LOCAL & GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 June 1939, Page 4

LOCAL & GENERAL

Jaw Fractured at Hockey. A player named Keith Dassett, fractured his jawbone when playing hockey at Palmerston North on Saturday. He was admitted to the Palmerston North hospital. Nightwatchman Found Dead. Workers on the Maunganui, at present undergoing overhauled at the Wellington Patent Slip Company’s wharf at Evans Bay, Wellington, found the night watchman lying dead on the main deck on Saturday night. He was Mr Edward Francis Glavin, single aged 32, living in Holloway Road. Inter-School Games.

The Wairarapa College will commence its inter-college sports games on Wednesday, June 28, when the second Rugby fifteen will play the Palmerston North Technical School side at Masterton. On the same day the College basketball team will meet the Palmerston North girls on the Masterton Courts. Friday, June 30, will see the first Rugby fifteen take the field against the Napier Boys’ High School. This match will be played at Napier.

Slippery Crossing Markings. “You are going to get an action one of these days and it is going to cost you a lot of money,” Mr K. W. Robinson told members. who are also city councillors at a meeting of the Christchurch Fire Board, when the marking of pedestrian crossings was mentioned. Mr E. Parlane, who is chairman of the City Council’s works committee, said that sand had to De placed on the pedestrian crossings when they were painted to prevent pedestrians slipping. «. Prospects of Petroleum.

Prospects of petroleum accumulations in Southland have been strengthened by the character of the land in certain localities, and the growing belief in the possibilities has encouraged the Southland Progress League to communicate with two powerful oil companies which had become interested in New Zealand’s future as an oil producing country. In reply to the'league’s letter both companies gave an assurance of their interest, and one stated its intention of sending an expert to Southland to investigate within a month or two. Citrus Canker Eradicated.

Kerikeri orchardists have practically stamped out the citrus canker. This information was presented at the annual general meeting of the Kerikeri Citrus Society, when a letter was received from Dr G. H. Cunningham, in which the growers were congratulated on the methods they had adopted to combat the disease. Governmental control of the orange industry, like the control of the lemon industry, was discussed, and the majority of the growers present supported the Government’s offer of 6s 6d a case as a minimum price. A referendum will be obtained by post to ascertain the wishes of the growers. Fire at Fort Dorset. .

Firebrigadesmen from Miramar and Wellington South and / artillerymen combined to fight a fire which broke out last night in a large messroom at Fort Dorset, Wellington. It was in the south-west corner of the fort grounds, well away from any munitions. The alarm was given at 8.27 p.m. The fire started in a settee in the sitting-room section of the messroom, a singlestoried wooden building with an iron roof. Artillerymen formed their fire squads promptly, attached hoses to the fort hydrants, and did good work till the arrival of the brigades. Then the two forces combined to make short work of the fire. Damage was done to the ceiling, walls, and furniture.

City Tramway System. Not financially, but as a service, the Christchurch tramways compared favourably with any other system in New Zealand. Mr E. Parlane claimed at a meetipg of the Christchurch Fire Board. “As far as they can be compared with the Wellington and Dunedin trams, they are, I agree, definitely better, wider, and cleaner,” the chairman (Mr T. M. Charters) added. When the Hon J. K. Archer, M.L.C., quoted the success of the Tramway Board in its methods of meeting the men in Conciliation Council, Mr K. W. Robinson said he hoped Mr Archer would not say too much about the Tramway Board, because it was not a howling success. Mr Charters: “I hear some of the residents near the sharp bends calling it a screaming success.” (Laughter). An Old Savings Bank.

Only seven years younger than the city itself, the Auckland Savings Bank has just celebrated the ninetysecond anniversary of its foundation. The first occasion on which the establishment of a savings bank was considered was a meeting in Auckland on December 3, 1846, the temporary secretary being Sir John Logan Campbell. The managers spent £36 in buying a small iron safe from Sydney, and with a set of four account books, the bank opened for business on June 5, 1847, in the brick store of Mr J. J. Montefiore in Queen street. From these humble beginnings the bank has become one of the foremost financial institutions in New Zealand. The annual report presented last April showed that total funds were only £37.000 short of £10,000,000. The number of depositors had increased to 189,889. Governor Hobson’s Bed?

A massive kauri bedstead, said to have been the property of Captain William Hobson, first Governor of New Zealand, has been presented to the Auckland City Council for the Old Colonists’ Museum, by Mrs R. L. Birks, of St Heliers. Mrs Birks purchased the bedstead several years ago from an old couple living in a cottage in the city. Their reason for selling it was that they were about to move into the country. It had been in their possession for a vei - y long time. According to what had been told them when they acquired the bedstead, it had formed part of the furniture of the first Government House. When Mrs Hobson left for England with her children some months after her husband’s death in September, 1842, it was said that the family’s furniture was sold by auction, and this bedstead was bought by the housekeeper, who was to remain in charge of the premises. The old- couple believed that it had had at the most three owners before they purchased it. Although its connection with Captain Hobson cannot be proved, the bedstead is..definitely interesting as an example of early colonial craftsmanship, and will be an acquisition to the Old Colonists’ Museum when the latter has room to accommodate- it