NEWS IN BRIEF

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 121, 16 February 1937, Page 11

NEWS IN BRIEF

Coronation Contingent

Returned soldiers’ associations throughout New Zealand have been considering the applications which have been made by returned soldiers for inclusion in the contingent to represent the Dominion at the coronation. The recommendations of the local associations must be in the hands of the New Zealand R.S.A. by noon to-day. Hundreds of names have been received. The N.Z.R.S.A. will select 40 for submission to the Government, and from those the 10 to go to England will be chosen. Keen Golfing Nation.

New Zealand had the largest number of golf clubs in proportion to population in the world, it was remarked at last night’s meeting of the Rangimarie club. There were at least 40,000 golfers belonging to clubs in New Zealand. New Zealand Trade Commissioners. “One point that I must make,” said Professor W. Riddet, Director of the Dairy Research Institute, Palmerston North, who returned to Wellington yesterday after a world tour, “is that every New Zealander travelling, whether his purpose is business or pleasure, should not fail to keep in touch with the New Zealand Government Trade Commissioners in the countries he visits. Their assistance is invaluable. I know I certainly found it so.” Air Service Busy. Sixty-eight passengers flew in and out of Wellington yesterday on the air service across Cook Strait. So heavy were the bookings that an extra machine had to be used in the morning on a special flight. The Wellington Aero Club’s Waco machine was also called into service to transport two passengers who had urgent calls to Christchurch. Traffic Held Up. Five trams were held up and a number of motor-lorries and other traffic forced to deviate from their normal route yesterday afternoon at the intersection of Wakefield and Cuba Streets, Wellington, after a collision between a tr,am and a motor-car at 4.45 p.m. The right rear mudguard of the car was battered, the petrol tank punctured, and the rear axle locked. None of the occupants was injured. The tram escaped damage except for a crack in one of the front windows. Library Training. First of the remits to be dealt with at the ninth biennial conference of delegates to the New Zealand Library Association to-morrow morning, is one submitted by the Society of Wellington Librarians. The text is:—“That the council of the New Zealand Library Association set up a small committee to inquire into the possibility of associations conducting an examination preliminary to the examinations of the Library Association (London), but more in accord with New Zealand requirements; and to take steps to investigate other possibilities of library training in New Zealand, and also of granting a fellowship for advanced work of a research character.”

Did Not Know it was Loaded. Finding several children she had undertaken to mind for the afternoon prostrate on the lawn of their Miramar home one recent afternoon, a young Wellington woman ran desperately for assistance. She had left the youngsters to their own devices for a time, and on returning was unable to rouse them from an alarming lethargy. She feared infantile paralysis or food poisoning, but a sophisticated male who came in response to her cries suspected the cause when he found an open cellar door and a number of discarded vessels. When the eldest child recovered consciousness the suspicions were confirmed. The juveniles had been drinking father’s bottled home brew. They were naughtily and hopelessly intoxicated. Fire Station Clock Tower. Incorporated in the new Wellington Central Fire Brigade Station at Clyde Quay is a tower which is to take the clock formerly accommodated in the tower of the Town Hall. This structure lias now been erected level with the roof of the main building, and the reinforcement for the wall which is to surround the flat roof is now being adjusted prior to the boxing and Anal “pours.” The tower, a solid square structure of considerable strength, will rise to a . height of 48 feet 6 inches above the level of the station roof, Its apex will be 81 feet from the ground level. With the disappearance of the destructor, as promised by the city council, and the creation of a new reserve and rest park, on the site, this part of Wellington—the entrance to the city’s only harbourside parade—should be considerably enhanced. “Mighty Plucky Act.”

“I am the father of the child concerned and the girl who effected the rescue did a mighty plucky act and is deserving of highest praise, if not official recognition,” writes Mr. Oliver P. Liddell, of Whitianga, Auckland, to “The Dominion,” referring to his two-year-old son’s narrow escape from possible death when he was tossed down an incline by a bull at Hot Water Beach recently. The boy’s screams attracted the attention of his cousin, Matilda Fyfe, of 13 Green Street. Newtown, Wellington, who ran straight to the rescue Her yells succeeded in their object and also brought other helpers to the scene, who found the youngster in a dazed condition. ’“I am naturally l deeply grateful to this plucky girl,” concluded Mr. Liddell. Miss Fyfe, who is 15 years of age, received many messages of congratulation, including a telegram from Mr. J. Thorn, M.P.

Art of C. F. Goldie. People in art circles in Wellington are interested in the news from Auckland that certain of the paintings of Mr. 0. F. Goldie, of Auckland, are to be forwarded for exhibition in this year's Royal Academy show at Burlington House. Mr. Goldie has earned for himself a special niche in the local temple of fame by his very fine studies of Maori heads. He has never looked for young Maori belles or the youthful gods of the village, but has specialised in Maoris of advanced years, generally those near the end of the road. The Auckland Art Gallery is particularly rich in these portraits, usually those of heavily-lined and richly tattoed old men and women, beautiful in their truth and character. The National Art Gallery only possesses one Goldie, and that a very small one, only 61n. by Sin. Though small it is an excellent example of the artist's work, much sounder artistically than some of his larger canvases. There is another Goldie at present in the art gallery building, but not on exhibition. This is the property of Dr. E. B. Gunson, of Auckland (now absent in England). This painting bears the genial inscription—“Tumai friend, Dr. E. B. Gunson—Kia Ora I”