LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 January 1940, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Centennial Exhibition. With the grand total now standing at 841,164, the million mark at the Wellington Centennial Exhibition should be reached in a week. Yesterday’s attendance was 18,441, making the daily average 16,493. Meeting of Cabinet. The first meeting of Cabinet since the return of the Deputy-Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, from London was held in ’ Wellington yesterday. The commander of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Major-General B. C. Freyberg, was present. Special Force Enrolments. Local enrolments in the Special Military Force for service overseas continue io flow in freely from the smaller centres of the Wairarapa. Enlistments from the town area have slowed down to a standstill. The following men offered their services yesterday at the Masterton Defence Office: --Messrs R. P. Salisbury (Carterton), B. L. Packman (Taratahi), E. G. Hart tPonatahi), J. P. Steffert (Carterton). N. J. Kennedy (Carterton). Onekaka Steel and Iron Works. The Minister of Industries and Commerce, Mr Sullivan, in a statement at Nelson yesterday said that included in the commercial difficulties associated with the. outbreak of war for New Zealand had been the inevitable postponement of the start of work on the establishment of the proposed iron and steel works at Onekaka. Just how long the delay would extend was not yet possible to determine. The United Kingdom was unable to give any undertaking as to the building of the plant till war supplies were assured. Dangerous Riding. Attention is being drawn by travellers to a dangerous practice among motor-cyclists, which has been most noticeable on crowded highways during the holiday period. Al times when the traffic in both directions on such a thoroughfare is so thick that it is impossible for motorists to overtake, motor-cyclists, depending on the narrower width of their machines, will frequently weave their way in and out of the traffic by encroaching on the narrow dividing space between the two lanes of traffic. Black Marlin's Fight. Mr Mack Tindale. of Whangaroa, fishing on the deep sen grounds off 'Whangaroa Harbour, caught a black marlin which turned the scale at 7961 b. It was the first fish caught at Whangaroa this season, and also the heaviest since 1938. The fish fought for four hours, and broached many times. In its struggle it charged the 35ft. launch, leaping high and shattering one of the cabin windows with a furious thrust of its tail. The fight was nearing its end when the steel rod used by the angler snapped in two. Prompt work by the boatman, Mr Miles Anderson, in snatching the trace enabled the fish to be brought to the gaff 15 minutes later. Advice To Singers. "The best that singers can do now is to prepare for the better time that must undoubtedly come with peace,” said Mr Roland Foster, professor of singing at the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music at Hamilton. Mr Foster pointed out that, although the war had brought music activities to a complete stop in Berlin, Munich, Vienna, Salzburg, Milan and possible even London. America and Australia had not been as greatly affected as it might be imagined. Little was actually doing in Australia apart from concerts by touring professionals, who always played to packed houses. Public interest in music, however, had not declined. A Giant Churn. A giant churn, which makes 56001 b of butter in one churning, is an outstanding exhibit in the Engineering Court at the Exhibition, and is attracting keen attention. It is a New Zealand-made machine, of kauri timber. rotated by machinery. The barrel of the churn is nearly 10 feet in diameter, and in it are fom' heavy beams which rotate in the opposite direction to the barrel when it is in motion. Special plugs are provided for drawing off the buttermilk. The barrel weighs eight tons, the whole churn about 15, and it revolves 27 times a minute. This huge churn is able to handle two and a half tons of butter in a single churning of less than two hours. There are about four of these great churns in use in New Zealand, in big Waikato dairy factories. They are the biggest churns in existence.

Centennial Stamps and Covers. New Zealand's Centennial was marked by the Post and Telegraph Department by the issue on January 2 of an appropriate set of postage stamps ranging in value from Id to Is. In addition, pictorial covers—six to a set —prepared by the Post Office were given to members of the public who desired a souvenir of the occasion in the form of a used set of the Centennial stamps. The Postmaster-General. Mr Jones, said yesterday that the pictorial covers were in heavy demand. From reports received it is estimated that approximately 100.000 were posted throughout the Dominion on January 2. In the eyes of collectors an added attraction was the cancellation of the stamps at the Centennial Exhibition Post Office. On the day of issue of the Centennial stamps no fewer than 9000 registered letters and 30.000 ordinary letters were posted at the Exhibition Post Office.

A Basic Need. “The war has emphasised as never before the great need for a basic iron and steel industry." said the Minister of Industries and Commerce (Mr Sullivan) in a statement issued at Nelson yesterday. "Though we have the necessary raw materials in the country for the manufacture of steel, the building industry and local manufacturing industries at present are handicapped because of inability to secure nails and other steel products. It must be emphasised that this shortage is due to the inability of steel manufacturers to supply and not because of import control. The advantages to be gained by the establishment of our own steel works will be more readily appreciated if 1 point out that not only would steel supplies, which are so vital to the general economy of New Zealand be assured, but the sterling saving would be in the order of £ 1,300,000 tt year. The release of sterling from necessary expenditure would in 1940 have gone some distance toward restoring the sterling balance and assuring other manufacturers of adequate raw materials."