NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 114, 17 May 1927, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY

Power Loan. The Auckland Electric Power Board has arranged for a loan' in Australia of £150,000, the balance of a loan of £650,000 for extension of its reticulation, on most satisfactory terms. Mr. ■W. J. Holdsworth, chairman of the board, reported at a meeting yeetorday that inquiries had been made in London and in Australia, and the Australian offer, which was more favourable, had been accepted. The loan, which had been arranged through the Bank.of Now Zealand,, was for 21 years at 5 per cent. The price would be £94 net in Auckland, bringing the interest up to 5J per. cent. Their best London offer was £5 12a Cd per cent. . V These terms are as good as we are able to get at present," stated Mr. Holdsworth. Some Australian States are raising millions and are not getting any better terms than wo are." Everybody's Doing It! The country had been living rather too highly— everybody was doing, it, declared the Minister of Internal .Affairs (the Hon. B. F. Bollard), speaking at tho Gisborne jubilee colebratious. About £7,000,000 was spent on motorcars and petrol last year, and that"vas too big a drain on the finances of the country. While that money was going out of tho Dominion, it loft too little for tno development of tho primary industries. Mr. Bollard remarked that the older people got tho moro sense thoy got, and perhaps as they grew older they would learn how to curtail their oxtravagancc.' There was-a general call for cheapor money, but his own expenonco was that cheaper money meant inflation of land values. Buses In Petone. "It is a most extraordinary thing " said Councillor Longman last night when tho Potono Borough 00*1111011 were discussing the matter of bus timetables, <(if wo cannot control tho trafllc.in our own town." Councillor M. Carthy moved that the" Borough Inspector be instructed to see that tho buses keep to tho time-table. "I want to bring matters to a head, your Worship," ho said, "something is bound to happen if the buses continue to rush about Jackson street like mad i dogs." It was pointed out by tho Borough Inspector that tho Wellington City Council had charge of tho buses and collected 15 per cent, of tho liconse-fecs 111 return for controlling the services It was docidod to write again nskihg tho City Council inspectors to look into 1 tho mattor. The Meaning of " pommy." 1 "What docs 'pommy' mean? I saw it in the newspaper tho othor day, and wondorod what it was,"'asked Mr. Justice Herdman in tho Auckland Supreme Court on Friday when a witness in a divorce suit usod tho word (reports the "Now Zealand Herald"). "I bolievo it signifies 'new arrivnl,' " said Mr. Lacry, who was appearing in the case. It is a synonym for 'son of tho Homeland," or rather, 'son of tho Homeland, rocently arrived,'" put in I Mr. Singer, another counsel, nmid laughter. His Honour did not socm satisfied with the explanations, and asked how the word originated. Mr Allan Moody, the third counsel, said it was a derivative of "Tommy." Mr Singer thought it a variation of another slang word, "homie." The Court loft it at that. A Visit to Eva. Sun, tho Maori colobvity of tho Urewera Country, predicts that the second coming to earth of Christ wil] tako place in August (states the "Now Zealand Herald"). In anticipation of the cvoiit ho\has gathered his following, a much smaller following than of yore, at Maungapohatu, the most remote village of the Urewera, and until recently had rulod that no one should be absent for more than one night. More extended "leave" is now granted. He has put ,hls "house" in order to some extent by having the whares repaired and roofed with iron, the idea about the iron being that when Christ returns tho stars will fall and that buildings with only shingle roofs will be burned. There is practically no stock on his clearing of 5000 to 6000 ncres because, as he explained to a "Herald" representative, who visited him a few days ago. if tho interests of tho people avo centred upon cattle and sheep and moneymaking, choir hearts cannot bo realty to receive the Master. Owing .to -the -shortago of stock for moat supply, the failure of the potato crop and tho fact that few of the men are leaving their homes to earn money "outside," the settlement is likely to experience a rather hungry winter. In appearance Rua is not the Rua of ten years ago. No longer coes ho wear long hair and, as far aa the outer world knows, has 'ceased making his more extravagant claims as to" Divine origin. Radio Renewals. Kadio licenses renewed at 31st March totalled 18,162 receiving and over 1000 dealers. Further renewals may bo made up. till Thursday next, after which those still not renowed must dismantle the apparatus, '

Reply to Singapore Policy Criticism. The Prime Minister intimated in the course ol his speech at Dargaville last night that he proposes to issue a public statement ia the course of a day or two.as a lejoinder to the criticism of */ i^'S V °{ the °PP°si«<"i of the naval defenco proposals which Mr Coatea intends to submit to Parliament early in the coming session. Keddell Memorial Shield. Writing of the design of the Keddell /ffS° mL ,Shl? W',, v a correspondent ( New Zealander") suggests that it X°-?-f A ¥v^ b, oen better for the | KZ.AA.A. to figure New Zealanders ! ia action rather than athletes of other, countries in completing the design, and mentions H. E. Wilson and E. G Sutherland as two fine athletes who mi^ht have been represented in action "in place of Earl Thompson and J Merchant. A representative of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association points out, however, that the best representations obtainable of a hurdler and a jumper in action were those of Thompson and Merchant, and this fact was mentioned at the recent meeting by way of an aside. The - photographs ! were merely to serve as a guide to the designer. Race Day at Norfolk Island. Visitors to Norfolk Island "during Easter w#re afforded the opportunity t% attend a novel race meeting, says an exchange. There were half a dozen races, with about as many starters in each event, and both residents and visitors alike flocked to the "tote" to back their fancies. The machine was simplicity itself, consisting only of a blackboard on which the names of the horses were written. "Two tickets on Kuby," said a punter, placing a twoshflling piece on the table (it's a shilmg ' 'toto"), and tho man in charge made two chalk marks against Ruby's name on the board. It's all very simple. The islanders,'of course, know the capabilities of the horses, and bet accordingly, and as the visitors usually follow suit there are few big dividends. But to tho inhabitants of lonely NorTolk "Race Day" is one of the big events of the year. An Old Wreck Recalled. One of the most disastrous wrecks in tho history of New Zealand shipping, that of the steamer Tararua, which took placo off tho entrance to tho Mataura River, Southland, in a heavy fog, on 28th April, 1881, was recalled at a meeting of the Southland County Council on Friday. Several letters were received complaining about the neglected state of tHe cemetery near the reef on which the ship struck. It was stated that the graveyard, which contains over 100 bodies of the drowned, was rapidly becoming a wilderness and the Medical Officer of Hoalth at Bunedin . (Dr. J. H. Crawshaw) wrote asking tho council, as'trustees of thecemetery, to clean off tho gorse and weeds which have overrun it. After discussion tho council's engineer was instructed to make: an estimate of tho cost of putting the graveyard in order, and to ask the Government to give a & for & subsidy. The Tararua was a U.S.S. Company stcamor of 563 tons not, and was commanded by Oap'tain Garrard when she struck tho Otara roof. She had a crew of about 30, and about 100 passengers. All the women were drowned, and all tho children but one. Tho men who wero saved numbered between 15 and 20, but Captain Garrard was among those drowned. Expert Fishermen. s "lt is the Government's duty to offer a reward for tho killing of shags," said Mr. C. A. Whitney, at a meeting of\the council of the Auckland Acclimatisation (society at. Hamilton. Mr. Whitney wont on to say that shags ate three times thoir own weight in fish a day. , As fast as those inland were shot, others came from tho s.ea. He had soon as many as 500 shags'in pno flock at Taupo. Shags wore a national menace and a universal reward should bo offer ed for their destruction. Ho thought ! Acclimatisation Society members should do more toward eliminating the pest by having periodical shag shoots. Tho destructive habits of hawks on feathered gamo life wero also referred to. Mr. Whitney said he had recently soon 30-hawks in one field at Lichneld.