NEWS IN BRIEF

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 187, 7 May 1934, Page 10

NEWS IN BRIEF

Sales Tax Increase Sales tax receipts during March amounted to £162,416. an increase of £18,785 over the February figure, reports the Government. Statistician. For the twelve months ending March, 1934, sales tax collected by the Customs Department amounted to £1,847,273, an excess of approximately over the budgetary estimate of £1,750,000 for the year. Commissionaires and R.S.A. At a recent meeting of the New Zealand Corps of Commissionaires it was decided that a letter by the Chief Commissionaire, Mr. H. G. Faulds, be forwarded to the secretary of the AVelHngton Returned .Soldiers’ Association. This letter requests the R.S.A. to consider the question of the corps becoming a subsidiary branch of the R.S.A. organisation. Cross in a Poppy. A returned soldier who resides in Temuka was presented by his mother on Anzac Day with an Oriental poppy which she had grown in her garden. Inside the calyx was a perfectlyformed Maltese cross, which was the badge of the regiment to which he belonged—the 2nd South Canterbury. AVhen the poppy was shown to an expert he stated that, although the formation of a cross was not unusual in an Oriental poppy, he had not seen such a perfectly-formed specimen before, nor one with such exquisite black and white colouring. Building Activity. The value represented by building permits issued in the larger towns during March was £613,297, an increase of £208,164 over the February figure, reports the Government Statistician. The new Wellington railway station is included in the March figure, swelling the month’s total by £339,173. The number and value of permits issued for new dwellings has fallen off during tlie past four months from 204 in November, 1933, to 136 in March, 1934, each of the intervening months showing a fall as compared with the preceding, month. The fall in the value of permits for new dwellings has, however, been more than counteracted by increases in the value of permits for “other buildings.” New Zealand’s Coinage. At a meeting of the New Zealand Numismatic Society last week, it was stated that the cost of specimen sets of the new Dominion coinage (including the crown piece to be struck for specimen 'sets only) was considered to be undulj’ high. Mr. A. Sutherland, who had made representations to the Treasury, gave a full explanation showing that the Mint, which had fixed a high price, was not prepared to make a reduction, and the addition of exchange, which the Treasury had to meet, added to the already high Mint cost. It was agreed that the society and the Treasury had done their best, and that nothing further could be done. It was hoped that -the postal export ban temporarily placed on New Zealand coins would soon be removed. , Hollywood’s View on N.Z. Sheep. That England had more sheep than New Zealand was a statement that amazed many persons, said Mr. S. G. Holland, president of the Canterbury Employers’ Association, when he spoke to Canterbury College commerce students recently. The speaker stated that he had recently been to a talking picture in.which a Hollywood actor announced that he was coming to New Zealand to buy a sheep farm. “You see, even in Hollywood, we are regarded as sheep-farmers with millions of sheep.” said Mr. Holland. “So we have millions of sheep, but England has more than we have.” Goloshes From Japan. Japanese goloshes are being placed on the New Zealand market in very large quantities this year, according to statements made to a reporter by several Christchurch boot retailers. The Japanese article was selling at piices nearly one-third less than/tliose of Canadian make, but it was of definitely poorer quality, and inferior finish, they said. In regard to children’s needs, the Japanese were manufacturing a small ankle-high “bootette,” that so far the. Canadians had nor attempted. Canterbury Fishing Season. The fishing season in Canterbury has been most disappointing, and is probably the worst since trout became established, says the Christchurch “Press.” The weather has been against fishing, and for some reason the trout in Canterbury streams seem to have been fewer and not as easily deluded as before. The salmon fishing, also, now a popular branch of the. sport, has also been very much below , expectations. The rivers have in the main been in good condition, but the ■ run has been small. The last, fortnight of the season saw an increase of activity on all local rivers, anglers having made the best of their remaining chances, but like the rest of the season, the final two weeks yielded few good bags, and those only after much hard work. Selecting Rhodes Scholars. “The system of selecting Rhodes scholars does not always succeed in getting the best men.” said Professor A. H. Tocker in an address to the Public Service Administration Society in Christchurch (states the “Press”). He had mentioned the case of an undergraduate student at Canterbury College who was selected a few years ago by examination and other tests to occupy a port on the secretariat of the International Labour Office at Geneva, defeating Rhodes scholars and others who bad been candidates for the position. It was rather notorious, said Professor Tocker, that the Rhodes scholars in the past—not only in New Zealand—had not proved to be the type hoped for by Rhodes when be founded the scholarships. His Past. ’ “This little ceremony throws a flash of light on my past.” said Professor J. Macmillan Brown, Chancellor of the University of New Zealand, at the unveiling of a new honours board at the Girls’ High School at Christchurch. “This year is exactly the sixtieth since I came to New Zealand. 55hen I left the Old Country I made up my mind that J would go back in two or three rears, but here I am 60 years later still a resident ■ " Christchurch. He explained later that he had become so deeply atLiclied to his work at Canterbury College, where he was the first professor of classics, that he soon • gave tip the idea of returning to England, and refused a new chair of English literature at Oxford, which was offered to him in 1885.