LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 January 1942, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Ulaxmill to be Opened. The Minister of Labour, Mr Webb, states that the Government has approved the opening of a flaxmill at Westport, and that supervision of the work has been entrusted to the flax management committee under the Department of Industries and Commerce. With the cutting off of supplies of hemp from Manila and the Dutch East Indies, there will be an increasing call for the supply of phormium tenax, but unfortunately comparatively few areas of any size are available from which to obtain suitable green leaf for the production of fibre.

Boy Shot Through Body. In an accident at Shelly Park near Howick, yesterday, William Short, aged .10, son of Mr and Mrs Henry J. Short, of Mangere, was shot through- the body by a pea-rifle bullet. He was on holiday at his parents’ summer residence, and visited the beach with four boy companions. While three older boys prepared to set a fishing net the pea-rifle was handed to orfe of two younger boys. Shortly afterward it went off and the bullet struck Short in the upper part of the body and went right through without striking a vital part. The injured boy was taken to a hospital at Auckland.

Athletic Championship. The management committee of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association yesterday decided to ask centres whether they would be in favour of the New Zealand junior and women’s championship meeting being held in Wellington this season. The Hawke’s Bay-Poverty Bay Centre, which had agreed to conduct these championships at Napier about -the end of February, wrote stating that, due to the war position and the fact that the military authorities had taken over exclusive use of McLean Park, it was felt that it would be impossible to have the championships at Napier. It was decided to inform centres that the management committee of the association was of opinion that the junior and women’s championship meeting should be held this season. Price for Boner Beef Increased. An announcement that the terms of the contract for corned beef for the third year of the war has now been finalised with the United Kingdom Government was made by the Minister of Marketing (the Hon J. G. Barclay) last night. “The prices now offered by the United Kingdom,” said the Minister, “show an increase 6n last year’s contracts and consequently it will be possible for canning works to pay a higher price for boneless cow beef. This will mean in turn that meat operators will be able to increase their schedule prices to the producer. In October of last year,” said Mr Barclay, “I announced that the prices we were receiving for our canned beef would enable the meat operators to pay 15s 6d per hundred at main port works for boner cow beef. Under the new arrangement this price will be increased by 4s 6d per hundred, making the schedule price at main port works for boner cows 20s per hundred. This increased price will become effective for boner cows killed on and after Monday next, January 19. The procedure which has operated to date by which most buyers purchased from producers and resold to canning works will remain unaltered.”