LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 November 1940, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

National Party Caucus. A caucus of Parliamentary members of the National Party is to be held on Monday, the day before the resumption of the session of Parliament. Patriotic Queen Carnival. A queen carnival held in Gisborne to raise funds for the all purposes patriotic appeal realised £15,369. The successful candidate was Miss Margaret Williams, representing the East Coast. A total of £22,301 has now been raised in the district for the fund. “A Coward’s Castle.” “The fellow who says ‘We cannot defend New Zealand,’ lives in a coward’s castle,” said the Hon R. Semple, addressing a public meeting at Ashburton. “There is something wrong with him,” added the Minister. “Biologically, he is built like a whitebait.”

Gift of £lOOO to London Fund. Mr Ward, M.L.C., honorary secretary of the Wellington Provincial Patriotic Council, yesterday received a cheque for £lOOO from the board of directors of Messrs George H. Scales. Limited, as a donation to . the Lord Mayor of London’s fund for the relief of distress caused by enemy air raids. This donation will be forwarded immediately to London. Infectious Diseases.

For the week ended yesterday 12 cases of infectious disease and five deaths —four from pulmonary tuberculosis and one from septic abortion — were reported to the Wellington office of the Health Department from the central Wellington area. The cases were:— .Pulmonary tuberculosis (6), diphtheria (4) and erysipelas (2). “Little Stranger.”

Unique among the many donations received by the Mayor of Masterton, Mr. T. Jordan, towards the London Relief Fund, is a letter enclosing a half sovereign carefully let into a piece of cardboard, and held in place by paper posted over either side of it. Written on the card is the following message, “Herewith please find a Little Stranger, a/c. London Fund —Non-Cockney.”

Sheep Burned to Death. Trapped in a burning woolshed, 60 sheep were burned to death on the farm of Mr A. Metcalfe, of Ararua, Canterbury, recently. Several bales of crutchings and some fleeces were also destroyed, while the shed and contents were a total loss. The sheep had been penned by Mr Metcalfe preparatory to commencing shearing. ,He had just left the shed when he saw smoke coming from the building, and when the doors were opened it was found that the interior was blazing fiercely. It was impossible to release the sheep or to save the building. Farm Hand Sent to Gaol.

Charged that on November 10 they participated in the activities of a subversive organisation known as Jehovah’s Witnesses, Joseph George Matthew Prout, farm labourer, aged 23, and Brian Beresford Oliver, draughtsman and preacher, aged 25, pleaded not guilty when they appeared before Mr E. C. Levvey, S.M., in the Christchurch Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Prout was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment with hard labour, he having refused to give an undertaking to cease his activities. The charge against Oliver, an Australian, was adjourned to November 26 to give him an opportunity to leave for Australia.

Australian Slaughtermen. The Dominion president of the New Zealand Freezing Workers and Related Trades Association, Mr D. Cody, at Invercargill yesterday corrected a statement made in an Auckland message last week that interested trade unions in Australia had been advised that men’s clearances from their union would not be accepted in New Zealand. The position is, said Mr Cody, that all Australian slaughtermen who were accepted as members of the New Zealand Association last season would be accepted again as long as they wished to become members, and the freezing companies would not suffer over these men. However, no new Australian slaughtermen would be accepted as members of the association.

Public Service Salaries. “The highlight of the month was the notification by the Government that at last it had determined to increase the minimum salary for married men from £2lO 8s Id to £230 8s Id,” states the current issue of the “Public Service Journal.” “In addition to this amount married men will, of course, receive the cost of living bonus of £l3 per annum. “The result is that these employees—fortunately there are few on that low level of salary —will receive a considerable improvement in wages, and their unfortunate economic position should therefore be alleviated. Full appreciation of the Government’s favourable decision has already been extended to the Minister of Finance, Mr Nash.” Shipping Safety Regulations. First breaches of the Shipping Safety Emergency Regulations, 1940, in Auckland, resulted in Henry Jones, aged 25, labourer, and William Towson Lowther, aged 22, seaman, being each sentenced in the Auckland Magistrate’s Court to one month’s imprisonment. The police said that several days ago Lowther was granted a temporary permit to board an overseas ship to interview officers about employment. He obtained a job, retaining the permit, foolishly handed it to Jones on Saturday to board the same ship in search of a job. A constable accosted Jones at the top of the gangway. Jones admitted the facts. The magistrate, Mr Orr Walker, said both men had been guilty of conspiracy to defraud the police and shipping company. The Court must assist the police. Record Boxing Purse.

Advice has been received by the Manawatu Boxing Association that, subject to some conditions that present no difficulties, the New Zealand Boxing Council has agreed to the association's request for a special permit to exceed the purse limit set by the council's rules for the contemplated Strickland-Alabama Kid professional bout, for which the Manawatu Association has offered £BOO. In addition to this, Johnny Hutchinson, another American professional, is to be matched in a preliminary in which a pur=e of £l5O will be at stake. The total of nearly £lOOO in stakes is a record for money offered by any New Zealand association and is almost | double the previous highest, those of-I fered 10 years ago for the Pete SarronTommy Donovan bouts in New Plymouth and Wellington,