LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 December 1941, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Frost in Masterton. A frost of 6 degrees was registered in Masterton this morning. Gold Mining Return. A Greymouth telegram states that the Maori Gold dredge returned 71 ounces for 117 hours from 9400 yards. Change of Name. i At the annual meeting of the Pahiatua Progressive Association it was decided to change the name to the Pahiatua Chamber of Commerce. Mr W. T. Brown has been elected president. Garden Open to Public. The beautiful garden of Mrs W. A. Burling, Roberts Road, Lansdowne, was opened to the public on Saturday and yesterday, when a collection was taken in aid of the Soldiers’ Parcels Fund. There was' a fairly good attendance of the public yesterday afternoon and the many attractive features of the garden were greatly admired. Births at Newtown Zoo. With the birth of five Royal Malayan tiger cubs two months ago, an era of quintuplets was inaugurated for the Newtown Zoo, Wellington, for within the last few days two more sets of quintuolets have made their arrival. Yesterday was an exceptionally busy day for the curator, Mr C. J. Cutler, who was called upon to attend the births of a llama and five Siberian dogs. > “A Piece of Infernal Impudence.” The recent request for more petrol for holiday motorists was described as “a piece of infernal impudence” by Mr Perry, M.L.C., Dominion president of the New Zealand Returned Services’ Association, addressing members of the Makara Battalion of the Home Guard at Karori Park yesterday afternoon. Some people didn’t seem to real-, ise or care, said Mr Perry, that on the outcome of the present’ struggle depended the survival of Christianity. They should help to defend it by foregoing that extra petrol.

No Bankruptcies. No bankruptcies were recorded in the Wairarapa last month, making a clean sheet for the past three months. Prior to that four had been recorded this year. Building Permits. In November the Masterton Borough Council issued 6 building permits for an estimated value of £l5lB, as compared with only one permit valued at £lB, for the corresponding month last year. The Masterton County Council issued two building permits last month for a value of £2OO. Manufacture of Macaroni. The Timaru Milling Company is about to embark on the manufacture of macaroni under a sole licence, says the “Mercantile Gazette.” This latter means that the concern secures a monopoly, and we have yet to learn that a monopoly is in the public interest. And yet it is the Government that is sponsoring a monopoly in defiance of the Board of Trade Act. It is not disclosed how much, if any, capital the Timaru Milling Company is putting into the venture, and how much, if any, capital is being found by the State. Nor is it disclosed whether the company is to receive protection from foreign imports. Defaulter Caught. A thousand-to-one chance resulted in the prompt arrest of an army defaulter at Hastings during the weekend. A complaint by a woman residing nearby that a man was loitering in a reserve was received by the police and a constable was sent out with a description of the man. When the constable approached a man in the reserve the man promptly bolted, but he was apprehended and taken to the police station, where a most surprising situation was revealed. The man, who was attired in civilian clothes, admitter that he was absent without leave from a military camp, and that he had just arrived in Hastings when he was arrested. He was not the man whom the woman had seen in the reserve, but the sight of a policeman with a busi-ness-like air approaching him was too much for his guilty conscience.