LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 May 1940, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Frost In Masterton. A frost of 1.7 degrees was registered in Masterton this miming. Exhibition Attendances. The Centennial Exhibition attendances continue to mount steadily toward the climax tomorrow. Yesterday s visitors numbered 25,991, bringing the total up to 2,533,320. a daily average ol 16.665. R.S.A. Donation. A decision to give £290 to the National Patriotic Fund Board for the rehabilitation of the men of the new army was made yesterday by the annual conference of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association. Rugby Activities Curtailed. The recommendation of the council of the New Zealand Rugby Union that no international tours, Ranfurly Shield matches, Prince of Wales Cup matches or North Island-South Island matches be played for the duration of the war. was carried at the annual meeting of the New Zealand union held in Wellington yesterday. Iron Lungs for Hospital. Two iron lung respirators, the gift of Lord Nuffield, have arrived at the Christchurch Public Hospital. They are sent in accordance with his decision anounced some time ago to give iron lungs to hospitals in all parts of the Empire. The North Canterbury Hospital Board received a report that the only cost to the board was the freight between Lyttelton and Christchurch, and an f.o.b. charge of £l6 7s Gd. The board decided to thank Lord Nuffield for his generosity. License Fees for Trucks Reduced. A reduction of 50 per cent, in the licence fees for trucks used by farmers and market gardeners is provided for in regulations gazetted last night. They state that any light truck up to four tons laden weight, if owned by a farmer or market gardener and used exclusively for his own business purposes, will qualify for a reduction of 50 per cent, in the heavy traffic fees normally payable. At the same time, it is announced that the heavy traffic , provisions in respect to such trucks will now be universally enforced. Hamilton Man's Offer. An offer of £5OO sterling, available in London for the use of the 7th Antitank Regiment of the New Zealand Artillery if the unit proceeded at any time to the Empire capital, was made yesterday by Mr F. W. Burley, Hamilton, to Captain W. Knox, officer commanding the regiment. In addition Mr Burley handed to Captain Knox £2O for the canteen fund of the regiment for use on the journey overseas. Mr Burley said the offer had been made as an appreciation of Captain Knox, who served in the Great War, and of the volunteers of the unit. Huge Block of Marble. An unusually large block of fawncoloured Whangarei marble, weighing 6:1 tons, has arrived at Dunedin, for use in facing the inner walls of the reconstructed entrance to the Town Hall. The scheme involves removing a ' flight of steps and building a portico with columns of polished Coromandel granite. Whangarei marble has been put on the staircase walls of the Dunedin Post Office, and the pairs of columns at each end of the entrance hall of the Auckland railway station have also been made of the marble. Illicit Shooting of Ducks. “More poaching and more illicit shooting of ducks is going on now than for years past,” said Mr E. L. Wyles at a meeting of the council of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society. “Most of us realised that the short season would result in a great deal more illicit shooting, and from what I hear about the amount of shooting going on it appears that some people are not going to be done out of their shooting, whether there is a short season or not.” Mr H. Harris urged that more be done to stop illicit shooting of ducks, which had been considerable in the last three weeks.

Emergency Scout Parade. The slumbers of many boys in Invercargill were rudely disturbed one morning recently, when they were roused at 7 o'clock for an emergency parade of boy scouts. The results of the parade, of which 'no warning had been given, were highly satisfactory, 100 boys responding promptly to the call, and being allotted precise duties such as might be necessary in any emergency in the city. The object of the test was to see how rapidly the scouts of the city could be rallied. The commissioner (Mr. G. E. T. Dorman) sent out at 7 a.m. a call to ail scouters. Each troop had already prepared a scheme of communication among its own boys. but. the actual day and hour of the call were known only to the scouters. Photographers Beware.

It is apparently not generally realised that the taking of photographs of objects likely to be of military importance is an offence under the Photography Emergency Regulations. Cases have come to the notice of the authorities of unauthorised photographs having been taken of military objects in Wellington. Under the regulations a permit must first be obtained before a photograph can be taken of any fortification, aerodrome barracks, arsenal, telegraph station, warships or ship exclusively used for war purposes, or defensively equipped merchant vessel. any aircraft, or other object of military significance. A similar prohibition applies to the making of sketches of such objects. As unauthorised photographs may become useful to the enemy, it was stated in official quarters that it was imperative that the regulations should be strictly observed. Incidentally, heavy penalties are provided for breaches of the regulations;