LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 March 1941, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Oyster Dispute. It is unofficially reported in Dunedin that the oyster dispute is approaching settlement. The count of 60 dozen to the sack which the men sought is reported not to have been favoured by the commission and that quantity regardless of number will continue to rule. The men have been granted an increase for their product. A Street Closed.

A statement that it had become necessary to close Kingsford Smith Street for two reasons, one being to provide for greater security for the buildings at the Air Force Station at Rongotai, and the other to enable the flying field to be extended westward to the eastern wall of the main exhibition buildings, was made last night by the Minister of Defence, Mr. Jones. Escaped Prisoners Sentenced.

The two prisoners, Ernest Arthur Tremere Johnstone and Stanley Clive Bernasconi, who jumped from the Limited express near Taumarunui on Thursday morning, appeared handcuffed before the magistrate, Mr. Levien, at the Auckland S.M. Court yesterday and pleaded guilty to escaping. Johnstone was sentenced to . six months’ imprisonment and Bernasconi to three months. Monkey Still at Large.

The last of the 17 Javan macaque monkeys that escaped from the Wellington Zoo three weeks ago is still at liberty. A few days ago its remaining companion was enticed into an enclosure by the offer of food, was trapped, and taken back to rejoin the 15 other escapees previously recaptured in their cage. The last truant, however, profited by the lesson of his companion’s misfortune, and has since showed the utmost caution in his dealings with men. He is still living in the neighbourhood of the Zoo. Good Angling Year. j The opinion that the 1940-41 fishing l season, now drawing to a close, has been one of the best for many years, was expressed yesterday by the secretary of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society, Mr. E. J. C. Wiffin. He said that good angling had been general, and he had not met an angler this season who was dissatisfied with the sport. He had heard of a number of good fish being taken, of which the test was a 12-pound trout reported to have been taken in the Hutt River near Moiling. Fined for Assault. Slating that he thought that he had caught a party of larrikins who had been throwing stones on his r’oof, Charles Camperdown Odlin, a timber merchant, Paremata, was convicted in the Magistrate’s Court, Wellington, yesterday on a charge of assault a youth named Kenneth Vere Shute. He was fined £5, Mr J. L. Stout, S.M., ordering hal fthe fine to be paid to Shute. A further charge against Odlin of assaulting Samuel Francis Chilies was dismissed, the magistrate stating that he was not satisfied that the assault was unprovoked. Address-in-Reply. v The Address-in-Reply debate in the House of Representatives will probably begin- on the evening of Tuesday week. Parliament is to be opened on Wednesday by the Governor-General, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Cyril Newall, and if it. suits the convenience of members a secret session is to be held on Thursday to give members the opportunity of discussing the war situation generally and New Zealand’s war effort. The Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser, stated yesterday that the mover of the Address-in-Reply to his Excellency’s speech would be Mr. Lowry (Otaki) and the seconder Mr. Tikikatene (Southern Maori). Woman Herd Tester. There has been a satisfactory response to the appeal for young women recruits for the Women’s Herd Testing Reserve, which will be drawn upon to replace male testing officers called up for service in the Armed Forces. It was stated by Mr. S. J. Sheaf, general manager of the Auckland Herd Improvement Association, that 40 selected applicants had begun a fortnight's course of training at Massey College on February 27. A similar number would begin a second course immediately after the first one i ended on March 13. The New Zealand Dairy Board had undertaken to pay the tuition fees and travelling expenses of those selected for training. Of the 'BO women now training or about to train, the majority would take up their duties in August.

Speaker Arrested. To isolated cries of “Give him a fair go,” "Where’s our freedom of speech,” and "It’s a disgrace,” a man said to be a member of the Christian Pacifist Society was interrupted by two detectives when beginning a public speech in Manners Street, Wellington, last night, and taken to the Taranaki Street - Police Station, where a charge was preferred against him. He was released on bail and is to appear in the Magistrates' Court next. Monday morning. About 100 people, mostly young men, gathered about the speaker who, after quoting some verses from the Bible, began to make reference to the war. He had not gone far when two detectives approached him. The detective asked him whether he intended to go away, whereupon the speaker made another effort to address his gathering. The two detectives then took an arm each and conducted him to the police station. Coal Supplies.

Denying any inference from the list of subjects discussed by the Government with Mr. 11. L. Anthony, Assistant Minister of Commerce and Finance in the Australian Commonwealth Government, that coal importations from Australia were to be increased, the Minister of Mines. Mr. Webb, said in an interview yesterday that the intention was Io produce every (on of coal needed for the country in the Dominion. "I pointed out to Mr. Anthony that our iuleuliun was to produce all the coal needed for our own requirements," said Mr. Webb. "However, a number of gasworks with vertical retorts which require non-swelling coals, have fotind the Australian coals more suitable, but adjustments are being made Io many of those plants to enable them Io use local coal. I told Mr. Anthony that 1 could not see any possibility of increasing importations; to the contrary. I was looking forward to an early reduction of imported coal.”

In ioday’s issue the Railway Department advertises cheap fares and train arrangements in connection with the races ai Trentham on March 13 and 15.