LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 November 1940, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Trophy Donated. Mr T. A. Brown, of "Waihi," Masterton. has donated a cup valued at £lO 10s for the best Romney ram lamb (unhoused section) for the forthcoming Masterton Show. The cup may be won outright by three wins, not necessarily in succession. Profit on Show. “The balance-sheet was a marvellous wind-up to our show," said the president of the Hawke’s Bay A. and P. Society, Mr C. K. White, commenting on a statement of accounts dealing with the recent spring show submitted at the monthly meeting of the society. An estimated profit of £5lB was shown, this being £ll6 less than the actual profit on last year’s show.

Railway Privileges for Evacuees. Instructions have been issued by the General Manager of Railways that refugee children from England who are taken into the homes of railway employees, and in respect of whom the employee concerned receives no financial assistance, may be granted the same free passes and privilege tickets as those granted to the children of railway employees. i

College Best Three-quarter. In the opinion of Mr W. F. Ward, a master at Wellington College during the late Mr J. P. Firth’s headmastership. the late Mr F. McGovern was the finest Rugby three-quarter the school ever had. Mr Ward expressed this view when speaking to a reunion of 1892 old boys in Wellington on Saturday. The late Mr McGovern was one of the 1892 pupils.

Bulldozer in River. When a Diesel bulldozer which was being used in land clearing on Organ’s Island, Westport! got into deep water while fording the Buller River, the driver (Mr L. Stuart) was forced to swim ashore. Securing a small boat, he returned and rescued another man on the machine, Mr R. Powell. Considerable difficulty was experienced in getting the big machine out of the river, and another bulldozer had to be brought from Seddpnville, 30 miles away, to accomplish the task. Goods Train Derailed.

The derailment of a goods train near Ohakune about 8.30 p.m. on Saturday blocked the Main Trunk railway and the express from Auckland which was due at Wellington at 7 a.m. yesterday did not arrive till 12.33 p.m. The Wel-lington-Auckland express was also considerably behind schedule. To avoid the impassable section of line in the middle of the island the expresses used the Main Trunk-Stratford line travelling via Taranaki. The Auckland-Wel-lington and Wellington-Auckland expresses were the only important trains affected. The line was cleared in time for normal running to be resumed last night. Lord’s Prayer in Schools.

The opinion that the Wellington Education Board had broken the law in introducing the Lord’s Prayer into the primary schools and that it would ultimately be compelled to rescind its decision was expressed last night in an address to members of the Wellington Rationalist Association by its vicepresident, Sir Thomas Hunter, M.A., vice-chancellor of the University of New Zealand and principal of the Victoria University College. The subject of the address was “Education: Free. Secular and Compulsory." Sir Thomas traced the development of each of these, three phases of education, remarking that there had been a tremendous battle to secure free and then compulsory education. So far as secular education was concerned, the fight was still on.

Increase in Wages. An increase in the weekly rates to bring them into line with the rate for workers employed by urban local authorities in the South Island has been granted by the Court of Arbitration in the new labourers’ award for the Wellington (except Hawke’s Bay) provincial district. The minimum rate has been fixed at 2s 5d an hour or £4 12s 6d a week. The memorandum of Mr Justice Tyndall stated: “The matters settled by the Court related to wages, equipment for men working in wet weather, holidays, and term of award. The weekly wage rate has been brought into line with the rate which has been enjoyed by workers employed by urban local authorities in the South Island as a result of agreement of the parties in 1938. In other respects the award embodies the recommendations arrived at by the parties in conciliation council. Mr Prime dissents from the decision to increase the weekly rate to £4 12s 6d, as in his opinion it constitutes a departure from the Court’s policy.”