TOWN AND COUNTRY NEWS

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 32, 1 November 1933, Page 2

TOWN AND COUNTRY NEWS

Items of Interest From All Quarters

A resident of an Auckland suburb has in his garden ripe tomatoes, which have beeu grown in the open without resort to either covering or glass. The planting was done last autumn.

“The best way to see as much as possible of Fiji in a limited time is to fly round it,” said Mr. C. A. Fleteher, of Sydney, who arrived at Auckland by the Aorangi after spending a holiday in the islands. He said he chartered an aeroplane and flew right round the island, calling at Lautoka, Ba and Levuka, and thus gaining an illuminating impression of the geographical and geological aspects of Fiji.

One American idea of New Zealand was experienced by Mr. D. W. Bain, of Christchurch, during his recent tour of Europe. In France he met an American student, and aft'er talking to him for a few minutes asked him what part of the United States he calne from. The American told him, and Mr. Bain then remarked that he came from New Zealand. “New Zealand!” exclaimed the American, with lifted eyebrows. “But your English is just great! Where did you learn to talk it?”

The impressions of a recent Napier resident, Mr. F. H. Finlayson, who is at present working on a railway 460 miles north-west of Sydney, are that conditions generally in Sydney are far better fihan in New Zealand, says the “Hawke’s Day Herald.” Writing to a friend In Napier he stated: “I think conditions are improving all the time. Everyone in Sydney told me that there is all the difference in the world between conditions at present and a year ago, when Lang was in power. The price of wool is about 50 per cent, higher than it was this time last year. ’

The fishing season in the Taupo and Rotorua districts opens to-morrow. It is reported that the indications are that the trout will be plentiful this season. Large quantities of big fish have been seen in the spawning grounds during the spawning season. Fishermen should find good sport in the Waikato river between Lake Taupo and Huka falls. The Rotorua conservator (Mr. A. Kean) has made a complete tour of inspection of the whole district, as a result of which he is satisfied that trout in the various localities will be quite plentiful.

Mr. T. W. White, of New Zealand Airways Ltd., who is to fly the Codock machine which will attempt the Tasman Sea crossing shortly in company with the Southern Cross, did some fast travelling over the week-end in the Southern Cross Kitten. On Sunday morning he flew from Dunedin to Timaru lu just over au hour, with twopassenbers. Then he flew from Timaru to Mount Cook and back in just under an hour and a half. He then set off over the Southern Alps with two passengers, intending to call at Greymouth and Hokitika.

A compliment to the public of Christchurch regarding the care of the trees, shrubs and flowers in the parks and reserves was paid by Mr. M. J. Barnett on Saturday afternoon, when the annual inspection of the city reserves was being carried out by the city councillors. He said the manner in which the citizens and children of the city protect the gardens was very creditable to them. Hardly ever did he come across any damage to trees and shrubs, and when he did it was only slight. When it was proposed to build a rock garden at Beckenham Park there was an outcry that the children would damage it, but such had not been the case.

The claim that Aucklanders are naturally undemonstrative was denied by Mrs. Kenneth Gordon in the course of a luncheon address to the Auckland branch of the League of Nations Union. Mrs. Gordon said Auckland’s dislike of publicly showing feeling was often advanced as an excuse for not supporting movements of world importance with more enthusiasm. “Have you ever seen a college football mateh ab Eden Pa’rk, however, or the Auckland Cup run?” asked, the speaker. She contended that if so much enthusiasm could be shown for amusements, it could not be pleaded that Aucklanders did not show open enthusiasm for more important matters because it was contrary to their nature to do so.

“lilost farmers expect men to work for nothing,” remarked, the Mayor of Takapuna, Mr. J. Guiniven, at a meeting of the Borough Council. “It is unique to find farmers taking an interest in unemployment,” he said, when a letter urging the holding of a representative meeting to discuss unemployment was received from the Auckland branch of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union. “Your remarks are an insult to farmers,” said Mr. F. Pedersen, “and they are not justified. I could provide pay-sheets showing that wages paid to farm workers are equal to those of the council’s employees.” “That is not saying much,” replied Mr. Guiniven. The letter was received, the Mayor remarking tliati he understood the Mayor of Auckland, Mr. G. W. Hutchison, intended calling a similar meeting.

“There is not a cleaner nor better built town in the whole of New Zeaia.nd than Rangiora,” said Mr. T. C. List, speaking at the jubilee celebrations of the Rangiora Borough School on Saturday. “And I shall go further still to say, after having been round, the world several times, that there is not a cleaner nor a better town of its size in any part of the world than Rangiora.” Mr. C. I. Jennings, an early pupil of the school, speaking later in the day, said that statistics had proved Rangiora to be one of the healthiest towns in New Zealand, and this he attributed in a great measure to the excellent conditions under which the borough school had been conducted through the years.

Thirty-seven years ago Mr. A. Harris, member of Parliament for Waitemata, landed from the old sailer Rangitiki at the Inner Harbour, Port ' Ahurirl. Mr. Harris was included in a number of Parliamentary representatives who visited Port Ahurirl at the week-end, and he spoke with some animation about the appearance of the Port in those days. lie recollected the Itangiliki beating into the bay on the first Sunday afternoon in January, 1896, his landing and. the condition of Hawke’s Bay at that time. His comments were of uncommon interest to many of those who listened to what he had to say as they stood on West Quay, and particularly to Mr. J. P. Kenny, secretary to the Napier Harbour Board, who said it was just 50 years since he landed at the same spot. Later in the day Mr. Harris said he well knew from his recollection of the flood in 1897 of the havoc wrought by floods, and be would aid Mr. Barnard in his endeavour to have the House pass the Bill which the Rivers Board had placed before it

“Modern. Music” was the subject o£ au address delivered on Satin day night by Mr. Alfred Bunz to a meeting of the Society for Imperial Culture. . The speaker said that modern music was really a return to the oldest form of music, for it used the whole tone scale, which was almost the earliest of scales. A trip of about 225 miles was made by a St. John ambulance on Sunday when a patient was conveyed from the Auckland Hospital to the Coromandel Hospital. Rain was encountered throughout the trip, but the distance was covered in good time.

Timely aid from a party of relief workers returning from work at Onetangi, Walheke, was responsible for saving a valuable draught horse, the property of the Ostend Road Board, which was caught iu a swamp. The animal, which had been trapped for some time, had one leg caught up to the shoulder, and had it not been seen by the men it would probably have died during the night. After being extricated the horse walked away, apparently little the worse for its experience.

About four years ago Mr. William Cochrane MeLauchlan, one of the “red caps” at the Dunedin station, went to Scotland for identification purposes, holding a power of attorney for his father, Mr. J. C. MeLauchlan, who is claimant of the Clippens estate as next-of-kin to the late Dr. Peter Cochrane, and as such entitled to be the doctor’s heir. The case has now ripened, and the claimant and his son propose to return to Scotland as soon as the necessary expenses are provided to confer' with the legal firm that has the matter in hand. The land in the estate consists of two properties, 1122 acres in the parish of Winnoc, Renfrewshire, near Paisley, and 906 acres iu Ayrshire.

The question of subsidised competition by the Matsoii liners operating against British vessels in Australian and New Zealand waters has been attracting attention of late. On his return home from a world tour recently, Mr. 11. C. Dalgliesh, a prominent English shipping man, had something to say to the Shipping World in this connection. "I saw the Matson liners going to Australia and New Zealand with their heavy subsidy at the expense of our tonnage,” he sqid. “There is no doubt that, our British liners are suffering by not having the number of passengers or the quantity of cargo. I am very sorry indeed for the shipping lines traversing the Pacific. In addition to this, the wages of the Australian and New Zealand steamers are very high even compared with ours.”

“I support the idea that the future of New Zealand lies in the land,” said Mr. T. C. List, Governor of Rotary in New Zealand, speaking at the jubilee banquet of the Rangiora Borough School on Saturday evening. “But what are we doing in this Dominion to provide some aid for young people who would go on to the land? We have to show those children that if they go there they will not be following a blind alley. It is up to tis to find a way of making provision for them, and I am not satisfied with what we are doing at present, either for young people or for the general unemployed. We are too inclined to let things rest. Conditions are three times as bad in the United States as they are here, but they are doing something; they are tackling the problem and will get somewhere. We, too, should find a way out and help people to get on to the land. New Zealand will not deny those who go forward in the fullest confidence that the best is yet to be.”

Commenting on a recent statement from Taranaki recommending the discouragement of any tendency on the part of school teachers to induce children to swim distances over BSO yards, the educational officer of the Auckland Swimming Centre, Mr. C. F. Stratford, pointed out that the New Zealand Swimming Association had foreseen and endeavoured, to guard against undue zeal likely to be harmful to children. In 1927 the association had deckled that the only distance it would enter on the certificate of merit would be 880 yards. Further, the'Auckland centre required an assurance from the supervising teacher that the child’s strength had not been overtaxed, and generally every precaution was taken to avoid zeal for records being allowed to interfere with the health of young swimmers. In pursuance of this policy the New Zealand association had, as far .back as 1926, discontinued quar-ter-mile competitive swimming, lest the effort under stress should prove harmful to boys under 14 years of age. “It is the greatest] possible mistake to view these modern schools as things separate from the art of the past,” said Mr. Bunz. “Most of the new traits are legitimate growths out of the art technique of the acknowledged great masters.’ It seems as if there really was nothing new under the sun. Just as the principle of twentieth century cubism in painting were well known 400 years ago, so the modern methods of parti-writing and chord-building all find their prototypes time after time in the pages of the great masters of the past.” Although considerable weight had to be laid on the close connecton of the present nrt with that of the past, the newer harmonic tendencies had to be approached with an open mind, he continued.' So rapid and numerous had recent developments been that barriers had been broken down on all sides, while, on the other hand, an almost completely new musical language had been invented. Art had ever to be in a fluid state for it to live, and while profiting from -the experience of . the past, a watchful eye had to be kept on the course of music in the future. Used purely by itself, the tonal system was very circumscribed, and was too mathematical, precise and monotonous a product to find development along its own lines.