TOWN AND COUNTRY NEWS

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 47, 18 November 1933, Page 17

TOWN AND COUNTRY NEWS

Items of Interest From All Quarters

The Annette Kellerman Cup threemile swimming race will be held over a course at) Kuiraki on Sunday, February 18 next. This race, which is a handicap event to be held at the time of the New Zealand swimming championships, which will be conducted in Christchurch on February 17, 19, and 21 next 'year.

Two pots of ragwort were on vlev, at a meeting of the Papakura Town Board. They bad been sent by the Agricultural Department for the purpose of showing to all and sundry the weed that is causing so much discussion at> the present moment. Quite a number of people do not know a ragwort when they see it. These pots are to be placed in some Papakura shop windows for exhibition only, there to be watered until they flower, when they will be destroyed.

The caterpillars which threatened to make havoc in the Ashburton pasture lands have disappeared as silently and mysteriously as they came, and the only traces of the visitation are patches of bare soil in some of the wheat crops. The pastures that were eaten down by the ravenous horde have come away with the new 7 growth, and it is reported that no farmers lost heavily over the plague. The caterpillars almost confined their attention to the fine leaf grasses and young twitch pastures,' finding wheat too coarse for their taste. The few sections of wheat crop which hunger drove them to attack, however, were ruined, as the insects got down to the roots.

Those persons responsible for New Zealand’s publicity campaign were sternly taken to task by Mr. R. T. Tosswill, who returned to Christchurch this week after a lengthy trip abroad. Quoting a particular instance of his journey from Penang to Singapore, Mr. Tosswill declared that the only sign of anything urging tourists to visit the Dominion was a very amateurish poster on the railway stations bearing a second-rate representation of a scene in the Waitomo Caves. Considering that the inhabitants of that part of the world took up to twelve months leave of absence and that something in the nature of Mount Cook or the glaciers would appeal to them, the publicity effort depicting the caves was most unsuitable.

In the milling districts in India labour or other troubles among the Indian workers were rare, Said Mr. George Young, on his arrival in Auckland after being in India for 30 years. Once he had been trained the Indian was a loyal worker, who did his job for 5/- a week. Each year he wanted two or three months’ holiday, and in arranging these holidays the workers displayed a strong community spirit. When one wanted to go on holiday he would enlist the help of four or five friends, and the group would raise enough money among them to send him away. When he returned from his holiday he would pay in to the “common fund,” so that another group could go on holiday. Mostly the Indian workmen—although they dearly loved a gamble at cards—were careful spenders. With most of them the idea was to save their earnings so that some day they might purchase enough land on which to live with their families.

“The Japanese as a people are P- - erty-stricken, working early and late for very little pay,” writes Mr. C. C. Ward, who is returning to the Dominion after a tour in the East, to a friend in New Plymouth. “The majority live in dirty, evil-smelling huts, dress poorly, and exist on almost nothing. Tokio, no doubt since the earthquake, is better than other cities, but there are hundreds of thousands who only just live. The better class Japanese are clean, and educated, and live in better conditions, but their number is comparatively small. The lower classes are really the . slaves of the better class. What I have written may be surprising, as you hear so much about the wonderful Japanese, but in all the cities the majority of the population is extremely poor. of the Japanese live down narrow lanes 12 to 15 feet wide. In Tokio, with a population of five and a half millions, there is no hotel where a European can safely stay and feel that he can eat the food.”

A suggestion that cars drawing caravans or trailers should carry some indication in front of the car, was made by Mr. E. A. Williams to the Hawke s Bay Automobile Association. He pointed out that such an accessory would reduce risk of accidents, particularly at dangerous corners, as it would show ap-. proaching motorists that the car was hauling a second vehicle. .The association approved the suggestion, and endorsed the action of the secretary, Mr. It. M. Chadwick, in sending the letter forward bo the North Island Motor Union for discussion.

The standardisation of automatic traffic signals at street corners throughout the Dominion is sought by the Southland Motor Association. A remit forwarded by the association for the quarterly meeting of the South Island Motor Union, read at a meeting of the executive of the union was as follows: “That an endeavour be made to arrange for the standardisation of . automatic traffic signals at intersections in cities throughout the Dominion, where such signals are in operation.”

An amusing incident occurred in Napier recently, concerning a bride and bridegroom, who, after the wedding ceremony, took a car to join their guests at the cabaret at Westshore, where the reception was being held. Unfortunately, en route their car broke down, and their only other means of transport was one of the local buses, which happened to be going in that direction; so the newly-wedded pair, resplendent, in their bridal apparel, arrived at the scene of festivity, the only occupants of the enormous vehicle.

The opinion was expressed at a meeting of the Mount Eden Borough Council that unless more people could be induced to travel on the trams the local bodies would be faced soon with a rate. It was suggested that a system of floating or overlapping sections should be introduced by the Auckland Transport Board. In the Mount Edeu district it was suggested that two suitable overlapping sections would be from Rewa Road to Mount Eden Post Office on the Mount Eden Road route, and from Eden Terrace corner to Dominion itoaci Post Office on the Mount Roskill route. The council decided to take up the matter

A decision 'to affix memorial tablets to the historic “trig” on the summit of Mount Eden was made at a meeting of the Mount Eden Borough Council this week. The cairn, which was originally erected by the late Mr. S. P. Smith, chief surveyor, on August it, 18 , at present being re-erected. Included In the proposed tablet inscription will be the words: “May this obelisk serve as a memorial to the pioneer surveyors who played so worthy a part in the transformation of a wilderness into the smiling land which lies. before you.’’ The Latin phrase. “Prudens futuri,” and a quotation, •‘For their work continuete, Great beyond their knowing,” will also be engraved on the tablets.

“An analysis of over 100 South Island farm accounts for the past year shows that although about 30 per cent, of the farmers whose accounts were analysed held mortgages or other investments and on balance no liability, yet 90 per cent, of the total lived to a greater or lesser extent on capital,” states the farm economics section of the report on research work carried out at Lincoln College. The average return on capital invested in land, the report adds, amounted to 2 per cent., or, including wages of management, represented a loss, while the average return on investments made elsewhere amounted to 4 per cent. Good farm mortgages proved the best investment.

The allegation made by the Rev. J. K. Archer that one-man trams were “death-trajis,” was denied by Mr. G. T. Booth, chairman of the Christchurch Tramway Board. Mr. Archer stated that in the ev.ent of an accident the mechanism of the doors might be damaged, imprisoning the passengers, or ’■’’•'t if the motorman fainted a similar state of affairs might arise. Mr. Booth explained that these difficulties would be disposed of automatically. If the driver were overcome the current would be cut off and the brakes applied, so that; the tram stopped, while the air-pressure on the doors wquld be balanced, enabling the passengers to escape by pushing the doors open. The possibility of the door mechanism being damaged in a collision was remote. In a tram a driver was less liable to injury than in the ordinary type of tram, said Mr. Booth, as he was able to move back, not being enclosed in a small cab. The board’s records showed that in the proportion of platform accidents (occurring in boarding and alightin,' from trams) was smaller in the case of one-man trams than in the two-men trams, the figures being .097 and .362 respectively per 100 trams. Danger from fire in one-man trams was negligible, as the cars were built to strict specifications and subjected to careful inspection.