General News

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21404, 21 February 1935, Page 12

General News

Christchurch Municipal Roll The main roll of the Christchurch City Council for the municipal elections in May contains 51,644 names, or 3921 more than were contained in the main roll for the last election, two years ago. The total on the main roll this year is 163 more than the total on the main and supplementary rolls used in the election in 1932. Setting of Concrete The advantage of allowing concrete to be properly "cured" when it was setting was stressed by Mr V. R. J. Hean in his address to the conference of fire engineers yesterday. If the concrete were covered with wet bags when setting or kept damp by some other means, the contraction or shrinkage would be much less than that of rapidly dried concrete—about .01 per cent, as compared with .05 per cent. This was an important factor if a fire had to be extinguished, as it would lessen the possibility of the water getting through the floor and damaging parts of the building unaffected by the fire. Glow Without Fire The appearance of neon signs was largely responsible for the feeling that they might be dangerous in causing fires, said Mr D. Catley, in addressing the conference of fire engineers yesterday. On a dull or foggy night the orange-red glow of a neon sign rising from behind a building gave every appearance of a well-fed fire, and people associated this deceptive appearance with the possibility of danger. A Strenuous Escape An interesting test of the effectiveness of the interior stairway type of fire escape was made in New York, according to Mr V. R. J. Hean, who read a paper on fire prevention at the conference of the Institution of Fire Engineers yesterday. Several athletes were taken to the top of the Woolworth building, from which they descended by the stairway. It took them six minutes to reach the ground, and at the end of that time they were thoroughly exhausted. Mr Hean said that many people would collapse by the time they reached the bottom and would have to be carried out on stretchers. Royal Visit to Samoa The motor-ship Maui Pomare, which arrived at Lyttelton yesterday, was at Apia when H.M.A.S. Australia, with the Duke of Gloucester on board, was there. The warship anchored outside the reef, launches acting as tenders to and froni the shore. The Duke was welcomed by many thousands of natives and a Royal "kava ceremony was held at Mulinuu. Later the Maui Pomare picked up the wireless calls for assistance from the schooner Seth Parker, then about «00 miles away, and was advised that H.M.A.S. Australia was going to her assistance. Untidy News-papers A severe critic of American newspapers is Father I. Gottfried, S.M., who in a letter from Washington to a Christchurch man thanking him for a copy of "The Press," says: " 'The Press' is a fine production and a great relief to read after these unAidy American news sheets. There is no idea of order in these papers, e: cept in one or two at the most, published in New York. The births column skips from page to page; foreign cables are scattered anywhere a vacant spot car be found, nnd no article or paragraph is ever finished on the same page. There used to be an old—alleged—joke that the Englishman had to print his humour in italics. Here, the editors are doubtful whether their readers will smile at their cartoons, so they label them in poster type 'Comic' We then are warned to laugh."

Judging Factory Gardens A start was made yesterday in judging the factory gardens of Christchurch for the competition held under the combined auspices of the Canterbury Manufacturers' Association and the Canterbury Horticultural Society. There are 11 gardens to be judged altogether, and some are as far apart as Kaiapoi and Islington. Only two were inspected yesterday, but the judges, Messrs M. J. Barnett and H. L. Darton, expect to finish by the end of the week. The two gardens judged yesterday were those at Fleming and Company's flour mill at Riccarton, and at Edmonds' baking powder factory in Ferry road. Mr Darton said last evening that they would be a credit to any city, and he thought that Christchurch was the only centre where factory gardens competed. Notwithstanding the dry season the gardens were surprisingly fresh and looked as if they had come through a perfect summer.

Art Union Proceeds Hundreds of requests are made each year to the Minister for Internal Affairs by various organisations for a share in the proceeds of the art unions. However, the present attitude of the Minister was outlined in a letter read last night at the meeting of the provisional committee for the Opawa Public Library. The letter stated that, at present, the proceeds were devoted to objects of a national character, and then preferably to those of a charitable or philanthropic nature. Requests seeking benefit for fresh capital expenditure could not be looked on with favour at present. A University Problem "How can a place be found in the modern university system for the student with a creative instinct?" asked Dr. F. P. Keppel (president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York) at the University Club at Dunedin last week. The question, he said, represented one of the major problems of the present time in American universities. The university system as it was constituted to-day was far more likely to kill such an instinct than to foster it. The difficulty, however, was what could be done about the small but very definite element in the stream of humanity represented by such students. In America they were looking for a niche for such men instead of simply expecting them to conform to the general pattern.

£IOO CHALLENGE to anyone who can prove otherwise thai the fares by the GOLD BAND TAXIS PRIVATE HIRE CARS are not half the price of other Taxis for five passengers, and that we are the only firm who is fighting against the New Council fares so as to keep the fares down so that the workers can use Taxis. 'Phone 33-477 and ask for a Private Hire Car. _4 A demonstration with a McCor-mick-Deering F. 12 Farmall Tractor will be given on Friday, February 22nd. at 10.30 a.m., on Mr Farquhar's farm. Radcliffe road. Styx. The Fl2 Farniall Tractor is built to pull a double-furrow plough and the corresponding implements. It can do every iob on the farm, and the demonstration will prove of great interest to those present International Harvester Company of New Zealand, Ltd., Christchurch. —6