TOWN AND COUNTRY NEWS

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 59, 2 December 1933, Page 17

TOWN AND COUNTRY NEWS

“It is confidently expected in some commercial circles in Australia that the Australian rate of exchange on London will shortly tend to decrease, said Mr. A. M. Satterthwalte, a Christchurch business man who has just returned from a business trip to New South Wales and Victoria. Mr. Satterthwalte added that on his last visit to Australia in May the general opinion had been that the exchange rate would either remain fixed or increase. Now opinion bad veered round. There was a good deal of foreign money in Australia which two years ago its owners would have been glad to be able to take out of the country, while to-day they were glad to leave it there and were anxious to invest it.

The opinions expressed by an aviator ou Saturday regarding the inadequate nature of the training of pilots for passenger-carrying are a matter of concern (remarks the “Christchurch Star”). Flying will be popularised more certainly in New Zealand by putting all candidates to the most searching tests of skill and temperament than by light-heartedly issuing a license at the very stage when a pilot is really trying Ids- wings. Every mishap shakes public confidence, whereas the comings and goings of men like Kingsford Smith and, one may add, Mr. J. C. Mercer, the pioneer of tourist flying over the Alps in New Zealand, are the most certain means of popularising passenger-flying.

In a survey of New Zealand's possibilities as a tourist resort, Mr. Larson, of California, enjoined the Auckland Travel Club to “cash in on the tourist traffic.” Adding practical advice to this exhortation, the speaker whimsically defined his'own attitude as one who wherever he went was Impelled to “speak belovedly of New Zealand and its people, but he regretted that they couldn’t make good coffee.” This drew the rejoinder from Sir James Farr, who presided: “Well, the Americans can’t make good tea.” Mr. Larson did not deny the soft impeachment, and admitted that his wife was industriouslv learning the art of tea infusion, as here practised, and would probably take it back with her to the States. Later Sir James instanced this as true reciprocity, and assured Mr. Larson that the Travel Club would do its part to supply all American tourists with ice-water if the great republic would only open its doors to the Dominion’s wool and butter.

An opinion that the Government building subsidy scheme was definitely in the interests of speculators instead of benefiting the trade as a whole was expressed at a meeting of the council of the United Burgesses’ Association (Christchurch), by Mr. R. E. Bigg. He contended that money given to the building trade had been collected from the public for the' relief of distress through unemployment, and to use it for a particular industry amounted to gross misappropriation. It would be better if the Government advanced up to four-fifths of the cost of the work, on mortgage, and nt a low interest, foi a long term. That had been in vogue during the Ward administration, and he felt that if the scheme was adopted now unemployment in the building trade would be greatly reduced. The subsidy scheme introduced last year 'had not met with great success because of the then frozen credit. Now a sense of false prosperity was created, because firms desiring to build could obtain the money more easily.

At the Auckland Travel Club’s luncheon on the Monowai, Mr. I). Larson, the visiting trade counsellor from Los Angeles, emphasised the necessity for a proper appreciation by New Zealanders of the attractions of their country. To illustrate his remarks, he instanced his recent experience with a patriotic Australian, with whom he had toured through the Hot Springs district. This Sydneysider lost-no opportunity of extolling the fame of the great harbour bridge and the other assets of his native city. He reached his climax as a “booster,” however, when the party stood on Hell’s Gate, Tikitere, where the whole ground shook and trembled in response to the subterranean energy that fills the valley with clouds of steam. When com- ' went was made on the immense heat necessary to sustain these seismic demonstrations, the Australian declared that “they liad a fire department over in Sydney that could put that fire out in twenty minutes!’ “A little more of that spirit,” said Mr. Larson, “would do no harm to New Zealand.”

A number of typical American “wisecracks” were brought into a speech given by. Mr. David Larson, trade counsellor to the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, at the Auckland Travel Club luncheon on board the Monowai. To illustrate the need for a wider knowledge of the tourist attractions of New Zealand, Mr. Larson told the story of a woman who had three children. She had read that every fourth child born was Chinese, so she would not have a fourth. She was. not in possession of the full facts. Another good one was about a roostey that discovered an ostrich egg in the farmyard. It called up all the liens, and, indicating the enormous egg, said: “Look wliat hens can do in other countries!” The size of the United States comes into the story of the Englishman who had boarded a train at New York for Los Angeles. For several days he asked the guard when they would arrive, and each time was told that they still had a long way to go. Finally, when they were nearing Los Angeles, the Englishman remarked: “M ell, they say Columbus discovered America, but xj don’t know how he could have missed it.”

The 'Governor of Fiji sees in the innocent threepenny-bit a menace to the lowering of price commodities. He has arranged that Fiji, from early next year, must discontinue the use of the threepenny-piece and use a new coinage, which consists of the copper halfpenny and penny, with silver coins for sixpence, one shilling and florin. In this way he hopes to see a much greater use of copper coins and the cheapening of the ordinary articles and foodstuffs in daily use. “Under such circumstances, when its very life is at stake and when caution should be most necessary, it sounds suicidal to read that at an entertainment on Sunday night (November 5) no fewer than 500 threepenny-pieces were collected from the audience,” states the “Auckland Star’s” Suva correspondent. “This open defiance must further prejudice the chances of the survival of the homely and much maligned ‘trey-bit.’ ” The official boycotting of the threepenny piece has aroused a strong opposition, and many hold that with its abolition Fiji trade must deteriorate and lose its ablest abettor of high prices. Sentiment sides with such a view, but common sense suggests that his Excellency Is on safe ground, and that he points In the right direction to alleviate the sufferings of the bard up in these distressful times.

Items of Interest From All Quarters

A'complaint at the manner in which business is conducted at meetings was made by the town clerk at a City Council meeting recently, says the Nelson “Evening Mail.” At a certain stage of the proceedings he said he found it most difficult to know what was going on There surely must be some sort of order, and be found it extremely difficult to get an intelligent report of the proceedings. The business of no local bodv in Nelson is carried out with less regard to the rules of debate than that of the Nelson City Council, adds the “Mail.” Frequently motions and amendments which have not even been seconded are discussed at length, audible conversation takes place while a councillor is on his feet, and altogether the proceedings are at times of a “go as you please” description. Matters which could be easily disposed of in a few minutes are the subject of talk all round the table, while important business, which frequently comes on late in the evening, is not given the attention it deserves.

Railway stations are not usually the most beautiful spots in the Dominion, and one does not linger around them any longer than is necessary, but the Hamilton station is one of the exceptions. It looks more like a park than like the usual aggregation of drabcoloured buildings, lines of rails and empty wagons, etc. The Hamilton Beautifying Society took charge, and the result is decidedly gratifying. On one side of the pathway to the street is a flower garden filled with stocks and poppies <if various colours, with a punga trunk trellis in the background covered with climbing roses and creeper. In the centre is a rest house made of punga trunks and covered with roses and creeper as well: this is a very inviting spot in the hot summer weather. The.space between the railway lines and the path is laid down in lawn grass, with a dozen giant palms in full foliage. This sylvan scene makes for a good impression on visitors entering the town of Hamilton via the railway.

Verj’ rarely does Mr. W. Downie Stewart make a speech without introducing some, humorous aspect of the subject he is discussing (remarks the Dunedin “Star.”).' In the course, of his' remarks at the. annual meeting of the Dunedin Manufacturers’ Association he made reference to the increase in the price of wool at the Auckland sale, and said that it was a gratifying sign of recovery, but he had no doubt that certain manufacturers would find difficulty even in that. He remembered once congratulating a farmer on the splendid crop of wheat he had produced, and receiving the reply that.it had “taken a terrible lot out of the ground.” Manufacturers might say that the price of raw materials would go up when wool went up. There was a new movement starting in Dunedin called nudism, and, if it developed, he did not know what the outcome might be for the manufacturer, who might not be able to get a sale for the clothing be made out of the high-priced wool. (Laughter).

An Auckland resident who has recently been in Germany received a letter from a friend there, in which the reports of Nazi atrocities are denied. The letter is given as it was written: “... After having left Paris, last spring I started working as a traveller in the South of Germany for my father’s factory. It is a rather tiring occupation, but agreable is, that you can study the character of many people and that you come round the country. . In your last letter you write: Deutschland seems to be having a bad time if one can believe the reports that are published. Please do not believe that The German People has never had a good time since the beginning of the War; but the whole People has never been as happy as now. Any time you read cruel news from Germany or you read in your news papers that the SS men are brutal you can be sure that it is a lie. lama SS man too, and I now very well that no SS man did any harm to anybody. You are interested in us, and if you come again to Deutschland you will find that things the same are as when you were here last year. Then there was no trouble, but the reports said there were. It is not changed now. ... Auf Wiederselen!” The SS men referred to above are the members of the Nazi Storm Troops.

Details of his world tour were given to the Auckland “Star” on his arrival on the Monowai by Mr. W. A. Taaffe, who, in company with his wife and daughter, visited the Dutch East Indies, China, Japan, North America, Great Britain, France, Belgium, Holland. Austria, Czechoslovakia, Italy and Australia. Mr. Taaffe visited Peiping and the Great M’all of China during the time that hostilities were !u progress. “M’e formed the opinion that China, with her poorly-equipped soldiers, was incapable of defending herself,” he said. Things were very different in Japan, where almost everything was conducted on European lines. The educational system was excellent, and every effort was being made to develop a strong national spirit and a pride of race. In Germany Mr. Taaffe was much impressed with the great display of Hitlerism. “Nazi brown shirts and swastikas were everywhere,” he said. Regarding his own profession, Mr. Taaffe said that in England ophthalmic optics were making great progress, and excellent work was being done by the sight-testing opticians. Much time and money was being spent in research, especially with a view to correcting eye defects without the use of glasses.

Three aeroplanes formed an aerial escort for the passenger steamer Monowai when she left Sydney for Auckland on Friday afternoon last. The reason for the farewell from the air was that M-. Wilfrid Kingsford Smith was a passenger by the ship. One of the ’planes, which accompanied the steamer as far as Sydney Heads, was flown by Sir Charles Kingsford Smith. After selling their hogget wool for 15 Jd and 14Jd, two Waikato growers adjourned to a nearby hotel to celebrate the great event (reports the Auckland “Star”). There were four people altogether in the party, and the last to “shout” was a man who had quitted 94 bales at an all-round average of close on 1/- per ]b. In the animated conversation he had not noticed what money had gone over the counter for the drinks, and threw down a couple of florins. The bartender heard them ring, and hurried along to protest, that, as the boss was out, be was not empowered to entertain any offer to buy the hotel in his absence. The farmer, who had not been to town for a long time, was astounded to hear that, threepenny drinks were served in that particular bar. After four years of frugality nobody thought of ordering champagne—perhaps that vintage will be forthcoming when the brokers’ cheques reach the payees.