General News

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21714, 22 February 1936, Page 14

General News

Art Gallery Sold The treasures in the Whitmore Street Art Gallery (Wellington) will soon be moved to the National Art Gallery at Mount Cook. Yesterday afternoon the old art gallery was offered for sale by auction. Bidding started at £7OOO, and went to £BOOO, £ 8500, and then by nun- j dreds to £B9OO, after which two £SO bids were taken, and the building and land were sold[for £9OOO, three or four minutes after the bidding had commenced. The name of the purchaser was not disclosed.—Press Association. The Church and Dancing The subject of dancing will be. referred to the church welfare committee of the Methodist Church, according to a decision made at the conference yesterday. The Wesley Church. Trust, Wellington, had forwarded a remit asking that conference should permit dancine at socials in the church hall when conducted f or church purposes and properly pontrolled. The Rev. E. S. Emmett said that with such difference of opinion on the subject there was need of a general resolution. Mr W. H. Burton said that the sooner the question was discussed in conference the better. Mr J. W. Thompson said that the remit merely asked that dancing should be allowed in the hall of the particular church. It was a property consideration, not a moral one. Mr Burton replied that he wished to raise the wider question. He moved that it should be referred to the public questions committee, but agreed to an amendment, which was adopted, that it should be referred to the church welfare committee. Visitors to Rotorua Visitors to Rotorua in a year number nearly 200,000, according to an estimate prepared by the town clerk. In compiling the estimate, figures were obtained showing the number of guests staying at each of the four selected hotels for the 12 months of last year. From the figures obtained the number of persons who passed through the remaining hotels in the town during the same period was computed, the estimate for each hotel being worked out in proportion to the accommodation available. The result gives a total of 44,231 for the four hotels selected, and 176,924 persons for the 29 licensed and unlicensed hotels in the town for the same 12 months' period. The figures do not take into account the number of persons passing through the various motor camps and finding accommodation in private homes. The addition of these, it is considered, would bring the number of visitors to Rotorua in a year to about 200,000. Centenary of New Zealand A great responsibility has been cast upon the citizens of Wellington in devising a fitting celebration of the centenary of European settlement in New Zealand. It is stated that the mayors of the metropolitan centres and those boroughs which represent the old provincial capitals agree that the celebration of New Zealand's centenary should be observed in a national manner in Wellington, as the political capital. It is understood that the present Labour Government is discussing tentatively the granting of not less than £IOO,OOO as the State's contribution. The question will be discussed at a forthcoming conference of metropolitan and old provincial borough mayors with the Minister for Internal Affairs, the Hon. W. E. Parry, early in March, when, it is anticipated that the groundwork of a plan for a national celebration of New Zealand s centenary will be surveyed.—" The Press Special Service. Low Barometric Readings Confirmation of the low barometric reading recorded, by Mr L. J. Matthews, of Doubtless Bay, Milford Sound, during the severe «torm last week is contained in a letter from Mr U. B. Inglis, a consulting mining engineer and assayer, of Coromandel. Mr Matthews took the phenomenally low reading of 27.91 m on his barometer, which he has found particularly accurate, and he said that it must constitute a Dominion record. Mr Inglis supports Mr Matthews, saying that his barometer in Coromandel read 28.10 in at midnight on Saturday and 27 92in at 6 a.m. on Sunday. It was probably lower still about 3 o'clock on that morning. The barometer was adjusted to sea level, and Mr Inglis's house is about 10ft above sea level. The lowest previous reading in Coromandel was 28 OOin, on the night when White Island blew up and killed 11 men. The lowest barometric reading previously recorded in New Zealand was 28.55 in at Martindale, Southland, in July, 1871. Auckland's record low level is 28.73 m, registered in July, 1867, and again on Sunday. The lowest reading on record at Wellington is 23.586 in. The French in Canada Most interesting information about the French Canadians in the eastern provinces of Canada was given by Colonel W. B. Clayton, a visitor from that Dominion, at New Plymouth. "I would first like to remove an impression that there is friction between the British and French population. There is not; the two live most amicably together. British criminal law prevails everywhere, but among the French their old civil law is administered and they all speak French." Colonel Clayton said that the greater part of Quebec would seem like a foreign town. Nearly everyone spoke French. In spite of this the French element provided no problem; they were all loyal Canadians and had given the Dominion skilled and able statesmen and politicians. One interesting result of the French influence could be seen in radio broadcasting. One-third of the programmes were in French. "It is really no inconvenience, Colonel Clayton said, "and gives us the advantage of being able to listen to and to some extent learn a foreign and cultured language.' Inscription on Coins Criticism of the abolition of the letters D.G. (Dei gratia, by the grace of God) after the King's name on the coin of the realm was made by the Rev. Dr. C. H. Laws at the Methodist Conference yesterday. He said that the public questions committee should approach the heads of other churches with a view to making representations to the authorities to have the letters restored when the new coinage was minted. He said that the abolition of these letters as well as "FD" (fidei defensor, defender of-the faith) had been brought about in England when the coins were being made. The change should have been submitted to the Government in New Zealand. He had been informed that the Government would give favourable consideration to the restoration of the letters if representations were made. Maori Anchor Unearthed Buried eight feet below and 25 feet from the bank, a Maori anchor or monument believed to be much more than 100 years old has been excavated by relief workers at the Ngamotu Domain, New Plymouth. The stone weighs about 401 b and is 10 inches deep and 12 inches in diameter. A hole is bored through the centre. The stonels of sandstone stratum. In the memory of the oldest Maori of Moturoa the slope of the hill where the stone was buried has remained unaltered, but the formation of the ground indicates that two slips have fallen on the ground where the stone originally stood. It is possible, according to some of the Maoris, that the stone was used on a burial ground, since anchors were usually formed of volcanic rock to withstand the weathering of the sea. The stone's shape corresponds with the usually accepted shape of Maori canoe anchors. Other discoveries during the excavations include a Maori oven and several old-fashioned bullets. Fresent-day Scotland The stringent economic conditions in Scotland and the. languishing state of the cquntry/s industries were referred to by Dr. John Pottinger, who gave a talk on present-day Scotland at a meeting of the St. Andrew's Scottish Society of Southland. Dr. Pottinger, who has just returned from a trip abroad, is one of the oldest members of the society. "I came away from the country feeling that Scotland was m a very bad way," said Dr. Pottinger. "Scotland is losing its industries, as it lost 100 years ago a great deal of its agriculture, and most of its iivdigetvous literature. To-day the country's industry is gravitating to England, and the population is being left in the company of disused coalrpits and silent shipyards."