NEWS IN BRIEF

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 183, 1 May 1936, Page 13

NEWS IN BRIEF

Heavy Rain Squall Crowds of business people were caught in a heavy squall of rain which swept Wellington yesterday in the lunch hours. The storm came up suddenly out of the south and there was a stampede for shelter. Light rain began to fall at 12.20 and at 12.45 a heavy downpour started, some sleet accompanying the drenching rain. The morning hail been fine enough to encourage the thought that overcoats were not needed and many of those who went home for lunch were very wet when they got there. The only ones to benefit were the restaurants, which did a roaring trade, many people who usually go home having to have their meal in the city or get a ducking. Though the wind continued to be boisterous until well'on into the evening the rain stopped soon after 3 o’clock and the streets were dry again by teatime Heavy Fall of Snow at the Chateau. Starting early yesterday morning, heavy snow fell throughout the day on Mount Ruapehu and began to fall around the Chateau in the afternoon, states a special message to “The Dominion.” If. was still falling late at night and there were no signs of tbe weather clearing. The snow lay at a depth of from eight inches to a foot around the building. At Salt Hut the temperature fell to 28deg. in the afternoon. Fewer Bankruptcies Tliis Year. The month of April saw only one bankruptcy filed in Wellington, making four in all this year. This is an improvement of five on the numbers recorded for the corresponding period of last year. Ran Out of Petrol. When charged witli parking in a prohibited area, a defendant in the Magistrate’s Court, Wellington, yesterday, explained that the offence was caused through his car running out of petrol. “The same thing has happened to me.-” remarked the magistrate, Mr. E. D. Mosley, with a smile. Defendant was convicted and ordered to' pay court costs.

Prime Minister Congratulated. Congratulations to tee Prime -Minister, Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, upon his appointment as a Privy Councillor were extended by the Board of Trustees ot the National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum at a meeting of the board yesterday, at which the Prime Minister was present. Dairying Conferences, Ward conferences of the dairying industry are to be held in the future as in the past and at about the usual time, according to a decision made by delegates attending the Dominion dairy conference held in Wellington yesterday. So far as future Dominion conferences are concerned, the Dairy Board was authorised to fix a date for these. Births, Marriages and Deaths. More marriages, but slightly fewer births, than during the corresponding period of last year were recorded during April by the Registrar of Vital Statistics at Wellington. There were 173 marriage notices filed, as against 158 last year; there were 49 marriages by the registrar, as against 34. Last year’s April statistics showed 129 births, but there were only 120 this year. There were 93 deaths, which is seven fewer than in April, 1935. To Go to Olympic >Gaines. If there was ever any doubt whether V. P. Boot, G. R. Giles and N. Fisher, Canterbury’s representatives in the Olympic Games team, would leave New Zealand, it has been dissipated. The full amount of money required of the Canterbury sports bodies concerned has been forwarded to the Olympic Association, although enough was not raised by public subscription in Christchurch, some of the money having to be guaranteed.

Glider Sold. The Wellington Aero Club has sold the last ofi the four metal-framed Waco gliders imported in 1932 to the Auckland Gliding Club, and the ma chine which has been suspended from the roof of the hangar at Rongotai for some considerable time, has already been railed to Auckland. Towed gliding flights were once one of the features of week-end displays at the aerodrome, a former club captain, the late C C Waite, usually being the pilot. The Auckland Gliding Club had previously bought one of tee gliders from Wellington.

Killing of Opossums. A Gazette notice announces that opossums may be taken or killed in tee Wellington acclimatisation district from noon on July IS to noon on August 31 this year (dates inclusive), the license fee being £2; in the Hawera district, from tee same hour on. June 1 to September 1 at noon, the license tee being similar. The conditions for Hawera also apply to Stratford and Taranaki, but in the Wanganui district the open season dates are from mid-day Julv 1 to mid-day on-August 1. Tbe notice covers all the acclimatisation districts in New Zealand.

“Unique Golf Hazard." In praising the" excellence of the Miramar Golf Club's course, which adjoins the Rongotai aerodrome, yesterday afternoon, Mrs. M. H. Godby, Christchurch, president of tlie New Zealand Ladies’ Golf Union, said: “I think you havje a unique golf hazard here which is unknown on most other courses. I refer to the aeroplanes vteich every now and again bob up, and one never knows whether they might not spill a gallon of petrol down one’s neck as one is putting.” Just at teat moment, a plane passed the window of the clubhouse with a roar of its engine which made everybody jump, and it was some time before the laughter which followed died down. Transfers of Teachers.

Criticism of the method of transterring teachers from one school to another is offered by tlie annual report of the Thorndon Public School Parents' and Teachers’ Association. “In common with most primary schools,” the report states, “although perhaps not so severely a.s most, Thorndon has suffered for years from a changing staff. With apparently no consideration for the school, teachers have been transferred at very short notice and permanent successors have been appointed only after months of waiting. The executive has no hesitation in stating teat the system which compels a teacher to transfer from a school which he or she knows, and which knows him or her, to a school utterly unknown to the teacher, in order to secure promotion is a pernicious one and the sooner it is ended tlie better. . . This system must be held responsible in a marked degree for the growth of private schools at tlie expense of the primary schools of Hie Dominion ”