Bay of Plenty Times. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23rd., 1932. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LX, Issue 10825, 23 March 1932, Page 2

Bay of Plenty Times. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23rd., 1932. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Bay of Plenty Times will not be published on Good Friday or Easter Monday, hut will be issued on Saturday March 20.

Criticism of the action of the Government in appointing commissions was voiced at Thursday’s meeting of the Daily Farmers’ Union (says The Dominion). A resolution objecting to the practice as the members of Parliament were appointed for the purpose of considering these matters was pa.sesd. "I don’t know how many commissions the Government has appointed to shield behind, but 1 think that before any further are appointed the Government should undertake to accept a percentage of their findings,” said the president, Mr N. Campbell.

“It is one of the anomalies that exist in our unemployment legislation. Until lately we had the position that a man with £IOO in the bank could not obtain work under the relief schemes, whereas a man with a £4OO motor car could drive to that work in it,” remarked Mr S. L. Paterson, S.M., in the Rotorua Magistrate’s Court on Friday last, when in the course of a case, counsel referred to the regulations preventing any man with a bank balance from obtaining work on the various unemployment schemes.

Italy has an Unemployment Insurance Act, but it, is a very modest one. The benefits are small and given under conditions much less liberal than in Britain. Thus at the end of September the number of Italian unemployed was officially estimated at 748,000( inclusive of 168,000 agricultural labourers. The number enjoying benefits, however, was only 234,000. Instead of paying unemployment benefit a national endeavour is being made to give good employment. As many as 20 3 S great public works were inaugurated in October, including important land reclamation and rural hygiene works.

When Mr Baucke, the well-known author of “Where the White Man Treads” passed away some six months ago, his effects were placed in an auction mart for disposal (says an Otorohanga messge). Among his personal belonging was an apparently plain mid very old violin. The violin was purchased by a local solicitor for £3. A careful examination disclosed that the name Antoni Stradavarius was engraved on the inside. The instrument was purchased in Ba,varia, some 85 years ago by the late Mr Baucke’s father. No one in Otorohanga suspected that the instrument has a possible comraex'cial value of £2500.

A blue Buick touring car, No. 12.200 owned by Mr W. Sing, of Kalnui Road, Taupiri, was stolen from Ngaruawahia on Saturday afternoon while Mr Sing was at the regatta (says the Waikato Times).

A suggestion was made at the last meeting of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce by Mr A. J. Curtis that the chambers of commerce should make some move to endeavour to bring pressure upon the Government to have penny postage brought back. The 'Government could, by responding, show' that it was willing to assist the business community by reducing overhead expenses. The Chairman. Mr C. J. B. Norwood, sa.id he thought it would be a very difficult matter to bring forward such an issue when the country had such serious problems ahead as it had at present. Mr Curtis said he was convinced that the re-introduction of penny postage would result in increased revenue to the Government. Mr Norwood said that the question whether. revenue would be increased w r as a very open one; there were those who thought that revenue would fall, lie did not think the question could be successfully introduced at present.

A seagull that had allegedly been kept in close captivity as a pet in a Christchurch garden was the subject of discussion at a recent meeting of the Canterbury Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The inspector (Mr D. J. White) said that in his opinion the seagull was not being cruelly treated. It had been reared from a chick by a young lad and was kept in a Merival garden, where it was evidently useful in keeping dotvn slugs and other pests which attacked plants. It could not escape from the garden, but it was well cared for in every way. The society decided to take no action in the matter. A sunflower eleven feet in height and fifteen inches across the head was one of the exhibits at the Kawakawa Show.

About 150 Chinese ring-neck pheasants have been liberated throughout the Rotorua district to date and others will he given their freedom as the birds are available, according to Mr A. Kean. Conservator of Fish and Game for (he Rotorua Acclimatisation area-

Mr P. Van Waveren, the wellknown bulb specialist, of Holland, who makes regular trips to New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and South America, has been giving his views on the possibilities of bulb culture iu New Zealand and other southern lauds to the “British Australian.” In a recent issue he visualises an optimistic picture of possibilities which he hopes to see painted on New Zealand tulip fields. He thinks big things may be expected if the trade were only opened up. Speaking to Mr H. Bennett, the well-known bulb specialist, of Broadacres, North-east Valley, Dunedin, on his recent visit to New Zealand after an inspection of his bulb areas. Mr Van Waveren expressed the opinion that “he had seen nothing better in Holland than some of Hie bulbs growing at Broadacres.’’

Two Australian publications, “The Parable of the Water Tank,” and the “Path to Power” have been banned by the New Zealand Customs Department. In a warning in the New Zealand Gazette these hooks were added to the prohibited list on the ground that they are embraced by the Order-in-Council which bans literature encouraging violence or expressing seditious intention. The second publication is issued by the Australian Communist Party.

Although the Methodist Conference of Victoria, has decided that women should be barred from the ministry, the women are determined that the* ma'Vr shall not be allowed to rest :,t that. They will bring their request before the Australian conference at the first opporunity. Their claims, so far, have aroused very little sympathy.

At a recent sa.le in South Canterbury a line of ewes failed to bring a, penny a head. They were in poor condition and were ultimately disposed of in one lot of about 140 for 11s the line.

For the first time since 1908 the New Plymouth Harbour Board has decided to impose a rale which is calculated to produce £22,000. This decision was made after careful deliberation at a special meeting of the board. A hope was expressed that an improvement in trade would result in the lifting of the rate. The main reasons for striking the rate were the decrease in the trade of the port, the drop in land revenue, and rents and high exchange affecting interest on loans, said the chairman (Mr C. E. Bellringer). The harbour district is divided into three areas. In the borough of New Plymouth the rate will be levied in November and in the other boroughs and counties in January or February of next year. The area, to carry the bulk rate (£14,000) will be New Plymouth and the surrounding district.

The annual general meeting of the lady members of the Golf Club will be held iu the Borough Council Chambers at 7.30 p.m. on Thursday, March 31.

The steamer Tamatea has sailed for the mutton bird islands (says a. South Island exchange). The ship will call at Colac, where a large number of mutton-birders will join those from Bluff, It is Captain Hamilton’s intention to effect landings at all the South Cape group the islands to be visited being Pouta.ma, Pohouaiti, Solomon, Cundy, Big and Potaka. It is to be hoped the weather remains line for the cruise, as a. blow makes the landing at some of the islands a difficult and hazardous operation, as well as unduly protracting the voyage through the necessity of running for shelter to Stewart island till the gale subsides. Later on in the season the Tamatea will make her usual half-time trip to the various places where the birders are operating.

“In all my travels I have never seen such concentrated beauty as there is at the Franz Josef Glacier in the Waiho Gorge,” said Mr Hamster Sturges, of New York, who has lately been visiting the glacier on his sixth tour of the world. Mr Sturges was very much impressed with the walks through the bush to and from the glacier, and also with the view from the window of the new church at Franz Josef.

With a prospective shortage of maize in the Dominion, merchants are again giving attention to importations from South Africa, but shipping arrangements have not so far been completed (says an Auckland message).

The reference by Tabu Wiremn Rartana, the Maori religious leader, to the union of interests of Aotearoa, the North Island, and those of Te Waipounamn, the South Island, in the course of a speech at the Native Assembly at Te Kuiti, draws attention to the many names applied to the islands of the Dominion. Aotearoa is the general name among the Maori tribes for the whole of New Zealand only the people of a portion of the North Island west coast, near Wanganui, using the word, as Ratana has done, to describe the North Island which is ordinarily called Te Ika a, Maui. An abbreviated form of Aotearoa, Aotea, is the Maori term for Great Barrier Island. New Zealand was once know as Tiri Tiri o te Moana —“placed at wide intervals in the ocean” —and the Rarotongans knew this country as Avaiki-Tautau, one of the Pacific Ocean’s many Hawaikis. There is also a modern expression, Niu Tireni, which is merely a Maori pronunciation of New Zealand.

At the Ngaruawahia regatta on Saturday opportunity was taken by the Regatta Association Jo present Mr W. G. Mason president of the Auckland Rowing Association, and Messrs A, Wilson and E. il. Buckler, treasurer and secretary of the Auckland Association respectively, with silver canoe paddle badges, entitling them to life membership. Messrs Mason and Wilson have attended .the regatta almost since its inception 3G years ago.

The fire syren sounded an alarm at 1:50 this morning. It was mining very heavily at the time, but the brigade turned out immediately and proceeded for two miles to the scene of the fire, which proved to be a haystack on Mr A. F. Tunks’ property in Fraser Street. The stack and a nearby fowl run were destroyed, the Are having a good hold when discovered.

Advices from Auckland state that potatoes are still in ample supply from Pukekohe and suburban districts, and the market is distinctly easy, with merchants quoting £6 per ton ex store. Little interest is being taken in Southern quotations in the meantime, as local stocks are likely to satisfy this market for some time to come.