General News

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22336, 25 February 1938, Page 12

General News

Canadian Praises Christchurch “We are very pleased with New Zealand, and particularly with Christchurch,” said Mr D. M Robinson, of Vancouver, who is touring with the Canadian bowling team which competed at the Empire Games, in an interview with “The Press” yesterday. “I have seen nothing but prosperity in this country, but Christchurch makes the biggest appeal to me. It is obviously a good business centre and it has a general air of prosperity. I will long remember its parks, gardens, and hills.” Work for Maoris A visit to Tuahiwi was made yesterday afternoon by the Minister for Employment (the Hon. H. T. Armstrong) to discuss with men now on sustenance at the settlement a complaint which they had lodged. The result was that the Minister made arrangements for work to be put in hand to give employment for all the men affected. Auckland as Air Terminal Geographically and climatically Auckland was an ideal terminus for overseas air services, and its claims would not fail to impress the experts when they were making their decision, said Mr W. R. Fee in his presidential address to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce at its annual meeting yesterday. Auckland’s nearness to New Zealand tourist resorts, its importance as a port, and the need for maintaining a direct connexion between the Pan American and Imperial Airways services for the convenience of passengers to Australia or America must weigh heavily, he said. The time would come later when other centres would also be terminals. —Press Association. Slow Waterside Workers “Labour in slow motion” was the description of his observation of Auckland waterside workers given by Mr D. M. Robinson, of Vancouver, to “The Press” yesterday. The vessel on which he had travelled to Sydney was in Auckland for 34 hours, the long stay being caused, he considered, by the slow methods of the men handling the cargo. “And the Sydney waterside workers are not much better,” he said. “Things are different in all the other ports I have been in. There, the longshoremen have to hustle.”

Esplanade at North Beach The tar-sealing of the Esplanade at North Beach, between the Peace Memorial Hall and Berry street, will begin shortly. The work was held up because the samples of tar submitted to the Government were not considered suitable for the job, and other samples are being forwarded. The grant for the carrying out of the work has now been received from Wellington. The sealing of this portion of the Esplanade, which carries a large amount of traffic, and is a subsidary highway, is urgently needed and will be appreciated by residents and motorists. Invercargill’s Warm Day The highest temperature recorded in Invercargill since 1925 was registered yesterday, the reading being 86 degrees. With the exception of the 1925 figure, it is probably the highest ever recorded there. The summer in Southland has been extremely dry and very hot, and if there is no rain soon the position will become serious. Already many pastures are burned almost beyond recovery, and dairy production is being retarded. The temperature at Gore on Wednesday was 92 degrees.—Press Association. “Education System Overloaded” “There is one direction, I think, in which our education system fails,” said Mr T. D. Burnett, M.P. for Temuka, when speaking at the diamond jubilee of the Scotsburn School at Peel Forest yesterday. “I think we are overloading it. We are trying to crowd too much into the curriculum. Our main aim should be to turn out good citizens and to avoid the many frills and side issues.” Import of Sausage Casings Under the Sausage Casing Importation Regulations, published in the Gazette, the prohibition which has been in force since 1932 on the importation of sausage casings of animal origin from California and certain neighbouring States is to be removed from March 1. The restriction was imposed because of fear of foot-and-mouth disease. —Press Association. Members of National Party In explaining something of the organisation and aims of the new National Party in his address at Waitara recently, Mr S. G. Smith, M.P., said there were now 100,000 members of the party, and the first objective was to restore to people the heritage of freedom that had been filched from them during the last two years. The aim, objects, and philosophy of the National Party were characteristic of the British tradition, to which the policy of the Socialist Party was foreign.

Liverpool Coal Mine Idle on Wednesday, the Liverpool State coal mine was idle again yesterday, affecting 200 men. The cessation of work on Wednesday was due to trouble abgut some men being late in starting work that morning. They were unable to obtain lamps, and therefore were unable to enter the mine. The workers came up as a protest, according to the mine superintendent (Mr C. J. Strongman). He understood union officials had tried to communicate with him yesterday morning. Interviewed last evening, the secretary of the Miners’ Union (Mr W. Pendlebury) told “The Press” that the men would definitely start work to-day. “I would also like to deny the reported statement by Mr Strongman that the lamp cabin closed on Wednesday morning at the regular time, 8 o’clock. It did not. It closed six minutes before that, thus the men were not late at all,” he said,— “The Press” Special Service. Political Speaker Heckled Similar tactics to those employed at meetings recently addressed in Dunedin on behalf of the National Party by Mr J. Hargest, member of Parliament for Awarua, were used at the Concert Chamber of the Dunedin Town Hall last evening, when Mr S. G, Holland, member for Christchurch North, addressed an audience which packed the building. Mr Holland was subjected almost throughout to a, chorus of interruption, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that he could make himself heard. In fact, much of his address was entirely lost because of the loud and continuous volume of sound from the body of the hall. Mr Holland remained quite unperturbed and handled his audience with great tact, but his appeals for a fair hearing fell on deaf ears.— Press Association.

“Strong-hand Government” “The people of the British Empire are very lucky. They do not have to pay so very heavy taxes, and they do not go in fear of war,” said Mr A. Kiss, a Hungarian, who arrived by the Maungahui at Bluff recently. “There is too much ‘strong-hand’ government in Central Europe. That was how Hitler rose to power and that is how he is going to keep it. Before the war Hungary had a population of 18,000,000. Now she has 8,000,000. The rest of the country has been divided up between Jugoslavia and Rumania. But that is no good, for the Hungarians are in the minority, and the laws are not made for them. It is no good trying to make people live together when they are of different nationalities and talk different languages. Taxation in Hungary is 50 per cent, higher now than it was five years ago. Central Europe is a good place to be out of just now.” A .Crash in Church A lucky escape from injury was experienced by the Rev. Angus McKenzie during a recent service at the Presbyterian Church at Taumarunui. He had just leaned forward in the pulpit to begin a prayer when there'was a loud report and a crash of falling glass, while all the lights in the church went out. The cord supporting a fairly heavy light hanging several feet above the minister’s head broke and the shade and bulb crashed on to the seat of his chair. Mr McKenzie continued with the prayer, and when the switch was turned the lights went on again.