General News

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22306, 21 January 1938, Page 10

General News

Purchase of Power In a little more than five months the Grey Electric Power Board has spent more than £6OOO on the purchase and steam generation of power. Up till the end of last year the board had purchased and steam generated 1332,046 kilowatts, costing £6193 14s 2d, an average price of 1.115 d a unit. Power purchase and steam generation began on July 20, 1937 _"The Press" Special Service. Aviation in Samoa Samoan aviation regulations were published with the Gazette last night, applying the provisions of the New Zealand Air Navigation Act to Western Samoa. An amendment to the New Zealand Air Navigation Regulations is also published, enabling B class pilots to carry out certain maintenance and inspection work on aeroplanes, v/here ground engineers' services are not available. Duck-Shooting by Car-Light "Pond-shooting has become a nightmare to us," said Mr G. L. Pomfret-Dodd, who presided at'a conference of South Island Acclimatisation Societies yesterday, in referring to the practice of stocking ponds with food and. shooting excessive quantities of ducks which came to rest on the ponds. One instance had been brought to his no'.ice, he added, where a party surrounded a pond and then flooded it with light from cars, the men shooting what they could. Naval Ratings' Pay The old scale of marriage allowances to ratings in the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy has been restored as from January i. When wage and salary cuts were made throughout the Public Service in 1931, the allowances granted to married naval ratings came up torreview and were placed on a sliding scale, it has now been decided to revert to the old fixed scale which in the case of most ratings resulted in a higher allowanace. Because of variations in the amount of the allowances paid under the sliding scale, it is impossible to determine the exact increase in pay resulting from the reversion to the old system. However, the majority of married naval ratings with families will probably receive an additional 3d a day. — Press Association. Sunday Air Services A decision to support an application by Union Airways of New Zealand, Ltd., for the elimination of the noon service from Auckland and the 3 p.m. service x'rom Wellington on Sundays, was made by the Auckland Chamber of Commerce yesterday, when a letter was received from the Commissioner of Transport, asking if the chamber desired to make any representations. "We will most certainly fall into line. Union Airways has already given us excellent service," said the president, Mr W. R. Fee.— Press Association*. A Shipboard-School Prize At the annual reunion at Lyttelton yesterday of the Waitangi Shipmates' Association, Mr H. R. Taylor, of Rangiora, produced a copy of the novel "Robinson Crusoe," which had been given to his brother, Mr George Taylor, as first prize for reading in class 3 in the school established on board the ship during Ihe voyage in 1884. The name of the schoolmaster, John Morley, is inscribed on the flyleaf. The mother of the two Taylor boys who attended this school, Mrs M. A. Taylor, is still living in Rangiora. Cable Traffic Delayed Cable traffic across the Tasman Sea has been delayed by interruptions near Norfolk Island. Advice was received yesterday from Cable and Wireless, Ltd., through the Post and Telegraph Department, that the cable repair vessel Recorder was at work, and full restoration of the service was expected shortly. Pedigree Sheep Dog Imported A pedigree sheep dog, Boy, one of the besttrained dogs exported from Scotland for several years, has been purchased by a buyer in New Zealand, and the animal will shortly be shipped to the Dominion, writes the London correspondent of "The Press." It has been sold by Mr Donald MacLeod, of Balavil, Kingussie, a wellknown breeder and prize-winner at Scottish sheep dog trials. Fires at Hamilton Hamilton was recently enveloped in a thick mantle of smoke. Fires had broken out in the Rukuhia swamp, and the strong westerly wind blew the smoke over the town and surrounding district. The principal outbreak occurred in the scrub on a private road between Rukuhia and Ngahinapouri, and a fire covering a space of more than 300 yards in width swept over the swamp. The flames reached a height of four feet. Other fires occurred in the swamp near Ngahinapouri and Whatav/hata, while smaller outbreaks were in evidence at Eureka and Matangi. Most of the fires were started by farmers, who are burning stumps and rubbish, and they are being carefully watchedl No damage to property has been reported. Heated Crow's Nest A minor but interesting point in the construction of the motor-ship Kaikoura, which arrived at Auckland yesterday morning on her maiden voyage from Halifax, Nova Scotia, is that the crow's nest is built on the foremast with an electric radiator. The innovation was introduced on the Queen Mary, and has since been adopted by a number of ships trading to parts of the world where cold and foggy weather is commonly encountered. Suggestion for New Zealand Centennial That the sighting of New Zealand by Abel Tasman in 1642 should be made a special feature of the celebrations of the Centennial Exhibition was a suggestion made by Mr J. B. Kent at the monthly meeting of the Grey Electric Power Board on Wednesday evening. His suggestion arose from a request received from the Westland Organisation Centennial Exhibition Committee for, each locality to select an event in its district for local celebration. —"The Press" Special Service. Old Coins Found A George 111 penny of 1806 and an East India Company's copper coin of equal size, dated 1804, were dug up recently upon a piece of ground in Victoria street, Onehunga, that was being prepared for a lawn. The East India Company's coin bears the company's coat of arms on one side end an inscription in Arabic on the other. Both doubtless are typical of the pennies which circulated in New Zealand during the early colonial period. The site on which they were found had been used for many years as a Chinese market garden, but a good deal of top soil had lateh been removed in the process of levelling. A deposit of pipi shells exists near by, and it is thought that the coins were probably lost by Maoris. Street Paving Because of the favourable weather, more street paving work has been done in Wellington during this summer than in any two in former years. Thorndon quay, which carries all the main water supply and delivery mains, has received the first continuous treatment it has had since it was laid down in 1925. The regular maintenance of streets is more essential nowadays than ever because of the marked increase in motor traffic and certain work is largely dependent on the weather. Heat in Hamilton With the continuation of the long spell of hot, dry weather in Hamilton, there has been a heavy demand on the water supply of the town, an! some 2,000,000 gallons daily pass through the borough reticulation system. The water is drawn from ihe Waikato river, and filtered and pumped into a reservoir on the Lake road hill, from which it is distributed by gravitation. A large new gravity filter is being built. It will have a filtering capacity of 1,500,000 gallons, and an output of 3,000,000 gallons daily. The provision of additional pumping facilities is being considered by the Borough Council. Part of the heavy demand on the pumping plant and reservoir is due to the excessive use of garden hoses, and a warning has been issued by the council that unless greater care is exercised in this direction it will be necessary to impose restrictions. _.