NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 37, 12 August 1930, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY

Yesterday in Parliament. A generally sympathetic attitude was adopted by members of the House of Eepresontatives yesterday in discussing the many important subjects upon which the Prime Minister (the Hon. G. W. Forbes) will have to represent the views of New Zealand at the Imperial Conference. The proposal which is being put forward for the establishment of a system of bulk-purchase of Dominions produce by the Home Government was given chief consideration in the course of the debate, but the Prime Minister stated that ho had received very little detailed information from the British Government concerning the idea, and it was therefore difficult to form a definite conclusion concerning it. The Singapore naval base policy camo in for criticism from one quarter and commendation from another, and the Prime Minister voiced the opinion that the scheme was now more than ever necessary to the security of New Zealand's trado routes in view of the fact that naval armaments in the Pacific had been reduced. The House rose shortly before midnight, having devoted the whole afternoon and evening to discussing the agenda of the Conference. ■ Aviation in New Zealand. I Aviation in New Zealand is dealt with in the annual report of the General Officer Commanding tho New Zealand Military Forces (Major-General Young), in his annual report presented to Parliament yesterday. " The strength of tho New Zealand Permanent Air Force is now eight officers and forty-two other ranks, says General Young, an addition of two officers and twenty-five other ranks over that of the previous year. The strength of tho Territorial air unit is ninety officers and nineteen other ranks. Tho development of civil aviation in Now Zealand has been retarded by tho cost of providing adequate ground organisation, and the difficulty experienced in selecting suitable landing grounds. There are fourteen aero clubs, of which seven are actively training pilots. Hataitai Tennis Courts. Early application has been mado by tho committee of the Hataitai Tennis Club for sufficient ground when the Hataitai recreation area is formed, by the dumping of spoil from the Mount Victoria traffic tunnel, for four doubles courts. The position was stated to tho Reserves Committee of the City Council by a small deputation, which stressed tho inadequacy of the present facilities, on scfyol ground courts, and— which is likely to carry much weight— undertook, if'tho council dosired.it, to finance tho laying down of tho courts and the erection of a pavilion, to which end there was already about £90_ in hand. Owing to the limited' facilities the club membership had to be kept down to fifty, and many young players had to join clubs outside the district, j Tho chairman of the- committee, Coun-, cillor 13. G. H. Burn, assured the dopu- j tation that tho committee would consider tho application very sympathetically, and the club appeared to havo| established its right to first consideration. In answer to a question, Mr. K. E. Luke, of the Engineer's Department, said that all the spoil should be out of the tunnel by about November, but it could not be asphalted until it had properly consolidated.. Miniature Rifle Shooting. A request that the City Council should reduce its proposed charges to the Wellington Miniature Kino Association in respect of a rifle range to be erected on the Town Belt, was m «!o by the chairman, Mr. J. Staples, and secretary, Mr. 0. Wannell of the association, to the Reserves Committee yetscrday afternoon. It was stated that the rental proposed, £10 Ds per annum, with insurance charges, would amount to £20 per annum, which was about £10 more than the association could manage. They had a membership of about 400, mostly boys and youths, for whom they catered on two or three nights of tho week for oightimonths of the year. Thus they could claim to bo doing good service, apart from giving those young men a start towards big shooting. At present they were being assisted by tho Harbour Board and the Railway Department, which mado no charge for the use of their ranges, but rifle shooting was growing, and they felt that they were crowding out harbour board and railway members. There ' were practically no profits from the sport, and raffles and entertainments wcro the chief sources of their funds. It was pronosed to erect tho building by old enthusiasts taking up debentures, but tho whole schoine would be jeopardised if the charges were too high. Tho chairman of the committee (Councillor B G. H- Burn) promised that tho committee would inquire carefully into the possibilities of meeting tho association. Tree Meals "Black." Dissatisfaction with tho free meals provided by the Melbourne Salvation Army for unemployed workers was expressed by members of ' a deputation from the Trades Hall Unemployment Committee, which waited on the Minister for Unemployed Belief. For some days the Salvation Army kitchen was declarod "black" by a largo number of men, because they complained that tho food was not sufficiently varied. Tho secretary of the unemployment committee (Mr. A. E. Monk) informed ilr. Kiornan .that the men were dissatisfied with the Salvation Army menu, because it was limited to boiled mutton and potatoes. Another speaker urged that ficc meal and bed tickets should be provided by tho Government for all unemployed, and tho Minister promised lo investigate tho complaints.

Now School at Brooklyn. The new school at Brooklyn will l)c officially opened on Thursday at 2.45 p.m. The Minister of Education, the Hon. H. A. Atmorc, will be present. Not Too Expansive. A reminder to curtail his opening remarks, said Sir Harold Boauchamp, chairman at the reception to Sir Hugh xVllen last night, was an incident in which the Eev. Charles Clark figured. Ho was to deliver a lecture on Charles Dickens, and the chairman was such au ardent admirer of the novelist that he spoke for twenty-live minutes on Dickens and his works. When the lecturer rose ho said that after so excellent a discourse ho proposed to deliver ; a lecture on Oliver Goldsmith. Waterfront Overtime Interpretation. An application for an interpretation j of a clause in the Waterside Workers' award was heard by the Arbitration Court yesterday afternoon. On 13th February the men in one Eiarbour Board shed were discharged for the night at 9.30 o'clock, but the ships' men were employed putting on hatches and did not cease work until 10 o'clock. The Court was asked to decide whether the Wellington Harbour Board men were entitled to be paid until 9.45 p.m.—that is, a quarter of an hour from the time tlio ships' men were called up to put on the hatches. After hearing argument, the Court r;J;erved its decision. Discussion Postponed. At the last meeting of the Board ri Collcgo Governors tho official statement of the Auckland Grammar School Board in regard to the changes in education recommended in the report of the Recess Committee was received arid the Wellington Board was asked to agree in "condemning the proposals for complete centralisation in Wellington and tho abolition of local control in all matters of importance." It was decided that as the matter was a vital one, a special meeting should bo called to discuss the Education Beport, and this was set down for yesterday afternoon. Messrs. W. H. P. Barber (chairman), P. Holdsworth, G. Mitchell, and Mrs. E. W. Kane attended, but it was agreed to postpone further cosideration of the report until the second half of it was made public, and then to discuss the report as a whole. Nelson System Favoured. About a month ago representatives of various churches and the Salvation Army waited upon the Brooklyn School Commissioners, Mr. J. I. Goldsmith and Captain S. Nicolson, asking that they should agree to a re-introduction of the Nelson system of religious instruction in the Brooklyn School. The Commissioners agreed to the proposal upon certain conditions, which included tho taking of a referendum of tho parents of children, the making of satisfactory arrangements for children not attending tho religious instruction lessons to be employed in school work, an assurance that the religious instruction would be regularly given, and depending, of course, upon tho result of the National Beligious Instruction Bill. The results of the referendum arc strongly in favour of the Nelsoa system, the voting being: For, 361; against, 82. The school roll is about GBO, and the total of 443, votes suggests that the majority of' parents replied to the referendum question. Ninety Years of Health. Mr. Edwin Auger, of Ponsonby, Auckland, has established a good health record, for in Ills 90 years he has never suffered an illness, and during 68 years of friendly society membership has not drawn one day's sick pay. Mr. Auger is still so active in body and mind that he continues to attend and take part in evening meetings of bodies with which he is connected. Born at Twickenham, Middlesex, in 1810, Mr. Auger and his wife came- to Now Zealand in 1564, landing at Auckland from the ship Ironsides. Except for a short period spent at Thames in the 'sixties, he has lived here ever since, following the occupation of a bootmaker until about eight years ago. A Mason of 57 years' standing, Mr. Auger still holds office and regularly attends the meetings of his lodges. He has been a stalwart of the Ancient Order of Foresters practically since the inception of the order in Auckland. ■ East Girls' College. On Wednesday last the Minister of Education (the Hon. H. Atmore), with members of the Board of.College Governors, paid a visit to Wellington College and Wellington East Girls' College, to see for himself where it was thought by tho board ground improvements should be made. In reporting on this visit of inspection to board members yesterday, Mr. W. H. P. Barbor (chairman) said that tho Minister had "stuck to hjs job," in spite of a very wet day, and made himself thoroughly conversant with the requests made by the board. These involved a very largo expenditure, mostly in connection with the changed ground conditions at Wellington College as a result of tho new buildings being erected thore. The Minister was now considering the improvements asked for at that college. Regarding the suggested basketball ground at the East Girls' College, Mr. Atmore had noted the very restricted play area available to the girls, and had said that if the board would find £400 from its "incidentals" account he would authorise £700 for the completion of the court up to the gravel stage. As yesterday's meeting of tho board was a special and not an ordinary one, no formal decision could be come to, but it is expected that the next meeting will decide that the £400 be found as requested. On the Social Side. When commissioners were appointed to look after the interests of the Brooklyn School, owing to tho fact that no committee was elected by the householders, they asked that they should not be called vipon to look after the social side of tho school management as usually carried out by committees, but a very happy solution has been found whereby tho Brooklyn Municipal Electors' Association will attend to this side of school affairs, working in conjunction with the commissioners. The whole matter was discussed at the association meeting last evening and it was agreed that if the association took over the social activities, its action would bo approved by almost everyone A motion to that effect was carried unanimously. Later Mr. J. I. Goldsmith, speaking for the commissioners, said that they were grateful to tho association for taking the matter in hand, and promised tlio association every assistance possible, Referring to the members of tho past school committee, Mr. Goldsmith said that thoso gentlemen would be given tho opportunity of joining with the association, and if they failed to do so, they would only have themseives to blaino. The raising of funds by dances, carnivals, etc., was discussed, reference being made to the unqualified succoss in this direction in previous years, and it was decided to leave the matter over until tho next meeting of the association. In tho meantime inquiries are to be made as to the assistance available from tho ladies of Brooklyn and others. Expenditure on Defence. During the year which ended on 31st March, 1930, tho amount expended from tho Consolidated Fund for defeneo purposes was £d 54,528, being a decrease of £9707 as compared with the previous year and representing 0s 0 l-3d per head of population, as against Cs 0 3-8 d for the previous year. The amount exponded on goneral training and administration was £23,069 less than in the previous year, while the expenditure on aviation was £15,730 greator. j