LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 90, 13 October 1923, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Otago Hospital Board (says "The Post's" Dunedin correspondent) has received a proposal from Wellington in respect to radium treatment suggesting that a conference be held between the chairmen of the four main hospital boards. The Otago Board has replied that the Dunedin Hospital has already a very successful radium department, and that there is a proposal from Dr. L. E. Barnett to extend, the department, hence the board does not see the necessity of attending a conference.

Infectious disease appeared to be practically non-existent among the oldtime Maoris, with the exception of tuberculosis and leprosy, stated Dr. P. H. Buck, in the course of a lecture at Auckland. Kohi was the term used for tuberculosis. It was an old Maori word, and implied the emaciation that took place in the sufferer. Leprosy was undoubtedly an old disease of the Maoris. It existed in Polynesia and exists there to-day. The Maoris said that leprosy was brought to New' Zealand in a canoe by a tribe that dwelt on the shores of the Kaipara.

The question of telephone charges was brought under the notice of the Post-master-General (Hon. J. G. Coates) and the secretary of the Department (Mr. A. T._ Markman) by a, deputation at Manaia. Mr. Markman, in reply, referred briefly to the position, and said that whereas the rate had been increased for certain users, the radius had been increased to two miles, and in addition subscribers could communicate with any part of the North Island, including Auckland. He urged the small business man to combine with another on a party line. If this was too much, then he considered a man did not need a telephone. Mr. Coates said that the Department had to secure a certain return on capital expended, and it was hoped that more than this would be secured, in which case any surplus would be available to make reductions.

The attention of Constable Bennett was attracted last evening by a young Maori named John Douglas Stark, who was shouting and generally behavinir vi a disorderly fashion The constable approached the reveller, but the latter resented this interference and struck tne constable on the jaw. He was arrested, however, with the assistance of Sergeant Pender, and when he appearar before Mr. W. G. Eiddell, S.m!, at the Magistrate's Court to-day, he wa3 fined £1, in default soven days' imprisonment for using the disorderly behaviour while drunk, £5, in default one month g imprisonment, for assaulting the policeman, and £3, ir. defmJt 17 days imprisonment, for usins obscene language.

Referring to the jnsignis pine (radi- % >)l.$ r- £• H- Messenger writes in tna New Zealand Life and Forest- Magazine" : "At 18 years this tree wil supply 4300 cubic feet of timber, a rate of growth which stands well ahead of cny other species of pina introduced to Aew Zealand. Cut this period down by half, and you have the Close-bark wiliow attaining a height of 50 feet wrh a good solid trunk of 13£ inches in diameter, clear of branches up io 30 feet, and providing a timber keen in demand at the present time for food containers." The above figures refer to English experience with the Close-bark willow, which experienco, Mr. Messenger hopes, will be equalled or bettered in New Zealand. He adds : "The wood ot this tree, white, tough, and odourless, is much used in :he manufacture of butter firkins for Continental trade, and its cultivation Is being widely taken up in Holland, Sweden, and Norway for this special purpose." A fast-ijrowins trsi- that "provides a beautifully oleai^ white timber eminently suitable for butter containers is one that is worth serious attention in these days when the visible Mipply of our unrivalled wh'to l>ino, Kiil-.iliaUa, v dwindling rapidly k> vanishing paiut.'i

Tha Postal anthoritiee have received i advice from Sydney • that the Marama, which left at noon on the 12th instant for Auckland, carries 27 bags of mails from Australia for Wellington.

A typical instance of the daring -which is displayed by bicycle and motor-car thieves -was evidence in one of the busiest portions of the business centre of Christchurch at 11 a.m. on Thursday, states the "Press." A youth was seen ndmg his bicycle along the street. He dismounted, entered an adjacent right-of-way, and proceeded to a motor-car, which was parked there. Producing a spanner from his pocket, he began to unscrew the bolts which secured one of the headlights of the car, and had nearly completed his task when he was interrupted and questioned. Had the boy not been interrupted he would undoubtedly have made a good "get-away" with the nttmg-.

Another world tour has been organised by Messrs. T. H. Hamer and Co. (says "The Post's" London correspondent). It will occupy approximately seven and a half months, .and the members, numbering fourteen, accompanied by Mr. Stanley Ruddock, F.E.G.S., will make a circuit of the globe. On this occasion the party will go through the North Island of New Zealand, but the South Island will not be visited, so that more time may be available for spending among the Islands. -Tahiti, Rarotonga, Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa are all included in the itinerary. The tour commences on 17th October, and the party is timed to reach Wellington on 15th December, after travelling through Canada and the western part of the United States.

Tha following appointments to district highways councils formed under the Main Highways Act are announced: No. 3 district; Messrs. E. King, Te Puke (Tauranga)-; J. H. R«id, Toa, Toa (Opotiki); W. Beid (Taneatua, Whakatane); C. Turner. Paengaroa (Rotorua). No. i district: Messrs. G. M. Reynolds, Ormond, Gisborne (Cook); W. F. Metcalfe, Te Araroa (Matakaoa); E. B. Boland, Gisborne. (Uawa), A. B; Williams, Waipiro Bay (Waipu); M. Doyle, Te Karaka (Waikohu). No. 10 district: Messrs. T. V. Moore, Carterton (Wairarapa, South); H. H. Ryder, Whareania (Castlepoint); ■W. I. Armstrong, Mangaru (Masterton); Robert Judd, Masterton (Mauriceville); S. Bolton (Pahiatua); J. B. Carruthers, Hamua (Eketahuna); Quentin Donald, Tautierenikau (Featherston); Harold Thomas, Waimiro (Akitio).

Up till recently it was the practice for a representative of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners to go aboard incoming- liners with the port Health Officer to extend on behalf of the society a practical welcome to tradesmen from oversea, practical because the representative aimed at giving the newcomers advice as to how to set about settling down to carpentry and joinery in New Zealand, to let them know where there were openings and where one would spend hours vainly inquiring for work, and also to lend a hand in helping the incomers to find a house or lodging. A rule has now been laid down by the Government, however, that the practice-must be, discontinued, and that ruling was the subject of a protest raised at a meeting of the society during the week, the opinion of the meeting being that the delegate did useful work on the boat, a service not alone in the interests of the individual or of the trade in which the society was primarily interested.

Some interesting remarks upon the dress of the Maori in his earlier native state were made by Dr. P. H. Buck, in the course of an address at Auckland upon the health and old-time habits of the Maori race. In the matter of clothing the Maori early, developed a sense of modesty and the clothing used in Polynesia was made from the bark of certain trees, worked in quaint and delicate designs and coloured with dyes. When the Maoris came to New Zealand on their definite colonising expedition of 1350, they brought with them plants of the paper mulberry to supply them with materials for their, clothing j but the plants did not grow well ana clothing made from them was unsuited for the rigours of the New Zealand climate. Therefore, the Maoris invented in New Zealand a process of weaving. Weaving was an unknown- thing in Polynesia and the weaving practised in New Zealand was totally different from . that found among the tribes of Asia and Egypt.

At a largely-attended meeting held in Melbourne, presided over by Mr. Angus Poison, principal of the Ballarat College^ the New Zealand Secondary Schools' Old Boys' Association was formed. The following officers were elected : President, Mr. Angus Poison (Otago High School); vice-presidents, Messrs. T. H. Smith (Otago High School), F. O. Tattle (Wellington' College) ; secretary, Mr. Ken M'Pherson (Otago High School); treasurer, Mr. C. N. Blame (King's College, Auckland); committee, Messrs. H. R. Hill (Palmerston North High School), A. - E. Hughes (Auckland Grammar School), W. Reese (Christchurch High School), Dr. "Wishart (Otago High School); auditor, Mr. J. Foote (Otago High School). An inaugural dinner was held on Dominion Day and was largely attended. It is the intention to hold frequent reUiT OI!j ™th a-view °f bringing together all old New Zealand public school boys resident in and around Melbourne.

The many people who were passing through Panama street last evening about 5 o'clock were attracted toward! the scene of a struggle between two men, who wrestled and fought dangerously close to a. shop window. When Constable MMennett arrived in plam clothes, he was able to seize one of the men, but learning that the other man who had decamped down the street, wa^ wanted he gave chase. A civilian however, apprehended the fugitive, and detained him until the arrival of th« officer, when he was handcuffed and placed under arrest. His name, when he was called before Mr. W. G. Rid dell, S.M., at the Magistrate's Court to-day, on a charge of indecently assaulting a male at Eastbourne last mon4 was stated to be Arthur Everett » ship s steward. Chief-Detective Kenvo explained that the accused, since his^ rest, either had gone mad or was feigning msamty, an! a remand for medfcal

Tho October issue of the "New Zea and Life and Forest Magazine" con" t««« some information, unSer the head of "Municipal Forests in New Zealand " on what the Auckland and Dunedln rrfn^ Ul, nCIIS are, doin S- Auckland City Council has a scheme to plant 1 500 000 trees at a cost of £10,000 to £12 OJO estimated to be worth in forty'^3 oflsYotfottf TtVi* P" hundred> ot ±,i£U0 .000 On the keeping of wekas Mr. H. Irwm, of Te Kakapo Hawked Bay, writes.: "Kept in captivi v wlkas shoula bo given a large enoogh^ in a 1"? nOt/ ry) Place t0 wable them to fowge for worms themselves, and in this caso they find a B r 0 »t dea of their own tood, Ut this should be sapp amonted with nw meat chopped up a little witft » chopper to enable thei readily tear it to pieces. They ah-^ like bread soaked in milk for a cianse" but toey would not thrive without 3ie II 1.-;" 1? 1" ■•.•-■• lv";Pl under natm-al conditions, given natural food and a suitable place to lay. we kas \vi!l lav ».s readily as doß.obtic fowls. Plenty of water must also bo given thorn and changed frequently, as they like to bathe ovory day aud drink after almost every mouthful si food.'-'-

A Press Association message froni Duwdin Bbtton that tho directors of the Exhibition have unanimously decided to recommend to shareholders that tte scope bo international.

Like most primitive people living apart from the rest of the world, thu Maoris were comparatively free from disease. They were a very healthy people, and could not understand a ataU) of disease. It seemed abnormal to them, stated Dr. P. H. Buck, in the course of an address in Auckland, and they thought it was caused by the agency of something super-normal—a demon. Wounds received in battlo were, of course, obvious and were the result oi human agency; but sickness and disease could not be attributed to any obvious cause. Hence the idea of demons. Demons attacked Maoris for various reasons. If the lav,- of tapu was infringed the particular demon guarding that tapu attacked UKperson who infringed the tupu, and p tohunga had to be summoned to exovcise the disease. The Maoris had" quite an organised system of r.ubJir health and sanitation, and provided a p : propnata places for refuse of ail kinds. There is as much if not ruow leelinnamount Auckland teachers in rWard to their teaching school games !trd"takin- :- church teachers, who object to teach swimming (states "The Post's" Ancle and correspondent). The cause of tho trouble-la th 3 £a m.c i a each case, nanS ly, that % Department ignores tho tl™ °"t 6 % t!"S .*«*tfon. For sonio time past the position .ha. been acute in Aucklana, and cases are not unknown where teachers who are keenlyiuteresM m games have simply had to give them P j ,The complaint is not that the time hal^f/T ted t0 atUetics ™ ■™, «5 tht,s. lldren are nof' recognised i* pounds, shillings, and pence, but that apparently no consideration is given to results in the grading of teachers One headmaster remarked that the Education Department considers a man who k producing a good arithmetician is a better man than the. one who is developing character by means of games. In hjf experience, Avhich extended over many years, he knew of only one : instance where a:i inspector had complimented ?he pupils of a school upon having won a sports competition. -

"The Outlook" considers-that the de cision of the Labour Party to hold a tend of Imperial Conferen^ of its own this autumn seems one of the most sat s factory developments of the times The comment, as quoted by -The Post's" London correspondent, oh 30th August runs: 'It has always been a curiosity of politics that that party,, while-reject ng the great bulk of Cobdenite economic: theory, should have maintained the full Cobdenite tradition of Free Trade and the anti-Imperial bias of the old Radicals. Free Trade, of course, means cheap food, but the attitude which has only grudgingly recognised the existence of the British Empire has, a s a matter of fact, kept the British Labour Party aloof from the Labour Parties m the Dominions. As these are the only countries in the world where constitutional Labour has succeeded in forming Governments, and carrying on more or less, successfully for some years o? office, the position became iJiogical in the extreme—Labour backing up selected Internationals' in Europe, but holding little or no communication with its comrades in Australia and New Zealand, both countries which have a record of Socialistic legislation sufficient to glut the most voracious appetite This inaugural fraternisation may be the beginning of a movement which will have important results."