LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 February 1940, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Gift to Soldiers’, Fund. A donation of £5OO to the Y.M.C.A. and Salvation Army hutment appeal fund was made yesterday by the board of directors of the New Plymouth Savings Bank. Greytown Celebrations. The outstanding success of the Greytown Centennial celebrations was in no small measure due to the efforts ot Mr R. G. Vile, whose capable organising, did much to ensure celebrations worthy of the district. Home Nursing Classes. The enrolment of members in the Home Nursing classes in connection with St John Ambulance Nursing Division will take place tonight. Arrangements will also be made for the commencement of the First Aid classes. Family Benefits. The Social Security Department notifies that the family benefits winch usually are paid on the 25th ot the month will this month be paid on Friday next, February 23, as the usual date falls on a Sunday. Woodville Show. The loss on the Woodville A. and P. Association’s recent annual show, which was held in wet weather, is estimated at £lB. A report presented to a meeting of the committee by the secretary, Mr R. R. Johnston, showed that expenditure was £465, and receipts £447. Price of Eggs. The Wellington wholesale price of eggs advanced a further 2d a dozen yesterday. This represents a rise of 4d a dozen in a week or ten days. Wholesale Wellington prices were as follows: Specials, 2s 4d a dozen; A grade, 2s 3d; B grade. 2s 2d; pullets. Is 8d: ducks-—hardly any obtainable—--2s 3d.

Centennial Exhibition. More than 800 excursionists from Marton, including some hundreds of school children, as well as their parents, prominent Marton citizens and civic dignitaries, visited the Centennial Exhibition yesterday. They swelled the day’s attendance figures to 11,634. The total is now 1.516.721 and the daily average 16,852.

White Butterfly Checked. Judging by the experience of the last two seasons it is considered unlikely that the white butterfly will ever again be the scourge it was in New Zealand three or four years ago. In the Wairarapa this season the butterfly has not been very conspicuous and parasites have been found to be active in some parts of the district. There appears to be some reason to believe that its depredations have now been checked. Dominion Enlistments.

An increase of 1033 on the number for the previous week was shown by the Dominion enlistments for the Second N.Z.E.F. during the week ended February 10. Recruits medically examined at that date had been dealt with and classified as follows, the figures as at February 3 being shown in parentheses:—Fit. 18,771 (17,701); temporarily unfit. 2532 (2495); permanently unfit, 3128 (2943); in reserved occupations and therefore not available, 1566 (1585); sent to camp, 16,189 (13,759); balance available for posting to camp, 2683 (2102). Taxi Fares.

If price-cutting did not cease there would possibly be fewer taxis about, said Mr P. O. Skoglund, No. 2 Transport Licensing Authority, when granting taxi licences at Palmerston North. It was .reported by Mr S. I. McKenzie, who appeared for the Taxi Proprietors’ Association, that there had been complaints of price-cutting, though the city council had set out a schedule. Mr Skoglund said the schedule of fares to be adhered to would be attached to each licence, and he hoped to get uniformity of fares in such towns as Palmerston North, New Plymouth, and Masterton.

Soldiers Wearing Glasses. The proportion of troops wearing spectacles would undoubtedly increase, said Mr Brooke-Taylor, president of the Institute of Opticians of New Zealand, in his address at the opening of the annual conference of the institute in Wellington yesterday. There were numbers of young men available who, while otherwise physically perfect, had low or medium errors of refraction, he said. There was no reason why men who had perhaps 75 per cent vision without glasses, but 100 per cent vision and freedom from any eyestrain while wearing them, should not make useful soldiers. A particular type of spectacle frame had been adopted v by the Imperial Army for issue to its spectacle-wearing soldiers. The frame could be worn under a gasmask, and each man was supplied with a duplicate pair. The question of following that practice in New Zealand was now being considered.

Pipe Band Contest. Final arrangements for the pipe band contest to be held in Feilding on Saturday, February 24. were made at a meeting at Feilding of the executive of the Wellington-Hawke's Bay Pipe Band Centre on Saturday evening. Piper N. Cruden (Hunterville) presided. and representatives were present from the Ruahine. Dannevirke High School. Wairarapa College, Napier, Feilding, Manawatu Scottish and Wellington Caledonian Pipe Bands. One band wrote asking for information about prize money, and it was resolved to reply stating that there was no prize money, that the awards were all trophies, and that any profit from the contest, would be divided equally among all competing bands. An insurance policy is to be taken out against rain, and a loudspeaker equipment will be installed on the racecourse for the contest.