LOCAL AND GENERAL

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 45, 21 August 1925, Page 6

LOCAL AND GENERAL

It was announced in the Publlo Health Committee's Teport to the City Council last evening that Health Week would bo held/ from the 2nd to 7th November inclusive. In gratitude for Sydney's hospitality, men of the American fleet have subscribed £1000 to endow a cot at the Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital at Sydney.—Press Association. Improvements are to be made at Market Place Reserve (between Manners street and Dixon street at the rear of the Royal Oak) at an estimated cost of £1199. The City Council adopted tho Finance Committee's recommendation to that effect last night. . . The wilway revenue for the period of fifteen weeks and four days ended 18th July, 1926, was £2,204,288, as compared with £1,965,485 for the same period last year. The net revenue this year for the period mentioned was £347,101, a slight increase over the same time last year. Authority was granted by the City Council last evening on the recommendation of the Works Committee for the payment of half the assessors' fees in connection with the sand drift scheme at Lyall Bay, in addition to tho amount of £100 charged by the Land and Survey Department. What was behind' the rendering of an account by the Fire Brigade to the Education Board in respect of services rendered in suppressing a fire at. the ■ Clyde Quay School? asked Councillor Monteith at last evening's meeting of the council. It seenied to him that the whole position was rather absurd. A charge of 3s per hour was mado for the mon engaged, a charge of two guineas for tho attendance'-of tho superintendent, and one guinea for tlio attendance of Urn deputy-superintendent. It was certainly a "brmid-riew method of helping out the city's finance, but (o him it appeared to be a good deal of a joke. Councillor Luukie. chairman of the Fire Brigade Committee, said that lie had not bad mi opportunity of investigating tbo position. Ho had to say that it appeared a rather humorous proposition to liim. Approval wns-aivon liy tho'CUv I'.uui-i-il l:isl ovpiiiir; In ii flniipe Rilhmi'Uoi! by I.hn City (-.v.lirilnr |„ „n ;i lilr- [pi's i>iiil.:Y Him lie;i.Y ( \ (tvi.llii; bylaw operating during j 19215-27, to Ijs jetrcspsctiTii for jjhe veal [titw&'Z*" ' *

Approval was last evening given by the City. Council to the clause drafted by the City Solicitor for submission to the Government authorising the ' construe--tion of the wharf at Island "Bay. The clause also provides for the control and management of the wharf and provides for the levying of dues. Owing to a typographical omission of the word "not," a wrong meaning was given to some remarks of Sir John Luke made in the House of Representatives with reference to Northland. Sir John Luke was advocating the acquisition of a site for a. post office at Northland, and said it was a growing district and not a dead end. Volumes of books which can be spared from the Central Library are to be forwarded from time to time to the Ngaio Progressive Association, and cards and pockets for library books are to be ' also supplied. The Ngaio Progressive Association has undertaken the establishment of a library in the room available at the Ngaio Public, Hall. With the arrival of the American fleet, the sale of chewing gum in Auckland has almost doubled. Several confec-tioners-stated that inquiries for chewing gum were frequent. "Auckland is acquiring a considerable taste for chewing gum," said one retailer ; "and the habit, as .far as I can see, is very 'much in vogue among young women of Auckland sjnee the fleet's arrival." It is 78 years, to-day since the Miramar drainage tunnel was opened by Mr. J. 0. Crawford, who had cut it at his own expense to drain the Miramar flats then partly covered by Burnham Water. The "Spectator" stated that some hundred acres of land would be capable of being converted into first-rate pasturage. At that time the tunnel was about four feet wide and five feet high. The City Council has decided that it cannot adopt at the present 1 time, pnK posals which were made to the Train.-* ways Committee by a deputation from the Tramway Employees' Union that a benefit society should be formed for the assistance of incapacitated men, the council ■being asked to subsidise the subscriptions of employees £ for £ until a reserve found of £1000 was created. "There is only one thing in which I entirely disagree with our American visitors," said the Rev. Jasper Calder in a lecture in Auckland on snakes on Wednesday. "I was taking a,party of bluejackets round the city, and I happened to mention my forthcoming lecture on snakes. A sailor, who did not know me from Adam, suddenly said, 'Gee, I hear there's a parson bloke in Auckland who wanted to import; 'some snakes to New Zealand. I reckon the fool ought to be hanged, don't you?' I regretted that I could not agree with him." The point of the joke, of courae, is that the "parson bloke" referred to is Mr. Calder himself. At last night's meeting of the City . Council, Councillor , Sample moved : "That it be an instruction- to the City Engineer.to select sites' and to place came before the counoil at an early date, and to prepare plans and submit estimates for conveniences, so. that the wishea of the ratepayers, as expressed on 15th September, 1920, when power was granted, can be proceeded with at an early date." The mover said that the citizens had previously given authority for a Bcheme of conveniences, and it was high time th>t the needs of the growing city were given effect to. Councillor Burns seconded the motion, and urged that the matter be put in hand at an early date. The motion wag carried. In addition to being able to break a ten-inch nail with his hands, J. J. Hajnos, of the battleship West Virginia, who is the strong man of ths fleet, has tremendous power in his jaws. He gave proof of this in Queen street, Auckland, in hauling by his teeth a big motor-car carrying six people. The incident attracted a large crowd of people, and the amazing feat of the sailor was loudly cheered. Hajnos performed a similar feat in Sydney. Attached to the front of the car was a rope in the bight of which Hajnos twisted a. handkerchief, and taking this in his mouth like a snaffle bit he hauled the heavy vehicle along the roadway. The pavement was smooth, and Hajnos pulled from a standing start. The Director of the Fields Division of the Department of Agriculture stated at a meeting of the executive committee of the New Zealand Institute of Horticulture on Wednesday, referring to the importance of the correct nomenclature of plants, that in many seed catalogues the grass brown-top is termed agrostia canina. No agrostis canina seed is produced in New Zealand, he said; all our brown-top being agrostis tenuis, a synonym for which is agrostis vulgaris. Agrostis canina should, thereforej not be used to designate brown-top. Lotus angustissimus of the seed trade, ha added, is in reality lotus hispidus, and the name sngustissimus should ba abandoned. L Angustissimus is present in New Zealand, but is exceedingly rare, and seed of this lotus is never on the market. . A petition from forty odd residents »f Miramar protesting -against the "shocking state" of certain roads and footpaths in the district was last evening placed before the council by Councillor R. M'Keen, who said that, undoubtedly, there was reason fox complaint, for conditions were very bad* particularly during wet weather. The Mayor (Mr. C. B. Norwood) replied that he realised that the conditions were not as they should be; he would obtain a' report upon the mater from the City Engineer. . ' • . "The part tho school plays in the development of children,' eaid Mr. J.Murray, President of the Secondaiy Schools' Association, yesterday, "was brought before the public by the epidemic, which threw the responsibility for pupils back upon parents. The fact that the nation had to face was that the family, so loug the focus of- national life,'had been pushed from its central position by the Bchpol. Ethical' and educational prestige had been taken from tho family, and in that respect there had been' a weakening of one of the strong buttresses of character. The school had been taken too much for granted as a public utility, like the railways. It was instead an institution for fashioning lives, and while between, family and sohool there was a balance to be redressed, and/a rapprochement to be brought about, tho epidemic had certainly taught the people the intrinsio value of the school." "I think that the circumstances in this inquest should be widely known in the interests of public safety," said the Coroner in giving his verdict at Christchurch in regard to the death of a child who died as a result of a peanut lodging in the lung. "It seems to have been an honest but grave mistake to allow slicli a long time to elapse without securing tho services of a specialist to remove the piece of;; peanut from the lung. Apparently the boy ■was playing willi his brother, when lie. inhaled ;i piece of peanut which was in his mouth. A peanut is a peculiarly pernicious thing when it gets into the lungs. U was thought that the boy would cough it up. A few' tlnys went by, and finally a week elapsed before ho was taken to Duncdin, where two operations wer© performed, but then it .was lon late. The chances .of Raving (ho i.-hiW wutiUl havr" broil immrasuriibly impvovril if prompt sirtion Inul lipo'n t-«k''n. II ulimild h* n wnruing to parents :uid |l;r umlieni profession in .order that the same thing may tuob

On the recommendation of the Finance Committee, the City Council last night decided:—That the gully at Main road, Karori, handed over to the council by the Evelyn Estate Syndicate, for the purpose of forming tennis courts and a swiming bath, should be handed back to the previous owners, as the council was not in a position to undertake the work. Complaint was made by Councillor Monteith at.the City Council last evening- about serious overcTpwding on the Karori tram. service. The Mayor stated that the route was the difficulty, and the single line which could not carry more traffic. Councillor Burns said that it all showed how necessary it was to press on with the Karori tramway deviation. The Mayor said that matters of shelters should be the subject, of special consideration. The Tramway Committee should be furnished with a report. The Mayor of Christchurch. (Mr. J. K. Archer) tells this good story against himself (states the "Lyttelton Times"}. "I was walking, through one of the rail-' way carriages conveying 500 American sailors on an excursion to Timaru. One American Bailor was holding a gingerbeer bottle, and he invited me to drink with him. I refused at first, but as the man looked so disconsolate I relented and said, 'All right, I will have a drink with you.' I put the bottle to my lips, when, lo and behold, it was whisky!" • Mr. Archer added that he had not tasted whisky for 35 years. Some popular sayings are true and some are fallacious, but every day brings fresh proof that "it pays to advertise." On Monday, 10th August, a Dunedin Exhibition advertisement appeared in the Press throughout New Zealand. Three days later, when the first mail from the North Island arrived, the Accommodation Bureau had received some two hundred applications for accommodation—from Auckland, Frankton, Hamilton, Taihape, Palmeraton North, Gisborne, Napier, Waipawa, Waipukurau, Masterton, New Plymouth, Hawera, Wanganui, Wellington, | Nelson, Greymouth, Westport, Hokitika, Christchurch, Ashburton, Timaru, Waimate, Geraldine, Oamaru, Gore, and Invercargill. It would appear that; although there are still three months to go before the Exhibition, will open, people all over New Zealand are already laying their plans for a visit to Dunedin. ' The help of the women in Canterbury will be sought in the movement in favour of local goods (states the Ohristchurch "Press"). Mr. W. J. Jenkin, at Wednesday's meeting of the executive of the Canterbury Industrial Association, said that a committee of women should be asked to meet a committee of the association, and be asked to help. The women might arrange for a display of some local goods two or" three times a week. Mr. H. Willis said that the active support of the women Bhould be sought. In the "Lyttelton Times" mcently he read: "We ca-nnot have population without industries, and it seems to us that the time is ripe fot the initiation of a policy of encouragement of secondary industries to. supply the requirements of our people in manufactured goods, and at the same time to build up the population that is the foundation of- any scheme of national defence." He was greatly pleased when he read that in the "Lyttelton Times." He was confident that the "Lyttelton Times" would help the association in the movement. It waß finally decided to appoint a committee to organise a "social," and to invite women and the wives of members and of foremen to attend and confer with members of the association. At the exhibition of pictorial. posters from Wembley, made by the Canterbury Advertising Club in the Chamber of Commerce Hall, Christchurch, en Tuesday, Mr. A. Nicoll, director of the School of Art, before commenting on i the samples on view, said that he understood that there was a proposal to advertise New Zealand in the same manner that British and other holiday resorts were advertised. He hoped that i it would be done boldly, and that the talent in the country would be used. There were those in New Zealand that he could name who could do work well up to the average of the posters on view. There was undoubtedly very good talent in the Dominion, fit to do the job very well indeed, and quite successfully for the promoters, of the scheme. He mentioned that some of the scenery painted for amateur shows i given in the city had been painted in Christchurch. and compared well with such work done elsewhere (reports the "Lyttelton Times"). Although New Zealand was isolated, " Sydney was being supplied, he said, by those who had been trained in some form of art production in New Zealand, and whether in pure or applied art those trained in New Zealand were able to j hold their own when they ■ went into general competition in Australia.