LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 December 1939, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

New Serial Story. There commences in the Wairarapa “Times-Age” today a new serial story entitled ‘Man from the Airport,” written by Leslie Beresford, author of "Mr Appleton Awakes,” “The Other Mr North," and several other well-known novels, it is a romantic story of the Centennial Exhibition. There was an attendance of 7781 at the Centennial Exhibition at Wellington yesterday. The total number .of persons who have visited the Exhibition since it was opened is 386,773, a daily average of 14,875. Rotary Club and Orphan Boys. Instead of giving the annual Christmas dinner to the orphan boys of Masterton the local Rotary Club will take them on a visit to the Centennial Exhibition in Wellington on Thursday next. Allowance to Soldiers. An announcement that an allowance of £3 was to be granted to each member of the first echelon of the special military force who would be proceeding overseas, in addition to the 14 days’ leave already announced, was made yesterday by the Minister of Defence, Mr Jones. He said that the allowance would be paid to these men before going on leave. Heavy Rain. In common with the rest of the southern portion of the North Island, Wellington experienced heavy rainfall yesterday. There was a heavy drizzle at New Plymouth at midday and at 3 p.m. Wanganui, Palmerston North, Dannevirke, and Woodville reported heavy and continuous rain. In the afternoon there were fairly heavy showers in Masterton. Reserve Bank Figures.

A further decrease of £662,912 in the sterling exchange funds of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand brings the total amount held down to £5,961,673, compared with £7,543,770 on November 20. Dairy advances at £5.511,271 show a decrease of £70,692; but advances to the State for other purposes at £17,290,000 have increased by £615.000. The note issue has reached the high level of £17,510,501. Rats in Coal Mines.

Every coal mine lias its colony of rats, and for a long time it was the belief of miners that the animals were reliable gauges of security, in that they were sensitive to the presence ol lethal gases. A mining expert who has been attending the sittings of the Royal Commission at Huntly, said that the recent disaster at Glen Afton disproved the belief, since exploration parties in the mine said they found many rats lying dead in the workings. Miners had believed that rats gave a danger signal by leaving the mine hurriedly as soon as they detected the presence of carbon monoxide. Peace Crusade.

His Holiness the Pope desired the National Eucharistic Congress Io be held in Wellington in February to be a crusade for peace, which all desired so much, announced his Grace Archbishop O’Shea at the St Patrick’s College, Silverstream, prize-giving yesterday. The archbishop said that there was to have been an international congress in Europe, but this had been cancelled because of the war. The Pope was pleased, therefore, that there was going to be a Eucharistic Congress in the world this year, in spite of the war. The Minister of Justice and Acting-Minister of Education. Mr Mason, said he was thankful for the decision to hold the congress in spite of all difficulties created by war. It was an act of faith which could be of assistance in giving a direction to a world which needed help.

Work of Teachers. Advice to teachers entering upon their work not to be misled by any of the materialism they saw in the world or by those stresses on economic relationships and the machine or any of the other things which excluded human personality, was given by the Acting-Minister of Education, Mr Mason, when speaking at the official closing ceremony of the Wellington Teachers’ Training College yesterday. Students of the college going forth to teach would find happiness in doing their work perfectly, Mr Mason said. In the outer world there would be many competing philosophies which would tend perhaps to make them lose sight of the importance of the work of the teacher. It was well, therefore, to have some understanding of the importance of that work. It was important because it dealt with human nature, and the human being was the most important thing in the world.

Wool Cheque. Advice was received by the Marketing Department in a cable message from London yesterday that the first payment on account of wool purchased from New Zealand by the United Kingdom Government had been made into the Reserve Bank's account at the Bank of England. Making this announcement in a broadcast address last night from his office in Parliament Buildings, the Minister of Marketing said that the amount of this cheque was £476.910. The payment, said Mr Nash, was the first in connection with the new procedure, and was for wool appraised in Auckland, Gisborne, Tolaga Bay and Tokomaru Bay. The department was ready to make payment to the brokers on prompt dates, the first of which was tomorrow. However, payment could only be made on receipt of brokers’ invoices, some of which wore not vol to hand. Traffic on Coastal Road. The Public- Works Department has informed the Automobile Association (Wellingtoni of a possible restriction in the times traffic may use the incomplete Plimmerton-Paekakariki coastal road. The wet weather of the past 10 days has delayed sealing operations on the road, but the department is still making every possible endeavour to complete the sealing before Christmas, to accomplish which it must have fine weather. During the last few weekends it has been practicable to open the road from Friday night till Monday morning, but if the weather is fine tomorrow the department will carry out tar priming and bitumen sealing. If that is done the road will be open on Sunday only. Therefore motorists should consult the "Closed” and "Open" signs al Paekakariki and Pareinala bridge to avoid the inconvenience of being turned back. The department hopes to open the road permanently about December