General News

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22467, 30 July 1938, Page 14

General News

Big Government Pay-roll The fortnightly pay-roll administered in Canterbury by the Public Works Department must be easily the biggest in the province. The last return of the department for Canterbury showed that there were 2300 men employed under its direction and since that date some hundreds more men have been put on the payroll, on -a great diversity of undertakings. Their fortnightly earnings now run into many thousands of pounds and it takes a big staff a great deal of time in dealing with working sheets, time-sheets and from them, in assessing money earned. It says much for the efficiency of the department that payment is regularly made only three days after time-sheets are put in. Canteen Fund Grants The New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association conference yesterday decided that the Canteen Funds Board and the National War Funds Council be requested to continue grants for the relief of distress among returned _ soldiers and their dependants who through ill-health or other causes were unable to follow their ordinary occupation, and that the canteen funds grant for unemployable and distressed former servicemen be continued during 1938-39 at the rate of £IOCO a month.—Press Association. A Rarotongan Dictionary After a lifetime of study, Mr Stephen Savage, former Registrar of Courts at Rarotonga and’ a present Commissioner of the High Court, has completed a dictionary of the Rarotongan language, states the correspondent of the United Press Association at Rarotonga. The manuscript has been forwarded to New Zealand. The work contains a vast deal of information relating to the history and traditions of Cook Island. Mr Savage has resided at Rarotonga since 1898. An Unusual Mishap About 7.30 last evening an unusual accident occurred at the High street level crossing, Temuka, the scene of the recent runaway-tram mishap. Mr J. T. Poole, driving a sedan car, mistook the snow-obscured railway crossing for a turn in the road and went to driye northwards along the line toward the station. The car did not get any further than the cattle stop, however. The front wheels sank between the wooden bars and the back wheels on the unsurfaced, slippery footway could not bring the car back. Mr C. Williams, Geraldine county foreman, who lives nearby, came to the driver’s assistance and planks were placed underneath the front wheels so that another motorist was able to tow out the car, which was not damaged. The appearance of the railway line under snow is not unlike that of the nearest road turning, both being flanked by open paddocks and wire fences. Constable Drags Avon Acute interest was displayed yesterday afternoon by passers-by in the movements of a constable, who was seen to be dragging in the river Avon with a garden rake. After a few dips those watching were satisfied to see him fish up a large sugar bag on to the bank. Placing one foot firmly on the bag and its contents, the constable soon cut through the carefully-tied twine that bound up the opening. After peering inside, he marched off leaving the bag on the riverbank and the bystanders to ask one another what was in it. Inspection disclosed that its contents consisted of neat, paper parcels and what were probably medicine bottles. Whitebait Season Preparations for the opening of the whitebait season on August 15 have commenced in South Westland. Yesterday, men were engaged in pegging out their claims to areas along the banks of the Big Wanganui river in which set nets are employed to catch whitebait, of which large quantities are annually forwarded to Christchurch. It is believed that this year the “run” of whitebait will be larger than usual. Two Cars Kill One Cow Two motor-cars contributed To the death of a cow straying on the main road near the Arowhenua Maori pa, Temuka, last evening. A motorist travelling from Timaru to Christchurch struck the cow~ first when it wandered across the road, which being slippery with snow and ice, gave the brakes no chance to stop the car in time. The injured cow was within a few minutes struck by another car and it died. The radiator of the first car was forced back, so that the driver had to spend the night in Temuka, but the second vehicle passed on with only slight damage. Saplings with a History Two sapling- oaks of historic stock have been offered to the Wellington Beautifying Society by Mr R. Griffiths, Rotorua. They are the second generation of an oak that came to New Zealand as an acorn in 1824. Grown on Goat Hill, Dorset, it was brought to New Zealand by the Rev. R. Davies, who planted it at Paihia, removing the young tree to Waimate North in 1831. There it attained a height of 55 feet. Forty-five years ago the Rev. F. Spencer took to Rotorua an acorn from the Waimate North tree and planted it almost opposite the hospital gates, and it has outgrown its parent, being now 66 feet high. The saplings offered for planting in Wellington have been raised from acorns from the Rotorua trees. Dominion’s Wide Jurisdiction “New Zealand’s territorial and administrative responsibilities extend from the. South Pole almost to the Equator,” said the Rev. A. B. Chappell when addressing members of the Auckland branch of the League of Nations Union, Mr Chappell said the Dominion’s sphere of jurisdiction began with a segment of the Antarctic embraced by the Ross Dependency and reached as far north as Nauru Island, which was about 30 miles south of the Equator. Chinese War News Speaking at St. Paul’s Church at Wanganui, the Rev. H. Davies, of Canton, China, said that the war news received by the New Zealand newspapers was substantially correct. It was to be expected that the cablegrams from Japan and China should be influenced by local colour, and it was left to the intelligent reader to balance the news from one source with that from another. By using one’s judgment it was possible to come to a fair appraisal of the position in China. Often, however, the real significance of a cable message was not realised by the public. For instance, it was recently reported that Japanese bombs had hit a factory. The fact that 100 factory girls had lost their lives had not been mentioned however. Patrol Officer for Marlborough Described by the president (Mr R. P. Furness) as the best bit of work that the Marlborough Automobile Association had done for a long time, a decision to proceed with the appointment of a patrol officer for the Marlborough district was made by the automobile association last week, after a report prepared by its secretary (Mr R. Wanden) and recommended for adoption by the roads and bridges sub-committee had been considered. The executive was unanimous in agreeing that the appointment would be of great benefit both to the association and to its members. Shell In Rock What was thought to be a fossilised, oyster, found in a rock by one of the men working on the Waitakere Scenic Drive near the Swanson trig station, was submitted to Mr A. W. B, Powell, assistant-director of the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Mr Powell stated that it was not a fossilised oyster, but that its shape had been fashioned by lime having been dissolved from a piece of shell and redeposited in the joint or crevice in the rock. This action had given the shell the appearance of an oyster. “Although the specimen submitted is not a true fossil,” said Mr Powell, “a number of authentic remains of marine shellfish, including specimens of the giant oyster, now extinct in New Zealand waters, have been discovered in the rocks adjacent to where it was found. Some well-preserved fossils, approximately 30 million years old. have also been found in the cliffs at Muriwai, in the upper part of the Henderson creek and at Huia. As the area is largely volcanic, however, fossils are not very common as the facilities for preservation are not as likely as in the case of sedimentary deposits.”