LOCAL & GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 May 1939, Page 6

LOCAL & GENERAL

London’s Shipping. During the week ended April 28. 923 vessels, representing 943,571 net register tons, used the Port of London. Theft of Roll of Notes. Charged with the theft of £55 in Napier on April 8, Ernest Clark, labourer, was found guilty in the Supreme Court in Napier yesterday. It was alleged that Clarke took a roll of notes from an intoxicated man. He was remanded for sentence to Friday. Centennial Memorial.

At yesterday’s meeting of the Masterton County Council a committee consisting of the chairman, Mr R. E. Gordon Lee, Councillor J. W. Colquhoun and the Clerk, Mr J. C. D. Mackley, was set up to confer with the Masterton Borough Council regarding the planting of trees as a centennial memorial. China Clipper’s Fate.

Despite protests from fishermen and yachtsmen, the one-time China clipper William Manson was burnt yesterday morning on the eastward beach of Ward Island. In a holocaust of windfanned flame, a pall of a heavy smoke, the old sailing-ship ended her 67 years of service, which had taken her all round the Seven Seas. Presentation of Portrait.

A portrait of the late Mr William Ferguson, former secretary, engineer and treasurer to the Wellington Harbour Board for 24 years, was presented to the Board of Trustees of the National Art Gallery last night. The ceremony took place in the harbour board’s meeting room. The chairman, Mr C. M. ' Turrell, presided, and among those present was the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Hon W. E. Parry. Water Shortage.

The seriousness of the shortage of water in the Tamumu district is brought to notice by the fact that on Tuesday two lorries carrying tanks of water set off from Waipawa to relieve the position in Tamumu. Altogether approximately 5600 gallons has been transported in this fashion. This district appears to have received the worst of the drought conditions, for though rain fell in the Central Hawke’s Bay district in good quantity during the weekend only 15 points were recorded in Tamumu. Harbour Board Chairman.

By seven votes to three, Mr M. A. Eliott defeated Mr C. H. Chapman, M.P., in an election last night for the chairmanship of the Wellington Harbour Board. Labour members, supporting Mr Chapman’s nomination, protested against the departure from the rotation system, and alleged political prejudice. Mr Chapman, after the result was announced, said there was a distinct possibility of an alteration in the constitution of the board in the not very distant future. “Then, shall we say, democracy will manage the affairs of the board,” he added.

5s Totalisator Suggested. Maintaining that the present minimum investment of 10s on the totalisator was too high for many followers of racing," the honorary treasurer of the Canterbury Jockey Club, Mr George Gould, expressed the opinion, at the annual meeting yesterday, that the New Zealand Racing Conference should insist on facilities being provided for a minimum investment of ss. Though no decision was reached at the meeting, Mr Gould's suggestion received no criticism, and those who commented on it expressed their, approval. Young Farmers’ Camp.

More than 100 members of Young Farmers’ Clubs from all parts of New Zealand will attend an educational camp which will be held on the Wanganui racecourse, starting on Monday, June 19. A five-day programme has been arranged. On Tuesday, June 20, the visitors will assemble for a fullday trip to farms in the Fordell district. On Wednesday the young farmers will be taken over Kempthorne Prosser’s works in Aramoho, and a visit to the Southern Cross Biscuit and Flour Mills has been arranged for the afternoon. The model pig farm at Okoia will also be inspected. Friday will be occupied visiting farms in the Bulls and Marton districts. The camp will end on Saturday, June 24. “Appalling Conditions.”

“There are hundreds and hundreds of Maoris all over New Zealand who are living in appalling conditions,” said the Under-Secretary for the Native Department, Mr O. N. Campbell, when speaking to delegates at the Young Maori Conference in Auckland yesterday. The forenoon session was occupied by Mr Campbell giving a comprehensive statement on Native housing generally. He estimated that at least half of the Maoris in New Zealand were inadequately housed, and that over £4,000,000 would be needed to relieve the situation. The great difficulty was that the financial assets of necessitous Maoris were negligible. New Post Office.

Three-quarters of a century of Post and Telegraph activity in the Waikato came to a climax with the laying of the foundation stone of Hamilton’s new £70,000 Chief Post Office yesterday afternoon by the Postmaster-General, the Hon F. Jones, in the presence of a representative gathering of Hamilton and Waikato residents. With the rapidly increasing importance of the part played in Empire affairs by the postal, telegraphic and cable service, it was not altogether inappropriate that the ceremony should. be held on Empire Day. A large crowd attended the ceremony. The mayor, Mr H. D. Caro, presided and extended a welcome to the Minister and other visitors.

Empire Day Observance. The laying of wreaths at the foot of the statue of Queen Victoria in Cambridge Terrace at noon yesterday mark • ed the celebration of Empire day in Wellington. Those taking part in the ceremony were representatives of the Wellington branches of the Victoria League and the Royal Empire Society and the Wellington South African War Veteran’s Association. Before the wreaths were laid Mr L. O. H. Tripp president of the Wellington branch of the Royal Empire Society, read Lord Bledisloe’s Empire Day message. The ceremony finished with the singing of the National Anthem. To celebrate Empire Day. the English Folk Association, comprising the combined English county societies of Wellington, met last night night in the English Speaking Union’s rooms. The county societies represented were Yorkshire, Dorset, Durham, Northumberland, Birmingham, Midlands, Cheshire and Kent.