LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 May 1940, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

W.F.C.A. Staff Donations. Although the appeal for contributions to the Fighting Services' Fund closed recently a further instalment of £l3 contributed by the staff of the W.F.C.A.. Ltd., has been forwarded, making the total subscribed by the staff, £44 Ils 4d. War Expenses Fund. Interest free loans and donations for war purposes, bringing the total to £1,812,243, were acknowledged yesterday by the Minister of Finance, Mr Nash. The amounts included one of £6OO from the Wairarapa Returned Soldiers’ Association, Masterton for the duration of the war. Young Farmers In Army. Members of Young Farmers’ Clubs serving with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in Egypt are continuing to take an interest in and to keep in touch with the organisation. A letter received in Palmerston North says members attached to the first echelon have already formed a club, and are holding regular meetings. Car Conversion Charge. On a charge of unlawfully convertnig a car owned by Mr A. Caselberg. of Masterton, a young man, a recent arrival from Hawke’s Bay, wh<? appeared before the Magistrate’s Court yesterday was remanded to Wellington. Mr L. J. Taylor, J.P., was on the bench. Bail was fixed at £lOO in accused’s own recognisance, and two sureties of £5O each. He was arrested by Detective-Sergeant W. Kane. Patriotic Gathering. Scots and old time dancing will be a feature of a grand patriotic gathering to be held by the St Andrew Society at the Masterton Municipal Hall on Saturday, May 18. Barnes’s Orchestra and the Society’s Pipe Band will be in attendance. The net proceeds will be donated to the Wellington Provincial Patriotic Fund, to be devoted primarily to the Pipe Band Fund of the Well-ington-Hawke's Bay Battalion, Third Echelon. Heron at Methven. A white heron, a rare visitor to the district, made its appearance on the property of Mr. A. H. Sandrey at Methven the other afternoon. The heron was first noticed in a pond with the ducks about 3 p.m. It remained there all the afternoon and at dusk, when fowls were entering their pen, the heron followed them in. The bird, which is reported to be a splendid specimen, was kept in captivity for a day or so to permit any interested persons to see it.

Women’s Land Army. Opposition to the suggestion that a women’s land army be formed in New Zealand was expressed at a meeting of the Waikato executive of the Farmers’ Union. Mr. J. H. Furniss said it was ridiculous to urge girls to work on farms when there were young men in shops doing work women could easily do. When no young men were available consideration could be given to the employment of women. Mrs. J. Courtney said what the Women’s Division of the union really wanted was help in the homes. The division did not consider a women’s land army was necessary. Mice are Dangerous. Ordinary house mice have been found to be the carriers of a serious brain disease —lymphocytic choriomeningitis—according to a report published in Washington by the public health service. Spreading of the malady by infected rodents has been suspected, but research by Dr Charles Armstrong, a staff surgeon, and Dr Lewis K. Sweet, a children’s specialist has proved it beyond doubt, states the report. After the disease had been identified in two patients, mouse traps were set in their house. Three of five mice trapped were found to harbour the virus. How the germ is transmitted from mice to man has not been discovered. The Forty-Hour Week. Regret that no general appeal had been made to the people of New Zealand that they share in the sacrifice which was being asked of the men who were to fight for them in the field, was expressed by Mr R. Sievers in his presidential address yesterday to the annual meeting of the Makara-Hutt Valley branch of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union. “Surely it is unfair and most unwise that the soldiers should be asked to make heavy sacrifices while other sections of the community are not asked to make any sacrifices at all,” said Mr Sievers. “Surely it is an opportune time to ask, is the 40-hour week reconcilable with a real war effort by this Dominion?” Donation Returned. The Pahiatua County Council has had the unusual experience of having a donation returned. When arrangements were being made for children of the schools of the Bush district to visit the Centennial Exhibition the county made a grant to assist children of poorer parents to make the trip, and of this sum £1 was given to the Mangatainoka committee. At its meeting on Thursday the council received a letter from the chairman of the Mangatainoka committee, Mr N. Power, thanking the council for its donation, but as the amount raised locally. £42 Is 9d, had more than covered the expenses, the county’s donation had been returned. “The Hour of Destiny has Come.” “This grave news is the tolling of a great bell telling us that the hour of destiny for the British Empire and Christian civilisation has come, that ‘■the war has begun and there will be no stopping till it is over,” said the Bishop of Wellington, the Rt Rev H. St Barbe Holland, at the annual meeting of the New Zealand Bible in Schools League last night when he referred to the latest German invasions. At this moment of utmost gravity they must commend to God those that day confronted with a great attack and the men of France and their own Empire as they went forward to help those small invaded countries. In God’s hand was victory and to Him they committed their cause, praying that they might be worthy of it and Him. ’Tis the children teach the parents (It was so in days of old), And, among some other matters, How to cure a cough or cold! What are all the old-time nostrums Of tradition oft obscure When compared to modern treatment Such as Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure. 9