General News.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20806, 16 March 1933, Page 6

General News.

♦ Of the total rates levied by the Waiinairi County Council, amounting to £-!•';,704, the ainon at received before the imposition of the 10 per cent, penalty, which started on Tuesday, was £35,9(ij, leaving outstanding the sum of £773!>. More than 200 men Ixxik part in a demonstration on the Cashmere Hills relief works yesterday morning. Discontent, it is stated, arose over the attitude towards the men of a new foreman appointed by the Labour Bureau to take control of the gangs. '/' he bells of the Wellington General I'ost Office clock tower are undergoing overhaul, and are silent for I lie first time in many years. The clock, however, continues without interruption. The bells have done duty since 1899. i'ress Association. A suggestion made some time ago that threshing-machine hands had dynamited fish in the Selwyn river was denied by Mr "\V. O. Kcnnio at a meeting of the council of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society last nigiit. At the annual meeting last evening of the Merivalc Football Club it was decided to congratulate the Canterbury Amateur Athletic Association on the province's victory in the recent New Zealand championships. J'cferonco was made to the fact that A. Bullivant, u member of the club, had been a member of the Canterbury relay team. As originally proposed, yesterday would have been the last day for the payment of Christchurch City Council rates to escape the 10 per cent, penalty, and the rate collector and his staff would have- had a very busy time. An the result of the extension of the period to Marcli ".1, the amount received yesterday was only £li-UO. To date the total received is or (il.lj.j per cent, of the total levy. The amount outstanding is £129,41)1. The Southern Cross, piloted by Air Commodore Sir Charles KingsfordSmitli, is expected to call at Wigram. Aerodrome at 7.30 this morning on the way from Oamaru to Blenheim. The big monoplane will leave Oamaru about 6 a.m., and is scheduled to arrive at Blenheim at noon. The machine will bn fitted with an extra petrol tank during its stop at the aerodrome, which will be of about an hour and a half or two hours. The hanging committee of the Canterbury Society of Arts has now completed its work in preparation for the society's annual exhibition, which opens en Friday, March 24. The standard of this year's exhibition is stated to be very high, and portraits comprise a considerable proportion of the works hung. A total of 333 pictures have been accepted, but as there are few very big works the wall space has proved quite sufficient. There will be a private view of the exhibition on Thursday, Marcli 23. A suggestion by Dr. F. V. BevanUrown that if the German, or little grey, owl was allowed to spread at the present rate, most of the smaller birds, particularly the fantail and tomtit, would soon disappear was considered at a meeting of the council of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society last night. Members agreed that it was destructive, and decided to write to the New Zealand Acclimatisation Societies' Association, urging it to take the matter up with all the societies and to suggest the payment of a royalty on tho bird. To be a successful beggar one must apparently develop a certain technique to which a little histrionic talent is a useful aid. Observe the method of a Christchurch woman practitioner; She approaches her victim with the rather agitated query, "You arc a Christchurch lady, aren't you!" and, curiously enough, she generally finds her assumption correct. Then, becoming tremblingly lachrymose, she unfolds a rather involved story about her coming from Kangiora or some similarly remote spot, explains that hor house is locked up (an irrelevancy that does not dawn on the listener till afterwards), and that she is stranded in the City with threepence and nowhere to go till sho meets her family. Her final and tearful, "I don't know what I'll do, I'm sure," generally draws a generous florin. But oven a water-tight silver digging plan can go away if one's memory is defective. The lady made the, fatal mistake recently of approaching the same victim on successive days. The second attempt was discouraging. Important chapters in the history of New Zealand are recalled in an article which was featured in the London "Daily Telegraph" on February 8, on the occasion of the celebration of "New Zealand Day" by the Now Zealand Association. The article, is accompanied by suitable illustrations, gives details of the events leading up to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, which was proclaimed on February 8, 1840, and of the part played by James Busby (British Eesidcnt in New Zealand), Tamati Faaka Nenc (one of the chief signatories), and the Rev. Henry Williams, the three men who played principal parts in securing the . signatures of the Maori chiefs to the treaty. Although only 93 years have elapsed since the foundation of New Zealand, the article states, the Dominion to-day holds the remarkable » distinction of being tho leading dairy produce and mutton and lamb exporting country in tho world, one of the chief wool-export-ing countries, and the chief supplier to Britain of dairy produce, mutton, and lamb, crossbred wool, honey, and .other essential commodities. She has the highest per caput trade of all countries in the world.

Steady progress is being made by the New Zealand League for the Hard of Hearing, which was launched in Auckland just a year ago, and it has sine; spread through the province, says an Auckland newspaper. The aims of the league arc to reduce the ill-effects of deafness to a minimum, to encourage deafened and liard of hearing people to pursue their accustomed means of livelihood with the minimum of inconvenience, to eliminate quackery as far as it concerns deafness, 'and to co-operate with the Government in dealing with the prevention of deafness in children. The means w'lich the league employs include teaching of lip reading, the demonstration of mechanical and electrical hearing aids, the revision of suitable books and pamphlets, and assisting in finding employment for afflicted people.

Recently complaints were made that bovs had been fishing ixi Victoria Lake, in "North Hagley Park. The council of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society decided last night to ask the (Jhristehurch Domains Board to erect a notice drawing attention to the prohibition of fishing in the area.

It. would seem that the bauds of wild, or semi-wild, horses in the Kaingaroa and Galatea district, which were reported to have been dying out, are still vigorous, says the Rotorua "Post." There arc several mobs to be seen away back in the hills, and the predominating colours are black and grev or roan. Some years ago an Arab stallion broke away, and was not caught, and these may bo some of his stock.

A large steam crane operated by tho ■K'ailwav Department was derailed on the main north line just beyond Avondale station, near Auckland, on Sunday afternoon, reports the "New Zealand Herald." The derailment seriously blocked the main line, but it occurred only a few yards from a siding. A breakdown train was immediately sent out, and within a few hours the siding was connected with the main line. The crane, a bulky piece of mechanism, mounted on u'platform and self-propel-ling, was being used in carrying out repairs to the railway bridge over the W'liau crock.

Concerning the price of school books, Mr 1.. J. McDonald stated at the meeting of the Wellington School Committees and Fducatiomil Federation that the Minister for Kducation (the Hon. R. Masters), with all the information of the Kducation Depanmeiit at his disposal, had proclaimed that -liy securing '22 i per cent, reduction iii the price of school books,_ he had secured an annual saving of £7500. This represented an annual expenditure of about £40,000, said Mr _ McDonald. The Department had now said that the total expenditure on school books was onlv £SIBO. The country was certainly entitled to ask which statement was (ii)O to inexcusable carelessness, or tm attempt to mislead the people. "1 am afraid that when the Municipal Conference is held in a beauty spot there is a tendency for it to develop toward a picnic, although 1 do not think the business was unduly cut," remarked the Mayor of Lower Hutt, Mr W. T. Sliand, when reporting on the conference to the Lower Hutt Borough Council this week. "I am of opinion that places more, economical for tho representatives throughout New Zealand to attend should bo diosen." Mr .Strand went on to say that most of the important questions had been anticipated Ly the Government. The general feeling was that a reduction of interest was very necessary. That, of course, had been given effect to by legislation. kmquirics concerning the means of persons registering as unemployed for relief work have been made by the Unemployment Board with a view to giving assistance to those in real need of help. Although some complaints have been made concerning the particulars required to be supplied on the forms, it is held that the system is justified. It vvu.s recently discovered that an applicant fqr relief work had £SOOO in the bank, says the "Dominion." Questions were asked in Parliament recently the necessity for demanding so many details from applicants. It is stated by tho board, however, that it is necessary, in. the interest of all applicants, that relief should not be given to those who have sufficient means of support.

"It is estimated that a total saving of between £2OOO and £3OOO will lie effected by the council on all its loans for the financial year ending March 31, 1934," stated" the Lower Hutt town clerk, Mr B. S. Knox, when reporting to the Borough Council on the borough loans and the recent conversion legislation. While the ext'hungc ratt) was in New Zealand's favour as against Australia, Air Knox proceeded, four half-yearly payments were sent to Melbourne on loans totalling £59,300. The total amount of interest which would have been sent under ordinary circumstances was £6819 10s, but a saving of £742 2s was effected over this period. This was equivalent to a discount of 10.50 per cent.

Considerable ingenuity has been shown by two Romuera schoolboys in the construction of a canoe propelled by means of power from a steam engine, says the ".New Zealand Herald." Tli>; boys, who were only 15 years of age at the time they built the canoe, received some assistance in making the boiler and the engine, but a large portion of tlio work they performed themselves. For a boiler, the boys made uso of an acetylene gas cylinder from an old motor-truck. With tho addition of a number of copper tubes, tho cylinder macle a satisfactory boiler. The heat for generating steam was obtained from a primus stove, tho burner being taken off and five burners being provided on a copper pipe line underneath tho boiler. The result of the boys' efforts was an excellent miniature marine engine, there being a safety valve and water and pressure gauges. The boiler works at a pressure of 1001b to tli« square inch. The canoo has proved to be thoroughly reliable and, although it is only about eight feet Jong, it has carried the two boys in calm weather. Since his consecration a little over four years ago, the Et. Rev. F. A. Bennett, Bishop of Aotcaroa, has made an annual visit to the Maori tribes of the North Island and to the South Island every other year. He has recently returned from his annual visit to the Waikato diocese, and he has nuch of interest to tell of his experiences and impressions gathered during a month's work. Speaking generally of the Maori in New Zealand, Bishop Bennett said that the Maori population was mainly distributed in the North Island with about lo'OO in the South Island. The Maori population of the North Island totalled 68,000. On account of the closer contact between the two races in the south the Maoris become practically Anglicised, the majority knowing more English than Maori, but the sense of nationality was so strong that quite :i number were now insisting upon their children learning the language of their Maori ancestors.

A debate has been arranged between Mr L. C. Walker, who is announced as a candidate for the Mayoralty of Ohi'istcburch, and Mr J. N. Harle on the proposition: "That Mr Walker's industrial settlement scheme is a cure for unemployment." Mr Walker is to take the affirmative and Mr Harle the negative. The debate is to lake place at the Trades Hall on March 23, and Mr <!. Lawn is to preside.

Workers give the Gold Band Taxis your full support, as they are supporting you and your wives by keeping ,tbe fares clown, so that you can ride i" taxis. Our lowest fare is still Is for five passengers, and all luggage, prams, cycles, etc. Why go elsewhere. Thank you. — 3