LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 January 1941, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

| Hot Day on Saturday. 1 The shade temperature in Masterton I cn Saturday was 89.1 degrees, a record • for this summer. ' A Costly Error. A Napier visitor last week mistook a j £5O note for a 10s. note and accepted ; chance for 10s. after having made a j purchase. He later realised his mis- ' take, but so far the £5O has not been | traced. I Weraroa Escapees. ; Five boys in residence at the Werai roa Training Farm who were members of a picnic party at Otaki Beach yesterday have absented themselves and their present whereabouts are unknown. Successful Fishing Parties. Masterton fishermen had an excellent time yesterday fishing in the rivers and off the East Coast, large quantities of hapuka. principally, being caught. One party captured a number of sharks in their net. including one over seven feet long. Bather Drowned. Jack Denison, aged 16. railway cadet, whose parents live in Temuka. was drowned yesterday while bathing with another lad. George Muirden. at Allday Bay. between Hampden and Oamaru. Neither could swim and Denison got out of his depth and disappeared. Attempts at rescue failed. The body has not yet been recovered. Holiday Bowling. Holiday bowling in Wellington concluded on Saturday with the final of the Wellington centre New Year pairs tournament, which was won by Morris and Silbory iPetone) from Tucker and Lawrie (.Victoria). 24-20. The two sides were nock and neck throughout

the game and there was an exciting finish. The weather was again brilliantly sunny and hot. and the Thorndon green, where the game was play- j ed, was keener than usual at this time, of the season. Greyhound Association. At the first annual conference of the newly-formed North Island Greyhound Association, dates for both sections of the sport, coursing and racing were allocated by the conference and it was decided to allot the following classics: —-N.Z. Greyhound Racing Championship. Danncvirke, Easter Saturday. April 12; North Island Coursing Cup (64 dogs at £4 4s. each), Wairarapa Coursing Club, June 25, 2G and 27: Northern Oaks and Derby, Hawke’s Bay Coursing Club; Northern St. j Leger, Wairarapa. It was decided that ! < the permanent headquarters be situat-I f ed at Hastings. . < i Pine Plantation Destroyed. Fire which broke out in the early • hours of yesterday morning destroyed a pine plantation of some acres on the property of Mrs. V. L. Barnes, Taita

Gorge. An area estimated at 15 acres, about half of it being in pine trees in various stages of growth, was swept by the fire, which started alongside the road through the gorge and burned up the hill. The flames surrounded Nirs Barnes’s house, a two-story building at the end of a long drive, and would have destroyed it but for the exertions of members of the Lower Hutt Fire Brigade and the recently formed 1 Stokes Valley Fire Brigade, which war j answering its first call. An Unusual Fire. A window-blind caught fire in an unusual way in a residence in Rochdale Street. Fendnlton. Christchurch. The occupant of the house noticed a small patch of the blind burst into flame. Immediately afterwards another patch burst into flame. On ininvestigation it was found that the sun shining through the bevelled centre of a leadlight window had caused the blind to catch fire. The occupant considers himself lucky, as it is the custom of the household to be away at this time of the year. On making! inquiries from the Fire Brigade, he: found that a crystal vase could have: the same effect as the bevelled window had. in causing fire. High Birthrate in Pahiatua.

There has been an increase in the number of births in the Pahiatua registration district each year since 1937. According to figures supplied by the registrar, 136 babies were registered during 1940. a number which repre-■ sents a birthrate of 30 per 1000 of pop- j ulation. which is well above the na- j tional rate. One hundred and twenty- ! seven infants were registered in 1939 | In the year 1940 44 marriages and 43 j deaths were recorded, the correspond-j ng figures for the previous year being : 45 and 36 respectively. In December.! 1940. the statistics show 14 births, three’ marriages and three deaths, while fori the corresponding period of 1939 the! figures were 12 births, six marriages : and six deaths.