NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 124, 28 May 1928, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY

"The Soundest City." '' Christchurch is the soundest town financially,'' said Mr. E. H. S. Hamil- - ton.' at the annual meeting of the Ghristchurch Land and Estate Agents' Association (reports the -J'Press"). "You hear that Dunedin has nine millions invested in Auckland, and so forth, but for individual wealth and : soundness Christchurch is far and away better than any other town in Now Zealand." A School a Year. The policy of ( building one new. school every year in each of the main centres of the Dominion, laid down by Sir James Parr, was referred to by a member of the deputation which waited,on the .Minister of Education on Saturday afternoon. The Minister (the Hon. R. A. Wright) pointed out. in replying, that so far as Wellington '■ was concerned the promise had been redeemed, for a new school had been built' at Clyde quay, while the rebuild- 1 ing of the Riddiford Street School and : the Willis Street School was' under way. There was also the rebuilding ; of the Mount Cook School. , Great Little Islands. Speaking at the' Shetland Society's ! festival on Saturday night, Sir Robert . Stout said that the Shetland Islands had sent more men to the war than any other place of similar size: The islands had a population of 30,000, and they had sent nearly 5000 to the war. Of these, 1600 had joined army, and 3000 were serving in the mercantile marine. They had the first Compulsory Education Act in. Europe, an Act which dated from 1717. Shetlanders shone in the educational world, and,'as the islands had no manufactures, the men took to the sea, with the. result that many liners had Shetlanders on the bridge. The islands were also very free from crime, and he only remembered two jury cases there. One of these was when an Aberdonian was charged with stealing a Shetland, cow. (Laughter.) When he last visited Lerwick h<« asked to see the prisoners, and . was told that there were none. Flying in Invercargill. , "If the Government will purchase the aerodrome (at Waikiwi) and let us carry on there I am quite willing to buy a Moth or any other suitable air- ' plane, and will let it be used by any ! certificated members of the club," said ; an ex-officer of the Royal Flying Corps ', to a "Southland Times" reporter. "I want you to understand that this is a * definite and concrete offer, and I am ' ready to order the machine as soon as the Government acquires the aerodrome and tells us we can use it. Moreover, I know that at least two other airplanes will be bought by local enthusiasts, on the same condition, so that if the authorities are so much in earnest in forming an aero club here that they think it worth while to buy the aero-, drome, we'll soon have a club in existence. Otherwise, I fear' that the large : sum necessary to acquiro an aerodrome will preclude anything further being : done, unless some philanthropic gentle- ' men feel inclined to help. In addition to buying an aerodrome we should have to find £375 a year for an'instructor. Southland is wonderfully suited, for flying and may be destined to play an important part in aviation in days to come. It seems certain that the Imperial Airways will be extended to New Zealand and that regular services will be established between Australia and New Zealand. Why should not Invercargill be tho base between Melbourne and New Zealand? It has everything in its favour for the site, i and tho formation of an active aero 1 club hero might greatly enhance tho 1 chances of- Invercargill being selected ( , for such a base." 1 Columbus Not In It. . ; ■ Hardy Norsemen, as well as discover- ! ing and colonising Iceland and Green- < land, discovered America in 994, 500 < years before, Columbus came on the ] scene, claimed Mr. J. Laurenson, the Shetland Society's Sagaman, when ] speaking at the society's festival on ( Saturday night. The Norsemen, he i said, fought' a great battle with the ( Rod Indians at the foot of the Rocky i Mountains in 1010, from which only six i Norsemen and a few of their wives and i children survived. The dead were i buried in mounds, large runic stones s placed at the graves, and tho rocks ( carved with the story of the great bat- g tie "and of tho defeat. This could still ; bo read. In 1211 the bishops of Green- i land were taken to America, and the ( Iceland Sagas state that in 1347 a crew 1 of seventeen of those sea rovers fol- 1 lowed them. 1