General News.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19170, 29 November 1927, Page 8

General News.

Among recent additions to the Canterbury Museum are theatre tickets used at a concert at Salisbury in 1798, on the occasion of Lord Nelson's victory at the Nile. They were given by Mrs Fred Rowe, Bishop street, St. Albans. Last" week about 4500 tons of coal were* shipped from Greyinouth, and the effects of this were reflected in the decreased railway goods traffic. Only 8370 tons of goods passed through the Otira tunnel, coming eastward, as compared with 10,399 tons for the corresponding week of 1926. A late ru§h of wool for this week's sale caused heavy demand's on the Railway Department's rolling stock on the north line on Saturday, Goods traffic is showing an ail-round improvement, but this week's receipts will be adversely affected by yesterday's wet weather, which held up work at Lyttelton. A happy company of 377 passengers landed at Auckland yesterday morning from the Athenic, after a voyage from Liverpool. They were met by representatives of the various Churches and welfare organisations. Tile passengers included 87 young women trained in England for domestic work.—Press Association. Infectious and other notifiable diseases reported in the Canterbury and West Coast health districts during the week ended noon yesterday totalled 34, as follows: —Canterbury: Scarlet fever, 10; tuberculosis, 15; pneumonia', 6; pneumonic influenza, 1; erysipelas, 2. West Coast: Nil. In the Canterbury district there >vere three deaths from tuberculosis, and in the West Coast district two deaths from the same cause A fairly large proportion of those who voted by declaration 'at the Tramway Board election last Thursday will find that their votes cannot be allowed. If a mistake in the roll or an omission, from the roll is not the fault of the compilers of the roll, the vote of the person affected cannot be allowed. In several cases names did not appear on the roll as the result of the default of the residents themselves. Mr F: Thompson, the Returning Officer, hopes to announce the official result of the election to-morrow. Only a few gaps now remain to be filled in the special telephone line which is being erected between Christchurch and Oamarii for use under the new system of centralised train control which is shortly to be inaugurated. In the special office which is being fitted Up for this work at the district headquarters a selective telephone system has recently been installed. By the use of ingenious clockwork mechanism each centre on the line will have its own call, so that no difficulty will be experienced in distinguishing the ring from that of other telephones in the same office. "A strong British Empiro is a guarantee for the maintenance of the pennanent peace of the whole world," said Mr I. Tokugawa, Japanese Consul in <\ustralia and New Zealand, in a striking address in the University College Hall, Auckland. He had been referring to Mr Amery'a visit and pointing out that the unity of the British Empire was much more than our own domestic concern. He regarded the relations between Japan and Australia and New Zealand as an important factor for permanent peace among the nations of the Pacific. "Crimes of violence, and the very rough types of men of twenty or thirty years ago are on the decrease,", states the annual report of the Wellington Discharged Prisbners' Aid Society. "The dipsomaniac is always with us, and does not differ materially from his forbears, but the better educated and apparently more refined type of man is greatly in evidence. And, although a mdre general spread of education may produce the forger and the false pretences man instead of the highwaymen and bushranger, the better educational standards make it less difficult to reason with the modern criminal, and, to a very laifge extent, the hope of his reformation is there.'*

The first meeting of the newlyelected Tramway Board will be held tomorrow. Work has been completed on the erection of the steel framework for the new .carpenters' shop at the Addington railway workshops. About 950 people visitedl Otira on Saturday by the special train run in connexion with the annual picnic of the Leeston Friendly Societies. On Monday, December sth, the sumer time-table will be reverted to on the railways. Express trains will run daily, in both directions, between Christchurch and Dunedin and Invercargill. The Gisborne Harbour Board, on the chairman's casting vote, rescinded a resolution passed at the last' meeting to lower the salary, of the engineer and reduce the engineering staff. —Press Association. As the Marama was clearing Queen's wharf, Wellington, for Sydney, some little excitement was caused by a greaser named Cunningham, who was seeing some of his late shipmates off, falling into the water. A line was thrown to him, but after he had been hauled well clear of the water the ropo slipped, and he fell back into the water. He could not swim, and as he did not reappear at once, another seaman, J. Flynn, dived in fully clothed, and seized hold of the other man. The two were then quickly hauled on to the wharf. The Postmaster-General, Mr Nosworthy, says that the statement quoted in a cablegram from Canberra on Saturday alleging that Canada had disregarded all communications from New Zealand and Australia in regard to the Pacific Cable Board, is incorrect so far as New Zealand is concerned. Relations between his Majesty's Government in Canada and the New Zealand Government in regard to the Pacific cable are most cordial, and the statement that communications from this country have been disregarded must have been made under a misapprehension.—Press Association. When the Middleton railway yards are in full operation it is anticipated that a proportion of the employees affected will make new homes in the locality. To suit the convenience of those residing in the City arrangements have been made to convey shunters and others engaged from the Christchurch station to the yards in a car attached to the shunting engines, when the three-shift system is inaugurated oh Monday with the coming into full use of the yards and the reversion to the summer time-table. As the work of each shunting engine will be completed at the same time as that of the corresponding shift, the transport of the men to and from the yards has been easily arranged. It is probable that an effort may he made to establish the principle of ."bank-to-bank" payment. The Public Service Entrance, Intermediate, and Senior and Junior National Scholarship examinations, conducted by the Education Department, were completed last week. This year, throughout New Zealand, 2400 candidates sat for the Public Service examination; 1200 for the Senior National Scholarship- 1100 for the Intermediate (those who were not recommended for a Senior Free Place); and 3000 for the junior National Scholarship. Compared with last year; the number of candidates for all examinations is about the same. The number for Public Service Entrance shows a slight increase, while the number for Intermediate shows a slight decrease. The results are expected to be available in January. Junior National Scholarships results will be made known before the others. The Matriculation and other examinations conducted by the New Zealand University commence oh December Ist. Condemnation of the callous attitude shown in certain quarters towards men who have served a term of imprisonment was contained in .'the annual report of the Wellington Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society. "Following his release, the ex-prisoner is a moral invalid needing after-care," says the report. "The recidivist will generally callously face a hard world, but the man who leaves the prison cells after his first visit, or even his second sen tence, requires as much sympathetic help as the physically convalescent. H employment can promptly be found, and the current of his life guided into proper channels, success shoiild follow. The problem in the latter instance >s always difficult. If a moral miracle could be performed, and a complete severance from the old life and its companionships and environments achieved, every social worker knows that a solution is in sight. But the tendency is to drift back, and without much opportunity for employment, that tendency is almost impossible to correct. That has made the Society's efforts rather difficult during many months of the year." The Hotel Federal's new and up-to-date dining-room is now completed with accommodation for 200 guests, and specialising in casual luncheons from 12.30 to 2 p.m. Six courses (including grills). 2s 6d. 'Phone 1040 to reserve tables —6 Hay-making time is almost here. Garner your crop this year with the best ,and most hiodern equipment—the Booth-Mac Sweep Rake and Swinging Stacker, both made in our own factories, to the pattern of the world's bestLWe are also making Sweep Rakes for tractor propulsion. Fullest particulars by return post. Booth, Macdonald, and Co., Ltd. 0521