NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 291, 8 December 1937, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Chilled Beef Championship

]n tlic schedule of prizes for the Morrins\illc A. and J'. Show to be held in March I' i ii If °f pi <i co lias been given to the national chilled beef cliainpionship, which was institiited I<i- f yiiir and resulted in over .10 prime steers ~uital.lt> for the chilled lieef trade being penned. I lie steers will be judged on the dav prim* to tlie allow, so that this display of beef mi the hoof will l>.. arranged early on show dav. and those interested will be able to compare the pri/.e-winning beasts with the others. 'I he cai*e«ises of these steers w ill be judged in New Zealand, and later at, S in i t li field, and flirt her prizes a wa riled. Blue Shark Escapes Fisherman. An exciting struggle with a blue shark al>.nit I Hlt in length was experienced by -Mr. I. T. Ka 11 v* .-ll and party in the launch Deteii.lei*. when fishing off Alataora Ha v* during the week end. reports the "Star's"' VVaihi correspondent. .Mr. Kallwell. who was using biggame tackle, hooked the shark, and after a, tight of about *-il> minutes brought the fish! alongside, when it was identified as of the blue shark species. Three of the launch men; took part in an effort to get the shark on board, but in the battle, in which a gaff was u-eil. tin* lighting tish proved victor and got away with several y«t*ds of trace and the ga IT. Cargo on Wharves. Special all.l i in uieil ia t e attention to the 11 ii*--L ii in of collecting cargo left in wharf j -li.'.U after tin* departure of on.' vessel and' before l lie arrival of another alongside the! | same was urged by Mr. Harvey Turner' in a motion before the Auckland Hurbourj lioar.l yesterday. Describing the present system as unbusinesslike. Mr. Turner said goods' I were often still littered up and down the! s)ii..ls when other vessels arrived to begin! unloading. It was decided that reports on, iieecssaiy action should be su'miffed by flu ! board's officers to a meeting of the hoard in committee. Work for Crippled Children. Investigation of work by crippled children i in Kngland was made by Mr. T. Lamont, a I former Mayor of Devonport and member of the executive of the Auckland branch of the New* Zealand I rippled Children's Society, who returned yesterday by the YVangii nella. Me found that at one large institution for girls near London they were receiving vocational training and the majority were able to contribute towards their maintenance. At a similar institution for boys he found that they were being taught trades, and a high standard of proficiency was reached. He consideft-d that the future held hope and encouragement for the children at the Wilson Home at Takapnna if a suitable system of vocational training were introduced. Mr. Lamont brought I Kick with him a large l*>x of artificial flowers, exquisitely made, the work of a crippled girl. Cook Strait Telephone Census. An hour 10-hour record of speech across Cook Strait was recently taken by the l'ost Office to ascertain the improved degree of expedition made possible by the facilities afforded on the new coaxial cable. Seven channels were in operation between Wellington and Christchurch, and three between Wellington and Blenheim. The busiest hour of the working duy was found to be from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.. when the whole system carried calls totalling 353 speech' minutes. For an hour after lunch from 2 p.m. till 3 p.m. was another active period. .126 speech minutes being used by telephone callers between the North and South Islands. The Post Office makes substantia) concessions in charges from 0 p.m. till 8 a.m. the following day, and this particular investigation how well it has succeeded in spreading the business. The total number of speech minutes paid for on the system during the whole 24 hours was 4040. and exactly half of this business was recorded during the time when concession rates prevailed. These tests demonstrated that, fast as telephone traffic is grow ing between the two islands, the facilities will be able to cope with it. Waterfront Ship Story. m The story of a. successful search for a seaman to complete a ship's complement, thereby saving a company many hundreds of pounds, is told in the weekly report of a State placement officer. The captain was anxious to put to sea, but his crew was short two seamen. The manager of the company sought the help of the local placement officer, who telephoned to colleagues in three other ports, with the result that one man was located,' his transport expenses were arranged, and he reached the ship next day and signed on. The crew refused to sail short-handed, so the company's manager and the placement officer, in the former's car, scoured the city all ths morning. Quite by chance they learned that a man who used to be a seaman was engaged on full-time work some miles in the country. He proved willing to sign on, and by 'phone the district employment officer was requested to arrange with the man's employing authority to release him, so that the ship could sail. Here the crew raised the question of union fees, but ultimately they decided that they would take the ship to sea on condition that the recruit paid his union fees when the vessel arrived at the next port. So at midnight the ship crept out to sea in a gathering storm, leaving behind a very grateful company manager, who explained that had she been delayed until Monday she probably would have upset her time-table, involving a loss of about £500 in freigHt. • i

Difficult to Find. "It is just as hard to find a normal person. as it is a normal cow.'' stated Dr. G. A. Hticker, Professor of Bacteriology at Cornell I T niversitv, in addressing farmers at Palmerston North. Ho added th«»t it usually required an exhaustive search to secure anyone complying with the requirements of mere normality. Air Raids on Grasshoppers. name throwers, poisoned bran, oil sprays, rollers, trenches and sheep trumping have all played a prominent part in the. campaign to eradicate grasshoppers, reports the "Australian Dairy Keview." One method has not yet been tried; that is. the destruction of grasshoppers from the air. Although it cannot be' said whether an aeroplane is more efficient than poisoned lwiit in Australia, in other countries 'hopper destruction from the air has been very successful. Locusts have been con- j trolled in North and South Africa by dusting j pest swarms with a poisonous powder dropped from a 'plane. Flame thrower* attached to a 'plane have been used in Egypt, and vast swarms have been burnt in a few seconds. Fish Liver Oils. Scientists at the ITniversitv of Capetown have discovered that certain South African fish yield liver oil tar richer than cod liver oil in vitamin content. Kabeljouw liver oil, they find, contains 100 times tiie Vitamin A that cod liver oil does. The stockfish —a very com- i mon fi-di on South African coasts —yields oil j eight times as rich as cod liver oil. TJie oils : from both fish contain no acid, and conform! to the standards laid down by the British and | I'nited States pharmacopeias. It is believed that 1 ."i.OOO gallons of oil could be produced in Capetown annually—a development which would l»e of immense iielp to the Public Health authorities, who have to cope with a disturbing! v high incidence of tuberculosis among the Cape coloured population. Air Raid Refuges. Notices placed everywhere to indicate places of refuge ill case of air raids were amongst the changes noticed in England by the Veil. Archdeacon J. A. .lermyn, of Oreyinouth. The archdeacon said that in every town anil village the municipal authorities were responsible for the organisation of volunteer bodies of citizens, who would control people and direct them to the refuges. Gas masks were everywhere to be had for use in an emergency. The archdeacon added that in spite of these preparations for war. the general opinion in England was that war could not be Anticipated fur some time. Many were of opinion that, whilst rearmament was to l>e regretted. England's action in proceeding with a huge programme would undoubtedly have a steadying effect on more warlike nations. Motion Well Lost. A motion moved on behalf of the Auckland Centre by Mr. H. Goldsmith was well lost at the last meeting of the New Zealand Swimming Council in Christchurch. It was doomed from the start when it could only find a pro forma seconder, and on the. voting there were 12 delegates against, and Mr. Goldsmith for the motiou. The Auckland proposal was aimed at varying the council's overseas tours "fund by providing that each centre should keep a separate fund instead of the money going into a national fund, as at present. A number of delegates expressed their hostility to the motion, while Mr. Goldsmith was unable to reply, stating that a letter of instructions from his centre had apparently gone astray. Military Camp and Showground. A reversal of its earlier decision not to allow a military camp to be held at the Tomouna showgrounds was made at a meeting of the Hawke's Bay Agricultural and Pastoral Society on Monday. Three weeks ago the society, because of the nearness of the autumn show, refused an application made by the adjutant of the Second (Composite) Battalion, Captain G. M. MeCaskell. N.Z.S.C'., for the grounds from February 19 to March 5 for a camp, which would be attended by abbut 000 men from Hawke's Bay, Poverty Bay. Taranaki, Wairarapa and the East Coast. Yesterday, however, representations from different sources were placed before members urging favourable consideration of the application, and after a full discussion it was decided to grant the use of tho showgrounds for the camp. New Zealand's Labour Handicap. Emphasis on New Zealand's difficulties in competing with countries where lower wages are paid and longer hours are worked was laid by Mr. J. R. Kirk, who has just returned from a visit to South Africa, He contrasted the position of the New Zealand farmer with his competitor in South Africa. "New Zealand, where the Labour Government has introduced a 40-hour week and increased wages, is largely dependent upon the English market (open to all Countries, with no such restriction of hours) for. the sale of its products, and is therefore closely interested in the wages paid in the competing countries," he said. "Africa sends cheese to the London market and obtains a price comparable with that of New Zealand. Yet the African farmer pays approximately one-iifth in price for his land and less than one-tenth in wages. Nearly all farm labour ift native labour, and the native is generally paid .10/ a month in cash, plus quarters and mealie rations, while the native workers in cheese factories are paid 2/6 a day and find theVnselves. Native labourers in the towns are paid 2/ to 4/ a day and find themselves, and native waterside workers receive 2/6 a day. With such conditions ruling it seems humbug to protest against cheap Japanese labour. What a field lies fallow throughout the world for thp International Labour Bureau at Geneva to develop by dealing with this question of wages and the raising of • the general standard of living."