NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 92, 20 April 1931, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

New Zealand Benefits. The favourable Tatc of exchange New Zealand on Australia has resulted in considerable savings being niado by the Central Electric • Power Board on interest payments due in Australia (states the "New Zealand Herald"). At .a meeting of tho board in Hamilton on Wednesday, the secretary reported that to date there had been a total saving to the board of £690. School's Military Bana. To Hawera belongs tho distinction of having the first military band in a primary school in New Zealand. The first step towards forming tho, band was taken in February of last year,, when an anonymous donation of £20 was made to form the nucleus of a fund to provide a military band for the Hawera School. Two donations of £40 each soon followed, and a committee brought the fund up to £233. A full set of band instruments was obtained from England, mostly from the Boyal Artillery Band, which in common with other military bands was changing its instruments on account of a lower pitch being adopted at Home, says the "Taranald Daily News." Many of these instruments have actually been playdd in New Zealand when the Koyal Artillery Band was at the Auckland Exhibition just before the war. The committee was fortunate in obtaining these instruments for £201; they have been valued at £379. Trend of Building Prices. Two years ago, it was, stated, there were 1400 empty houses in Auckland. To-day, states an exchange, most of those aro occupied, and the demand has practically caught up to the supply. In view' of this position, builders expect that there will soon, be-a, revival of activity, in house-building. Costs are £100 to £150 lower in Auckland than they were two years ago for an £800 house, and there has been a similar fall in building costs in tho south. At the end of last month the list prices of timber were reduced by. 20 per cent., and roofing iron is only 20 per cent, above the pre-war price level. In .other directions, too, there has been a cutting of costs. Bricklayers have made reductions, and baths and fittings are cheaper than for many years past. "You can build a fine type of house now for £900," said a representative of a city firm. "In somo v respects there is not much difference between presentday costs and the pre-war.level." Zane G-rey as Museum Collector. Zano Gray, tho novelist' and fisherman, will probably arrive at Auckland in his new steam yacht, the Fisherman ■11., in December, according to a statement made to a "Post" reporter by Mr. E. «T. C. Wifliu, Gray's representative in New Zealand. Mr. Wiffin said ] that tho New York. Museum had recently dedicated one whole iring of tho building to Zauc Gray, and the writer felt so honoured that ho intended to cawy out a more or less scientific expedition to New Guinea, and possibly Africa, to collect specimen fish, which, together with his other trophies, will be presented to the museum. The trip to Now Zealand this year is not absolutely definite, and depends largely on the amount of timo that is spent in New Guinea waters. Zanc Gray is at present fishing at Tahiti, whore he has just taken delivery of his new yacht. His old boat, Fisherman, a throe-masted schooner, has been sold to a trader in Tahiti. . Fanners and Pences. In addition to the damage in Hawkes Bay to homesteads and loss of good hillside grazing land by slips, which may become worse during the winter, many farmers will be put to heavy expense in repairing damaged fences. Tho damage was yory severe in the Waikato, Matabaura, and Tutira and adjoining districts. Farmers in those area's havo in many cases not a sound, stock-proof fence- left on their properties, with the result that tho stock is well mixed tap and tho work of sorting will involve a large amount, of timo and anxiety. Outside of the actual cost of repairing Uiese fences, the loss suffered by farmers through tho stock being able to wander from paddock' to paddock as Ihry have been able to do will bo vi)ry considerable. Tn ■ iiijmiv (■uses farmers are doing what they cnii In patch I lie fences, using (lie nl,| material, but in some cases posts'are snapped off at the base , and wire broken in all directions. In many -eases farmers are not; in a position l-o purchase new material or to employ labour.

The departure. oC (lio liner Kemuora, which arrived at Wellington yesterday morning- from Southampton, was ' dohiycd last night because of the dense fog. The Kcniuora loft her1 berth at the Pipitea Wharf shortly after _ C o'clock, but in the stream the'visibility was so poor .that it was decided to wait until conditions cleared before attempting to enter the channel that leads to the Heads. About 9.30 p.m. the Eomuera was able to leave for Lyttelton, where she will commence the discharge of her cargo. Refuge in Economics. Discussing the immense burden England is suffering to-day, and the serious position of the Mother Country, . Sir James Parr, in an interview to-day, said that a great change in British public opinion was to be noted during the past "year. Party politics wejre discredited Toy the thinking public, which had realised that the ago was not one of party politics, but of economics. "The. English public are tired of the impotence of Parliament to find a cure for industrial ills," he said. Against Hoardings. Support of the effort being mado by tho South Island Motor Union to banish hoardings was agreed upon by the Christcluirch branch of the Town Planning Institute of New Zealand at its meeting on Friday night, states "The Press." Mr. E. C, Barker submitted the following motion: "That a lofcter\ be written to the South Island Motor Union extending support and co-' operation in their efforts to abolish publio hoardings, and promiscuous and unsightly advertising." Mr. Barker said that the branch did not want to lean on the South Island Motor Union, and that explained tho inclusion of the term "co-operation" in the motion. He thought that the branch should send a letter to every local body from Ashburton to Kaikoura supporting the union's effort. Mr. IP. L. Hutehinson seconded the motion, which was agreed to unanimously. Not Lite New Zealand. "I have been only one day in Wellington," said Sir James Parr to-day, "but I have encountered more pessimism than in the course of my whole natural life. Conditions in England are very much worse. Why should we have our tails down here? It is not like New Zealand. We have one of the best climates in the world, some of the most fertile country, and, I say it after seeing farming operations elsewhere, the best farmers in the world. These natural advantages will ultimately roassert themselves, and bring us out right." Sir James could hold out no great encouragement for brighter immediate prospects in the prices of NewZealand products. A Large Shark. A shark nearly 12ft in length and estimated to weigh from scwt to 6 cwt, was caught.from the, Te Toa, just outside the Manukau Heads ou Thursdays' afternoon, states the "New Zealand Herald;" Its presence was first noticed when it seized •' a snapper which was just being drawn out of the water by ono of the crew, who was fishing from the boat. A shark line and hook, baited with snapper, had no sooner been dropped into the water than the shark seized the bait, coming so close that a line was passed under it, and it was hauled up by the winches on deck and dispatched with some difficulty. The monster created great interest when it was shown on the Onehunga Wharf lator in tho afternoon. Lack of Harmony. Stokes Valley has two bodies which watch over its interests, and tho relationship of the two bodies has not always been of the most harmonious nature, a serious difference of opinion having been responsible for the breaking away of tho one from the parent body. Tho Progressive Association meets in the public hall and the Ratepayers' Association in the school. In December last at a public meeting called by the ratepayers' body to consider the formation of a Town Board, a move towards reconciliation was made, but though a quite voluminous correspondence has since passed between the two bodies, no meeting, even of delegates, has been arranged, the difficulty being failure to agree as to whether such preliminary meeting should be open to the Press and tho public. The Progressive Association, at its_ annual meeting held on Saturday, decided to suspend such negotiations indefinitely. A Censorship? , "Is ray opinion there should have been a censorship for the good of the country's name abroad," said Sir James Parr to-day in regard to the wide dissemination of extraordinary reports of the Hawkee Bay earthquake abroad. "I remember the San Francisco earthquake, but the outside world never learnt 10 per cent, of the truth; indeed, it was well known that the State Department intervened. Greater importance was assigned to the fire in the reports which got out, but the fire was a mere circumstance to the San Francisco earthquake, the material damage of which greatly exceeded ours. We subsist largely by borrowing money from the English people, and the effect upon our credit of the sensational accounts was undoubtedly prejudicial, particularly, in regard to municipal and local body securities, on which it was almost impossible, when I left, to obtain any advances the London market. I do not suggest that we should conceal things, but I do say that we should not create abroad aa exaggerated idea of our troubles. That was undoubtedly the effect of the material which1 appeared in the English Press, from which it appeared that New Zealand was a vory unsafe place to live in." •