LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 November 1940, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

R.S.A. Membership. The membership of the Wairarapa Returned Soldiers' Association has increased to 763. Centennial Anniversary. Flags are flying on the Masterton Post Office and on other public buildings in Masterton today in celebration of the New Zealand Centennial Anniversary.. Knox Ladies’ Social Guild.

The monthly meeting of Knox Ladies’ Social Guild was held at the residence of Mrs. W. B. Gaskin. Colombo Road, Masterton. After the business of the meeting had been completed, afternoon tea was served by the hostesses Mrs. Gray and Miss Guild. A competition was won by Mrs. Pickering. A “Bring and Buy" stall was held for patriotic purposes. , Mail for Soldiers.

Figures supplied last evening by the Postmaster-General, Mr Webb, indicate that, if there is any complaint from the Dominion’s fighting forces overseas of lack of news or comforts from their homes, the fault does not lie with their correspondents in this country or with the New Zealand Post Office. Since the beginning of the year, over - 400 tons of mail matter for the troops have been dispatched from New Zealand, the volume practically doubling itself each quarter.

No Pictures on Christmas Night. An application by Amalgamated Theatres Ltd. and Hawke’s Bay Amusements Ltd. for permission to show pictures at Hastings theatres on Christmas night, was refused at a meeting of the Hastings Borough Council. In a letter to the council the secretary of the New Zealand Theatrical and Places of Amusement Union expressed the opinion that theatre employees should be free to spend Christmas Day and evening with relatives and friends. He asked that the council refrain from granting permission to show pictures on Christmas Day.

Westport Coal Company. The fifty-ninth annual report of the directors of the Westport Coal Company, Ltd., states that the profit for the year, after providing for bad and doubtful debts, depreciation and all charges, and making provision for £lOOO for the staff provident fund, amounts to £23,193, to which must be added the sum of £13,791, brought forward from last year, making a total of £36,984. An interim dividend of 6d a share was paid for the half-year ended March 31, £11,250, leaving a balance to be dealt with of £25,734. Out of this the directors now propose to pay a dividend of 6d a share for the half-year ended September 3, £11.250, and to carry forward to next year’s account £14,484.

Gifts For Sedgley Home. The matron of Sedgley Home acknowledges with grateful thanks receipt of the following gifts:—Sheep, Mr. H. H. Mawley, Mr. Groves, Miss Jessie Morrison; potatoes, Rev W. F. Stent; jam, Mrs. S. Fletcher, Mr. H. Reid, Mrs. G. Oliver; dripping. Mr. Long, Mrs. S. L. P. Free; plates, Miss Brown; papers, Mrs. Hyde; buns, Clarke’s Bakery; plants, Mr. Hallam; biscuits, Mrs. Willoughby; rabbits, Mr. N. C. C. Shepherd; cakes, Mesdames E. F. Barton, W. F. McLaren, D. James, A. L. Yates. H. G. Alexander, Miller Hope, E. J. Coleman, Misses Colquhoun. and Hodges; St. Matthew's Guild, St. Mark’s Sunday School (Carterton). Eketahuna Borough Ladies’ Committee; entertainments, pictures, Mr. H. Reid. Orchestral Society Concert; loan of horses for farm work, Mr. D. E. Williams, Mr. G. Graves; cups and saucers, Mr. J. Ninnes.

Ban on Slaughtermen. A decision not to countenance the employment of Australian slaughtermen in Dominion freezing works while compulsory military service is in force in New Zealand, has been reached by the executive of the New Zealand Freezing Workers' and Related Trades Association. There had been a fairly large influx of slaughtermen from Australia each season for many years, the men usually arriving in the Dominion in November in time for the commencement of the lamb and mutton season, stated a representative of the union. Slaughtermen arriving in the Dominion had to produce a union clearance before they could be employed in freezing works. In normal times no exception was taken to this practice, but in view of the different conditions in New Zealand and Australia in regard to military service, it was felt that some effort should be made to protect local workers.

School Dental Service. The birth of the New Zealand School Dental Service as a result of deficiencies shown in the Great War was explained by Mr H. M. McCutcheon, district supervisor, at the opening of the new clinic at the Elmwood School, Canterbury. The loss of manpower through dental disease was one of the nation’s greatest weaknesses during the last war, he said. Important steps towards remedying this position had been made in the years between, but the present dental examinations of recruits showed that there was still much to be desired. About 70 per cent of the men required treatment, and a big proportion of the men in the army had dentures. Even now, nearly 100 per cent of New Zealand’s children required some form of dental treatment, but by educational methods and the School Dental Service, the position would be gradually rectified, Mr McCutcheon said.

Legal Advice for Motorists. A decision to inaugurate a free legal advice and defence service for members of the Automobile Association (Otago) was made by a meeting of the executive of the association this week. The subject had been fully investigated by a special sub-committee, and the meeting instructed the sub-committee to complete details of the scheme and to report back to the executive. After a full discussion in committee it was pointed out that the proposed free service extended only to prosecutions or proposed prosecutions by the police or by local authorities in summary cases relating to motor-vehicles under the regulations or by-laws, that it did not extend to inquests, the preliminary hearing of trial of indictable offences, to charges of intoxication, or to prosecutions under the heavy traffic regulations. It was made clear, particularly, that the service did not extend to civil litigation in any shape or form, and that it did not cover witnesses' expenses. "This is the first association in the. South Island to adopt this scheme," said the president (Mr 11.I 1 . W. Breen), but it has been most successful in the Norte Island. It should be appreciated by members.”