General News

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22370, 6 April 1938, Page 8

General News

Rents o£ State Houses “It is misleading people of this country to suggest that the wage-earner can pay rents of from 25s to 32s 6d, which are being asked by the Government from tenants of State houses,” declared the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, in an address at Mangere. Taking an average over 20 years, Mr Coates said, he doubted whether the working man could afford to contribute more than 12s 6d a week. Mr Coates said he would much prefer each house to be subsidised to the extent of £2OO or £3OO, so long as a man on wages had an opportunity of paying rent and eventually making the house his own. Certainly, should there be a fall in prices, the rents at present charged by the State would have to be reduced. In the United Kingdom, he found that 8s a week was all that was expected from a wage-earner, when an average was taken over 10 or 20 years, and similar results had been obtained from investigations in several other countries.—“ The Press” Special Service. A Gardener’s Golf Handicap Gardening and golf do not go happily together, and this was illustrated by a remark at the last meeting of the Papanui Beautifying Association. Mr L. Harris, in receiving the R. E. McDougall Challenge Cup for the best garden in the district, said that when he started his garden he was not a gardener but was on a four handicap at golf. Now he was receiving a trophy for gardening, but his handicap at golf was nine. Farmers Oppose New Tariff Strong exception to the additional tariff recently .imposed by the Government on imports from Great Britain was taken by speakers at a meeting of the East Tamaki branch of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union. It was decided to convene a meeting of all farmers in the district, to be held on April 11, to decide what measures could be taken in retaliation by the farmer. The suggestion was made that farmers should combine to boycott any New Zealand goods manufactured under protective tariffs, which amounted to the establishment of a monopoly against British industry. They were also described as a direct penalty against producers who, while forced to sell their commodities on the open markets of the world, had to purchase their requirements on a highly protected market. The opinion was expressed that tariffs, by increasing the cost of living, penalised other sections of the community.— Press Association. Diploma of Horticulture Since 1927, when a diploma course was granted to the New Zealand Institute of Horticulture by the Government, 45 students in various parts of the Dominion have obtained the diploma by examination, said Mr J. A. McPherson, curator of the Christchurch Botanic Gardens, in an address at the weekly luncheon of the Christchurch Rotary Club yesterday. A total of 170 persons had been granted the diploma without examination, and 17 persons had obtained the intermediate certificate, and 29 the junior certificate of the institute. Chinese Military Successes “The news of the last few days is not fundamentally surprising to those who have followed the situation, because they realised that •eventually the Japanese would over-reach themselves and be cut off,” said Mr W. L. Holland of the Institute of Pacific Relations, in an address at Timaru, when referring to Chinese successes against the invaders. “I do not mean that China will inflict a resounding defeat on the Japanese, because the invaders are waging war with all the instruments of modern warfare and the Chinese are not so well situated.” Mr Holland added that it was tragic to see American lorries laden with guns, ammunition, and men. passing up to the front lines and driven by petrol supplied by British and American firms. It was probable that the war would last for another year. New Geyser Appears A blow-out that occurred on the largest of the silica terraces at Orakei-Korako, near Rotorua, last Thursday night, has resulted in the appearance of another geyser. On Friday and Saturday the geyser was playing to a height of 10ft at three-minute intervals, but until further observations are made it will not be known whether this regularity will continue, or whether the activity will decline when the force of the original blow-out is expended. North Atlantic Centenary The centenary of the first crossing of the Atlantic by a steamer on the recognised route now used fell on Monday. The small paddlesteamer Sirius, of 700 tons, was the pioneer, making a passage of 17 days from Liverpool to New York, which she reached on April 4, 1838. The Great Western reached America some days after the Sirius, taking only 15 days for the crossing and beginning the long contest for the “blue riband.” Further interest is given the centenary through the visit to Auckland next week of the Empress of Britain, holder of the record for the crossing by the St. Lawrence river route. Good Driving Essentials The opinion that there was a close parallel between essentials of good driving on the road and the essentials of good citizenship of a democratic nation was expressed by Sir Stenson Cooke, general secretary of the Automobile Association of Great Britain, at the weekly luncheon meeting of the Auckland Rotary Club. The good driver was mindful of his own individual duties, alert and cautious, tolerant and courteous to others. The reckless and arrogant, the selfish and careless, were not only bad drivers, but bad citizens. The main qualification was one of character. The question was not whether a man was able to drive a car, but whether he was fit to do so. More Kail-cars Two more electric rail-cars from Liverpool reached Auckland on Sunday morning by the motor-ship Otaio. The rail-cars, which were carried on the ship’s after-deck, follow shipments of six others brought at fairly short intervals by the Cambridge, Brisbane Star, and Hertford. They will be landed on the Otaio’s arrival at Wellington. Japanese Expansion in China “The most noteworthy fact about Japanese expansion in China,” said Mr W. L. Holland, Research Secretary to the Institute of "Pacific Relations, in an address to the Timaru Rotary Club, “has been that in the past the Japanese leaders could count on finding sufficient corrupt Chinese officials who were willing, for generous considerations, to take the part of Japan and to connive at attempts to take further territory. What has made the war so remarkable has been that this time the Japanese were completely deceived in assuming that they Would have an easy conquest.” Mr Holland said that the resistance of the Chinese was having a big effect on the morale of the Japanese and that there was danger of an upheaval in Japan, which might compel a change of Government and a drastic change of policy. New Telephone Lists To give quick visual indication of what is the latest half-yearly edition of the telephone directory, the Post Office adopted the plan of changing the colours of the outside cover design, alternating between red and blue, and chocolate and green combinations on heavy manila paper. It is now going a step further with its quick reference facilities by introducing coloured pages in some directories. While the four chief cities have subscribers’ lists requiring bulky volumes —each issue of the Auckland edition weighs 22 tons—there are other important telephone areas where several centres are grouped. Hawke’s Bay, for instance, covers Napier, Hastings, Dannevirke, and subsidiary exchanges, and a certain amount of time must have been wasted on occasion in picking up the'.right page for a purely local call number, as all the lists were bound together and printed on white paper. The towns were indicated in heavy black type at the tops of pages. But the Post Office has evolved a more effective way of showing the different important groupings in the district list. Each group is.printed on a tinted paper. The Napier list in the Hawke’s Bay directory appears on white paper, Hastings entries are printed on green paper, all the Dannevirke numbers on salmon tinted paper, and the classified directory —covering the whole district —on yellow. A similar plan is being followed in the grouping of the important Taranaki towns of which New Plymouth is the chief postal centre.