General News

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22435, 23 June 1938, Page 10

General News

Express from South Delayed . The express train from the south arrived in Christchurch 44 minutes late last evening and the Wahine did not leave Lyttelton till 9.20 p.m. The express was delayed through an engine defect, which caused it to lose time after leaving Timaru. A relief engine was sent from Ashburton, meeting the express at Hinds. Lapse of Insurance Policies During a period of five years 43,000 life insurance policies of a face value of £.16,000,000, and 132,722 industrial policies of a face value of £7,000,000 were allowed to lapse in the Dominion, according to a statement made by Mr A. H. Nordmeyer, M.P. (chairman of the Parliamentary committee on national health and superannuation), in an address at Ashburton on Tuesday evening. The point was raisea when the speaker was discussing the possibility of the average man being able to provide for himself in old age. Aid in Repairing Flood Damage Assistance will be provided from the Employment Promotion Fund towards the cost of repairing flood damage in the Hawke s Bay County Council’s area, according to a telegram received by the County Clerk (Mr W. J. O Connell) from the Minister for Finance, The Government will provide a contribution to the extent of 90 per cent, of the additional labour costs, but not including the wages of the normal County Council staff, provided that preference is given to registered unemployed men in the district. A subsidy of £1 for £3 will be paid on other costs, such as materials, supervision, and transport.—Press Association. Lake as Trout Nursery A suggestion that Lake Lyndon should be used as a nursery for hatching rainbow ova was made by Mr H. Penrose at a meeting oi the council- of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society last evening. He said that Lake Lyndon was free from eels, and there were many young fish in the lake. His idea was to net the lake and transport the fry and young fish to the other back-country lakes. It was centrally situated and comparatively easy to net. With stock from this lake it might be possible to establish rainbows in Lake Selfe. Mr G. Ebert mentioned that the matter had been considered before, and 250,000 ova had been put in last year. The idea was sent on to the fish committee. Parking in Fendalton Parkin * of motor-cars is to be prohibited in parts of Fendalton road, following on a decision made last night by the Waimairi County Council. It made this decision on the recommendation of its traffic inspector (Mr G. E. Stokes), who reported that the parking of motor-cars m Fendalton road between the railway crossing and the Fendalton bridge obstructed traffic, particularly at rush periods, when trams also were involved. The road was narrow and winding and as the route was now carrying a large volume of traffic parked vehicles were a danger. He suggested that parking be prohibited in Fendalton road on both sides from the bridge to Holmwood road, and from the railway crossing to Holmwood road on the south side. Boulevard Scheme An invitation to be represented at a conference to discuss the completion of the Avon boulevard was accepted last night by the Waimairi County Council. The invitation was sent by the Mayor of Christchurch (Mr R. M. Macfarlane) with a letter explaining the scheme by its sponsor (Mr R. B. Owen). The other parties to the conference will be the City Council, the New Brighton Borough Council, and the Heathcote County Council. Cr. W. J. Walter, who moved that Waimairi be represented by Crs. F. S. Scott and J. Liggins, commented that the scheme was far better than that for the completion of the tunnel road. Milk in Schools The Wellington Education Board, having received at yesterday's meeting a letter from the Wellington Headmasters’ Association executive, recommended that the Wellington City Council be notified of a complaint from the association about chips of glass being found in bottles of milk distributed to schools. It was also recommended that, in accordance with the association’s suggestion, representations be made to the health authorities to have a proportion of the bottles of milk supplied to each school in quarter-pint sizes. The board adopted both recommendations without discussion.—Press Association. “Not To Let” Chalked on the windows of an empty house in Brougham street, Wellington, is the discouraging legend, “Not to Let.” Tradesmen who are renovating the house state that they were forced to put up the warning in self-defence against eager home-hunters. “They became such a pest that we couldn’t get on with our work,” said one of them. He added that a carpenter working there previously declared that he had had 80 inquiries in one day before he lost count! Street Appeal Approximately £l6O was collected by the Young Men’s Christian Association in its street appeal yesterday. This was .well below the sum of £3OO which the association hoped to collect, and about £4O less than was received last year. The general secretary (Mr F. E. S. Long) said last evening that he considered the amount creditable in the circumstances, as continuous rain had hampered the collectors. He expressed his thanks to the 175 collectors who had turned out in extraordinarily bad weather, and had stayed on the streets for periods of from two to six hours. Some of the women in charge of stalls and refreshments, he added, had been on duty from 7 a.m. till 5.30 p.m. Dominion Newspapers Praised Favourable comment on the number and quality of New Zealand newspapers was made by Dr. F, H. Spencer, former chief inspector of schools in London, in the course of a recent interview in Auckland. “I have seen no signs of yellow journalism in this country,” he said, “and I consider the service rendered by your newspapers to be really commendable, considering the relatively low circulations they possess.” Dr. Spencer also commented on the number of book shops in the Dominion, which he declared to be exceptional in a country with a population of fewer than 2,000,000. Advertising the Sounds “We are very much behind in advertising to. the world anything we have,” said Mr W. J. A. McGregor at a recent meeting of the Bluff Harbour Board. He, made this statement in suggesting that steps should be taken to urge the production, as a tourist guide, of a coloured relief map of the West Coast sounds. “This would be a great advertisement for the sounds,” he added. It was decided that the matter should be brought up by the board’s delegates at the annual conference of the Southland Progress League. Twelve Months’ Work Ruined Ten days’ pounding by the angry seas which whipped the Otago coasts during the last fortnight or so has ruined the foreshore protection work which was being carried out at Oamaru by the Railway Department, and 12 months’ work has been wiped out. The work will be carried on, however, and the line of piles will be continued as far as possible along the foreshore. Huge blocks of concrete, each weighing 12 tons, will then be skidded out from the bank so that a good slope will be obtained. The blocks will be. arranged in two tiers and the slope to the top of the bank will be one in two and a half. In the meantime 700 to 800 tons of stone is being dumped daily as a protection. This is being obtained from Enfield and Sawyer’s Bay. Indians Praise Government * Indians living in the Wanganui district apparently hold the Government in high esteem, for a number of them who met Professor Jagan Nath, manager of the Prince of Manavadar’s Indian hockey team, asked him to express on their behalf appreciation of what the Government had done for them. Speaking at a social gathering, Professor Jagan Nath said his countrymen had told him that Mr Savage and his Government were “helping everybody.”