LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 25, 30 January 1923, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

To-morrow is the polling-day for the Hutt Valley Power Board loan for the reticulation of the district with electrical power and light. The proposals have been endorsed by competent officials and independent electrical engineers. ." 1 am satisfied that there is no power board which- has better prospects in New Zealand," remarked an authority; " you have a spl«idid diversity of load." As was pointed out by the chairman of the board a few days ago, to make the poll effective it must be carried by a threefifths majority. .The Postal authorities have received advice from San Francisco that the Waikawa, which left San Francisco on Friday for Wellington, has on board for New Zealand 46 bags of mail and 487 flags of parcels. The officers and men of the French cruiser Jules Michelet have expressed appreciation of the very fine series of. entertainments arranged tor them in Wellington. In Wellington they have been given, they say, thu best time yet experienced on the tour. ■ Palmerston North is the only town in the world which bears that name, says the "Standard," and when abroad it is not necessary to add to a cable message address the name of New Zealand, the town having the distinction of being one of the iery few English-named municipalities that has no-namesake. , ■

Infectious diseases notified in Wellington last week totalled seven, a decrease of ten on the figures for the previous week." The incidence of the cases was as follows:—Palmerston Jjorth: Diphtheria, 1. Wellington : Scarlet fever, 2; diphtheria, 1; erysipelas, 1. Wairarapa : Scarlet fever, 1. Nelson: Ophthalmia neonatorum, 1. In the course of his remarks at a complimentary luncheon to the Frefnch Mission yesterday, M. Guyon said he had seen the great activity of the agriculturists of the Dominion. " All your products," he added, " are the result" of modern methods, and so you succeed in producing goods of superior quality. We are convinced that, owing to the remarkable productive organisation of New Zealand, it is a rich and prosperous country, and will be more so in the near future, and that all your products can compete successfully against any others. The precise information we can take back to France will be useful. As you can produce and export extensively, you are in the position to buy, and France and her colonies have a great deal to sell to you." Because of an expected fall in the cost of.'bringing timber from the West Coast when the Otira tunnel is available for ordinary traffic, merchants are -buying very little timber. In consequence, the West Coast mills are suffering severely, and many have shut down; They are doubly penalised, uecansc the export trade with Australia has fallen away. Based upon present railway /Siet, a "Sun" repre3entative was informed that the timber trade expects to have to reduce timber by 3s 3d a lOOffc, once supplies are railed through the tunnel. Of course, special rates may operate on this line, so that this calculation may be upset. But the almost certain chance of a reduction is. having a. cramping effect on business. Not only are merchants refraining from stocking up, but they are meeting with a very slack demand from the building trade. There is a fair amount of constructional work going on, but timber h in- small proportion to the material being used. Mr. Hurst Seager's method of lighting, exemplified in the Wanganui Art Gallery, is attracting very much attention, both in England and on the Continent, remarked Mr. H. F. yon Haast, on his 1 return from a European tour yesterday. Mr. Seager had lectured to the officials of the Louvre; and the officials of the National Gallery had been experimenting with a. model made from one of his plans, and had testified to the soundness of his scheme. When Mr. yon Haast left London Mr. Seager was about to read before the British Institute of Architects a lecture copiously illustrated by lantern views which he had taken ; in all the principal galleries of Europe, showing the defects of lighting, explaining how the defects can be remedied in the existing galleries, and what principles of lighting should be adopted in new galleries. A Wellington lady during a recent visit to ' New York went through , the telephone exchange in that citfy. "It was, certainly most interesting," writes the visitor, " as this exchange has all the 'phones of the New York financial .district, and is, I believe, the largest' in the world. Some of these' buildings have so many sub-exchanges. For instance, a building like the Whitehall would have as many as 2000 'phones, and you can guess, once seeing New York downtown, what a number, of 'phones are in use. The girls work eight hours on day duty. They have, their meals.at a cafetaria on the premises., They have a fine rest-room, with piano and graphaphone. On one floor there are dentalrooms, hospital-rooms', etc. They employ fourteen doctors and eight nurses. The doctors do not actually treat the employees, but give them advice; and in the dental division the teeth are cleaned free, and advice is, given as to where the teeth can be treated otherwise. The girls are only permitted to use set sentences over' the wire; any other conversation means instant dismissal. At the end of each board there is a listener, who reports on each girl if necessary. In another room is a board which registers how many calls each girl receives a day, This register is not written down, but is photographed, and then there are no mistakes. • They have some automatic 'phones in, but it would take years before they were all installed where there are so many subscribers." ■ The Royal Life-Saving Society, in a letter read at last night's meeting' of the Lower Hutt Borough Council, recommended that facilities be provided for teaching swimming and life-saving. Councillor Mitchell stated that places along the river should be marked safe, showing the dppth.- Councillor M'Bain stated that the'river was dangerous. The only solution was for the' council to go in for public swimming baths. It was time something was done to prevent the loss of so many valuable lives. He suggested that they should go fully into the matter of providing swimming baths. Support for Councillor M'Bain's scheme was forthcoming from Councillor Mitchell, who thought they could raise the funds; by a carnival. The Mayor said he 1 was pleased the matter was brought forward. He favoured public baths, and had information from the manager of the Wellington Tepid Baths, who was prepared to meet a deputation, from the council and give them every information as regards cost and management. The dangor of the Hutt Riverwas great, and it was unsafe, too, for children, sic would do his utmost to get public baths su that the children could be taught to swim. Councillor Mitchell moved that a committee be set up consisting of the Mayor, Councillors M'Bain, Macaskill, Mitchell, and the Town Clerk, to make inquiries and report. on the advisability of erecting public baths in the borough. The motion was carried unanimously.

Mr. H. is. Alps, who is about to undertake a 750-mile walking tour on. behalf of the Sir Arthur Pearson Memorial Fund for the Blind, visited the various city and. suburban bowling greens on Saturday afternoon and collected,£s" 15s 3d. He was also at the cricket' match yesterday. ' ■ Some 250, members of the crew of -.he Jules Michelet were taken to Eastbourne

yesterday afternoon by arrangements made by the City Gouncil. The men, who later marched round from Rona Bay to Day's Bay, joined in the spirit of the Eastbourne fair, and appeared to enjoy the outing thoroughly. They were met by the Mayor (Mr. R. A. Wright,M.P.) and members of the French Club and entertained at' afternoon tea. ' " I was very much struck by the ■ spread of Bolshevism amongst the- Oxford students," remarked Mr. H. F. yon Haast in the course of some remarks on his recent visit to England. " They had a journal which was very largely" Bolshevik in tendency, and, whilst I was at Home, the editor and sub-editor were ' sent down ' by the Chancellor on account of the inflammatory nature of the writings in their paper." Three of the new asphalt- tennis courts recently laid down in the Day's Bay recreation reserve were officially opened by the Mayor'(Mr. R. A. Wright, MJP.) yesterday afternoon, in the presince of a large gathering, of people.. In. declaring the courts open for play, Mr. Wright said that there was an insistent demand for more tennis court accommodation, as the grass courts were considerably overtaxed, and he was sure the new ground would be a profitable investment. Three more courts will be ready for. play at about Easter time. At the luncheon to the French Mission yesterday, M. Guyon, the chief e-pokes-

man for the visitors, said they would-be glad tq have the opinions of business men on the question of credits' for pur-chasing-goods, on the best methods of establishing: agencies for French.good in New Zealand, and on the needs of this country. On all these matters. French manufacturers and merchants were anxious for information, so that they could adapt their customs and method? to our to make the bonds thW united the two countries closer still. Writing from Dublin early in Janu- ', ary, Dr. Eric Luke, of Wellington, re- , ported that things'were very wild and unsettled in Ireland at that time. He 1 arrived in Dublin the day. before the execution of Erskine Childers, and witneas- '. Ed a raid involving a brisk exchange of rifle-and machine-gun fire, which fortunately did not cause many casualties. Things quietened down after that, but Dr. Luke, in common with' all" pedestrians; had several times to hold up- his hands whilst he was searched for arms. "I don't think we go far enough in cases of infectious diseases," said Dr. Adams at the Sanitary Inspectors' Conference at Wanganui'(reports the-"Her-ald"). Trie doctor said when a case occurred in a home they should have power to seal the house and isolate it. Besides the actual patient, such as in scarlet fever, they would probably find a- carrier a3 well as the contact. After being swabbed, they could shift the free cases and keep the remainder under isolation. Nowadays they shifted the actual patient, which did not go far enough. Following^ the affray between unionist and non-unionist firemen on the ferry steamer Wahine on Saturday evening, John Henry Mathieson, a unionist, was charged in the Lyttelton Magistrate's Court yesterday with ■. having assanlted Nelson, a non-unionist. Police Sergeant M'Hohn said that the man who had been assaulted had left on the Wahine for. Wellington, and thai.the vessel would not be back until , to-day. He therefore asked for a remand until Wednesday, and said that in the meantime the extent of Nelson's injuries could be ascertained. The remand was granted. • . Remarkable progress has been made m improving the grounds at the Mira-. mar South ■ School since >the school was opened -early last year. The committee was fortunate in that the site lent itself to improvement readily, on account of its levelness. At the opening of the Miramar South Tennis Club, which has the ■ use of the courts in the school grounds, Mr.' R. M'Keen, M.P., chairman of the committee, pointed out that the improvement of the grounds had been pushed on with much energy during the past nine or ten months. The grounds contained a football field for the boys, and two basket-ball pitches for the girls, while levelling and grading had been carriad out on the infants' play area. The amair children are to be provided with spatial playing apparatus somewhat similar to that in\the children's playground near the public hospital. One thousand trees have been planted for shelter purposes, which in a few years, will afford plenty of shade and protect the smaller growth in the grounds from the winds which sweep the district. Petone, which considers its beach to be one of the best and most safe in the Dominion, is laying plans for future improvements. The present dressing-shed accommodation, which is only a . few years old, is now being heavily taxed by the thousands which throng the sea front on fine days, and the borough engineer has therefore been instructed to prepa.i'6 a plan and report on future improvements, the plan to make provision beautifying the foreshore as well ;as providing bathing facilities,'' swings, -and other attractions for the children, and further seating accommodation-' A suggection was made by Councillor Brocklebatik at last night's meeting of the council that a pier fronting Buiclt street might form part of a plan»for future considefatioiu In the meantime, on the motion of Councillor, Anderson, the bathing facilities at the east end are to bo improved by the provision of a raft. Councillor Hartley suggested that next year a gala day might be held to provide funds for the improvement of the seashore. . ' . .