LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 December 1939, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

No Publication on Monday. The- “Times-Age” will not be published on Monday, Christmas Day, but will be published as usual on Tuesday. Boxing Day. Centennal Exhbition. The attendance yesterday at. the Exhibtion in Wellington was 9083 The total has now reached 525.116. a daily average of 13,819. Closed to Motor Traffic Tonight. All motor and vehicular traffic is prohibited from parking in, or entering, Queen Street between the hours of 7 o’clock and 10.30 o’clock tonight. Military Enrolment. The latest military enrolment in the Special Military Force is that of Herbert Woodham, of Featherston. The total enrolments in the Wairarapa to date have now reached 320. Professional Jealousy. There are many amusing inquiries made of the information girls at the Centennial Exhibition, but one that caused much speculation recently was when an unusually stout Maori woman asked a girl where she could see the fat lady of the Exhibition. _ She did not explain why she was going to see this exhibit, but it may have been due to professional jealousy.

Open on Christinas Day. It has been decided by the Director of the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition Company that the Exhibition will be open on Christmas Day from 2.30 to 9.30 p.m., and all exhibitors have been invited to give their cooperation. "Playland,” with its many hundreds of amusements, will be operating, and the only facility not available to the public will be the restaurant and cafeteria, though there are many stalls selling food and drink in the grounds. Central District Enlistments.

Since recruiting opened on September 12, 5911 men in the Central Military District, which embraces Wellington, Manawatu, Wairarapa, Hawke’s Bay, and Gisborne, have volunteered to serve with the Special Force. Of those already medically examined, 3526 have been classed as fit. 952 as temporarily unfit. 796 as permanently unfit. 391 corne under reserved occupations. 2481 have gone into camp, and there is a balance of 726 awaiting posting to camp. It is 14 weeks since recruiting began.

Library and Reading Room Hours. The public library reading room will be closed from tonight till Thursday, December 28. Papers and periodicals may be read in the Municipal Hall, Perry Street entrance, on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The Lending Department will be closed from noon on Saturday until Wednesday, and on New Year’s Day and January 2, re-opening on Wednesday morning, January 3.

Wool Stolen From Shed. Wool valued at about £5O was illegally removed from Zurcher Brothers' farm, on the Bunnythorpe-Kai-ranga Road, during the night of December 14, The residence is about two miles 'from the woolshed. Everything was all right in the woolshed when it was closed up at about 6 p.m., and the loss was not discovered till 8 o’clock the following morning. There was no trace of wheel-marks in the paddock in which the shed stands, and possibly the bales were rolled or carried to the road. The wool comprised mixed sorts, and fleece wool was taken from the press. Coal to Newcastle.

Those who participate in the disposal of Christmas hampers generally do so with the hope of winning, not what they have already plenty of but something of which they are short. But fate often plays strong tricks upon people. For instance at the recent drawing of a Christmas hamper a well known Wairarapa hotelkeeper was astounded to find that the hamper he had won contained a dozen bottles of beer, while a local butcher considers that fate played him a scurvy trick by making the contents of his winning hamper a large leg of lamb. In each instance it was a case of carrying coal to Newcastle. Brilliant Colour. The many thousands of plants that form an integral part of the landscaping at the Exhibition are now in full bloom and their serried ranks ol vivid colour make an attractive display. In the cool of the evenings the scent of many flowers makes a quiet walk along the avenues a pleasant break from the jostling crowds inside the buildings. The pohutukawas, planted with great difficulty before the opening of the Exhibition, are now bursting into flower and their flame-col-oured blossoms make a vivid contrast against the cream colour of the buildings. An Increase in Pay.

An increase of IJ.d an hour as irom October 1 has been granted No. 13 scheme workers employed on standard Public Works jobs. The men will also receive (lie same holiday concession as men covered by the Public Works agreement An announcement to this effect was mad.? at Christchurch by the secretary of the Canterbury branch of the Workers' Union. Mr C. E. Baldwin, who added that the retrospective pay would mean a Christmas box of £3 for the mon concerned. Mr Baldwin said that lite union, which was a national organisation, had been operating in the interests of No. 13 scheme workers for a considerable period, and over the past three months had been negotiating with the Government for an increase in wage rater

History of St Andrew’s Church. All available data has been tired m the compilation of a history ol the establishment and progress of St Andrew's Presbyterian Church. Wellington, since its inception in 18-10. The first minister was the Rev John Macfarlane, who arrived by the Bay ol Bengal in 1810. with lite founders of the Church of Scotland in New Zealand. In 1811 Mr MacFarlane returned to Scotland because of poor health, and for two years after his departure services were conducted in Wellington at irregular intervals by the Rev John Duncan. Subsequent ministers included the Revs William Kirton. Janies Stirling Muir. C. S. Ogg. J. Gibson Smith, S. Robertson Orr, and R. J. Howie. The present minister is the Rev A. B. Kilroy.

The British pilot-officer returned from a raid into Germany. "Sorry to be three hours late, sir." he explained to bis commanding officer. "1 misunderstood instructions and pushed the leaflets under people's doers.