LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 109, 9 May 1923, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

A party pf about a hundred ■children of the upper standards of the Berhampore School paid a visit to the Parliamentary Buildings yesterday afternoon under the guidance of; their headmaster, Mr. Duncan, and Mr. R. M'Keen, SI.P. The children were muoh interested in, everything that they saw, particularly the cow of the Treaty of Versailles, and the pen with which it was sjgned by the Prime Minister. All the principal parts of the'buildinsrs were inspected, and many of the children took copious notes for use in the event of their having to .record their impressions in "composition" form. Another visit will be paid when the House is sitting.

Fourteen minutes between Levin' and Otaki might seem more like an aeroplane record than a motor-oar achievement by road, says the "Chronicle." A councillor informed the Levin Borough Council on Monday that it was the time occupied by a car during a recent speed test between Wellington and Auckland. The remark was made apropos of a letter from the Stratford Borough Council asking the Levin Council to co-operate in endeavouring to put a stop to speed , tests on the public highways. The council accorded the. proposed action its full sup-port. Tbey_ are now trying to force toothbrush drill on you," said Mr. A. Burns, a member of the Auckland Education Board, at a gathering of headmasters, when speaking of the crowding of the syllabus. He said it was an excellent idea to encourage the use of the toothbrush among the children, but the school was not, the place for such a campaign, a statement which was greeted with unmistakable approval. Mr. Burns created a laugh by adding that if this effort succeeded the teachers would next be called upon to organise a fine-tooth comb drill in the schools.

A youth named Robert Downie, 17 years of age, and until recently employed as an office boy by W. M. Bannatyne and Co., appeared before Mr. E. Page, S.M., at the Magistrate's Court to-day, on three charges of forging the name of A. G. Powell to Post Office vouchers, and causing the Post Office authorities to act upon them as if genuine. The amounts involved were £7 6s 6d, £2 5s Sd, and £4 5s 4d. The evidence led by Senior-Detective Lewis showed that part of the accused's duty had been to clear the Post Office box of his employers, and on three occasions he took the notifications, collected the vouchers, signed the name of the cashier, Mr. Powell! and collected the money. When approVched by Detective Nuttall, the accused at first denied the charges, but he later made a statement, admitting his guilt. The accused, who pleaded guilty, was committeed to the Supreme Court for sentence. Bail, on the application of Mr. Webb, was fixed at £150.

"At times I have found New Zealand to possess a rare and delightful climate," stated Mr. Julian Grande at Auckland, "and at other times the climate is just like at Home. You have scenery of great variety and beauty. Moreover, the sirrfaee of your country is never dull or monotonous, but wonderfully varied by plains and valleys, gentle slopes and terraced hills, deep ravines, and bold peaks, and glaciers which are more varied and wonderful than the glaciers either in the Swiss, French, or Italhn Alps. What you lack ane facilities for rich tourists, who have not such strong constitutions as you New Zealanders, and who cannot 'rough it' as cheerfully as you do. In certain parts of New Zealand, in fact, it was in the South Island, some exception was taken to certain of my criticisms regarding hotel accommodation, but it was not meant as destructive criticism, but as a friendly act of advice, so that the future of the tourist industry, for it is an industry, would improve. It is useless for the Government to spend public funds to advertise New Zealand's scenery if you cannot provide good hotels for visitors. It is all very well for the High Commissioner for Now Zealand to say, 'Where would you find a better hotel than in Auckland?' but you cannot expect people simply to leave the boat at, Auckland and go .straight back again."

• Commenting on a statement by Mr. O. _E.. Burton that the Minister of Education has never admitted any reservation as being implied in taking the oath of allegiance, the "Church Gazette" (Auckland Diocese) states: "Whatever the Minister admits or does not admit, the fact remains that everyone who has any rational belief in God takes the oath with some reservation to the effect that his allegiance to God takes precedence over every other form of allegiance. Even Mr. Parr would hardly assert that we must obey man rather than God. The present oath of allegiance controversy recalls an incident in the life of Henry VIII. That tyrannous monarch demanded that Convocation should acknowledge him to be 'the Supreme Head of the Church and Clergy of England.'. Convocation protested, and Henry had to accept the insertion of the words 'under Clod' after 'Supreme Head.' Convocation eventually agreed to acknowledge the King to be Supreme Lord, and, so far as the law of Christ allows, Supreme Head of the English Church and Clergy. If Mr. Pavr holds that some such reservations as 'insofar as the law. of God allows,' is not implied in taking the oath of allegiance, he is taking a stand even more autocratic than that taken by Henry VIII. in his brutal treatment of Convocation. Mr. Parr is making a lot of unnecessary trouble for himself and the Government. It is time the Primu Minister had somutliiag to sa^ about the matter.".

An interesting exhibit at the forthcoming British Empire Exhibition will be a model of Lyttolton Harbour, says an exchange. It is beine prepared by the Lyttelton Harbour Boai;d.

A secret ballot taken by members of the Huntly Miners' Uniqn^on the question of .re-affiliating with the New Zealand Miners' Federation resulted in the proposal being carried by a majority of 164. # There were 270 supporters of reaffiliation and 106 opponents.

A Press Association message from Auckland states that the Pacific Club, Limited, has purchased the shop property at the corner of Queen and Wellesley streets from the trustees "of the Watson Estate for £80,000. It is intended to add one or two stories, and House the Pacific Club on the top floor.

A copy of the "Palmerstonian," the magazine of the Palmerston North Boys' High School, has been received by "The Post." As usual, the magazine has been well got up, and is of considerable interest to past and present boys. It includes a resume of the year's workings and successes in sports and examinations, in each of which sections the school has had gratifying results.

"The weight of the earth is becoming disturbed," remarked Dr. French E. Oliver, in the course of an address at the Opera, House, G-iaborne (states the "Times"). The speaker referred to the thousands of gallons of oil that wero being extracted, together with millions of tons of coal, stone and other minerals. He was prepared to submit this argument to any scientist of note that when the weight of the earth was sufficiently affected the earth would lose its balance, and would slip out of its course. Then would come the great earthquake epolsen of following the opening of the sixth seal mentioned in the Book of Eevelations.

Statements have been made in Dunedin that there is danger of an epidemic arising through the floods. In order to allay public anxiety the Mayor (Mr. H. L. Tapley) had an interview with Dr. M?Kibbin, District Health Officer, on Saturday, and has his authority Instating _ that from past experience of floods it is not usual to expect epidemics of pneumonia or plagues; but, in those climates subject to it, typhoid fever has occurred from pollution of the water supply with flood waters. At all times filtering, or, for those who do not possess good filters, boiling is a safe precaution. On inquiring at the Health Office it was found that so far no cases of pneumonia or other unusual infectious diseases have been reported (reports the "Star"). ■ ■

In a paper on "Teeth" read to the Ashburton Plunket Soicety, Mr. L. J. Watt said in the early days of the war one-third of the otherwise fit men had to be rejected for bad teeth. In later dental examinations a group of 150 men of the First Division , averaged each 16 teeth which were or had been decayed. In the Second Division later 15,000 men averaged six defective teeth each, and 37 in every 100 needed artificial teeth. Recently among.2sl cadets in camp at Trentham—secondary school pupils—all required dental treatment but 15. In the remainder the average was 12 defective teeth per boy—or, adding previous extractions, half the teeth were missing or defective. It was estimated that in the primary schools at least 90 per cent, of the pupils required treatment.

The Rev! Father M'Carthy, of the Marist Mission, now being held at.the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Hamilton, in the course of a sermon devoted a few minutes to the vice of race suicide, which he stated was sapping the vitality of our nation in addition to defeating the first and foremost aim of. matrimony. Instances were given showing how largely this vice had contributed to the downfall of some ot the world's greatest empires, especially that of Rome, and was at the present time one of the greatest dangers With which our glorious British Empire had to contend, and was in truth "the enemy within," of which Gladstone spoke. It was, continued Father M'Carthy, a crime against the law of God and against the Empire to which we belonged. It was reducing the power of the-latter and weakening its strength, and constituted a grave danger that one day we might be over-, run by another Power, perhaps one of the yellow nations with its seething millions. That such a curse should be able to triumph, and In some cases even receive the assistance of certain medical men, was very terrible.

For the past, eleven years Auckland has been fighting for a lighthouse and fog station on the Three Kings, stated Captain R. M. Cliffe, addressing the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. The Prime Minister had definitely promised that one would be erected, but the original proposal had been diverted into an entirely different proposition, the establishment of a radio beacon station ashore, and wireless direction finding apparatus aboard all shipping. The latter was a beautiful idea in theory, said Captain Cliffe; and he . and his associates were quite prepared to concede its many advantages, under the right 'conditions, but for practical purposes, it could not compare for a moment with, a lighthouse, so far as removing the menace of the Three Kings was concerned. "If there were no such things as fog-banks, stormy weather, errors of convergence and divergence, reciprocal errors, and one or two other troubles of the kind, the wireless direction finding system would be perfect," continued the speaker, who illustrated, with the assistance of charts, what tricky and confusing circumstances could arise to frustrate the perfect working of the system. In support of his contention that the system proposed by the Government was not in' the best interests of shipping, Captain Cliffe stated that the British Admiralty, and various Continental authorities in control of shipping, had issued warnings that wireless direction finding was isst to be relied on in time of fog. In v!lw of the fact that 50,000 souls and over £50,000,000 worth of property were carried yearly by ships passing the Three Kings, the significaance of warnings such as these should not be overlooked. What was actually required, repeated the speaker, was a fog signal and a first-class light. The latter appealed to every soul at sea, inspiring confidence and sense of security, whereas wireless appealed to only one person, the man who was working it.

The conviction that the underlying principles of Rotary are kin to the fundamentals of religion itself was expressed by the Hon. Mr. Fowlds, at a dinner party given by the Auckland Rotary Club. While travelling recently in Papua, said Mr. Fowlds, he talked " Rotary " to the natives on every possible occasiou, because they were in consonance with the teachings of the missionaries there, and therefore readily grasped by the native mind. '" Everywhere I went there was a good response to the principles I was propounding," said. Mr. Fowlds, " and in one village ■•) missionary said to me, ' Surely, irom the way in which you are talking, you must be a Rotarian!' I confessed that I was, and. he then told me that when on furlough in England last year ho had for the first time come in touch with Rotary, 1 had attended and addressed some thirty meetings, and had been very greatly impressed by the altruism and soundness of its teachings." This tribute to the movement, coming from so far afield, was greeted with enthusiastic applause.

Mr. Samuel Turner, P. 8.6.5., the well-known Alpine explorer, who for the past two months has been engaged in further exploration in the Hollyford and Tutoko Valleys, returned to Queenstown, via the Greenstone and Elfin Bay, on _ Friday evening (states the "Otago Daily Times"). He reports having climbed to within 400 ft of the summit of the second highest peak in the Tutoko region, but had to abandon any further attempt.owinsr to shortage of provisions and the danger of floods in the Hollyford River. Mr. Turner has now completed his exploration work in this wonderful region, the most important feature of which i s that he has- discovered a practicable pass for tourists, who wish to make a complete tour of the Tutoko •n-oup of mountains from Elfin Bay, Lake Wakatipu, to Milford' Sound aud back via the Milfori track. "

Amusing stories of %vomen voters' misadventures with proportional representation are still circulating (states the "Christchurch Press.") One of the latest has to do with the careful explanation given by a Hospital Board candi- •, date to an elderly woman voter of Scottish birth and upbringing. She was given full and, as the candidate thought, clear instructions as to the manner ir which the voter should indicate his, 01 her, preferences for the different candidates. After polling day the Scotswoman told the candidate that she had carried^ out instructions to the letter in the following amazing manner:—"l saw the name .Archer at the top of the voting paper, and knowing that he was a parson,_ and as 'I disapprove of parsons neglecting their sermons for work on local bodies, I only gave him one vote! Then I saw the name of another parsor. —the Rev. Clyde Carr—and I only gavt him two votes. But when I saw Mrs. Herbert's name I said to myself: 'She's a good useful member of the board,' and I gave her eight votes!"

One ,of the factors that had become » menace to the Maori health was the Hatana movement, said Sir Maui Po-

mare at Thames last week. Ratana had ceased to confine his ambitions to spiritual matters. By ente;ing the field of politics he was seeking self-aggrandise-ment through temporal power. The effect cf his teaching was to concentrate a large number of Maoris from other districts for 'a considerable time at the Ratana settlement. People, in order to travel to Eatana, had sold land and had otherwise impoverished themselves. Absence from home at the Ratana, settle-

ment also led to the disorganisation of ordinary activities, and was a set-back to the Maori farming operations that hadYbeen making such strides of late. Dairy farms were being neglected and dairy herds were being handed over to others for milking, or left without care. Large numbers of young people were idling their time at the Ratana settlement instead of being at work. Overcrowding in the dwellings tat the settlement continued for long period*, and targe numbers of sick persons were living in the overcrowded dwellings. Some might be suffering from infectious diseases. Thus the danger of disseminating disease and causing epidemics wa» increased. Ratanaism should, on account of the harm it was causing, be actively disapproved of by both races, concluded Sir Maui. It should be | relegated to the limbo of things forgotten, like so many of the tohunga movements of the past. .

Yet another visitor charmed with the climate, the scenery, and the possibilities of New Zealand, but amazg^. at this country's lack of enterprise in the direc.fcion of advertising its attractions, is Mr. George T. Webster, representative of the Port of Portland, Oregon, who i« _at present in Auckland. "I have said so much about the beauty of this country and the hospitality of its people m my betters," said Mr. 'Webster to a Press representative, "that I am especting to be asked by my ■ people at home to tell them a little more about ' the ports, instead of boosting this country." Incidentally, Mr. Webster mentioned_ the good work which is being done in the Interest of New Zealand by Mr. John Hall, a former resident of the Dominion, who is now located at Portland. 'Mr Hall is carrying out the duties of a Consular agent for New Zealand, but without compensation," said Mr. Webster. "His knowledge of New Zealand is wonderful, and, although nowover 70 years of age, his enthusiasm and energy are wonderful, and he loses no * opportunity of furthering the interests ot his country. He advises all who can afford to travel to visit the Dominion, and oa learning of the intention of anyone to come here, he seeks them out and gives them all the iiiformatioß at his disposal, at the same time providing them with letters of introduction." Mr. Webster said he thought some effort should be made to attract wealthy Americans, many of whom, he wa'» sure, would travel to New Zealand every summer if they only knew of the attractions awaiting them here. A number of paid agents, with the knowledge and enthusiasm of Mr. Hall he considered, would place New Zealand on the map, as far as th« American tourist is concerned.

A circular has been sent out to head teachers and school committees by the Canterbury Education Board* asking for co-operation in the carrying out of a programme for observing Empire Day. The _ circular states: "The Department ■particularly desires that in all schools/ secondary, technical, and primary, the day shall be celebrated in a manner worthy of the occasion. Teachers should assemble their pupils at the usual time on the morning of 24th May, and carry out a_ programme consisting of lessons in history and geography, addresses, readings, recitations, and songs of an Imperial and patriotic nature. The singing of the National Anthem and the saluting of the flag should form a prominent part of the proceedings. Occasion, may be taken to refer to' the attempt, madt with the memory of most pupils', to humble her, and how Britain oome out of the awful struggle with raised prestige and still grasping the sceptre of the seas. Watchwords: Responsibility, duty, sympathy, self-sacrifice. Object: 'ft is intended that the Empire Day celebration shall be the outward sign of an inner awakening of the peoples who constitute the British Empire to the serious duties which be at their door.' Motto: One King, one flag, one fleet, one Empire. Rallying-cry: For God, Duty, and the Empire?'.

Mr. Julian Grande, the noted journalist, alpinist, and explorer, left Auckland yesterday by the Niagara, en route to England, after a three months' visit to the Dominion.

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