez Canal within the next month or so and brought to New Zealand. This purchase of 250 additional lighting aeroplanes follows negotiations which were started between the New Zealand Government and the Imperial authorities late last year. It is behevea that the Orari will go from London in ballast through the Suez Canal, picking up the aeroplanes en route from a Royal Air Force depot. The first of these machines will arrive in New Zealand within the next few months. The Fairey Gordon, which is by no means obsolete but which is being replaced in Near Eastern depots by more modern machines, is a two-seater mediumrange bomber. Maori Custom.

Deep resentment at what he regards as a wholly unjustified assumption concerning the customs of the old-time Maoris was expressed by Mr Hoani Matiu, of Karitane, when commenting on the report of the discovery of portion of a skull at Goose Bay. The report mentioned that the fragment resembled the drinking cups which the ancient Maoris made from the brainpans of their fallen enemies, but Mr. Matiu insists that this custom was not practised. It was certainly true that the bones of dead enemies were sometimes profaned by being manufactured into articles of common use, but in all his profound store of Maori traditions there was no record of the skull having been thus abused. Such an offence could, from the viewpoint of the relatives of the person whose bones had been defiled, only be avenged by the complete extermination of those responsible, an dthe resultant feud would not be ‘overlooked in tribal histories. It was greatly to be regretted, Mr Matiu concluded, that such loose statements should be telegraphed throughout New Zealand.