General News

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21808, 13 June 1936, Page 14

General News

Boys Back for Work Apprehension among employers about labour conditions was given as the reason for the reregistration •of boys at the boys’ employment bureau, when figures were submitted to a meeting of the Boys’ Employment Committee yesterday. The secretary, Mr G. M. Keys, said that a disturbing feature was the reregistration during the last two months of 50 older boys previously placed in positions. Mr A. C. Maxwell asked what the committee intended to do about this, and the chairman, Mr M. E. Lyons, in replying, said he thought the chief reason for this was the uncertainty among employers about labour conditions. The committee did not want to enter politics, and it might not be wise to take action at the moment. Land of Contrasts “I found South America a land of striking contrasts.” said Mr Robert A. Campbell, when interviewed by a reporter of “The Press” yesterday on his return from Chile. In many parts enormous wealth and magnificence were, he added, shadowed by squalor and abject poverty. This was particularly in evidence m Buenos Aires, a city of 2.500,000 people, with one street the house numbers in which ran from one to 18,000. Human life was rated very cheaply in the Latin republics. Murder in the cities and in the back country-—in the latter case by bandits—was quite common, but, strangely enough, there was no capital punishment in the Argentine republic or in Chile. Friends in Buenos Afre.s had informed Mr Campbell that one man, with four murders to his tally, had served only a fortnight in gaol. Yet everywhere he went he found good-natured, light-hearted, and very courteous people, wonderfully hospitable. Another point which impressed him was that in all the schools in Chile and the Argentine, teachers were not allowed to inflict corporal punishment in any circumstances. A curious law prevailed in Santiago, under which any householder on whose premises a serious outbreak of fire occurred was summarily lodged in gaol, pending proof that the fire was purely accidental. Fortunately, added Mr Campbell, most of the buildings were constructed of stone, concrete, or adobe. Children’s Instinct of Fear A wise parent or teacher did not play on a child’s instinct of fear, said Mr H. F. McClune, Miramar South School headmaster, in an address at the Miramar kindergarten annual meeting, A test he had conducted on children and older persons showed the children to fear darkness and wild animals. The older people, particularly girls, feared most small things, like spiders and mice. Many persons did not realise the hours of suffering children went through because of the instinct of fear, said Mr McClune. Miss M. Strange-Mure, director of the Miramar public kindergarten, stressed the care necessary in choosing stories for children which, would not cause fear at night. “Very often stories that are enjoyed in the daytime become terrifying at night,” she said. Mr McClune mentioned as an instance of this the story of Little Red Riding Hood. In this, he said, it was far better for children that the part relating to the wolf eating “grandmother” be left out. Mosquitoes in June “Manurewa must have a remarkable climate,” said Dr. T. R. Ritchie, a member of the Board of Health Commission, at the enquiry into the Manurewa water supply, when he was handed a bottle of water drawn from a bore. He said there was mosquito larvae plainly visible on the surface of the water produced. “The climate must be very favourable when you find mosquitoes breeding in June,” he added. The witness who produced the exhibit said the water was drawn that morning from his private bore. Jubilee Appeal The amount raised by the Y.M.C.A. jubilee appeal has now reached £ 1235 in cash or promises. It was stated at a meeting of the appeal committee yesterday that £BOO had now been raised from 90 contributors as well as the amount of £435 collected in the street appeal. The number of possible contributors already approached represented only a small proportion of the total, and so far there had not been one refusal. Many of the gifts had been very generous. Several collectors present promised to devote at least half a day next week to the work. Interest in Presidential Election The intensity of the public interest in the United States in the presidential election was demonstrated yesterday, when Christchurch short-wave listeners were able to hear a relay of the Republican party’s convention in Cleveland, Ohio, and the election of Governor Landon as the party’s representative for the presidential election. Reception was very good from 2 to 5 p.m. The broadcast was given through many American stations, superseding programmes by artists as popular as Bing Crosby. After a short address of thanks by Governor Landon and his wife from their home in Topeka, Kansas, most of the stations signed off at a few minutes before 1 a.m., New York time, but there was to be a further relay at 10 o'clock in the morning. A Difficult Country to Enter Generally speaking. South America was no place for European settlers, said Mr Robert A. Campbell, in giving a representative of “The Press” some impressions of his recent visit to the Latin republics. It was useless for young men, no matter what their attainments might be, to emigrate to the Argentine, Chile, or sister republics, unless they could speak Spanish very fluently. Even then it would be a very unwise move to go to South America “on spec.” To do so would mean returning home sadly disillusioned. While in Buenos Aires, Mr Campbell met two New Zealanders employed as buyers for Vesteys, and he also met a number of his countrymen located in executive positions in Chile. In all cases, however, they had been engaged for service in South America in advance of their leaving New Zealand. Nowadays, too, the South Americans were proving quite capable of filling the majority of highly-paid executive and managerial positions themselves. Mr Campbell commented that in any case, in the light of his own experience, South America was a very difficult country to enter. It cost him £8 15s for an Argentine visa of his passport, with another £3 5s for incidental expenses attached thereto. In addition, he had to submit to all his finger prints being taken before the necessary visa was issued. He learned in official quarters that the Argentine Government did not encourage visitors, although they were made to feel welcome enough once they did arrive. Heathcote County Rates General rates for the Heathcote county will be struck at a special meeting of the council on July 10. A decision to this effect was made by the council at its meeting last evening. An Obliging Witness A witness in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday provided amusement for a few moments when he was giving evidence in an accident case. He estimated the speed of a motor-cycle at between 20 and 30 miles an hour, and when Sub-Inspector Mac Lean asked him to narrow the margin he replied: “I am not a speedometer.” A few moments later he was asked if he would be satisfied with the estimate given by the defendant, and remarked: “Anvthine at all will do me.” 6 School of Navigation The establishment of a training ship for boys desirous of going to sea has at times been warmly advocated by retired mariners. It has been suggested that a less expensive and a very useful scheme would be to establish a school of navigation in Dunedin. This would serve for the education of young seamen and a great number of airmen, to whom a knowledge of navigation is very necessary. Homework for Schools Resolutions emanating from the recent annual meeting of parents of pupils attending the Northcote District High School, dealing with homework, were referred to at the meeting of the committee of management, A suggestion was included for a system of home study of subjects in which a pupil is backward, such work on completion bp the pupil to be submitted to teachers for perusal and correction The headmaster, Mr W, J. Wernham, explained that the teaching staff was working under regulations of the Auckland Education Board. The resolution was not in conformity with the Education Board’s regulations.