LOCAL AND GENERAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 April 1943, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

No Publication Tomorrow.

The “Times-Age” will not be published tomorrow (Good Friday), but will appear as usual on Saturday and Monday.

Hotelkeeper Heavily Fined. A fine of £lOO was imposed at the Invercargill S.M. Court yesterday on John Charles White, licensee of the Royal Mail Hotel, Lumsden, for being in possession of 13 gallons of spirits upon which full duty had not been paid.

Group of Sun Spots. Mr G. V. Hudson, Karori, advises that another large group of sun spots has developed with great rapidity during the past four days and is now near the sun’s central meridian. Its length is fully 130,000 miles and its width about 44,000 miles. Masterton Fish Hatchery. Representations have been made by the Palmerston North sub-committee to the Wellington Acclimatisation Society for the reopening of the fish hatchery at Masterton. The council of the society last night decided to refer the matter to the incoming council. Increase in Opossums. Opossums were increasing at an alarming rate and were causing great damage to bush, said Mrs Du Pont at the annual meeting of the Forest and Bird Protection Society in Wellington yesterday. Even in Wilton’s Bush, she said, the trees were very much marked. As soon as possible municipal authorities should introduce a scheme to remove opossums from domains throughout the country.

Heavy Damages Awarded.

Judgment in favour of the Public Trustee as executor of the will of Francis Harold Baker, an employee of John Burns Co., who'met his death in a fire in the company’s premises on August 19, 1941, was given by Mr Justice Fair at Auckland yesterday against two defendants, namely, the Auckland Electric Power Board and John Burns Co., for the sum of £4028 15s, with costs. The amount claimed in the action was £4050 against three defendants, the third being H. K. Brown and Co. Church of Christ Conference. The twenty-second annual conference of the Associated Churches of Christ will open tomorrow at the Wellington South Church and will continue till Monday. Dr J. F. G. Richards, D. 5.0., Auckland, is the president, and upward of 120 delegates from Churches of Christ throughout the Dominion will attend. The 1942 sessions were postponed because of travelling restrictions, and there is much accumulated business. In conjunction with the conference a youth camp is being held in Wellington and 170 young people are attending from all over the Dominion.

Intercession Service. The usual service of intercession was held yesterday in Masterton when there was a fair attendance. The Rev A. C. Lane took the first session in a period of devotion and meditation. This was followed by an address _ on “Men for the Times” by Major Dick. Miss McDonald presided at the organ. Airmen Injured.

Two members of the Royal New Zealand Air Force were reported slightly injured when an aircraft from a North Island air station crashed yesterday. The personnel involved were Pilot Officer Maxwell Scannell (father, Dr W. G. Scannell, 1 Wairarapa Terrace, Christchurch), and Sergeant George Louis Vaughan (father, Mr L. B. Vaughan, Arapuni Road, Putaruru). Indiscriminate Shooting.

Complaint of indiscriminate shooting by service men passing along roads in the vicinity of the school and firing into paddocks was made in a letter received yesterday by the Wellington Education Board from the Wainui-o-mata School Committee. It was reported that the Wellington Headmasters’ Association had expressed concern at the number of live cartridges being found in the possession of school children, and feared that an accident might occur. It was decided to take up the matters mentioned with the appropriate authorities. Food Conference.

New Zealand’s representatives at the United Nations Food Conference to be held in the United States on May 18 were announced yesterday by the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser. They will be Dr. R. M. Campbell from the High Commissioner’s Office, London; Mr G. A. Duncan, Director, Marketing Department (Export Division); and Mr E. J. Fawcett, Director-General, Department of Agriculture. Mr Fraser said that the conference would be confined to technical and expert representatives and that its purpose was to explore the whole field of food and other essential agricultural. production, both actual and potential, in its relation to. the world’s needs in the post-war period.

Drama Tutor’s Visit.

A meeting of the Wairarapa Co-or-dinating Committee was held yesterday afternoon to complete arrangements for the projected visit of Miss Kate Stocker, drama tutor of the Victoria University College Council, to the Wairarapa. Miss Wolters was in' the chair. Country groups had been arranged at Kopuaranga, Carterton, Greytown, Matarawa-Dalefield, Parkvale and Solway-Manaia. A letter was received from Eketahuna asking for the formation of a further group and Featherston, it was stated, would also probably run a group. In Masterton three group? had already been formed. As Miss Stocker hoped to arrive in Masterton on April 29 to commence classes immediately, all intending students should enrol at once. Names should be given to Mrs Munn, Waingawa, phone 2056. The courses, it was stated, would be open to both men and women.