LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 July 1939, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Car Caught by Locomotive. Struck by a slowly-moving shunting engine, a motor-car was carried 15 yards along the line at the crossing in Stratford yesterday. The driver, Mr A. A. Piper, Lowgarlh, and a passenger, Mr M. Jury, escaped unhurt. Mi- Jury was particularly fortunate, as the locomotive struck his side of the car. Makuri Gorge Widening. The widening of the Makuri Gorge Road is proceeding apace. Altogether about 11 miles have been completed and approximately the same distance requires to be dealt with. A Diesel shovel and forty men are engaged in the widening work, which, it is expected, will take another twelve months to complete. Salaries of Clergy. A move to increase the stipends of the clergy was made by the Waikato Diocesan Synod. A special committee recommended the principle of a 25 per cent increase being made as soon as possible, but to give immediate benefit it recommended to vestries that the stipends existing as at March 31 be increased by 10 per cent as from July 1. Other allowances as at present are not to be disturbed. It is stated that stipends in the Waikato Diocese range from £l5O to £450.

Power Development. A tender has been passed by the Public Works Department for the erection of single men's quarters at Masterton in connection with Mangahao power development work. The contract price is £479 15s and the successful tenderers are Messrs Lawton and Rose. Other tenders paassed are those of Messrs Horlor’s Motor Haulers Ltd, £1,242, for the cartage and erection of main line poles on the MastertonFeatherston transmission line and of H. Clement, £386 2s, for the transport and erection of a telephone line for the same transmission line. Mt. Everest Expedition. Efforts to arrange for a future Everest expedition were referred to by Mr L. V. Bryant, noted New Zealand mountaineer and member of the 1935 Everest reconnaissance expedition, who returned by the Mariposa after a year abroad. Mr Bryant is a housemaster at Waitaki Boys’ High School. “I understand the Everest Committee intends to seek permission from the Tibetan Government, through the India Office, for a further Everest expedition, to be organised in the near future if the application is successful,” said Mr Bryant. He added that it was expected that there would be a large number of applications to join.

Praise for New Zealand Dairy Produce. “New Zealand is to be congratulated on the way it has come up to the Danish standard in its dairy produce, if, indeed, it has not surpassed that standard,” said Mr A. A. Johnston, a director of the Co-operative Wholesale Society in Britain and a member of a trade delegation which arrived at Auckland by the Mariposa to spend nearly a month in the Dominion. Others in the delegation are Messrs E. C. Brown and Philip Robinson, also directors of the Co-operative Wholesale Society, and Mr A. Cassin, general manager of the society’s meat department, Mr Cassin praised the quality of New Zealand lamb, and said that the standard of the Dominion's chilled beef was improving the British market.

Large Manufacturing Unit. The factory being erected by his company in Petone was the largest complete manufacturing unit to be built by the organisation in a country of comparable size, said Mr John V. Moran, managing director of the Cqlgate-Palmolive-Peet Company of Australia, Ltd., who passed through Auckland by the Mariposa after a world tour. The firm already had factories in 64 countries, Mr Moran said, and the erection of the Wellington unit at a cost of £60,000 was part of its policy of extending activities in Brit-ish-speaking territories. The development had been contemplated before the imposition of import restrictions, but operations had been hastened as a result of their introduction. The factory would employ from 80 to 100 people.

Living Costs and Wages. The cost of living had certainly risen, said Mr H. E. Combs, Labour member for Wellington Suburbs, in the House of Representatives yesterday, but he was one of those who believed that the cost of living was bound to rise. While the cost of living had risen, wages had risen much more, and 98 per cent of the people were better off. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Hamilton: “Do the P. and T. people think that?” “They say that while they have not got all they wanted, or think they are entitled to, they are substantially better off,” said Mr Combs, “They are well content that their political freedom has been restored.” Mr Hamilton: "They have less freedom now than ever. They arc afraid to speak.”

Prevalence of Hydatids. Speaking yesterday about the prevalence of hydatids in New Zealand, the inspector of the Wellington Society for the prevention of Cruelty to Animals Mr R. A. Nicol, said that it was only what was to be expected under the conditions that were permitted to exist. One cause of the trouble, he said, was that farmers allowed sheep which had died from hydatids to lie and rot in the open fields. “In my experience,” said Mr Nicol, "very few shepherds feed their dogs regularly on healthy food. They simply allow them to forage for themselves. That means that these dogs make no bones about eating the dead bodies of sheep rotten with hydatids. Not so very long ago 1 found no fewer than 65 dead sheep lying about a paddock in the Titahi Bay district." Tasman Air Service. Preparations for the inauguration of the Tasman air service have reached an advanced stage, and it is hoped that the first of three flying-boats to be used on the Tasman link will leave for New Zealand before the end of this month. The machine to make the initial flight is certain to be the Aotearoa, with the New Zealander. Captain J. W. Burgess, in command, and possibly Mr Oscar Garden as first officer. However, the name of Mr H. L. M. Glover, formerly of Dunedin, has also been mentioned in regard to the latter position. As it will be a delivery flight, it is not proposed to hurry unduly. Though progress will be to some extent conditioned by the load that is carried, it is estimated that Auckland will be reached about 14 days after leaving Southampton.