NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 202, 27 August 1931, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Nearly a "Swan Song." The white swan in the Queen's Gardens, Nelson, is in disgrace, and it narrowly escaped sentence of death at the hands of the' City Council this • week. The allegations were that the bird had killed a fish and had also shown a taste for the irises which adorn the banks of the pond. One councillor suggested that the swan should be done away with, but no one was callous enough to support the proposition. Another suggestion that the bird should be fattened and disposed of to provide Christmas dinner was not taken seri-; ously. The delinquent is to be given another chance to improve his ways. Maoris and Salt. The fact that the physical standard of inland Maoris has declined owing to the decreased use of salt was mentioned yesterday by Miss L. M. 'Cranwell in an address to the anthropological section of the Auckland Institute and Museum. Salt, she said, was of great importance to the old-time Maoris. With seaweed containing iodine it was, in the eyes of coastal natives, a valuable item of barter with inland tribes., Departure from this ancient trade had produced an effect which was apparent in the TJrewera Country, where goitre was particularly prevalent. "Watchdogs—Not Bloodhounds." At the conclusion of his address at the annual meeting-of the Wellington Ratepayers' Association the other evening, Mr. Harold H. Miller, president, said he trusted that the incoming executive would be watchful and alert—watchdogs, not bloodhounds. Criticism should be constructive, not harassing. As citizens, members of the association were grateful for the time and attention councillors gave to the work of the city. They believed that councillors were sincerely grappling with tho problems that confronted them. As an association, they would stand by councillors when they Avere right, and would discuss matters with them when they thought the council was wrong. New Zealand Newspapers. Mr. L. L. Leyshon, advertising manager of the Nicholas Proprietary, Ltd., Melbourne, has toured the whole of New Zealand investigating trade conditions, and making a special study of newspaper production and newspaper advertising. Mr. Leyshon has had considerable experience with newspaper advertising, and sales promotion generally in England, Australia and other countries. Interviewed just prior to embarkation, Mr.. Leyshon expressed his surprise at the standard maintained by the New Zealand newspaper Press. "The layout and general style of your newspapers appeal to me," ho said, "and I think they are to be highly commended for the service'they render to both reader and advertiser. Your newspapers are well up to the, standard prevailing in much larger communities overseas." Upper Harbour Roadway. The Birkenhead Borough Council • was informed last evening that representatives of various local organisations had formed themselves into a body named the Upper Waitemata Harbour Development Association, in order to advance the scheme for the construction of a roadway between Beach Haven and Hobsonville. Mr. F. Morris had been appointed president, Mr. W. J. Cook secretary, and Mr. A. G. Jasper treasurer. The Mayor, Mr. J. P. McPhail, commented that it was a pity the promoters did not call a public meeting to form the association and elect officers. This course seemed preferable to get the whole of the district behind the project. , Members said that this was practically assured, as the various organisations were represented, on the association. The Minister of Marine was making inquiries into the project. The council, made a donation of £7 7/ towards the preliminary expenses of the new association.

Blight of Taxation. "The higher the taxation, the less work for tho unemployed, and with the possibility of the Government increasing the present high taxes, so surely will unemployment increase," said Mr. Albert Spencer in the course of his presidential address to to-day's meeting of the Auckland Provincial Employers' Association, when commenting on the evils of the present high taxation. He declared that taxation in the Dominion had already reached the stage when it had become a positive danger and a burden to the primary and secondary Industries and the commercial community. Some relief must be given to enable the industries of the country to carry on. To increase public revenue they must have expansion of business enterprise and production. With increased taxation, on the other hand, the profits of secondary industries were swept away, and the employer had nothing left to expand his business and to employ more labour. Any improvement in business automatically increased the public revenue, but any restriction immediately reduced it.

Restrictions on Industry. The opinion that the precarious position of the farming community had been made much worse by the Government competing in the labour market by offering attractive' wages was expressed by Mr. Albert Spencer in his presidential address to. the Auckland Provincial Employers' Association. "Farmers have not been in a' position to pay such high wages, with the result that the hands who were already working on farms left and took up the more attractive offer of wages and conditions," he said. "It is of the utmost importance that full-time work should be done, but, "with the present prices and overseas competition, this can only be met by a rate of wages that enables goods to be produced on a competitive basis. We 'all agree that a fair proportion of labour can be absorbed on the land, providing it is of the right class and suitable, but we must look to our secondary industries to employ a proportion of the unemployed, and this can only be done by encouraging the wheels of industry to new life and removing a lot of the Government's objectionable restrictions and petty interference with private enterprise, besides impossible conditions granted by the Arbitration Court. Hundreds "of men could be employed, but the laws are so restrictive that employers cut down their wage bill in the only way open to them—that is, by reducing their staffs." -- ■

Nightingales Near Cambridge. "The song, of the "nightingale has been heard in the Waikato," writes the "Star's" Hamilton correspondent. "Mrs. M. Sheehy, who. lives on a-farm at Tamahere, near Cambridge, says that for': several hours on Wednesday night ; she and | her' husband listened enthralled to the singing of ' two. nightingales■ in -a large hawthorn hedge bounding one of the farm paddocks. The birds began J to sing, at half-past,seven, and continued intermittently until after ten o'clock. They stopped, after the passing of a very noisy motor cycle. Mrs. Sheehy formerly lived in England, where she often lieard the' nightingale, so there can no mistake about the birds she and her husband'listened to on Wednesday.. It was a bright moonlight,night, and ; Mrs. .Sheehy says as, far as she knows the nightingale'is the only bird thatvsings' when the moon" is; shining. It Will be_ remembered that a couple of nightingales . were brought out to Auckland in 1928 by Mr. Angus Wilson, and. liberated near St. Helier's. .It was reported that a nightingale was heard in a : Mount,Eden garden last year, and' the resident who heard it was familiar with the note of the;bird,in the.Old Country."Mrs. Sheehy speaks of two birds. It., is impossible to' say whether .these are the.original pair, but it is significant that' the birds have been, heard at all. As the 'nightingale'is : a migratory bird in the Old World, nobody, knew how it/would.fare'in New Zealand, as it could not possibly migrate over*such wide ocean distances/ Some scientists'thought that finding a milder climate the bird would abandon its migratory habit and settle down here for good. Attempts were made many years ago to introduce the bird, mainly for se.ntimentar rea- : sons, but- they always failed.;"- J, ,'; '.'.'._ p