General News.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20610, 28 July 1932, Page 8

General News.

The Mayor of Christchurch (Mr D. G. Sullivan, M.P,) has received official advice that H.M.S. Diomede will arrive at Lyttoltoo on Tuesday, November Ist, remaining until Saturday, November 19th. Under the will of the late Michael Wall, the following institutions each receive a bequest of £IOO: —Nazareth House, Christchurcli, and Mt. Magdala Homo. Mr Wall formerly resided at Timaru, and latterly at Wellington. A further outbreak of diphtheria at the Waltham Orphanage was reported to the North Canterbury Hospital Board at its mooting yesterday. Two oases had occurred in the last fortnight. Tho Benovolent Committee stated that unquestionably the outbreak was caused by "carriers," since all other possible sources of infection had been thoroughly investigated. During a discussion on tho proposal to purchase a lathe at the Waimairi County Council last evening, a councillor said that the times wore hard, and as the latlie was not urgently required, it would be well- to defer tho purchase for a year. The chairman (Cr. T. 0. Newnham) said that the whole trouble in New Zealand was that there were no buyers. "Everyone keeps putting off, and tho position is gradually growing worse," he said. A grant of £8 a week has been offered to the relief fund of the Mayor of New Brighton (Mr E. A. M. Leaver) by the Mayor of Christchurch (Mr D. Q. Sullivan, M.P.). Mr Leaver stated that in view of the difficulty tho relief depot had in obtaining all the goods it needed, even with the assistance of tho pound scheme, ho had decided to hand over the whole of Mr Sullivan's grant to the depot for the purchase of necessities. A letter of thanks is to be sent to Mr Sullivan. To celebrate tho golden jubilee of tho establishment of their businoss, D. Gostetner, Ltd.. of London, are presenting a Gostetner oloetric duplicating maphino to each of 200 hospitals in various parts of the world. At its meeting yesterday, the North Canterbury Hospital Board was notified by the New Zealand agents, Armstrong and Springhalt, Ltd., that ono of theso machines, suitably finished in gold, was to be forwarded fpr its use. The Auckland, Wellington, t and Otago Boards are also to receive a machine each. The Board decided to return thnnlts to the eompany for its gift. An application by tho Canterbury Park Trotting Club for a reduction in rent under tlie National Expenditure Adjustment Act was refused by tho North Canterbury Hospital Board yesterday on the ground that the rent at present charged was equivalent to less than five per cent, of the unimproved value of the land. The Finance Committee reported that . the unimproved value of the property as at March 31st, 1932, was £17,685. Five per cent, of this would amount to £BB3 sb, while the rent that the Board was receiving llnder the lease was only £738 18s 4d per annum. An interesting feature of tho projected visit to Australia of Master Lex Macdonald, of Dunedin, is that even if he is unable through accident or sickness to have his voice recorded in Sydney he or his parents or guarantors will be able to.recover their expenses. The local representatives of Lloyd's were approached regarding a policy on the young singer's voice, and they I at once cabled to London to ascertain I whether headquarters would accept such a policy. It is pleasing to noto that the Dunedin office has been able to arrange for a satisfactory premium to cover the boy's voice against accident and sickness for a period of threo months. Though snow waa not actually falling at Arthur's Pass yesterday afternoon, there was every prospect of it doing so at any moment, and a fall was very likely during the night, according to a report received by Mr G. G. Lock wood, secretary of the Christchurch Ski Club, There was a small amount of new snow on the skiing grounds. At present there is every possibility of the Ski Club's sports, wliieh are to take place during the weekend if the conditions arc good, being held as arranged. "It may interest you to know that several of the large West End cinemas have now changed over to variety and dispensed with films entirely," writes Mr William Elmer, London manager for Charles Begg and Co., Ltd., to his principals in New Zealand. "They run a continuous performance commencing at two o'clock, and run till midnight. This is a move in tho right direction for tho musio industry, as it reintroduces full orchestras, and a great portion of variety programmes consists of musical items. These continuous performances are meeting with success, and queues are continually waiting to gain admittance. For instance, the London Pavilion box office receipts for last week were £3400, and this is only one. This idea will no doubt extend to New Zea* land eventually. Another item which may be of interest to you is that accordion bands are coming into vogue."

An extraordinary creaking and rustling noise in the Supremo Court at Blenheim last Wednesday afternoon electrified a vigilant orderly into cries of "Silence! Silence!" says an exchange. But, in spite of tho official prohibition, the noise wont on. Even tho Supreme. Court, with all its dignity and all its officials, cannot still an earthquake 1 The work of installing a dozen street lights in the township at Arthur's Pass will bo fmishod at about tho end of August. The Arthur's Pass National Park Board has lot a contract for the work to the Railway Department, which will erect the lamps and supply the power from the station at Otira. Tho lamps will bo connected up with the ordinary railway electrical system, for which the wires lead through the Otira tunnel. An increaso in the number of packets containing matches passing through the post has recently been noticed. Auckland post office officials connect the practice with the increase in the number of unemployment relief camps. Presumabh smokers among the men are in the hsi'it of asking relatives and friends in the city to keep them supplied with matches. Owing to tho danger to the mails, however, the sending of matches of any kind by post is prohibited. A suggestion that tho New Zealand aoat of arms should be used on railway carriages instead of the British coat of arms has been made to the Railway Board by tho Now Zealand Tourist League. ~Tho league is of the opinion that tho British coat of arms is more appropriate for the carriago of the Governor-General. It was suggested it would prove of interest to visitors from abroad as well as making New Mealandcrs familiar with their own national insignia. It was reported at a meeting of the New Zealand Univorsity Council that the letters and journals of Samuel Marsdon containod in tho llocken Library would bo published towards the end of the present month, and that the Gov-ernor-General (Lord Blodisloo) and Lady Bledisloe had consented to tho volume boing dudicatcd to them in recognition of their interest in tho early history of the Dominion and thoir gift to New Zealand of the sito on which the Treaty of Waitangi was signed. Of l Jtf Loys who recently applied for a position advertised by an organisation in which he was interested, stated Mr M. E. Lyons at Iliccarton last evening, 83 had passed their matriculation examination. The task of selection had been very difficult, for it would have been "possible to accept almost any of tho applicants, and be tiuro of getting a good boy. No duty had given him more pani, said Mr Lyons, than this of rejecting, in the final choice, some 20 boys, most of whom had their higher leaving certificates, and somo of whom had been without work for two years.

What is claimed to be a New Zealand record for a model aeroplane duration Hight was established at the Rcmuera hockey grounds by Mr W. B. Mackley, a member of the Auckland Model Aeroplane Club. Mr Mackley's model aeroplane took off in the usual way, but, cvidontly striking an ascending current, it quickly gained a high altitude. The aeroplane disappeared to the north-east over neighbouring houses. It was followed by members of the club on bicycles, and was rocovored in Victoria avenue. According to the timing of a member of the club committee, tho aeroplane was in the air for smin 45sec.. Application will bo "made by the club to have tho flight established as a New Zealand record. Tho present official record is 2min SOsec, but there has been an unofficial flight in Auckland of 20min.

During this season tho North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society has handled over three and a half million brown trout ova, all in an excellent condition, with a very high percentage of hatching. In addition, the society expoets to liberate about 300,000 rainbow fry. Tho fry for liberation amounted to 2.100,000, and tho oyed ova planted to (520,000, a total of 2,720,000, of which the Waimakariri river and tributaries received 470,000 fry and 250,000 eyed ova; the Ashley river 150,000 fry and 250,000 oyed ova, and the rivers running into Lake Ellesmcro 490,000 fry and 120,000 eyed ova. The total liberations for tho season are expected to be about two and a half million fry and about three-quarters of a million eyed ova, which is stated to be easily a record for the society. The suggestion from tho principal of the Hutt Valley High School, Mr H. P. Kidson, that the council should employ a boy as office supernumerary at at. nominal wage, to assist in the relief of juvenile unemployment, was referred by tho Petone Borough Council to its Finance Committee. The opinion was expressed by Cr. C. P. Brockelbank that a boy would be better em* ployed on the engineering or electrical business of the council than in tho office. Mr Kidson has written thanking tho Lower Hutt Borough Council for deciding to take on a boy as an office supernumerary, stating that the members of the council would be surprised at tho effect it had on the boys when one of their fellows obtained employment. The council's help in taking on this boy was, ho said, of valued assistance, and was of possibly greater value in the offoct it would have on other employers. Any idea that prospecting for gold was being carried out in the Hawera County has been dissipated by advico received by the "Taranaki Daily News'' from the Receiver-General of tlio Treasury Department, who stated that owing to a mistake in information supplied tho amount of Iss, representing fees for thrco miners' rights, was indicated ns a credit to the Hawera county instead of to the Murchison county. At the last meeting of' tho Hawera County Council advice was roceived by the clerk to the effect'that tho Council had been creditod with 15s, representing goldfields rovenuo for tho month of May. Tho clerk (Mr J. W. J. Harding) reported that lie had instituted enquiries in view of the fact that there did not seem to bo any goldbearing land in the emintv. As a result of thoso enquiries, thq information was received stating that the amount was fees for three miners' rights payable to Hawera. The appointment of a public accountant "to investigate the monetary value of tho services given by the Council to the various local bodios in the district" was decided upon by tho Petone Borough Council. A committee was set up to deal further with tho question. The niotion was passed by the Council after a short discussion and without opposition. Taxi fares are still the lowest with the Gold Band Taxis, they are cheaper than tram fares, so why pay more our lowest faro is Is for tho first mile and Gd per mile thereafter. We can safely claim to be the most popular gorvicq in Christchurch. Everybody is riding in them. We lead, others attempt to follow. ' ■ —2 All through N.Z. the Macalister TopPresser shows superiority over all competitors. A satisfied customer writes: Waitati, J'une, 1932. Doar Sirs: The Macalister Fertiliser Sower is the best m&chino I've seen. It is easy to fill, easy to clean, distributes perfectly, I can confidently recommend this fine Distributor. (Signed) A. J. White. Aalt Booth, Maedonald and Co., Ltd., Box 99, Christchurch, for particulars. —3