LOCAL & GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 June 1939, Page 4

LOCAL & GENERAL

Heavy Frost in Masterton. A frost of 8.3 degrees was registered in Masterton this morning. Egg Prices Down. After having reached a peak of 3s 6d per dozen, A grade eggs are now selling in Masterton at 2s lOd. Other grades are being retailed at 2s 8d and 2s 6d. Farmer Found Dead. William McKenzie, aged 30, farmer, of Herbert, left home on Wednesday to go shooting. Yesterday his motorcycle was found at Glencoe, and later he was found dead with a gunshot wound in the body. National Reserve. ■ Registrations in Masterton in the New Zealand National Defence Reserve are slowly increasing. Up to this morning the Defence Office had received 43 and the Post Office 36, a total of 79. Fire Brigade Dance. There , was a good attendance of dancers at the Masterton Fire Brigade’s social hall last evening when the brigade held another of its popular dances. Fireman J. Lulham acted as M.C. Mr A. Barnes played the dance music, while Mr C. Volheim provided extras on his accordion. The gathering was a most enjoyable one in every way. Liverton Aerial Cup.

The flying competitions between the Wellington and the Wairarapa and Ruahine Aero Clubs for the Liverton Cup will be held at the Hood Aerodrome during the coming week-end. It is expected that Wellington will bring three or four planes to Masterton. Flight-Lieutenant J. Rawnsley will be in charge of the Wellington representatives. N.Z. Railway Revenue.

Net revenue earned by the railways in the first four weeks of the current financial year amounted to £106,053, as compared with £98,803 for the corresponding period last year. The abstract of the Railways Working Account, published in the Gazette issued last evening, shows that gross revenue for the four weeks totalled £777,590, and expenditure £671,537. The revenue for the corresponding period a year ago amounted to £757,047, and the expenditure to £658,244.

Bonus on Wild Pigs. . Owing to the losses sustained by back-country settlers through the depredations of wild pigs, the Government has decided to pay a bonus of Is per head on wild pigs killed between June 1, 1939, and February 29, 1940. Claimants for the bonus are to deliver, in the green state, the snouts and tails of wild pigs killed, to the local Inspector of Stock, who will arrange for prompt payment of the bonus through the claimants’ nearest Post Office. * Building Permits.

Ten building permits (including 2 new dwellings), of an estimated value of £3,263 10s, were issued by the Masterton Borough Council last month as compared with ten permits (including 3 new dwellings) of a value of £4,262 14s for the corresponding month last year. The- Masterton County Council in May issued 5 permits of a total value of £BOO, as against 2 permits for £1,700 in the corresponding period last year. Price of Potatoes.

Potato prices in the Wairarapa are reported to be very firm, following on an increase of £3 a ton in the markets during the past week. Wairarapa prices are based on South Island parity, plus freight. Good South Island potatoes, according to quality, are quoted there at from £lO 15s to £l2 per ton, and freight to the store in Masterton costs £2 10s per ton. At some stores potatoes are being retailed at 2d per lb or 3s 6d per quarter cwt.

A Way to Freedom. Unusual circumstances marked the loss of a racing whippet just north of Ashburton the other afternoon by a Christchurch man who was transporting a team of whippets from Greymouth to Dunedin. While the other dogs were being carried in the car, one was locked in a box on the luggage grid. When the loss of the dog was first noticed some distance north of Ashburton, it was found that the end of the boX, which was apparently made of a plaster board, had been bitten through and the dog had forced his way to freedom. The Ashburton police are trying to trace the dog, which is reported to be of considerable value. Consideration for Catholics.

“A striking absence of those expressions which give offence to Catholics even when none is meant,” was noticed among tutors and lecturers at Oxford by the Rev Father Basil Blake, S.M., during his recent residence at the university. In his Commemoration Day address at St Bede’s College, Christchurch, Father Blake said: “One seldom heard a reference to ‘the Virgin’ or ‘the Virgin Mary,’ but the Catholic title, ‘the Blessed Virgin,’ was frequently to be heard on the lips of men who certainly did not believe in Mary’s dignity as the Mother of God. So also Catholics were spoken of as Catholics and not as Roman Catholics always. The Catholic Church was given her proper title and treated as a thing apart from other religions and as a mighty force in the moulding of Europe.”

Religious Tolerance at Oxford. “The atmosphere of Oxford is by no anti-Catholic. but the general tone and spirit of the instruction given in classroom and lecture hall, while not on the whole anti-Catholic, is usually at best non-religious,” said the Rev Father Basil Blake, S.M., speaking of his recent residence at Oxford University in his Commemoration Day address at St Bede’s College, Christchurch. “My own experience was singularly fortunate. I have heard that some of the lecturers, especially some of the philosopny Dons, are anti-Cath-olic, if not anti-Christian. But I cannot personally recall a single lecture to which a Catholic could take exception . . . The men I had the privilege of knowing either as tutors or lecturers may possibly have been men of exceptional fairmindedness. But I prefer to think that these men are typical of the Dons of Oxford as a class.”

To “help patients forget their distress” while waiting to enter his surgery. Mr Sidney Teale, Worksop (Notts) dentist, „is transforming his waiting room into an aquarium.