General News

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27339, 3 May 1954, Page 8

General News

Form of Heckling “I was born in the pre-atomic age and I have never got used to these modern inventions,”, said the Ven. Archdeacon F. N. Taylor when he apologised to his audience at a public meeting in the Civic Theatre yesterday afternoon for not using the loud-speaker system. “I sometimes bark and that thing barks back at me. That is the form of heckling I dislike most.” Stolen Car Found in Dump A 1920 model English car oivned by Mr L. M. Hartigan, of 156 Dyers Pass road, was taken from outside his house between 8 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. yesterday. It was found- later in the morning in a rubbish dump at Aylesbury. The car had been carefully jacked up and the four wheels removed. Headlights, a battery and windscreen wipers were also taken from ttie car. Landplane Service io Fiji First-class passengers on the first Tasman Empire Airways DC-6 flight from Auckland to Fiji on May 15 will be charged the same fare as that charged on the flying-boat service. The fare is £39 7s single and £7O 17s return. The hew tourist class fares on the DC-6 planes will be £3l 10s single, and £56 14s return. The general manager of Tasman Airways (Mr i G. N. Roberts) returned to Auckland by air last night, after making final arrangements in Fiji for the new service. He said the company was going to great pains to make the changeover at Nandi comfortable for passengers.—(P.A.) Hair Problem Long-haired boys at Hooper’s Inlet , on the east side of the Otago Peninsula lose a day of. their schooling at least once a month by travelling to Dunedin to visit the barber. Because of this the local school committee last week asked the Otago Education Board . for permission to arrange for a barber : from Portobello to cut the boys’ hair ! in school hours. The board discussed ■ the request and decided it was not : competent to give permission. Most of ; the .32 pupils at Hooper’s Inlet are . boys, and usually they come to town . with their parents on the stock sale t day at Bumside. Hooper’s Inlet Itself ; had a population of 24 at the last census. > Triple Churchgoer ♦ The Mayor of Auckland (Mr J. H. • Luxford) had to refuse an invitation ’ to go to church in Te Awamutu yes--1 terdgy. He was already engaged to 1 attend three services in the city. At ' 7.45 a.m., as a vestryman at St. Aidan’s, ■ Remuera, the Mayor rang the bell and ; later took up the collection. At 11 ■ a.m. he attended a Red Cross rededication service at St. Matthew’s. In the afternoon he addressed members of I the Girls’ Life Brigade at their annual . church parade. The Te Awamutu invitation was from St. John’s Anglican i Church, which is celebrating its centenary. Mr Luxford was formerly a member of its vestry.

Penny Friends Three years ago a Wellington newspaper made an appeal on behalf of a man whose hobby was collecting pennies—one for each year of his life. At the time he required 14 coins to complete his collection. The response was remarkably good and the coppers flowed in from all directions, though one, a 1923 minting, eluded tne collector for a long time. It finally arrived by mail from Auckland. It was sent by a woman, who was promptly thanked for her action. They became pen friends; they met each other a little more than a month ago. Now they are on their honeymoon in Wellington. Christianity in Fiji The tiny island of Mbau is celebrating the centenary of a landmark in Fijian history—the conversion to Christianity of Ratu Thakombau by Wesleyan missionaries from England. Thakombattl, formerly one of the most ruthless of the powerful Fijian chiefs, later established his supremacy and adopted the title of King of Fiji. In 1874 he. with other High Chiefs, signed the deed ceding Fiji to Queen Victoria, and sealed the pact by presenting his war club to the Queen. Thakombau’s direct descendant, Ratu George. Thakombau will go to Australia this Week as an official with the Fiiinn Rjigby Union team.

Play by Torchlight Whep the lights failed during a performance of the musical comedy “The Two Bouquets” by the Auckland Operatic Society members of the audience provided torches to enable the play to So on. The light fuses twice burned out for short periods during the second act. Mrs Claire Kendall, the musical director, carried on with the accompanying music and the company continued the performance by the light of torches held by members of the’ audience. “Knobs” In Park Two knobs in the middle of Liardet Street Park worry members of the Vcsgeltown and Mornington Electors’ Association in Wellington. They think they should disappear. At their annual meeting the president (Mr A. L. Bignell) told the Mayor (Mr R. L. Mr ■- alister) who visited the meeting that his association felt the council’s decision to leave the knobs was a breach S’of faith. He said his association could see no technical difficulty that could make it impossible for the contractors to flatten the knobs. The Mayor told him that the difficulty was not technical but financial. The reserves committee had decided removal of the knobs was too expensive.

£1093 Air Travel Tickets Two tickets, each representing £1093 Ils worth of round-the-world air travel sold recently by the Government Tourist Bureau, are believed to be the. highest priced air tickets which have yet changed hands in New Zealand. The normal roundrthe-world air fare is £538, but the £1093 Ils total has been reached because of the many side trips the passengers have planned. The tickets entitle them to travel by 18 different air companies to more than 24 countries M.P. Eats Hat

Mr R. Speir, Conservative M.P. for Hexham, left a sickbed to fulfil a promise to his constituents to eat his hat in public if the fuel tax was not cut in the Budget. He did so at the Unionist Club at Hexham. He had had specially made for him a fivepound cake in the shape of a “boater’ decorated with marzipan and surroun- z ded by a red, white and blue ribbon. Mr Speir took a bite out of the brim of the hat and then distributed pieces of the cake to his audience.—London, April 29.

Dredging of N.Z. Harbours Dredging of some New Zealand ports by one dredge-contracting company was suggested by the harbourmaster (Captain J. Flett) at a meeting of the New Plymouth Harbour Board. Harbour boards would thufe be saved the expense of each buying a new dredge, Captain Flett said. He thought boards might join forces to prevail on an overseas dredge contracting firm with modem equipment to undertake dredging for all New Zealand boards. The chairman (Mr H. E. Blyde) said

the proposal was worth considering, and he thought if might be discussed at the next conference of the New Zealand Harbours’ Association. — (P.A.) '