LOCAL AND GENERAL

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21212, 7 September 1940, Page 8

LOCAL AND GENERAL

100th Great Grandchild Mrs H. Humphrey, of Feilding, has the proud distinction now of having her 100th great-grandchild. War Contributions The largest sum in the latest list of donations and interest-free loans to the war funds is a loan of £2338 10s lOd from Anonymous, Canada. The total received to date is £2,556,809. Yugoslav King’s Birthday King Peter of Yugoslavia celebrated his 17th birthday yesterday. He came to the throne on the death of his father, King Alexander I. on October 9, 1934, and since then a Regency Council has been the ruling body. On his 18th birthday next year King Peter will be crowned. “ There’ll Always be an England ” A specially-staged entr’acte created enthusiasm at the Regent Theatre last night. With a huge Union Jack, brilliantly coloured, thrown on the screen, the stirring song “ There’ll Always be an England,” which has special significance just now, was sung. At its conclusion the audience broke into loud applause. Oil In Australia The Australian Department of the Interior has announced that the presence of oil has been established in the lakes at the entrance of the district of North Gippsland, but has warned against undue optimism, as the oil-bearing region appeared to be restricted to between four and eight miles. Remarkable Escape Two occupants of a taxi which plunged over a 100 ft. bank into a creek bed from the Paritu Camp road, near Gisborne, escaped miraculously with slight knee injuries, cuts and bruises. The car was driven by Mr Edward Henry Ashworth, of Gisborne, and the only passenger was Miss Grace Dunn, waitress of Gisborne. The taxi was returning to Gisborne from Paritu Camp, and left the road at a sharp bend a mile from the camp. It ended up in a wrecked condition in a small creek at the bottom of the valley. Record Net Profit Earnings of Milne and Choyce, Limited, Auckland, reached a record level in the year ended July 31. Net profit was £24,678, after providing £35,343 for taxation and £5728 for depreciation. This compares with £20,514 in 1939, when the tax provision was £22,383 and depreciation took £6171. The directors recommend the usual payment of 6 per cent on preference shares and 7 per cent on B preference shares. The dividend on the ordinary shares and perpetual debenture stock is 5 per cent, compared, with 5 per cent and a bonus of 1 per cent in 1939. Poll for Power Loan The poll was taken yesterday by the Te Awamutu Electric-Power Board on the proposal to raise £28,000 for the reticulation of the board’s area westward of Whatiwhatihoe Bridge to Kawhia was carried by a substantial majority, it being stated that only one vote went against the proposal. The official count will be completed when the ballot boxes are returned. Polling places were at Te Awamutu, Pirongia, Ngutunui, Te Rau-o-moa, Oparau and Kawhia. Keen interest was taken at the Oparau booth, but it is reported that there was very little at Kawhia.

Falling Birthrate “New Zealand’s falling birthrate is a greater menace to us today than Hitlerism,” said Dr. D. McK. Dickson in an address to the City Women’s Group of the Nationalist Club, in Christchurch. Hitler has a Fifth Column which is dangerous, but it can be fought in the open; the falling birthrate has a Fifth Column which could 'be fought in the open, because people persist in fighting it ostrichfashion, that is, by putting their heads in the sand and pretending it is not there. Yet, unless a drastic change comes in our social habits, the British stock in Great Britain and the Dominions will have practically died out in not much more than 100 years.”

“Bad” Radio Music There was still a tremendous amount of bad music being broadcast, said Dr. C. Edgar Ford, examiner for the Trinity College of Music, who is visiting Palmerston North, when interviewed. There was no doubt that the radio was hopelessly misdirected so far as music was concerned. The excuse was that the license-holders demanded it. If our system of education were carried out in that way it would be disastrous. He was not against jazz music as such. A great deal of it was extremely clever, but the trouble was that the listener was not being taught to discriminate. The worst type of dance music was the constant reiteration of the rhythm, bar after bar.