General News

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22345, 8 March 1938, Page 12

General News

St. Helens Hospital Site The efforts by the Government to acquire the site of the manse of the St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church for the erection of a new St. Helens Maternitv Hospital have not gone beyond the stage where the church authorities have been asked to state the price at which the property is for sale, stated Mr - Stuart W. Young, chairman of the deacons' court when questioned by "The Press" last night. We are not anxious to sell, but the Government asked us to state our price, which it has not yet said it will accept," he replied. The Lottery System Mr Harold Strang, of Invercargill, who has returned from a holiday visit to Australia, is convinced that New Zealand is losing many hundreds of pounds a year by not conducting a State lottery. On the way over to Melbourne he called at Hobart and there visited Tatteisall's offices. He was surprised at what he saw. "That alone, however, did not convince me that there was a wholesale traffic in lottery tickets, he said. "I visited Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and in these cities, particularly in Sydney and Brisbane, the buying of tickets was a commonplace. It appears to be part of the average Australian's weekly routine If New Zealand ran a State lottery instead of the haltcrown art union it conducted, it would soon be able to maintain all the public hospitals free of cost to the members of the public, Mr Strang said. Needs of Ambulance Association "Nobody makes more demands on the St. John Ambulance than the sporting bodies, said Mr B J McKenna, a member of the executive of the Canterbury and West Coast Centre 01 the St. John Ambulance Association, at the annual meeting of the Ashburton sub-centre last evening. He commented on the meagre contributions received from sports clubs, saying that if they realised their duties to the association in this respect, the association would not have to go "cap in hand" to the public for financial support. Backward Country Children The lack of educational facilities for backward children in country areas was criticised by Mr Arthur Cates at a recent monthly meeting of the Dargaville branch of the Farmers Union, which adopted a motion that the question should be brought before the Minister for Education (the Hon. P. Fraser) by direct correspondence, as well as through the usual channels of the union. Mr Cates said that some efforts had been made on behalf of country children who were crippled or suffering from poor health or other disadvantages, but nothing had yet been done for mentally backward country children. "The Government has talked a great deal about the high standard of physical fitness of the children of this country said Mr Cates. "It is disgraceful that it should talk in this manner while parents get no help for the education of those children who are unfortunate to be mentally inferior to their fellows." Discipline in Education The education systems of America and New Zealand were compared by the Rt. Rev. t l. Kelley Catholic Bishop of Oklahoma City, during a visit to the Auckland Teachers Training College. He said that American schools were deteriorating through lack of sufficient discipline. It was a mistake, said Bishop Kelley, to neglect subjects such as mathematics, whicn disciplined the mind. Unusual Weapon Considerable curiosity was aroused lately among Aucklanders who went to Western wharf to see the visiting French cruiser Jeanne d'Arc about the weapon borne by the sentry standing guard at the stateroom of the commander, Captain Paul Auphan. In his right hand the marine supported something like a heavy-bladed and decorated spear. This is a halberd, a weapon which was commonly in use in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and which was then the distinctive badge of a sergeant. Now it is only occasionally used as a ceremonial weapon. The White Butterfly

Probably more than 200,000 white butterflies have been captured by children in Hawke's Bay since the Saturday before last, when it was announced that Mr Gerhard Husheer had given £ 100 for the curbing of the pest, and that out of this gift 2s a hundred would be paid for butterflies. Mr Husheer's £ 100 was exhausted last Wednesday afternoon, which meant that 100,000 butterflies had been paid for, states the "Dominion." Since then, however, Mr J. V. Cushing, acting-town clerk of Napier, has been receiving white butterflies from all parts of the province, as far south as Takapau. They are arriving in every mail in boxes and tins of all sizes and shapes. "It is useless sending any more packages," said Mr Cushing. The butterflies are being destroyed in an incinerator and the boxes fumigated. Two Miles of Road Completed Twelve months' work on the Runanga deviation, on the Napier-Taupo main highway, has carried the formation of the new route for a distance of two miles. The - total length of the deviation, which extends between the Nunneries and the Rangitaiki Plains, is about eight miles, and it is estimated that the work will not be completed for another two years. Several tortuous stretches will be eliminated when the Taupo highway is eventually turned through the deviation.

Newspapers Praised

Praise for the newspapers of New Zealand was expressed by Archbishop Mannix, of Melbourne, in an address connected with the Roman Catholic centenary celebrations at Auckland. His Grace said there must be gratitude for the way in which the newspapers were treating the celebrations. They had realised that the celebrations were not of a kind to be "tucked away in some obscure place in a back page," said Archbishop Mannix. They had sensed that all the work and preparations which had gone to their making had been worth while, and they had given them a place of honour in their pages. Gangster Literature "I see at present no sign of corruption of taste in literature," said Mr Joseph Norrie, chief librarian of the Wellington Public Libraries, on Saturday. "There is no decrease in reading generally, although serious reading has now a stronger competitor in the reading of cheap fiction than before. Some inroads are niade on serious reading by the cheap and unpleasant American pulp magazines imported into the country of fairly recent months and sold indiscriminately to adults and children. The council of the New Zealand Library Association is taking this matter up, and intends to approach the Minister for Education on the subject. At present the evil has not assumed any very considerable dimensions, although a number of children have acquired a taste for literature of the sex and gangster type." Marketing of Butter "It is clear that the claim of any real improvement in the marketing of butter by its socialisation cannot be sustained," said Mr J. E Leeson, of Morrinsville, formerly chairman of directors of the Morrinsville Dairy Company, Ltd., in a recent statement. Mr Leeson said extravagant claims had been made in the House of Representatives and on the platform as to the superior results obtained by the Primary Products Marketing Department over the previous system of factories marketing their own produce under the supervision of the Dairy Board. Now that the final figures were available they could ascertain if these contentions could be sustained. "Formerly 26 firms were employed in marketing our butter," Mr Leeson continued. "At the beginning of the operations of the Marketing Department, six of these merchants were informed that they would no longer have New Zealand produce for sale. These houses, whose combined sales were considerable, are not going out of the butter business because they cannot have the Dominion's produce. Naturally, they import other butters and push their sale."