General News

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21728, 10 March 1936, Page 8

General News

Elephant Destroyed Rajah, one of the two elephants at the Auckland zoo, was shot yesterday morning by order of the zoo authorities, as he was considered likely to become a menace to the public safety. Lately he had "turned rogue," which necessitated precautions. Rajah was valued at £SOO, but this amount will not be totally lost, as the skin will be stuffed for the War Memorial Museum, Auckland. —Press Association. Opawa School Grading 1 There is every possibility that the Opawa School will be raised to grade VLB after April 1, it was reported at the monthly meeting of the school committee, which was held recently. At present, it was said, classes were being conducted in an open shelter shed, which would be unsuitable for winter use. It was decided to ask the Education Board to have the largest shelter shed converted into a classroom. Issue of Passports Although increased overseas bookings recently have had a corresponding effect on the number of passports issued by the Government, the Minister for Internal Affairs (the Hon. W. E. Parry) stated yesterday that a comparison with last year showed a decrease in passports issued this year. The financial conditions in New Zealand were reflected in the steep decline noticeable from 1930 to 1934, 4909 issued in 193u fallin» to 2455 in 1934. In 1935 3383 were issued! and for 1936 (10 months to date) 2531. Reclaiming 1 Kopua Flats The Minister for Native Affairs (the Hon. M. J. Savage) lias advised Mr W. J. Broadfoot, M.P. for Waitomo, that preliminary negotiations are now being made for the development of the fertile, but deteriorated Kopua flats, which lie on the banks of the Waipa river, under the shadow of Kakapuku, the sentinel mountain between Te Awamutu and the Waipa river. This land was formerly intensively cultivated by the natives in the days before white settlement, when great crops of wheat, corn, and gourds were annually harvested by the Ngati-Maniopoto tribe. After the wars between Cameron's forces and the Maoris the land was allowed to revert in many instances to its native state, with the addition, in more recent years of introduced pests, such as gorse, ragwort, and blackberry. The settlement of long ago carried a large native population, and was the home of many famous chiefs, including Te Moanarou, and in more recent years, Whahanui. The locality has great historic interest. Waitomo Caves A study of the register at the Waitomo Caves Hostel shows that visitors come from all parts of the world. In the last few weeks there have been tourists from London, South Africa, Sydney, Cairns (Queensland), Montreal. Aberdeen. Vancouver, Stockholm, Pasadena (United States), New York, North Wales, Chicago, Colombo, 'inJe of Mull, Washington, Suva, Glasgow, Melbourne, San Francisco, Honolulu, Eombay, and The Hague. "What arc Pests?" During a discussion at the annual conference of the New Zealand Institute of Horticulture at Welhngion on the growing of fiower and vegetable seeds in Mew Zealand, a speaker declared that Jt could not be profitably undertaken unless the Government would do something towards eliminating "birds and other pests."' "What are pests?" asked an interjector. "A bird that takes away a man's living," retorted the speaker. "I am second to none in my admiration of birds, but admiration will not provide a man with meals or keep a roof over his head. The sparrows, and even worse, the goldfinches, take away the living of any man who tries to raise seed here." Mrs Knox Gilmer said that she was pleased to hear that \Hoy nvvv, c wvA. ywvAavc, b'wds VAvaY cVi<A the damage, and suggested that if the speaker fed the birds well on other food, they would not take his "Most of the birds cam their keep by destroying other pests," she added.

("uod Literature in New Zealand

The claim (hat the comparatively few people living i:i New Zealand have produced a greater volume! of realiy good literature than any similar manner in any pari of the world was made hy Mi' O. N. Gillespie, in an address at Gr-;-boriic. He Distanced a largo number of New Zealand writers who had produced works of ;;rcat value, and said that of Ihe 3000 author,; of New Zealand origin whose work had been traced, li-0-were entitled to recognition as producers of literature of importance in the world at large.

The Ivdtirntion of Children

"I beiiovo that parents are generally interesled ;;i the education of their children, but. I hoc are mistakenly .interested. I feed that if parmts would yet into closer touch wilh Ihe school-; and the teachers and would cuopora'o wilh the teacher in preparing the child for life in: lead of livelihood, this mistaken idea of education would be rapidly replaced wilh Ihe Irne idea" ; aid Mr I''. YRirivn nenner, principal of le-nyoiai Colicky at Wellington. "A I''as> inaliug Country" "N'-w Zealand is a fascinating eoiinlry, an-1 its peepic, too, are fascinating. At Home, people think f am Now Zealand-mad because 1 talk so much of its beauties, and of its poio'ilialities," declared l\'Tr L. C. Tipper, of Birmingham, a mtsnber of the parly of visiting farmers, at Y. anganui. Mr Tipper, who is the oldest, member of the party, is making his second trip lo the dominion wilh a parly of farmers, Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service- is the most eflieieiu administrative organisation in the world, accordini; to a visitor to the; Dominion who has lived in Jnelia for a number of years, in an interview at, Waiif^-inui. The service was recruited, he said, from the graduates of the British universities, 200 of whom were selected in Ihe year of their graduation to sit the special entrance examination. Of that number, only the leading 50 candidates were allowed positions, and the remainder were not allowed to sit. the examination again. "Because of thio rigid system of selection," the visitor said, "the cream of the British universities is secured to fill administrative positions in the government departments of India. Of course," he added, ''the great majority of them later return homo wilh knighthoods." The visitor also mentioned that in a number of the leading universities in Great Britain an honours degree in a foreign language was now only awarded to a candidate who had spent four months in the country where Ihe language was spoken.

United States of Enron?

Thai the youth of many countries was marching to the call of a person rather than for a principle—marching for Hitler or Stalin or Mussolini or someone like them, was the opinion expressed by Dr. Daniel A. Poling, D.D., world president of the Christian Endeavour Union, at Wellington. This marching was no soft patriotism, but hard and intense, and it was possible that soon some of them might be marching against each other. What we're we going to do about it? he asked. He considered that nothing short of the suggestion of Briand and others for the establishment of a United .States of Europe would meet the situation. In regard to the Pacific, he thought that nothing would contribute more to peace in that region than a union of peace for the people of the British Commonwealth of Nations and tb>> United States of America.

Sweden and New Zealand

Although Sweden and New Zealand were widely separated on the face of the earth, they had many common interests, said Mr G. M. Lindergren, a representative of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce, in an address at Wellington. They were both small countries and they were probably the only countries in the eWorld that could have and did have a democratic Labour Government. Dealing with possibilities of increased trade, Mr Lindergren said that Sweden had a greater spending power than most other countries and the tastes of its people were fastidious. They wanted the best and they were prepared to pay for it. He emphasised the desirability of increasing direct trade between New Zealand and Sweden,