NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 147, 19 December 1930, Page 10

NEWS OF THE DAY

Christmas Cheer for Sick Children. ■ A cheque for £50 for Christmas cheer for the child patients in. the 'Wellington. Hospital has been received by the board from the Commercial Travellers' and Warehousemen's Association. In a letter acknowledging receipt of the cheque, the board stated: "This handsome donation received annually from the association helps to^make our Christmas party at the Children's Hospital a huge success, and is fully appreciated by the young patients." Hospital Services Acknowledged. At the conclusion of the business of the final meeting of the year of the Wellington Hospital Board yesterday, the chairman (Mr. F. Castle) referred to the difficult period which the board had gone through, especially in connection with its social welfare work. He eulogised the work of the chairman of the Social Welfare Committee (Mr. G. Petheriok)— gratuitous service of an extremely trying kind, which had been cheerfully rendered for many years past. Mr. Castle acknowledged the helpful services given by Mr. A. J. M' Curdy, as chairman of the Fees Committee. Recognition was also made by Mr. Castle of the valuable services of the medical superintendent '(Dr. H. B. Ewen), the lady superintendent (Miss Cooksan), and the medical and general staffs of the institution. Yacht Breaks Away from Moorings. The keel yacht Clutha broke away from her moorings off: the Evan's Bay Clubhouse about 2.30 p.m. on Thursday and was off Shelly Bay when Messrs. L. and A. Ibbotson and C. N.-i Koe, who gave chase in two dinghies, boarded her. Some difficulty was experienced in getting aboard the yacht, on account of the strong southerly, and a course was then set for Point Jerningham under a jib. Assistance was given by the Harbour Board's steamer Arali'ma, which towed the Clutha into the Boat Harbour. She was taken back to her "moorings yesterday aftcrnon. The launch jocelynalso broke away from her moorings in Evans Bay late on Thursday afternoon and went aground on the little beach to the south.of the Patent Slip. She was eventually refloated without suffering any damage. Not Unanimous. The Mayor of Easlbourne (Mr. H. M. Jones) stated at the .Borough Council meeting hist night that he had received a letter concerning the council's refusal to allow the Marital to bo used as a ■ cabaret. Was "it the council's unanimous wish tlia; the subject should be reopened? On receivjug an emphatic "Xn" from Councillor S. Fisher, the Mayor dropped the subject.

The Late Sir R. Stout. The Victoria College Council decided last evening to purchase the portrait T>y Mrs. Tripe of the late Sir Robert Stout. An appeal for funds will be made by circular to old students and friends of the college. The portrait is to ho placed ia a suitable position at the college. Sir Robert Stout was largely instrumental in having a university college established in Wellington. Power Board Employees. "There are rumours currenb that the board is going to dispense with the services of the single men in its employ and replace them with married men. I should like to know if there is any truth ill it?" said Mr. L. Stewart, at a. meeting of the Hutt Valley Electric Power 80.-ml yesterday. ''It is the first I have hearfl of it. There is no truth in it," replied the chairman, Mr. E. Windlej'. Mr? E. F. Hollands, the general manager, said that what had, boon done was to issue an instruction that in future, with all new appointments, all things being equal, married men only would be employed, and they would also be required to live within the area of the board's district. The board endorsed this principle as applying to new appointments. Mr. Hollands stated that the board was employing a large number of single men where married men ought to be employed. A member jocularly suggested that the remedy was to get the men married. Devising a System. On the occasion of a fire at Eastbourne- on a recent night the first alarm was given by telephone to the local Post Office. The officer on duty there, being new to the place, ran to the firebell nearby, and having rung it returned to the Post Office. The brigade gathered at the firebell, and neither finding anyone there nor seeing any sign of a fire, after about ten minutes began to think it was a false alarm. They were on the point of dispersing when one of them rang up the Post Office and ascertained the location of the fire. The brigade then speedily extinguished it. When these facts were related to the Eastbourne Borough Council last night, partly by the captain of the brigade and partly by the Mayor, the question arose as to who should be rung up in case of .a fire. It was decided to have a telephone installed in the house of the borough employee who is in charge of the fire engine, and to circularise telephone subscribers to this effect. New Manuka Species. It is not every indigenous shrub or tree that can be taken from its native habitat in the bush and made to adapt itself to the conditions of urban horticulture, but Mr. J. B. M'Dougall, of St. Clair, lias been fortunate enough to get good strikes from three cuttings of a manuka bush of raro beauty and unusual profusion of foliage which he found on a recent holiday trip in the back-country of the Catlins district, says the "©tago Daily Times." The species, which had not previously been registered, is, at the suggestion of Mr. H. Hart, to bear the name Sir George Fenwick. The plants are making a good showing this season, and have already been the subject of much admiring comment. AH efforts to find the parent bush, which bears a pure white double flower, have so far failed. Take What is Offering, At the breaking-up ceremony of the Wellington Technical College yesterday afternoon, Mr. W. H. Bennett, when giving a few words of advice to those pupils who were leaving at the end of the year, said that he hoped that they would take whatever jobs were offering. He did not want square pegs in round holes, but in the present time of depression they would be well advised not to be ptoo particular and to keep their eyes open for the right job when it came along. Whatever they did, ho trusted that they would give real, and not eye, service. If they did, success would'ensue, and they would be true citizens and a credit to the college. "It is far better to be a good blacksmith than a bad doctor, and far better to be a good tradesman of any kind than a bad lawyer."