CITY AND SUBURBAN ITEMS

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 76, 22 December 1928, Page 10

CITY AND SUBURBAN ITEMS

NEWS AND NOTES OF INTEREST

The offices of the Wellington City Corporation will close down at noou on Monday (Christmas Eve), and will not reopen until January 3.

In order to cope with the large number of passengers travelling between Wellington and Auckland, the Railway Department has arranged an additional express train to leave Wellington at 7.15 this evening.

“Ninety per cent, of the contributions to the Wellington Free Ambulance Service are made by employees, and the remainder by the firms subsidising the contributions of their employees,” said the chairman (Mr. C. Norwood) at last night’s meeting of the board. “We started off with nothing, and now we have assets in the vicinity of £3500,” said Mr. H. M. Jones at last night’s meeting of the Wellington Free Ambulance Service. “The service is second to none in New Zealand, and, with the contributors, is deserving of the highest commendation.”

Miss K. Ferris (hostess) and her helpers gave an enjoyable concert to seafarers at the Sailors’ Friend Society on Thursday, when seasonable touches were very evident. Light refreshments were dispensed during the interval. The performers were the Misses Betty Goodwin, Miriam Cresswell, Joan Maunder, Kathleen Ferris, Vera Boesley, and Messrs. Ken. 'Wilson, and Leslie Toomey. Miss Vera Boesley was at the piano. The competitions drew forth some excellent work. The prizes enme from Mrs. Ferris, and went to the Cumberland and Canadian Britisher. The missioner announced that matters were well in hand for the festive season. At the last meeting of the Wellington Esperanto Club for the present year. Mr. E. C. Jackson presided. After classes, the president, speaking in Esperanto, condemned the attitude of those who claimed that the English language was “par excellence” the medium for international communication. Other nations, he said, were equally prejudiced in favour of their own tongues. He claimed that Esperanto, being a neutral language, was the only language that had any chance of general acceptance. Mr. W. L. Edmanson. Fellow of the British Esperanto Association, recited in Esperanto Ingersoll’s “At the Tomb of Napoleon." The secretary, Mr. B. Potts, addressed the meeting in Esperanto on the subject, “Could Latin or Greek be practicable as an International Language?” It was announced that a conference would take place in Wellington about January 26, when representatives would be present from various parts of the Dominion to discuss the formation of a New Zealand Esperanto Association.

Most people like a dash of colour in life, always providing that the dash does not develop into a splash. Yet how conservative are people in the matter of ink. How few, comparatively, use purple, brown, or green ink, and even those of Communistic tendencies do not favour red ink in their correspondence. Among the unconventional is the city engineer (Mr. G. A. Hart), who favours the use of green ink. In this way his notes on filed documents and plans stand out. Clerks only have to glimpse a document to know that it has passed under the engineer’s eve, and to make that self-evidept, Mr. Hart has decreed that others in the office must abjure green ink. There is a deal of common sense in this arrangement; moreover, green ink writing is easy to read, and, being Nature’s own tint, is restful to the eyes.