General News

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22111, 5 June 1937, Page 14

General News

Rise in Level of Waimakariri Although there was a very considerable rise in the level of the Waimakariri river yesterday morning because of heavy rain in the back country, the engineer to the Waimakariri River Trust, Mr H. W. Harris, reported last evening that the floodwaters were subsiding. Early yesterday morning the river rose 4ft 6in at the gorge because of heavy rain at Arthur’s Pass and at the Bealey. The peak of the rise was reached at the Main North road highway bridge at noon yesterday, but there had been no further rise because of the easing of the rain in the back country. Early last evening the river was still four feet above the normal level of nine feet. State Placement Service The placements under the State Placement Service for the week numbered 23, including six farm workers. The demand for farm labour has been restricted during the last two weeks, and though fuljy qualified teamsters are being placed, the main demand has been for youths less than 19 years of age. Though several of the large building jobs are held up because of the lack of steel, it is noticeable that there are very few first-class tradesmen, such as carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and plasterers, at present unemployed. The total number placed in work in Christchurch since the inception of the scheme is now 2284. Cleaning of Styx River The cleaning under contract of the river Styx, controlled by the Waimairi County Council, has been unsatisfactory for some time, according to Mr W. P. Spencer, chairman of the river Styx committee of the council. He said that the river committee, after inspection, had decided to cancel the present contract and call fresh tenders immediately. The river drained a considerable area of valuable land, the owners and occupiers .paying a special rate for the cleaning of the stream. Car Taken from Garage While the family was sitting by the fire in the house of Mr F. Langbein, District Engineer to the Public Works Department, at 10 Kauri street, Riccarton, early last evening, a Government motor-car which was parked in the garage adjoining the house was taken. Late last evening no sign of the car had been reported. The car was taken between 7 o’clock and 8.45 last evening, during which time the house was occupied. The garage is situated not more than 16 yards from the side of the house. It is thought that the car must have been pushed out into the road before the engine was started, as it is probable that the occupants of the house would have heard the engine running in the garage. The car is a six-cylinder sedan painted dark blue, with yellow-coloured wheels. The registered number is Govt. 1896. The police have requested that anyone noticing the car, or knowing its whereabouts, should notify them immediately. “Much Ado About Nothing” Discussion of a proposed conference of interested bodies to consider the formation of recreational classes for adults and young people on Saturday mornings was chiefly confined to the advisability or otherwise of taking the matter in committee at a meeting of the Technical College Board of Governors‘last evening. The chairman of the committee which brought down the proposal, Mr G. Shipley, moved that any discussion be taken in committee. After nearly every member of the board had spoken to the motion or been called to order by the chairman for not doing so, it was decided on a vote to take the matter in open meeting. Mr W. McGregor Wright then moved that as the three months’ trial of Saturday morning classes would finish at the end of the month consideration be deferred until then. The motion was carried. Christchurch Artists Two works bv Christchurch artists are hung in the Royal Scottish Academy exhibition, which opened in Edinburgh at the md of April. These are a landscape, “Governor s Bay, by Cecil F. Kellv, and “Portrait of Rima,” by A. Elizabeth Kelly. This exhibition is one for which it is generally recognised as very difficult to win acceptance. Grant for School Grounds An additional grant for the completion of the grading, draining, and levelling of the grounds of the branch of the Christchurch Technical College at Papanui has been made by the Government, according to a report made bv the chairman, Mr T. W. West, at a meeting of the Technical College Board of Governors last evening. In his report the chairman said that the necessity of finishing the work was urgent, as the ground had broken up badly and was particularly troublesome in wet weather. Since writing his report, he added, he had been informed by the Public Works Department that the additional grant sought had been made, and the work would be finished immediately. Sheep and White Lines White traffic lines across the intersection of two Temuka streets, near the saleyards, have given stockmen considerable trouble, because mobs of sheep and cattle are reluctant to cross the markings. The drovers have expressed concern at the effect the traffic markings are having on the animals, and said yesterday that they consider that the lines, set down to guide the traffic should be removed to facilitate it Sheep for Japan Seven hundred and fifty breeding ewes and ewe hoggets were purchased in the Ashburton county on Thursday by representatives of the Japanese Government, and the sheep will be shipped to Japan next month for use at the Japanese Government’s breeding station in Korea. Of the total, 200 two-tooths in lamb were purchased from Mr H. J. McCosker, Riverside, and a similar number was obtained from, Mr M. S. Turton, Ashburton. Mr Turton also sold 350 Corriedale ewe hoggets. The buyers were Messrs K. Taguchi and H. Mabueichi, of Tokyo, and K. Shimara, of Sydney, who will visit Ashburton again early next week to make further purchases. A Limited Outlook Facts which seem scarcely credible for a country as small, as New Zealand are' revealed in a letter of appeal received by the organisingsecretary of the New Zealand Industries Fair, Mr T. Hyde, from the headmaster of a school in an isolated township on the West Coast. The letter states that the writer hopes to bring about 20 children to see the fair. Most of them have never seen a train, a tram-car, a field of wheat, a reaper and binder, or even a town of any size. The cost, the writer stated, was the chief obstacle in the way of the trip, but he was determined to leave no stone unturned to give these isolated children an opportunity of seeing beyond their own narrow horizon. The association has decided to reply that it will grant all the assistance possible. Significance of Trade with Germany “I know we would be prepared to import wool, petrol, and other products if our exports to other countries were sufficient to effect an exchange,” said Mr A. Kirmayer, an organising businessman from Germany wjio is at present visiting the Dominion, in an interview yesterday. “If the Governments of New Zealand and Australia, and other countries, came to trade agreements with Germany it would guarantee an exchange of goods on a large scale, and I think that a friendly relation in commerce among the countries would be a great promoter for peace.” Grammatical Trouble “I know that in the last few weeks many of you parents were sorely troubled over the ablative absolute,” said Mr J. R. Sutcliffe, principal of Scots College, at a meeting of the Parents’ Association. “In trigonometry, too, I have detected the hand of those fathers who are engineers, and many a mother’s fingers have been tired after helping with her children's arithmetic. I was very amused at a cartoon showing a distracted mother saying to a Hindu bottle collector, ‘Just the man I want! What are the chief rivers of India?’ ” During the period when the schools were closed he had received much correspondence from children, but a great deal more from their parents, Mr Sutcliffe said. The senior forms had not suffered greatly from the closing of the school, but the juniors needed sorne help apart from the textbooks-