LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 July 1941, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

E.P.S. Drill Unit. A reminder is given of the parade of the E.P.S. drill unit to be held in the Municipal Buildings at 7 o’clock tonight. Heavy Frosts. Heavy frosts were recorded in Masterton at the weekend---16.5 degrees yesterday morning and 15.6 degrees today. Sunday’s frost was the heaviest experienced this winter. Taxi Driver’s Death. Mr John A, Belsey, aged 55, taxi driver, died in Dunedin on Saturday night while taking a passenger from the city to Caversham. Feeling unwell, he stopped the car and died while assistance was being obtained. Meningitis Cases. The diagnosis of the two suspected cases of meningitis, one from Rotorua military camp and the second from Ngaruawahia camp, has shown that each case was positive. The two men are stated to be progressing favourably. The case from Rotorua was admitted to Rotorua Hospital on Friday and that from Ngaruawahia to Waikato Hospital on Thursday. Following the placing of a ban on leave and visitors to Ngaruawahia camp, a similar ban has been enforced on the camp at Rotorua. The official view is that the cases are isolated ones. Canning of Meat. The progress made to date in developing the canning of meat for export was referred to by the Minister of Marketing, Mr Barclay, in Wellington on Saturday. Machinery for canning of primary products was on order from the United States at a cost of between £40,000 and £50,000, said Mr Barclay, and buildings for this industry were being constructed in association with export freezing works which would cost about £200,000. “The Government is responsible for this expenditure,” added the Minister, “and these facilities will be available in time for the coming export season.” Food for United Kingdom. The very large quantity of primary products sent from New Zealand to the United Kingdom in less than two years of war, and the saving of time on the waterfront under the co-opera-tive contract system wefe reviewed by the Minister of Marketing, Mr Barclay in an address last night. He said it was estimated that there had been a saving of at least two days on every vessel. Since the war began, Mr Barclay said, New Zealand had shipped to the United Kingdom 254,000 tons of butter, 210,000 tons of cheese, 598,000 tons of meat, and had sold to Britain 1,600,000 bales of wool. This represented enough butter to make a wall 6ft high from Auckland to Wellington, enough wool to form a continuous line from North Cape to Stewart Island, enough cheese to extend over 1000 miles, and seven times more meat than the weight of the world’s largest liner, the Queen Elizabeth.