LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 January 1940, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Centennial Exhibition. The total visitors to the Centennial Exhibition has been brought up to 822.674 as the result of 21,788 people attending yesterday. The daily average attendance is now 16,453. Territorial Parades. The local Territorial units will parade this month as follows: C Company. Hawke’s Bay Regiment (Lewis gunners), Monday, January 15 and January 29. D. Company (machine gunners) on January 29. Abandoned Car. An abandoned motor car with Wellington registration plates was discovered by a passing motorist on the Eketahuna side of the Mount Bruce Hill. The car had gone over a fairly steep bank. Apparently no one was injured. The matter is being investigated by the authorities concerned. An Unwelcome Visitor. A Masterton resident who entered a baker’s shop in Queen Street yesterday afternoon was somewhat startled to see ii full-grown rat run across a [shelf and climb a wall alongside an open cupboard. The shop attendant was equally surprised to learn that such an unwelcome visitor had invaded the premises. Camp .Break-up. The New Zealand Anglican Boys’ Bible Class Union camp which has been held at Wairarapa College during the past week broke up yesterday when the delegates’present from all parts of the Dominion returned to their homes. Apart from camp activities which have been previously reported. a concert was held on the final night, when members entertained each other with an impromptu programme. Gored by Bull. Gored by a young bull while walking through one of the homestead paddocks on his farm at Te Poi. Mr John Bell, aged 57, a well known farmer, died in a private hospital in Matamata on Tuesday night. The injured man was found lying, gravely injured, by a member of his family. A doctor was called, and Mr Bell was taken to Matamata. He was a director of the Sunny Park Co-operative Dairy Company, Limited. Military Enlistments. The following additional men have enlisted at the Masterton Defence Office for service overseas: Messrs V. P. Graham, Robert Algar Buick (Featherston); F. N. L. Archer (Carterton); M. L. McCarthy, Robert Smith, R. E. Cherry (Martinborough), C. E. Pene (Pirinoa), J. B. Petersen (Nireaha). and J. S. H. Dring (Taueru). The total enlistments to date have now reached 359. Building Permits. The Masterton Borough Council issued two building permits last month for an estimated value of £526. compared with four permits for an estimated value of £6,872 for December, 1938. The wide margin between the figures is due to the Masterton Sedgley Home building being included in the figures for 1938. No new dwellings were included in the figures for either month. Enlistments in Auckland. The. parade of troops of the First Echelon in Auckland on Wednesday has given a remarkable fillip to enlistments for the Second Echelon of the Special Force, a Press Association message reports. For the two days up to 5 p.m. today the total enlistments in Auckland were 174. In comparison with previous weeks, when enlistments were comparatively slow, the drill hall has been kept exceedingly busy during the past few days. There has been a constant flow of men anxious to enlist and it has been necessary to engage extra staff to handle the work. Captain Cook as Astronomer. Only two eclipses, the minimum number possible, will occur during 1940, and neither will be visible from New Zealand. The first, an annular eclipse, will occur on April 7, and will be visible only in America The second, a total solar eclipse, will be visible only in South America. The obscuration in each instance will be for about four minutes. It is interesting in Centennial year that a transit of the planet Mercury across the face of the sun will be observed from the Dominion. Captain James Cook made the first astronomical observation in New Zealand of a transit of Mercury in November, 1769, and the incident is commemorated in the names of Mercury Bay, Red Mercury and Great Mercury Islands, which the navigator gave to portions of the east coast of the Hauraki Peninsula. Canberra In Wellington. Flying the flag of Rear-Admiral J. G. Grace. H.M.A.S. Canberra has arrived at Wellington and is berthed at Aotea Quay. The Canberra is no stranger to Wellington, which she has visited several times with her sistership, H.M.A.S. Australia. The Canberra and Australia were built in 1927-28 by John Brown and Co. of Clydebank. After her trials the Canberra in October, 1928, served with the Atlantic Fleet for some months before proceeding to Australia. The Canberra, which has a standard displacement of 9850 tons, measures 630 feet in length by 68 feet 4 inches in breadth. She is propelled by geared-turbine engines of 80,000 horse-power, giving her a speed of 32 knots. She is armed with eight 8-inch guns, four 4-inch anti-aircraft guns and a number of smaller weapons, and mounts eight torpedo-tubes. The Canberra also carries one aircraft. Battleship on Tour. Speaking 'at the Slate luncheon in Wellington; yesterday. Captain 11. T. Baillie-Grohman, commander of the Ramillies, said that when his ship arrived al Fremantle, British sailors had not been seen there for so long that the inhabitants thought the Royal Marines were German prisoners of war! When the Ramillies was in one port a yachtsman in a 30-footer sailed up and called out "Some baby." She was. Driven by 40.000 horse-power, she used 12,000 tons of oil fuel on the trip, and travelled 9500 miles at. an average speed of 17 knots, with only two days in harbour. She had eight 15-inch guns, each of which was the length of a cricket pitch and fired a projectile weighing as much as a motor-car. Christmas Day saw 110 turkeys demolished in live minutes and 88 Christmas cakes eaten. There was a complement of 1170 men and 70 officers. American ships of the size of the Ramillies had been to New Zealand, and he ho]ted that after the war there would be visits from such ships of the Royal Navy as the Ramillies.