NEWS IN BRIEF

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 4, 29 September 1933, Page 2

NEWS IN BRIEF

Items of Interest

FROM ALL QUARTERS

The condition of muny gum plantations in Canterbury was described fis very discouraging by Mr. R. G. Robinson, superintendent of the Selwyn Plantation Board, during the board’s most recent meeting.’ Mr. Robinson estimated that if 1000 trees were planted today, 800 of them would die.. Last season was a very dry one, and although the habitat of eucalypts was Australia, they did not seem to be able to stand up to a succession of drying Canterbury winds.

: A man entered a jeweller’s shop in Napiep recently and offered to sell a sovereign which had been suspended ou his watch chain for many years. The ■jeweller weighed it, and discovered that it was tf pennyweight or so under weight. This fact prompted the jeweller to make further investigations, .which resulted in bls discovery that the “sovereign” was a very clever fake, much to the owner’s chagrin, of course. He recalled with. bitterness how an itinerant gold buyer had offered him £1 for It some hours earlier, ant) how he had refused the offer, thinking he could get ft better price for it.

Force of circumstances has been responsible lately for the substitution of less-expensive carrying vehicles than motor-cars and horse vans, and coiiseauently the bicycle has been largely resorted to, says the Dunedin “Star. On the streets now are,-, to be seen cycles fitted with side-cars for the carriage of goods, while cn others the front wheel has been replaced by a device supported on two wheels. The latest vehicle to make its appearance is another cycle drawing its goods conveyor at the rear in the form of a trailer.

Applications from different parts of the world for the four professorial chairs at the Auckland University College that require to be filled afresh at the beginning of next year will come before a special meeting of the college council to be held early next month. Applications closed with the English .selection committee at the end of last month, apd. it is expected that cabled recommendations regarding the candidates will be received, by/the end of this month. The professorships vacant or about to become vaeaflt are those of English, mathematics, history,and classics. ■

The tali'build Ings' of New York permit a great saving of ground space, but they add a new factor to transport problems. Professor A. 11. Tocker, talking of his experiences on his recent world tour to the Christchurch Advertising Club recently, said that most persons thought of traffic as pertaining to streets and roadways, but in New York the traffic inside the buildings had to' be considered. It might seem strange to New Zealanders, but it bad been calculated that in New York there was far more vertical traffic than there was normal or horizontal traffic.