Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 22 September 1949, page 14


STATE NEWS SUMMARY PERTH

STERLING Devalued: Britain

has devalued sterling by 30.51 per cent in terms of the dollar. From last Monday the pound sterling is worth 2.80 dollars instead of 4.03 dollars. Australia has devalued with Britain, Prime Minister Chifley announcing that the relation between sterling and the Aus-tralian pound was unchanged at £100 sterling to £A125.

There was excitement at the Perth stock exchange when business opened at 11.30 a.m. on Monday, and there were spectacular rises in the stock of mining companies with good ore reserves readily available, as the price of gold has auto-matically jumped £4/14/7 to £15/9/10 an ounce.

Mining men of Kalgoorlie and Boulder are greatly pleased at the increase in the gold price which will cause several big mines which have been de-veloped in recent years to come into production now. There will also be an overall benefit to marginal mines.

The main reason for the de-valuation of the pound is to enable British exporters to sell more cheaply abroad and thus boost exports, especially to the dollar countries. Australia's benefits from devaluation are expected to be mainly indirect, as we have a comparatively small flow of goods direct to America.

MANJIMUP

JfRÉAK Catch: On his farm a

few miles from Manjimup recently, Mr. Walter Prosser caught three well-grown rats in ' one rabbit trap, and he madel

a special trip to town with the]

evidence. He set the rabbit trap near a half-bag of crushed wheat in an outbuilding on bis; property. His son inspected the trap and called his father when he believed that there were two caught. His father found three.

The trap had been hard set and. m Mr. Prosser's opinion,

one rat was recumbent on the

unbaited plate when two other rat« ran over it from opposite directions. It was obvious that the weight of one rat was in-sufficient to spring the trap, but the combined weight of the three led to the triple tragedy.« Mr. Prosser has caught about 160 rats on his property in the

last vear.

COLLIE

MINISTER Interested: After

a visit to the Collie coal-field, the Minister for Mines (Mr. Parker) said recently that lie had been interested in the activity in the coal industry. He had seen the new mechanical loader, shuttle car and conveyor belt in operation in the Wy vern . mine (Griffin Coal Co.) and . was impressed by the quick

method of taking large quan-tities of coal from the face to the surface. This would in-crease materially the coal available to consumers.

Mr. Parker said that the Stockton and Black Diamond

open cuts revealed the great amount of coal that was avail-able. He had* watched the operation of the screening plants at the Cardiff and Co-operative mines and also the underground workings at the Cooperative mine. He had in-

spected the power house and, the extensions that were being! carried out, as well as the) diesel plant being installed at Cardiff by the State Electricity Commission. I

He said that tjhe improve-ments it was proposed to carry out at Minninup Pool showed the good use it was intended to make of the Collie Miners' Welfare Fund.

WICKEPIN

BUSHFIRE Control: Various

. measures to improve bush-fire control have been adopted by the Wickepin Road Board. These were recommended at a recent meeting of bushfire con-trol officers in the £ district.

NEWS FROM HOME: On their woy to Albany, where they will inaugurate a deep-tea

fishing scheme, the 260-ton trawlers, Commiles and Ben Dearg, recently reached Fremantle : from England. Here Mr. James Dewhurst, fishing master of the Ben Dearg, hands out

mail to members of the crew of that vessel.

The board has decided to pur-chase knapsack spray pumps to

¡the value of £50 and two low [down pump outfits for the j coming year, and* to place the equipment in suitable,positions

in the district. Because farm-ers are willing to offer their time, labour and plant free of charge, the board will also use its gangs and plant to assist with the burning of fire breaks along railway lines and through reserve Crown lands and heavy scrub country, where necessary; the Railway Department is to be informed that the various branches of the Farmers' Union in the district support the scheme individually in re-gard to -the burning of breaks along the railway linc and that

the board will cooperate and do everything possible to make the venture a success; the Post-master-General's Department is to be requested to expedite the erection of the party tele-phone service from Kirk's Rock to Yealering in order to assist with bushfire control.

KATANNING

JUNIOR Farmers: The an-

nual Great Southern Junior Farmers* sheep-judging competition was held at Katanning recently, when 14 contestants, represent-ing clubs at Mt. Barker, Tam-bellup, Gnowangerup, Narro-gin, Wickepin and Katanning, competed for the honour of re-presenting their zones at the State Championships which, it is hoped, will be held at the Royal Show next month. The competition was won by John Ashworth, of Narrogin, with j

K. Lange, of Wickepin, second,!

and R. Anderson, of Katan-j

ning, third.

BRUCE ROCK

[NQUIRIES Made: In an ef-

fort to reduce the housing shortage the Bruce Rock Road Board is inquiring into the cost of new type concrete houses, including transport from Perth and erection and the suitability for the district.

KALGOORLIE

pADDY Is Robbed: Paddy

Harman's pick has been stolen. Its absence from the left-hand side of the slab of stone on which the statue is mounted outside the Kalgoorlie Town Hall was first noticed by one of the Kajgoorlie Munici-pal Council's street sweepers who reported it to the Town Clerk (Mr. J. H. Darcy).

J The matter has been placed

in the hands of the Kalgoorlie C.I.B. and the council has offered a reward of £10 for information leading to the ap-prehension and conviction of the person or persons respon-sible. It is possible that the pick may have been taken as a sou-venir as, in order to remove it, the thick steel wire holding it in place had to be cut in two places. The pick was made of bronze and Mr. Darcy said that it would cost £20 or £25 to replace it«

CORRIGIN

GRIEVANCES Aired: At thc

last meeting of the Corri-gin branch of the Farmers' Union the following resolu-tions were carried: That the branch considers that the head office should continue to press for a road bus service between Perth and Hyden via Corrigin and Kondinin and that the dust menace is an unreasonable ob-jection to the establishment of

the proposed service because buses could be sealed against dust; that the branch sponsor the scheme for special trains to transport superphosphate over the Brookton-Corrigin line; that the union should in-vestigate the possibility of superphosphate production be-ing increased to meet the. heavy demand in the future; that the branch heartily supports the views of Mr. C. B. Ball regard-ing the unfair principle of superphosphate firms demand-ing payment many months bofore actual delivery; that the union protest strongly against the 50 per cent increase in the handling charge of wool; and that the union protest against freight being paid by the Aus-tralian Wheat Board on wheat shipped to Tasmania.

NORSEMAN

JjONG Journey: Mrs. A. J.

Sopher, of Madura Sta-tion, who was severely burnt recently when a spark from the kitchen fire set alight to her dress. Was admitted to Norse-man District Hospital after a 330-mile journey bv truck and ambulance. The truck carry-ing Mrs. Sopher left Madura homestead early in the morn-ing and was met by the Norse-man St. John ambulance on Eyre-highway, 200 miles east of Norseman at 7 o'clock the same night. The hospital matron and a nurse were in the ambulance on its 15-hour jour-ney. Mrs. Sopher's condition is reported to be fair.

. . . .

Funds Raised: More than £100 was raised for the Norseman branch of the Red Cross by the annual debutante ball held recently. Sixteen debutantes were presented to the director of branches of the Red Cross in this State (Mrs. G. Eggleston).

. . . .

Murder Charge: A 29-yearold Yugoslav, George Katich, single, a woodcutter of Main Camp, Lakewood, has been charged with having wilfully murdered Ante Brajkovich (about 60), a labourer, of No. 3 Camp, Lakewood, last week. Katich was remanded to Kal-goorlie in custody.

Brajkovich was found dead on the road about one mile from No. 3 Camp. There were cuts about the face and head. Brajkovich's body was taken to Norseman morgue.

BOYANUP

PROMINENT Man Dies: Mr.

Arthur M. Bryce, a promi-nent figure in the district, col-lapsed and died last week. He arrived in Boyanup from Vic-toria over 40 years ago and married Maud, the youngest daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Simmons, who were the two first settlers in Boyanup. A successful dairy farmer, he retired several years ago and was a returned soldier of World War I. Mr. Bryce, who left a wife and two mar-ried daughters, was 64.

KUNUNOPPIN

PIONEER Passes: One of the

best-known farmers in the north-eastern wheatbelt, Mr. Donald A. Couper, J.P.» died at his homestead, close to Kununoppin, recently, aged 73 years. With his wife, he came from South Australia and selected land in the Kununop-pin district in 1910. As each of his sons came to manhood, Mr. Couper financed and es-tablished them on separate pro-perties. He took an active in-terest in local government work for 30 years and was chairman of the Kununoppin-Trayning Road Board for 20 years. He was the first chairman of the Kununoppin Hospital Board and took an activé interest in all local charitable welfare and sporting affairs. The late Mr. Couper left a widow and grown-up family of eight sons land two daughters.

ALBANY

]NJEW Harbour Board: The

Municipal Council last week nominated Crs. J. Nor-man, A. E. Bruce and A. G. Hill for the selection of its re-presentative on the newlyformed Albany Harbour Board. The State Government will be asked to make a selection of one of these for later appoint-

ment.

. . * *

Gift- Paintings Arrive: Paint-ings donated to the town by Mr. Claude Hotchin, of Perth, are being hung in the Lower

Town Hall which has been renovated and fitted with fluor-escent lighting for this purpose. The gallery will be officially opened by the Deputy-Premier (Mr. Watts) when he visits Al-bany early in November to open the annual show. He will then be accompanied by Mr.

Hotchin.

m w » »

Request for Site: The State Government has asked the Albany Municipal Council to recommend another site for the Local Natives Settlement. The council will confer with the Albany Road Board on the sub-ject before submitting its recom-

mendation.

» . * * *

Bulk-wheat Facilities: The State Government had agreed to the installation of bulk wheat handling facilities at Albany at an estimated cost of £115,950, the Minister for Industrial Development (Mr. Watts) said recently. The Director of Works (Mr. R. J. Dumas) had been asked to prepare designs.

Mr. Watts said that the Al-bany Zone Development Com-mittee strongly favoured the , installations. In its view 45,000

tons of an average 30,000,000bushel harvest would be shipped through Albany and with the development of the Gnowangerup-Borden district the total would be increased to 72,000 tons. I

PINJARRA

(JIRCUS Mishap: Eight per-

sons were injured when a circus semi-trailer waggon over-turned eight miles out of Pin-jarra oft the Dwellihgup-road about 1.45 p.m. last Sunday. The waggon, the property of Silver's Circus, careered down a steep incline on a bend, left the road and overturned. One of the injured was pinned under the waggon for some time and had to be released by digging the soil away.

-r The semi-trailer was one of a

number of trucks belonging to the circus and travelling from Narrogin to Pinjarra. All of the injured men were circus hands. * The truck contained tent rigging and materials.

NORTHAM

INQUEST td be Held: An in-

quest will be held at Nor-tham next Tuesday into the death of Harold Valli (8), of Northam, who was killed in-stantly when he fell from his father's truck and was mri over by it on August 24. The boy clambered on to the truck while it was moving and when it passed over a rut he was jolted off and run over. Hil brother

Peter (13), who was some dis-tance away, witnessed the ac-cident. Peter Valli was not on the truck, as. previously ' re-ported.

* . . .

Armoured Cars: Excellent progress is being made with the raising of an armoured car squadron with headquarters at Northam. The recruiting offi-cers (Capts. E. C. Parker and J. McCallum) said that 50 men had been enlisted with others in prospect. .

The immediate objective is 10Ö men It is considered likely that applications in the near future may well exceed this number. The unit will be known as "A" squadron of No. 10 West Australian Mounted Infantry.

HARVEY

ROAD Board Affairs: Support

for the Country Municipal Councils' Association in its de-mand for a flat rate charge for electricity throughout the State was given at a meeting of the Harvey Road Board last week. It was also decided to assist the local branch of the Country Women's Association in its move to get at least two women appointed as justices of the peace in the district.

BUNBURY !

]N¡[EW Train Services: From

last Monday the Australind express reverted to daily run-ning between Perth and Bun-bury, except on Sundays. Pre-viously the express made the return trip on four days a week. It continues to leave Perth at 9.35 a.m. and departs from Bunbury on the return journey at 2.45 p.m.

Other addition's to the South-west passenger services pro-vide for a 7.10 p.m. train on Sundays from Perth to Bunbury as from last Sunday and an 8.5 a.m. train from Bunbury tc Perth as from last Monday. Each of these trains connect at Brunswick Junction with the bus service to and from Col-lie.

The Sunday bus from Bun-bury to Collie now leaves at 10.45 p.m., connecting with the evening- train from Perth at Brunswick Junction and arriv-ing at Collie at 12.30 a.m. The return'trip to Bunbury begins at 12.-40 a.m. instead of 11.55 p.m.

YORK

]>¡¡~0 Support: In response to a

request for financial assis-tance for the formation of a Perth Symphony Orchestra, the York Municipal Council de-cided to consider paying ¿£7/10/ annually provided the York Road Board was pre-pared to pay a similar amount The road board, however, has declined to give' any financial assistance, it being considered that the money "could be di-verted to much more essential avenues."

WAGIN

gCHOOL Carnival: An athle-

tic carnival will be held by the Wagin State school in the school grounds on Septem-ber 30. Competitors will be graded' into three age groups in preparation for the interschool sports to be held the following week» .

LEONORA

JURYS Decision: That Benia-

mino Passamani came to his death at the-500ft. level of the North Democrat mine shaft at Linden on August 30 from carbon monoxide poison-ing and asphyxia due to fumes was decided by a jury at an inquiry before the ActingCoroner (Mr. R. Wittber, J.P.) at Leonora recently. The jury said that they attached no blame to any person, but con-sidered that air hoses should be lowered to at least the back of the drive and a compressor supplying air should be turned on before men entered the shaft after firing.

Hospital Appeal: A popu-lar girl competition which ended at the annual Leonora hospital ball recently, raised £500 for the hospital refurn-ishing appeal. "Miss Leonora" (Joyce Armstrong) and "Miss Gwalia" (Joyce Hunt) both received presentations from the chairman of the hospital board (Mr. A. A. Roe).

WONGAN HILLS

J£1CK From Donkey: When

he was kicked by a donkey during a rough-riding rodeo at the Wongan Hills Show last Saturday afternoon Mervyn Sinclair (ll), of Wongan Hills, received a broken nose and lacerations to his face. He was treated on the grounds by a doctor and later admitted to the Wongan Hills Hospital.

It is understood that the boy was induced by some adult spectators on the promise of 5/ to ride the donkey backwards by clasping its tail. When thrown he fell on the donkey's hind hooves.

YARLOOP

WATER Supply: There was

dissatisfaction at Yarloop over water supplies, the secre-tary of the State executive of the Australian Labour Party (Mr, F. E. Chamberlain) said after a meeeting of the execu-tive recently. Local governing authorities had been supported in their attitude by the . southWest district council of the A.L.P.

Mr. Chamberlain said that a deputation would discuss the need for better * facilities at

Yarloop" with the Minister for Works and Water Supply (Mr. Doney) today. The deputation would consist of Messrs. A. G. Reynolds and H. May, M's.L.A., the State president of the A.L.P. (Mr. C. H. Webb) and Mr. Chamberlain.

MARBLE BAR

JJÖTEL on Fire: Believed

to have been started by a cigarette end, a fire soon after ll o'clock one night last week destroyed the residential section of the Ironclad Hotel, opposite the main premises, at Marble Bar.

blames enveloped the build-

ing, which was pf wood and corrugated iron, within about 15 minutes, making fire-fighting futile. No-one was injured, but three sleeping children were rescued, just in, time, from a nearby room. When the blaze started

UP TO SCRATCH: lt's a hard life for hens whose home is on o barge-they don't seem to find much satisfaction pecking at bare boards. So when this barge tied up at ona of the Spree docks in the American sector of Berlin, these three hens needed little persuasion to cross the gangplank

to reach Hie tempting lawn on the canal's edge.

most persons at Marble Bar were enjoying themselves at the annual race club ball and were about to witness the pre-sentation of trophies and prize money won at the annual twoday meeting just* completed.

Objection To Claim: The Warden's Court recently trans-ferred its authority. to the Under-secretary for Mines to hear the objection by Tantalite Ltd. against a claim by W« D. Millar to prospect for uranium at Wodgina. All parties to fte hearing are in Perth and the hearing began yesterday..

MEEKATHARRA

CHILD Killed: Beverly

Brownrigg, third child. of Mrs. Jane Sylvia Brownrigg, widow, of Main-street, Meeka-tharra, died in hospital shortly afteiLshe was struck by the fly-wheel of one of the main en-gines in the town power house. It is believed that together with other children she was playing around the power house and previously had been removed by the attendant several times. On this occasion twp children hid behind an engine to avoid the attendant and the girl evi-dently tried to go under a belt to join them when she was caught and carried on to thé wheel.

BUSSELTON

gfflPMENT Cancelled: News

was received last week that the visit of the vessel Arkaba, which was scheduled to lift about 1,000 truck-loads of tim-ber from Busselton this week, has been cancelled because of a lack of railwav trucks.

BRIDGETOWN

^DULTS To Pay: Because

serum for anti-tetanus im-munisation is to be charged for by the Health Department, the Bridgetown Road Board has decided to make a charge for adults receiving injections. Children will be treated free. Seventy-five persons of all ages have had the first course.

. . « .

Improvements To Ground: The Bridgetown Road Board has given the sports ground committee power to take steps

to resume land to obtain loam ; for topdressing the new sports ground if thought necessary. The secretary of the board (Mr. E. C. Siggins) said that loam on private property close to the sports ground was suit-able for topdressing the ground and would greatly reduce the costs if used.

BALINGUP

BOWLING Club News: The

following officers have been elected by the Balingup Bowl-ing and Croquet Club for the ensuing year: Patron, Mr. R. J. Blechynden; president, Mr. F. A. Mauger; vice-presidents, Messrs. L. Bailey and E. C. Francis; secretary, E. C. Francis; auditor, Mr. R. BairGoyder; captain, Mr. B. Mac-Donald; vice-captain, Mr. A. Bailey.

At the annual meeting of the club held last week, a tribute was paid to the services of the retiring secretary (Mr. R. F. Darling) during the past 12 years and Mr. Darling was pre-sented with the cup won by him for the 1948 club chanv nionshin sineles.