General News

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25270, 23 August 1947, Page 8

General News

Government’s “Dividend” The Government received £43,108 0s 9d from taxation on the Canterbury Jockey Club’s Grand National meeting. Totalisator tax accounted for £22,373 13s, dividend tax for £19,575 17s, stakes tax for £235, and amusements tax for £923 10s 9d. Whitebait Fishing A number of fishermen will leave Hokitika next week by the m.v. Gael to fish for whitebait in the Arawata. Waitoto. and Okuru rivers. It has been reported that whitebait fishermen will fish the Hollyford river (about 50 miles south of Jackson’s Bay) this season, and the whitebait will be taken by aeroplane to Dunedin. Catches in the Hokitika river and Mahinapua creek have been small, but are increasing daily. Fishermen have had great difficulty in obtaining whitebait netting, and many different substitutes are being used. Whitebait were bringing 8s a pint in Hokitika yesterday. Hospital Stamp Scheme A letter from the general secretary of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children, London, expressing warm thanks for the collection of stamps, the sale of which augments the hospital’s funds, has been received by Mr E. D. Bernstein, of New Brighton. Mr Bernstein has be n collecting stamps for the hospital for 'the last 20 years. Parcels of stamps sent by Mr Bernstein during the last year have yielded from £6 to £9 each. Since collectors in other countries send in large quantities of stamps, the revenue from the •hospital’s stamp scheme is considerable; but as the institution is supported entirely by voluntary effort and contributions and as its work, especially during and since the war, has greatly expanded, all the help that can be given by this and other means is welcome. Organised Tours of N.Z. As its first post-war step in the promotion of overseas tourist traffic, the Department of Tourist and Health Resorts will begin a series of conducted tours from Australia towards the end of October. The scheme provides for a month’s tour of New Zealand for a party of 19. The first party will fly from Sydney to Auckland on October 28, and will visit Rotorua, Napier, Wellington, Christchurch, Timaru, Dunedin, Queenstown, Mount Cook, Wellington, New Plymouth, and return to Auckland after seeing the Waitomo Caves. Land travel will be by special motor-coach. The complete cost of the tour will be £135. Early next year, the department will begin special five-week tours for Australian farmers. —(P. A.)

Manuscript Found What it is hoped is an original manuscript of Robert Burns’s “Scots Wha Hae” has been found in Wellington by Mr P. Mackay, whose father came to New Zealand in 1854 from Banff, Scotland. It is now in the possession of Mr R. H. Nimmo, Wellington, the life chieftain of the Caledonian Society. Mr Nimmo said he had consulted the secretary of the Wellington Burns Club (Mr A. F. Dickson). “We are of the opinion that in all probability this is an original document written by the hand of Robert Burns,” he said. Mr C. R. H. Taylor, librarian of the Alexander Turnbull Library, said he would like to see the document before giving his opinion. In the 1840’s and 1850’s a number of facsimiles and forgeries had been made of both Burns’s and Byron’s work. Linen Tablecloths Stolen One hundred hand-painted Irish linen tablecloths, valued on the retail market in New Zealand at nearly £BOO, have been stolen. The case in which they were packed was found empty in one of the holds of the Brisbane Star, which is at present discharging at Auckland. Measuring 54in by 54in, the tablecloths were consigned from Belfast to a firm of indent merchants.—(P.A.) Dear Money. The Rumanian National Bank is reported to have stopped issuing 2000lei notes, which had been used chiefly for small change in petty transactions, such as paying tram fares. An economist of the bank discovered that the cost of printing 2000-lei notes was 3500 lei. Rush for Knitting Wool JEn extraordinary scene was witnessed in a Hamilton shop when a crowd of 300 women made a wild rush to counters where knitting wool was offered for sale. Two glass counters were broken and another was damaged. One woman received a blow and had to receive first-aid treatment. The 10 female assistants employed at the wool counters became alarmed, and a cordon of male workers was formed to keep the crowd in check. At last the doors to thtf 1 women’s section of the shop had to be closed, and barriers of chairs were erected so that control could be imposed. When order was restored, selling was resumed.—(P.S.S.) Harbour Board Representation An Order-in-Council published in t the Gazette alters representation of te certain districts on the Lyttelton Harbour Board, as a result of the merger of Sumner with the city of Christchurch. It provides that one member shall be elected by the boroughs of Lyttelton and Akaroa and the counties of Akaroa, Wairewa, and Mount Herbert. Sumner was formerly included in this group. Recruiting for Navy

The Royal New Zealand Navy is now having little difficulty in obtaining recruits. “We are at a stage where entry is competitive,” said Commander P. Phipps, officer in charge of recruiting. “It is our task to select the best, of the applicants.” The 180 men who left the Navy in April during the dispute about pay conditions have now been replaced, and about four of every five recruits are now being rejected. The recruits’ educational qualifications are carefully considered, especially in view of the increasing use of scientific equipment.— (P.A.)

Scientists Assist the Law The Dominion laboratory frequently analysed human blood to discover the amount of alcohol it contained, as a guide to the degree of intoxication, said the Government analyst, Dunedin (Mr O. H. Keys), in an address to a meeting of the Southland branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand. The identification of firearms, projectiles and explosives was a frequent task of the forensic scientist, and a good deal of use was also made of the laboratory’s services for legal purposes. Bloodstains, even if very old, could be identified, and it was possible to say whether the blood came from a human being or an animal. A great deal of the work done under the Sale of Food and Drugs Act related to the quality of milk, impurities and preservatives in foods and drugs, and fraudulent practices generally. Storm-Water Drainage at Woolston. The Christchurch Drainage Board’s outside staff is replacing the old stormwater conduits which run underneath Woolston Park with new five feet concrete pipes. The old piping has been collapsing for some time, causing a subsidence in tne ground. An officer of the board said yesterday that 4he work would have been done earlier but the board’s maintenance staff had been kept busy elsewhere. It is expected that the installation will be finished in about a month. The new plan for storm-water disposal will carry the water across the park instead of round it, and some public service lines—gas and water—may have to be replaced during the work.

Famous Piano When the great composer-pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff died in 1943, the famous Steinway CD-15 piano which he always used was locked. His widow handed the key to the manager of Steinways, New York, with the injunction that her husband’s favourite piano was to be kept as a museum giece, and was not to be used except y a pianist of the master’s calibre, and of her own choice. Learning that Sim on Barere was to make a tour of Australia and New Zealand, Madame Rachmaninoff agreed that this friend of her husband should have the use of the piano for the tour.