LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 March 1940, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Cricket Postponed. For the second week in succession no cricket was played in the Wairarapa on Saturday. The day was fine but the heavy rain of the previous day had soaked the ground so much that it was too wet for cricket. Hare Drive. The Masterton Coursing Club held a successful hare drive yesterday, eleven hares being secured. Members report that hares are not so plentiful this season. Two previous drives were unsuccessful. Trampers at Castlepoint. A party of 19 members of the Hutt Valley Tramping Club, and a member of the Wairarapa Tramping Club spent ar enjoyable weekend at Castlepoint. The weather was all that could be desired and opportunity was taken to thoroughly explore the coastline. Woman’s Body Found. Lying face downward with her head on the sand, the partly-submerged body of Miss Elizabeth Robson, aged 07, New Plymouth, was found in the Te Henui stream yesterday morning. A hat and a walking-stick were on the sandbank above. There were- no witnesses of the tragedy. Redding Shield Regatta.

Under almost ideal conditions the Wellington Rowing Association's twentieth annual Redding Shield regatta was held on the Oriental Bay course on Wellington Harbour on Saturday afternoon. In several of the races there were exciting finishes. Star, holders of the shield, and Petone tied for the trophy, which they will hold jointly for the next 12 months. The shield points were: Star 29; Petone 29; Wellington 19.

Yachts Capsize. The crews of three yachts had unenviable experiences when their craft were capsized on Wellington harbour by the gusty north-westerly wind yesterday. The crew of the Red, an Idle Along class yacht, was in the water for about an hour and a half and a member of the crew of the other yacht, the 14-footer, Kio, collapsed after being picked up. Artificial respiration had to be applied.

Control of Ragwort. After several years of experiment, control of a large area of infested land in the Putaruru district is claimed to have been secured through the introduction of the ragwort seed fly. It was stated by Mr A. A. Riggir. on whose property at Putaruru the work lias been carried out. that the fly had become acclimatised to New Zealand conditions, and full satisfaction with the results had been expressed by Dr D. Miller, entomologist at the Cawthron Institute. Nelson.

Relations With Canada. “The Prime Minister of Canada is extremely anxious to strengthen the bonds that unite Canada and New Zealand," said Dr W. A. Riddell, new-ly-appointed Canadian High Commissioner to New Zealand, on his arrival in Auckland from Vancouver. Dr Riddell, who will make his headquarters in Wellington, is accompanied by Mrs Riddell, their son and two daughters. A representative gathering of Government and civic authorities welcomed Dr Riddell. Storm Damages Ships.

A storm that was described as Hie worst encountered in 14 years was recently experienced by a passenger liner shortly after leaving Vancouver for New Zealand and Australia. Cabins were flooded and the damage included the smashing of a rail in the forecastle by mountainous seas. Many of the passengers were confined to their cabins with sickness. Many other vessels, mainly belonging to United Stales companies, had similar experiences, and were delayed as much as two days on voyages between San Francisco and Hawaii. At least one ship had to be towed to port because of damaged steering gear. Theatre Manners.

The Masterton picture public as a rule show themselves to be really appreciative of a good film but at a screening m one of the theatres on Saturday night the audience had to put up with the stupid remarks of a quartette practically right through, a highly dramatic film. To the audience as a whole this was particularly annoying, especially in view of the fact Riat the film was one which could quite easily apply to events happening Today. It is to be hoped that the people concerned wilt remember that there are others in a theatre besides themselves who have paid to be entertained but not by the childish prattle indulged in ov commentators in the audience.

Swimming Records. A number of Wellington Swimming Centre records were broken at the Wellington Club's carnival at Te Aro baths on Saturday afternoon. A feature of the carnival was the line swimming of F. Pennington and R. Hatchwell, botli of whom broke Wellington centre records. Pennington clipped lllsee oil the 880 yards freestyle record, and Hatchwell lowered the 100 yards record by I, 2-ssee. which is -l-ssec outside N. Crump's (Auckland) New Zealand record. Tile Wellington Club relay team won the Walker and Hall Hying squadron for the sixth successive lime, breaking the previous record time for the race. The ion yards secondary schoolboys' championship revealed a promising .junior swimmer io .1. Wall. St Patrick's College. Wellinglon. He also broke the record lor Iho race by 2sec. The Wellington College relay team beat their previous Maxwell Trophy secondary schoolboys' relay record time by 1 2-ssec.