General News

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21974, 24 December 1936, Page 10

General News

No Paper To-morrow "The Press" will not be published tomorrow, Christmas Day. "The Press" the Official Paper The Christchurch City Council has appointed "The Press" to be its official newspaper for the year 1937. Test Match Rebroadcasts Many listeners to 3YA, hearing the cricket test match descriptions being rebroadcast from Australia, must have wondered why reception was so much better when they got it direct on short-wave from 3LR. An engineer at 3YA yesterday told a representative of "The Press" that in the daytime the commentaries were taken, not from 3LR, but from a Sydney commercial station operating on 22 metres. This station-was picked up on a receiver at Merivale and another at the 3YA transmitter at Gebbie's Pass. Saturday Hours at Library Following a protest by a subscriber about the hours during which the circulating department of the Canterbury Public Library is open on Saturday mornings, a vote of subscribers is being taken to ascertain their wishes. Although the staff are on duty at 9 o'clock every morning, the circulating department is not opened until an hour later, and on Saturdays it is closed at 1 p.m. It has been suggested that on Saturday this department should be opened at 9.30 a.m., and closed at 12.30 p.m., and the library committee has decided to observe these hours if the majority of subscribers favour the change. So far there has been a surprisingly large proportion of subscribers who have voted, and it has been noticeable that many first ask for the staff's preference and vote accordingly. The voting will probably be concluded just after the Christmas holidays. *Road Report from Otago A report on the conditions of roads in Otago received last evening by the Automobile Association (Canterbury) stated that all roads in the province were clear for motor traffic. Indications were that the weather for the holidays would be fine. Christchurch Housing Survey The Christchurch City Council is awaiting a manual of instructions for the guidance of local authorities, to be issued by the Department of Housing, before commencing its housing survey, but it is expected that this will be available, and that the work will be able to be proceeded with early in the New Year. The survey will be under the supervision of the council's chief inspector (Mr J. W. Huggins), and a special staff will be detailed for the task. A great deal of work is entailed in thr? survey, not the least of which will be the clerical work of recording and analysing the results. Heavy Train from South An unusually heavy train from the south delayed the departure of the Invercargill-Lyttel-ton express from Christchurch by nearly 20 minutes last evening. The express was more than a quarter of an hour late in arriving, and there was a very large quantity of mail to be taken off it before it left for Lyttelton. The train was made up of 16 cars, with three mail and luggage vans. It was hauled by two engines. Heavy Holiday Traffic About 1200 passengers arrived at Lyttelton yesterday by the steamer expresses Rangatira and Wahine, and an even larger number is expected to-day, when both vessels will again arrive. About 1200 left Lyttelton for Wellington on the return trips. The number of motorcars being carried is greater than ever before, and the capacity of both vessels at present is fully taxed. Treatment of Tuberculosis "We can congratulate ourselves in New Zealand that we have more, and as good, if not better, accommodation for pulmonary tuberculosis patients than in any country I visited,'' said Dr. A. Kidd, medical superintendent at the Waipiata Sanatorium, who returned by the Awatea on Monday, after a nine months' tour of Great Britain, Germany, France, Belgium, and Switzerland. Dr. Kidd said that Germany had elaborate apparatus for the treatment of surgical tuberculosis and for diagnostic purposes, but on the whole the results did not appear to be any better if as good as those obtained in New Zealand. One point which impressed him was that in England everyone was entitled to free treatment for tuberculosis, irrespective of his station or financial position. Dr. Kidd considered that the sun ray treatment for surgical cases was the most cffective» method of dealing with the disease, and one which it would be advisable to introduce to New Zealand. In his opinion one such institution in each island would suffice for the Dominion's needs, and in Mount Cook and Lake Tekapo South Canterbury had two sites which were admirably suited for the purpose.—Press Association. Restraint of English Newspapers The absence of gossip about King Edward VIII. in the English papers at a time when American and Continental papers were full of it favourably impressed Mr H. F. Nicoli, of Ashburton, during the visit to England from which he has just returned. There was not a whisper about the affair in the papers, and there was no common talk of it, he said in an interview yesterday. That was before the crisis developed, but it had gone far enough for one American paper Mr Nicoli saw to have the heading in ne-inch type: "Cutie one step nearer the Throne." Trotting in England - "The trotting sport in England has by no means the status it possesses in New Zealand,' said Mr H. F. Nicoli in an interview yesterday, when discussing his recent visit to England. "You never see trotting mentioned in the newspapers, not even in the sporting journals They do not.even publish the bare results." Nursery at Railway Station A nursery where children may be left in charge of a matron while their parents are waiting for trains or shopping in the city promises to be an appreciated feature of Wellington's new railway station. This is an innovation for New Zealand, although an adjunct to railway facilities in overseas cities. Russia has developed the idea elaborately, and it is also successful at Flinders street station, Melbourne. When passengers arrive by train with the object of connecting, perhaps an hour later, with the steamer express, or reach Wellington from the south in order to travel north by rail, they are often at their wits' end to know how in the interval to rest or amuse young children who may be accompanying them. Believing that a playroom and nursery would fill a need, the department decided to incorporate one in the plan of the station. Colonial Service Openings Although there are not many New Zealand - ers in the British Colonial Service, those who are in it seem to be doing remarkably well and are giving general satisfaction, said Mr C. Y. S. Sewell, a New Zealander who is stationed at Singapore as a member of the service, when he arrived at Auckland by the Niagara from Vancouver. Mr Sewell came to New Zealand nine years ago on a recruiting visit for the service and was responsible for eight New Zealanders joining it. He is on a private visit this time, but he said that there are still openings in the service for good men. Moa Skeleton Mounted The curator of the Alexander Museum, Wanganui (Mr George Shepherd), has just completed the task of setting up the skeleton of still another species of moa. The latest addition to the collection of these gigantic extinct "birds is a remarkably good specimen of Dinornis Novae Zelandiae, standing six feet high. It has been assembled from the bones recovered last summer from Mr James Todd's property, as were the bones of the 10ft 6in giant Dinornis Giganteus, the assembling of which was completed two months ago. There are now skeletons of seven species of these great birds on exhibition in the Wanganui Museum and Mr Shepherd has begun the task of mounting a specimen of still another species, Anomalopteryx parvus, one of the smallest varieties of the moa family.