LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 January 1940, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Medical Board Sitting. The local medical examining board will sit in the Masterton Drill hall tomorrow night, when a further batch of recruits will be put through. Residents for 60 Years or More. A private census taken in Greytown for Centennial purposes shows that there are over forty persons who have lived in the town continuously for GO years or more. Gaming House Charges. Fipes totalling £225 were imposed on three Wanganui men in the Magistrates’ Court on charges of having kept common gaming-houses. The men before the Court were Charles Byers, who was fined £100; Thomas Clarke, fined £75; and George Cann, fined £ 50. Te Kauwhata Apple Crop. The first apples of the new season are now being picked in orchards in the Te Kauwhata district. They are of the Gravenstein variety. The main crop of Delicious and Jonathan will not be harvested until about March. Spring conditions favoured orchardists and it is considered that the yield of both apples and pears will be slightly greater than the average. Centennial Exhibition

The admission figures at the Centennial Exhibition are mounting rapidly toward the million, which is expected to be reached at the end of this week or the beginning of next. Yesterday 17.401 people visited the Exhibition. This raised the total to 883,395, or 114,605 short of the million. The daily average is 16.705. The millionth visitor will be presented by the Exhibition directors with a valuable cabinet radio receiving set. as a memento of the occasion.

Walking the Plank. An elderly woman passenger who arrived at an Auckland wharf the other day just' as her overseas liner was drawing out was taken aboard in a novel fashion. Noticing her plight, Harbour Board officials attracted the attention of the crew, who quickly put out a large board from the ship’s side. Willing hands helped the belated passenger on Io the board, and. amid the cheering and clapping of those on the wharf and on the ship, she was assisted along the plank and into the ship by an able-bodied seaman. Meanwhile her luggage had been hoisted on board.

Parents’ indifference. The incredible indifference of some parents in the treatment of children is reflected in two incidents which occurred recently in Auckland. One concerned the surprise experienced by a petrol station attendant whose attention was attracted to the presence of a smiling baby lying in a perambulator strapped to the rear carrier of a car which was driven in for petrol. Another case was reported from Te Awamutu concerning a child left to amuse itself in a car while its parents visited a race meeting. The windows of the car were closed to prevent the ’child from wandering, and the sun’s heat resulted in the child being almost suffocated before its plight was observed. Fire in Factory. Sweeping the factory within a few minutes, fire destroyed the plant and contents of an upholstery workshop in a brick building, owned and occupied by Andrews and Clark, furniture manufacturers, at Auckland yesterday afternoon. As the flames spread rapidly, six young women and four men working in the factory escaped by means of a door leading into the adjoining. cabinetmaking department. Damage to the plant and stock was estimated at about £lOOO. The fire began in a corner of the factory when ah electric motor which had been cleaned during the morning was switched on to operate a flock machine. Apparently, a short circuit ignited lengths of rubber hairlock which were stacked alongside. Before any steps could be taken to . extinguish the flames, highly inflammable materials were well ablaze.

Subsidy on Military Pay Disapproved. The Ashburton Hospital Board yesterday adopted the following resolution:—“The board believes that democratic principles must be observed in regard to war service. On this principle. each soldier should receive payment in accordance with his rank. Payment of subsidy on military pay by employing local bodies, as suggested by the department, would place the recipients of such subsidy in a privileged position in comparison with those recruits not eligible for such payment. The board is also of opinion that such a principle would introduce a grave injustice which would seriously prejudice recruiting for the army.” The resolution was in reply to a letter from the Health Department asking the .board’s opinion of proposals to grant subsidies to local body employees who have enlisted to bring their rates of pay up to those in their civilian occupations.

Overseas Telegrams. Overseas telegrams in the four specified public codes may be accepted as from Monday. January 8. to all Empire countries with the following excep-tions:—Anglo-Egyptian Sudan code not. allowed; Apia, Bentley’s complete phrase only admitted; British West Indies and Burma, only the two Bentley’s codes admitted: Nilie Nukualofa, and Rarotonga. Bentley’s complete phrase only allowed: South Africa, only the two Bentley’s codes admitted. Telegrams in the I'oitr codes (Bentley’s complete phrase, Bentley’s second phrase, ABC 6th and Peterson’s 3rd) may also be accepted as from .Innuarj 8 for foreign countries (except enemy countries and countries in enemy occupation) which admit code telegrams. Appended is a list of non-Empire countries in respect of which notification has been received trial telegrams in code language are not permitted: Argentine, Util 11, Egypt. Estonia, Finland, French Colonies, Iraq. Latvia iLcttonia), Portuguese Colonies Roumania, Sweden. In respect of France, Algeria and the French zone of Morocco, Bentley’s complete phrase and Peterson’s 3rd edition codes only are allowed.