LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 February 1942, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

Lawn Tennis Match. A match played earlier in the season by the United Lawn Tennis Chib between teams chosen by the President and Club Captain proved so successful that another such match is to take place next Sunday morning. War Damage Insurance. A war damage insurance coverage of over £2,000,000 has been taken out by the Auckland Harbour Board. Mr J. H. Frater, who presided at a meeting of the board, said that the board’s assets were valued at over £6,000,000, but as land constituted a large portion of the assets the total amount of cover decided on was £1,833,100. Insurance on leased buildings owned by the board would bring the total cover to over £2,000,000. Armed Robber Found Guilty. At the conclusion yesterday of the trial in the Supreme Court, Wellington, of Gwilt George Stone, motor driver, aged 21, for robbery while armed, the jury found him guilty, and Mr Justice Johnston remanded’ him for sentence. Engaging a taxi on a city stand about 7.20 p.m. on August 2, a man, now found to be Stone, directed the driver, William Magee, to drive to the Convalescent Home in Palliser Road, and then to Lyall Bay, where he produced what appeared to be a gun, and demanded money. The driver handed over 15s, and the passenger Exchange of Representatives. Information as to whether the Government was taking steps to exchange representatives between New Zealand and the Soviet Union and China was sought by Mr Lee (Democratic Labour, Grey Lynn, in notice of a question given on behalf of himself and Mr Barnard (Democratic Labour, Napier), in the House of Representatives yesterday. “Australia,” said Mr Lee, “has appointed a Minister to China, and Canada is making a similar appointment to the Soviet Union.” The Prime Minister, Mr Fraser: “Australia has a bigger population than we have. We will exhaust our people.” Appeal for More Trucks. A further appeal to owners of trucks to assist in obtaining the requisite number of vehicles required for the use of the armed forces in New Zealand was made yesterday by the Minister of Transport, Mr Semple. The Minister said he was conscious of the fact that he was asking the owners of these vehicles to make a great sacrifice because he knew that the vehicles had in many cases been purchased from their savings to ensure for them a livelihood in the future. He derived no pleasure from asking his fellow citizens to make this sacrifice, but it was a duty imposed upon him by dire necessity. A Constable Fined. “I am quite sure counsel's eloquent appeal will find an echo in the hearts of a great many of the public, and, I daresay, in the heart of the prosecutor himself,” said Mr W. H. Woodward, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court at Stratford yesterday, when summing up in a charge against Constable James Hamilton Rodgers of having resigned from the Police Force without the Commissioner's consent. Inspector Scott, New Pymouth, prosecuted. It was the third case of its kind in New Zealnd. Mr Woodward added, in fixing a fine of £5 and costs 10s, that there was no moral delinquency in what Rodgers did. “I admire and respect Rodgers for what he has done, and I am sorry a conviction has to be recorded.” After the penally had been fixed, two local business men handed counsel cheques for £1 each towards the fine.

Loss in Saving Fruit Industry. “The Government last year incurred a loss of more than £400,000 in saving the fruit industry,” said the Minister of Marketing, Mr Barclay, when replying to an urgent question asked by Mr Carr (Government, Timaru), in the House of Representatives yesterday. Reference was made by Mr Carr to a recent Press Association message from Nelson, in which it was stated there was a rise in the price of early apples of nearly 200 per cent between the grower and the retailer the middleman being the Internal Marketing Department. Mr Barclay said that when full supplies of apples became available in the very near future ,the Internal Marketing Division would have to sell at a prices much below the average price of 5s 3d a bushel case, which was guaranteed to growers. The statement from Nelson was a gross misrepresentation of the effort being made by the Government to assist the apple and pear growers.