LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 July 1939, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Frost in Masterton. A frost of 8.4 degrees was registered in Masterton this morning. Judging by the thick mantle of snow on the ranges there will be heavy frosts experienced for some considerable time. Intoxicated Cyclist Fined. Michael Joseph Head was fined £2, with costs 3s, in the Magistrates’ Court, Wanganui, by Mr A. Coleman, S.M., yesterday, for being drunk in charge of a bicycle on July 15 in College Street. Enrolments in National Reserve. An increase of 217 in the enrolments in the New Zealand National Military Reserve, bringing the total to 14,008, is recorded. Details are: Class I, 1830; Class 2 (returned soldiers), 5564; Class 3, 4250; ineligible, 2364. Wellington leads with 1900 enrolments, Auckland is next with 1864, and Christchurch third with 1625. "Paddy the Wanderer” Dead. Paddy the Wanderer, the dog who had become well known to Wellington taximen, sailors and waterside workers through his wandering habits by land and water, died yesterday. He was given a formal funeral in a procession from the wharf to the Corporation yards. College Rugby. With the advantage of a strong wind in the second half, Auckland Grammar School beat Wellington College in a Rugby mach at Auckland yesterday by 7 points to 3. For Grammar a goal was potted in the second spell by J. Chandler, and a try scored by W. A. Higgs. For Wellington, O. H. Vaughan kicked a penalty goal. After an enjoyable visit the Wellington players returned by train yesterday afternoon.

Diphtheria in Wellington. The incidence of diphtheria in the Wellington health district appears to be slightly less than last year, according to figures quoted yesterday by Dr F. S. Maclean, Medical Officer of Health, Wellington, in a review of the infectious diseases position in Wellington. For the first six months of 1939, he said, there were 117 cases of diphtheria and six deaths, compared with 136 cases and two deaths during the corresponding period of 1938.

Market Garden Land for Housing. The most important of 60 remits to be discussed at the annual conference of commercial growers which will open in Wellington tomorrow will be the following remit from the Hutt Valley branch: “That this conference consider the act of the Government in acquiring valuable market garden land for housing purposes.” There will be more than 40 delegates from all parts of New Zealand, as far south as Otago. The Minister of Agriculture, Mr Lee Martin, will open the conference.

Pipe Band Contest. A meeting of the Dominion pipe band contest committee was held recently, when the programme for the contest on January 26 and 27 was arranged. The following events were decided on: —Drum-majors’ display: A grade, £l5, £5, £3; B grade, £l2 10s, £5, £2 10s. Quickstep: A grade, £5O, £2O, £lO, £5; B grade, £3O, £l5, £B, £5. Test selection: A grade, £4O. £2O, £l.O, £5; B grade, £3O, £l5, £lO, £5. Aggregate: A grade, £10; B grade, £5. Drum-majors’ stave flourishing contest: £3, £1 10s. Street march: £5, £2 10s (both grades).

Shipment of Military Planes. A further shipment of military aircraft for use by the Royal New Zealand Air Force was brought to Auckland yesterday by the British India steamer Gamaria, from Calcutta; 162 cases, which are to be unloaded from the vessel, contained 16 dismantled Vickers Vincent machines, which will be assembled at Hobsonville Air Base and then assigned to various Air Force centres. The machines are part of fairly extensive purchases made by the New Zealand Government. To expedite their delivery the Gamaria was specially diverted to include Auckland in her itinerary, and the unloading of the heavy crates on to motor-lorries for transport to Hobsonville will be carried out today. Quetta and Napier.

On his travels through me uiasi, Mr Clifford Huntsman, the English pianist now in New Zealand, saw the new Quetta, quickly recovered from the effects of its disastrous earthquake in 1935, and he saw it as a town half tin, half concrete. Aided by the Indian Government, said Mr Huntsman, the inhabitants had regained their former prosperity. Asked if he had seen Napier and whether he had any comparison to make, Mr Huntsman replied that he had seen it in the dark, but had at least gained some pleasure from discovering that the power and teleplone wires had been hidden underground, eliminating the poles which he found "so ugly.”

Fence Charged With Electricity.

Charged with electricity from a radio mast stay which came in contact with a faulty house service, a wire fence around the house adjoining the Castor Bay store was responsible for two persons suffering shocks on Saturday. One of them, Thomas Arthur Lord, married, aged 24, a labourer employed by the Housing Department at Castor Bay, was severely shaken, and a boy received a slight shock. Taking hold of the top wire of the low fence to climb over it, Mr Lord received the full charge of 230 volts. His cries were heard by a woman in the house, who sent a friend to investigate. It was found that Mr Lord was still clasping the wire firmly while lying on the ground and struggling violently. To release him two men had to pull him away by his clothing.

“Talking in Church.” “We are afraid that the practice is pretty widespread and we whole-hear-tedly deprecate it,” is a comment made on the “habit of talking in church” in the “New Zealand Methodist Times.” The article continues: “We confess that often, when sitting in the pulpit, waiting for the voluntary to cease, we have been jarred, time and again, by the extent to which people in the pews have occupied the moments preparatory to the commencement of the service, by whispered colloquies with one another. We cannot but think that the practice indicates an inadequate idea of the meaning of public worship and a failure to realise what is the behaviour incumbent, on those who are seeking profitably to engage in it. Too many of our people seem to regard the church as a species of social club and hence their conduct is regulated acc?ringJ<.”