NEWS IN BRIEF

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 154, 26 March 1938, Page 13

NEWS IN BRIEF

Yesterday’s Heat Comment on yesterday’s heat in Wellington was not unfounded, as the maximum temperature was 78.1 degrees, an unusually high figure for March 25. The average maximum temperature for March is 60.5. Yesterday's temperature has not been exceeded often at this time of the year. The last figure in excess of this was recorded in 1935, when the reading on March 25 was 80 degrees. The only other recording higher than yesterday’s 78.1 degrees, for the last 22 years, was in 1916, when the reading was 80.4 degrees. Labour Caucus.

Members of the ParliamentaryLabour Party have been called together for a caucus on Tuesday. The Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, said yesterday that the caucus would consider general legislative matters, including the proposed national superannuation and health insurance scheme.

New Colours. “Of course, new colours come into being from time to time. In fact, there’s one called elephant’s breath, isn’t there?” remarked Mr. Justice Hunter, in the Second Court of Arbitration yesterday, during the hearing of the Wellington solid plasterers’ dispute. ■ The advocates smilingly agreed that there had been many departures from the primary colours. Praise For Railways.

A letter has been received by the Railways Department from a woman visitor from Ireland in which she states that in all her travels she has seen nothing to compare with the children’s nursery at the new Wellington station. Since the beginning of this year numerous letters have been received from various organisations thanking the department for the comfort and courtesy of its rail and road services. The Rotary Conference, Boy Scouts and Wellington Amateur Rowing Association are some of the societies who have written eulogistically. A number of other grateful patrons were froni overseas, and these muchtravelled people have expressed surprise at the extent and general excellence of the national transport system. Trampers’ River Work. Further work has been done by the Tararua Tramping Club to save the trampers’ hut in the, Tauherenikau Valley from being undermined by the river. The March issue of the “Tararua Tramper” states that a working party recently made important progress, being favoured with a week-end of fine weather and low river level. The shallowness of the river allowed members of the club to lower by about another foot the bedrock at the entrance to the cut, which has been excavated for the river to flow along instead of scouring against the bank. Any slight rise in the river will now flow through the ditch. A groyne has been extended across the main channel of the river, and has had the immediate effect of diverting a considerable flow into the ditch. The object of the groyne and ditch is not to divert all the water in the river, but to form a safety outlet when the river is in spate. The club does not hope to master the river but to influence it so that the hut and the parklike flat on which it stands will not be destroyed. Members of the Tararua Tramping Club, assisted by members of the Paua Tramping Club, have repaired Field’s track, and altered and repaired Kime Hut.