TOWN AND COUNTRY NEWS

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 70, 15 December 1933, Page 6

TOWN AND COUNTRY NEWS

Items of Interest From All Quarters

When in the United States recently he learned that, in New York, 7000 school teachers were unemployed, said the Minister of Education, the Hon. R. Masters, when opening the new Parnell School at Auckland on Monday. Some American school teachers had had a reduction in salaries of from 15 to 30 per cent. In Illinois a number of teachers had received no salaries for 12 months.

At the monthly meeting of directors of the Mercury Bay Dairy Company on Satti, day last a letter was received from a Greek firm of merchants at Cyprus, that beautiful island in cue Mediterranean, making inquiries for the agency of the company. The letter was not typewritten, but in script, and did not contain much detail. Some of the directors were inclined merely to "receive” the communication, while the secretary viewed it in the light of a •“Spanish prisoner” letter. After discussion. the directors decided to write to the firm asking for further particulars and for trading references.

A new way of assisting the unemployed was decided upon by the Mount Albert Borough Council (Auckland) at a recent meeting. In previous years the privilege of cutting the areas of first-class cocksfoot grass, which grows on many of the borough’s reserves and roadsides, was apportioned among various unemployed men according to their needs. It was decided to arrange for the cutting of the whole area under the No. 5 scheme and to hand the prepared seed oyer to the district welfare committee. “This will be the fairest way of all to deal with the matter,” said Air, P. Floyd, who proposed the scheme.

Military cadets from New Zealand will be trained next year at the Royal Military College, Victoria Barracks, Sydney. The Federal Minister of Defence (Sir George Pearce) in making this announcement at Canberra a few days ago, said that for some time past negotiations had been proceeding with the New Zealand Government with regard to the proposal for the reintroduction of the system of training New Zealand cadets at the Royal Military College of Australia. The New Zealand Government had approved the proposal, and it had been decided that four cadets under the age of 19 years would shortly be selected. They would join the Royal Military College at the opening of the first term in 1934.

Travel in Spain is delightfully cheap for those who are willing to take the least expensive hotels and train passages. according to.the experience of Air. G. T. Wilson, a graduate of Canterbury College, who recently returned to New Zealand. Speaking at a meeting of the Canterbury College Graduates’ Association he said that he and a friend had been able to travel a distance of 6000 kilometres, or 3750 miles, covering most of Spain, for a fare equivalent to £3/10/-. They bad been able to obtain a concession by posing as brothers. But travelling was not the only thing that was cheap; they had bought oranges at 80 for 1/-, and handed many of them to children with whom they soon became very popular. He added, amid smiles, that during their visit to Spain they had travelled in the very lowest class and stayed at the very Jowest hotels.

The most recent honour in dairying won by Otago is to carry off an award in England. The Governor-General of New Zealand, Lord Bledisloe, has presented a beautiful and valuable cup for competition by New Zealand dairy companies that manufacture cheese and exhibit at the National. Dairy Show field under the auspices of the British Dairy Farmers’ Association, the trophy to be regarded as a district prize to be associated each year with the district in which the factory producing the winning exhibit is situated. At the last national show in the Old Country this cup was won by the Kelso Company of Otago, and at the request of the Department of Agriculture, the Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association will act as custodian of the cup and exhibit it at the next winter show in Dunedin. The cup Is to be engraved with an indication of the district, the dairy company, and the year. If a company outside Otago wins the cup about a year hence, it will, of course, be transferred to the winning district. Meanwhile the trophy is to be held by Otago as soon as it comes to hand. Air. Leslie J. Hunter is the manager of the Kelso Company.

Congratulations were extended Sir Cyril Ward and Lady Ward at the annual meeting of the Christchurch Golf Club on Monday evening on attaining the 25th anniversary of their wedding, and the opportunity was taken by the president (Mr. Norton Francis) to make a presentation of a cigarette case to Sir Cyril.

The low prices which have been offered for wool for so long has had a depressing effect on the outlook of the sheep farmers which in one case at least the sharp rise of 10 per cent, at the last sales had failed to raise. Surely the prince of pessimists, a farmer in South Otago, was asked his opinion on the wool sales during the week-end, but his reply lacked that tire of enthusiasm which was expected. “It’s only a rise of 100 per cent,” he said, “our creditors will expect us to pay our bills now.”

A close season in 1935 and an increase in the game, license fee to £2 in 1936 are among the recommendations contained in a petition which the council of the Auckland Acclimatisation Society has decided to forward to the Minister of Internal Affairs. The petition has been placed before all the district sub-associations at special meetings, and has been signed by 391 sportsmen. There were only six dissenting votes. The recommendations will affect shooting license holders in the Auckland district.

Missionary work among visiting Chinese sailors and ships’ firemen is undertaken, whenever opportunity offers, by the Rev. Y. S. Chau, of the Auckland Chinese Mission, “When a ship with Chinese on board comes in,” said Mr. Chau, in reporting to the Auckland Presbytery recently, “I go with tracts, Gospels and Bible pictures to the ship and have a meeting with the men. To those willing to read, I give a Gospel. The best opportunity I had was when the Tung Fong Company sent crews to take to Shanghai two steamers they had bought in Auckland.”

The Maoris are credited with the belief that the free flowering of cabbage trees is an indication of a dry summer (states the Dunedin “Star”). That portent catches the eye in every Otago district this year. Cabbage trees are blooming very vigorously. Among farmers an old saying still surviving is to the effect that a preponderance of male births in cattle and sheep is an indication that rain in the summer will be scanty. For what it is worth, that indication is also apparent. Bull calves and ram lambs are said to be in the majority in and about the Dunedin and adjoining districts.

In the course of a recent trip through New Plymouth, a visitor inspected Pukekura Park— undoubtedly one of New Zealand’s finest native plant life reserves. After spending several hours among lovely fern gardens and glens, lakelets surrounded with spreading pungas and all the beauty of the indigenous bush, the visitor came out. on a certain cleared green knoll to find before him a splendid specimen of the Highland heather. The shrub was in full bloom, and cast a vivid dash of alien colour into the softer greens of the native bush.

The miscellany of work done by the social workers was described by the Rev. T. Halliday, secretary of the Auckland Social Workers’ Association, in a recent report to the Auckland Metropolitan Unemployment Relief Committee. “Applications for assistance,” he said, “have varied from surgical boots to maternity outfits, and performance of marriages—the latter duties having been performed by myself free, and I had to pay the necessary legal expenses. Any similar cases I will be pleased to hand over in future to any of my colleagues. At present there is an application for a christening service, but in this case there will be no fees to pay.”

Tn a small plot of land at the rear, and another at the side, of his house in Mercury Bay, Mr. W. B. Topp, of Whitianga, has had some surprising gardening results, says the Auckland “Star.” Growing there'at the present time are peas 9ft. high and loaded, a scarlet runner bean over 12ft., and a tomato plant, with a bunch of eight large tomatoes on It. The potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, and radishes are als > of unusual size. Last year Mr. Topp grew an enormous sunflower. While he takes special pride In his garden, he grows only sufficient for his own requirements. On being asked the secret of his success, he says that he digs deep, and uses plenty of manure.

A request that a boat harbour should be constructed at the eastern end of the harbour was recently' received by the Auckland Harbour Board from the Tamaki Yacht Club. When the matter was considered by the board in committee, the engineer, Mr. D. Holderness. estimated the cost of the proposed work at £30,000, and the harbourmaster, Captain H. H. Sergeant, said that he did not consider that there was any need for a boat harbour on the eastern foreshore at present, and recommended that the matter should be deferred in the meantime. At a meeting of the board a few days ago it was decided that the harbourmaster’s report should be adopted, and that the yacht club should be advised accordingly.

A special service was held at St. Stephen’s Church, Lincoln, on Sunday last, when a steel engraving of St. Hugh’s Cathedral. Lincoln, England, was placed in the church. The engraving is the gift of Dr. William Irving, of Christchurch, who felt that it would be appropriate for Lincoln to have this picture as a link with the other Lincoln, and for the church to have a picture of that noble architecture which makes Lincoln Cathedral famous. The picture belonged to the late Dean Jacobs, who qrrived with the Canterbury Pilgrims in 1850, and was the first Dean of Christchurch. The evening service was conducted by the Rev. F. G. Brittan, who also was an arrival by one of the First Four Ships,

“It was Aristotle’s opinion that the chief purpose of education was to teach the right use of leisure, but in the bustle of the last 50 years we have somewhat forgotten this,’’ said the headmistress of the St. Cuthbert’s College (Auckland), speaking at the prizegiving ceremony, says the "Star.” "We have been so busy teaching people how to earn a living that we have overlooked the important thing, which Is to teach people how to live. By the right combination of high technical skill and knowledge, with a taste for knowing the best that has been thought and said, surely our girls should learn to rely more on their own resources, and to realise that it Is pleasanter sometimes to stay quietly at home than to crowd in thousands to hear or see somebody say or do something.”