NEWS AND NOTES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 November 1940, Page 8

NEWS AND NOTES

VARIOUS ITEMS OF INTEREST Takapuna Water. “Fresh Takapuna water, guaranteed straight from the tap,” was the description on a card beside a pint bottle displayed in a Queen Street shop window yesterday. The bottle contained rather cloudy fluid with about half an inch of black sediment at the bottom. Lightly Valued, Bicycles are possessions which, in Invercargill, are apparently held very lightly by their owners. If they are missing, little or no effort is made to recover them. This is the impression gained by the police, who have in their possession no fewer than three dozen bicycles found abandoned this year and for which no inquiry has been made. Some at least are good machines which have been kept in excellent order and have reasonably new tyres. In February of each year a sale of unclaimed property is held by the police, and it is usual for the accumulation to include several bicycles. On no previous occasion, however, has so large a number of machines come into the hands of the police within a few months. When the petrol restrictions were first imposed bicycles were in keen demand, but the machines are apparently not now valued so highly. First Aid Outfits Required. Relatives and friends who contemplate sending parcels to the forces in Egypt will be interested to know just what the soldiex’ really requires. An Aucklander serving “somewere in the desert,” writes: “The only thing that is ‘hard to come by here’ seems to be bandages, and so if you could possibly send a small first aid outfit it would be greatly appreciated. Scratches and sores of all sorts seem to poison very quickly here. I have been lucky, though, as any scratches I receive heal up without any bother." Lesson in Thrift.

Mr Thomas Jones, English farm labourer, of Wilden, near Stourport-on-Severn, never earned more than 12s or 14s a week in his life. Yet so frugal were his habits that he lived on half a crown a week, saved 10s a week throughout his working life, and left several hundred pounds. When he died he made Mr Baldwin, father of Earl Baldwin, trustee of a fund to entertain the children of Wilden each year, provided they sang a hymn over his grave on the anniversary of his birthday. That was 40 years ago. The children have always fulfilled Mr Jones’s bequest. Earl Baldwin is now trustee of the fund.

Seed Wheat Sales. Seed merchants in Christchurch are almost unanimous that they sold less seed wheat this season than for a long time, in spite of the increase in the area from'ls9,ooo acres last year to an estimate of 285,000 acres this season. The explanation is that farmers, who looked ahead to a big sowing, kept much bigger stocks of seed wheat of their own. Big quantities of seed have recently been returned to merchants after spring sowing was impossible. Several growers in the Amberley district sent back seventy to a hundred sacks apiece, a sack being sufficient to sow two acres.

Dependants and Army Service. Widows and wives who appealed for exemption for their sons and husbands from Territorial service would, in many cases, be better off financially with separation and other Army allowances, it was pointed out by Mr G. T. Thurston at a sitting of the Christchurch Man-Power Committee. The board considered two appeals from widows, who stated that their sons were their sole financial support, and Mr Thurston said that if the appellants familiarised themselves with the payments available in respect of Army trainees, they would save the board a good deal of time and themselves a lot of anxiety.

Untraced Balloted Men. It is estimated that about 200 of the Northern Military District men drawn in the first ballot fox’ service with the Territorial Forces have not responded to notices calling them to medical examinations. In some cases this is thought to be due to the fact that the reservists have changed theii’ addresses without notifying the Army or National Service authorities, but it is suspected that some have deliberately overlooked the notices. It is pointed out that failure to present himself fox’ examination makes a reservist liable to trial and punishment for the offence of desertion or of absenting himself without leave. Tn the last war such mexx were gazetteu as defaulters. Nursery School.

“The nursery school at Papanui is now well established, and it is so popular’ that it has a waiting list. Parents pay Is. a day towards the cost, and as this covers the midday meal and other- refreshments fox’ the children seem very happy indeed and tears are rarely seen. They eat well and have their’ afternoon rest very contentedly. This extract from the report of the principal (Dr. D. E. Hansen) brought favourable comment from members of the Board of Governors of the Christchurch Technical College.

Rimu for Butter Boxes. “During the past few months, the dairy industry has found it necessary to use sap rimu fox- butter boxes, owing to the shortage of white pine,” said Mr. J. W. Callwell, chairman of the West Coast Sawmillers’ Association at Christchurch. “In the past four months a total of ovex - 1.500,000 superficial feet of this class of timbex- has been supplied, and the Timber Controller - has now instructed that a further’ 2,000,000 superficial feet must be supplied immediately to the three chief box-making firms in the North Island. It is estimated that 20 per - cent, of the West Coast production of rimu is suitable for this work, and on that basis, the quantity produced fox - butter box making should be about 1,000,000 superficial feet a month. Timber of suitable quality can only be produced from the West Coast, owing to the North Island rimu carrying a large proportion of heart. Even a small trace of heart will make the timber unsuitable foxbutter boxes.”