LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 May 1940, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Loss on Year's Operations. The financial statement presented to the annual meeting of the Palmerston North branch of the Returned Soldiers' Association showed that the loss on the year's opera!ions had been £llB. Who Owns This Pigeon? A young pigeon has been found, exhausted, on the property of Mr Dougal Haycock, Cape River district, Martinborougli. It bears a race ring, and a metal ring inscribed: N.Z. 113, 39. P.J.

Masterton District Patriotic Fund. A donation of £2O from the Little Theatre Society, acknowledged yesterday should have been credited to the Masterton District Patriotic Fund and not the Provincial Fund. Hitherto, the Masterton District Fund has been known as the Mayor's Fund.

Explosion of Bitumen Drum. A drum of bitumen caught fire and exploded when being emptied into a Public. Works Department sprayer a; Palmerston (Otago). Robert Walsh, lorry driver, was burned on the arms and face, and required hospital treatment. Another man was less severely burned. Fall on Footpath.

A fracture of the base of the skull was received by Mr M. J. Whelan, pensioner, of Carlton House, Masterton. when he fell on the footpath near the Railway Hotel. Thorndon, last evening. He was taken to hospital by the Free Ambulance, and his condition last night was reported to be satisfactory.

War Loans and Donations. Additional contributions of interestfree loans and donations, bringing the total up to £1,801,053 were acknowledged yesterday by the Minister, of Finance, Mr. Nash, among them being £100.060 irom the State Fire and Accident Insurance Department, Wellington, for the duration of the war and six months afterward.

Heavy Pumpkins. The heaviest pumpkin recorded in Hawke’s Bay so far this season weighed 1501 b., and was grown by Mr. H. Wheatley, Korokipo. Mr. Wheatley went into a field of pumpkins on his farm and selected six large specimens, which were weighed in Napier. They turned the scale at 1351 b., 1431 b., 1501 b., 1451 b,, 1251 b.. and 1231 b. The six he selected were not necessarily the largest or heaviest in the crop.

Unlawful Conversion of Cars. What the magistrate described ns one of the most remarkable cases in his long experience was heard in the Nelson Magistrates’ Court, when a youth of 17 years answered 25 charges of unlawful conversion of cars, taken for joyriding and abandoned in the city. The magistrate said he realised that this converting seemed to become a mania. Something must be done to bring accused under control. He ordered detention in a Borstal Institute for two years. Exhibition Attendances. The total of two and a half million visitors should be recorded by the turnstiles at the Centennial Exhibition today. A further 21.632 visitors yesterday brought the total of attendances up to 2,484,572, which is only 15,428 short of two and a half million. As attendances in the past fortnight have seldom fallen below 20.000, it seems certain that this figure will easily be attained today. It is thought likely that a further 100.000 will be recorded before the close of the week —which is the close of the Exhibition.

Examiners Lack of Responsibility. The Executive Committee of the Senate of the University of New Zealand recently considered a report of the investigation into the marking of scripts in the University Entrance arithmetic examination for 1939, and passed the following motion:—That the executive committee record its strong disapproval of the lack of responsibility and of reasonable care, shown by examiners of arithmetic in the 1939 University Entrance examinations, and recommends Senate to debar each of them from acting as examiner in any entrance examination during the pleasure of the Senate, but in no case for less than five years.

New Political Party. Mr. A. E. Day. formerly organiser for the Reform. United and Democrat political parties, has been appointed as organiser for the People's Movement. the new political party which has had its genesis in Wellington. Confirming the appointment, Mr. E. R. Toop (president) of the People’s Movement, said: “Mr. Davy has been ap-' pointed outside organiser. That is all. He has been with us only very recently.” Mr. Davy, who was an organiser for the Reform Party before he linked up with the United Party, first became prominent in 1930, when he was chairman of the executive of the United Party. , Wages and Cost of Living. Arising out of an application by the Federation of Labour to the Court of Arbitration for a fixture for the hearing of a general ease, in which (he Court would be asked to make an order for an immediate and simultaneous increase in all award wages to meet the increased cost of living, a conference between employers and manufacturers’ representatives and the federation lias been held in Wellington. The decision of the conference was that representations be made to the Government to introduce legislation empowering the Court to amend the wage provisions of awards, taking into consideration the cost of living and economic circumstances generally, such amendments to be reviewed at not less than six-monthly periods. Game Shooting Season. Commenting on the prospects for the game shooting season to be opened on Saturday. May 4, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Mi'. Parry, predicted last evening, that so far as the Rotorua, district was concerned, sportsmen woqld enjoy Ihe best season for ground birds for the last 20 years. The liberations from the game farm at Ngongalaha over the last three years, combined with the young birds produced by natural breeding had. he said, so well stocked the territory as to malic the forecast safe. There was more than the usual interest, the Minister added, taken in this year's shooting season. The opening having been fixed for Saturday would enable shooters who were unable to leave their employment to enjoy the sport during week days to have full sway over the first weekend of the season.