NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 7, 8 July 1931, Page 9

NEWS OF THE DAY

Shrunken to a Sixth,

"I have just returned (writes a Melbourne man) from a wheatgrowing district of New South Wales where a farmer has, .sold his wheat" at Is a bushel, delivered at the local railwaystation. 'The farmer had to pay for the bags, costing him 9d each,-or 3d a busKel. '' \ These bags, of course, are given in. So all that the farmer got for his wheat-was 9d a bushel,, or 2s 3d a bag. Another farmer was offered ll*d a bushel. But ho carted his wheat back to his. farm,-.. Only three years ago the price at the same railway station was 4s 6d a bushel, or six times my friend's ninepence." , Dried Toheroas. A resident of Dargaville now on a visit to her relatives in England thought she would like them to try some ,toheroas, states the "North Auckland Times." How to get the toheroas : Home in eatable condition was a puzzle until she Mt upon the idea of curing them something after the Maori fashion by ..drying them in the sun and smoking them. She followed this plan, and took the dried toheroas Home with her in a tin. On arrival at her destination in the Homeland she found that, soaked in water for a few hours, and cooked in the ordinary way for fritters and soup, they wore hard to distinguish from those taken fresh from the shell. The Knitting "Craze." , "When reference was made last evening at the meeting of the Council of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce to the opening of the "Use-more-Wool" exhibition yosterday, Mr. John Myers said he understood that at the present time when there was a knitting "craze"among women difficulty was being experienced 'in procuring New Zealand wool, which in many cases was preferred to imported. Mr. W. Sinini said the position was that the supply was inadequate to meet the demand. It was decided that letters should be writton to tho New Zealand Woollen Mill Owners' Association and the Manufacturers' Association drawing their attention to the matter. A Well That Otot Hot. Efforts to restore activity in un artesian well which had ceased running the earthquake had a strange "sequel, states tho "Napior Telegraph." Tho well was on tho property of Mr. Olivor Israelson, of Mangatoretere, and the owner and his son, in trying to get back the flow, dropped a crowbar at the end of a piece of.wire some 80ft into the well. They went to'lunch and were away about half an hour. When they returned they raised the crowbar, but it-was so hot that they could not hold it in their hands. Mr. Israelson managed to raise the level of the well by about sft. There was nothing but mud at the bottom, however, and the well could not be made to function again. Afforestation Work. A resolution, moved by Mr. A. Seed, was passed at the meeting of the council of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce last evening, recommending to the City Council that all labour absorbed under the Unemployment Board's No. 5 scheme should be engaged in tree planting on portions of appropriate areas of vacant city land. Mr. Seed said he was certain there would be no difficulty in obtaining one- or two-year-old trees for planting. Tho president (Mr. C. J. B. Norwood) said that during his term of office as Mayor, Sir Heaton Ehodes, who was then Minister, of Forestry, had offered trees for ..planting on the hills round Wellington, .but unfortunately a legal point raised a difficulty and the offer 7 could not be accepted, but he thought that'in view of the unemployment : legislation the position mightbe different to-day. There, might be residents who would like to present trSes. The suggestion appealed to him. Earthquake Resistance. The factor that counted when it came to earthquake resistance,'• said Dr. C. E Adams, Government Seismologist, to an "Eltham Argus" reporter during his recent visit to Taranaki, was not so much tho class of material used in a building as tho method of construction. Dr. Adams montionod the case of the West Shore Hotel at Petane, which was actually nearer tho centro of the disturbance in February than the devastated area in Napier. Except for chimnpys the" concrete building was not damaged, and the conclusion to be drawn was that it owed its immunity to tho fact that it was not set up on piles but simply rested on a concrete bottom,' which in turn rested on a bed of shingle. It was not pinned to the earth, and consequently did not offer any resistance to t1 3: earthquake; after the shake it simply settled down on the shingle. Conversely, added. Dr. Adams, he inspected one of the buildings which had crashed down at tho Greenmeadows Mission Station. This was a very stout, specially constructed concrete structure, but instead of resting on a bed' of shingle it was pinned to the earth, and when tho earthquake came it was crushed like an eggshell. Dr. Adams hazarded tho opinion that hi consequence of tho experience nt Napier tho system of floating foundations such as he had indicated would become'increasingly in. vogue.

Through the Driver's Eyes. "The'passengers' always see .those things through the eyes of the driver. The Courts arc coming to regard this as the psychology of the passenger," said Mr. J. H. Salmon, S.M., at the Magistrate's Court in AVanganui the other day, in delivering judgmont in a ease in which two defendants were fined for breaches of the motor regulations re-. Jativo to speed at intersections." Mr. Salmon took the evidence of two independent witnesses in preference to that of two passengers in one of the vehicles involved. . •'■- Fees to be Handed Over. In future wheu a permanent employee of the New.Plymouth Borough Council receives fees for acting as a witness in Court or as a .jury.nan, the fees must bo paid by him into the council's account, except the-fees received for time spoilt, at tho. Court on the statutory halfholiday, any statutory holiday, or during tho cmployeo's annual leave; these fees may be retained by the employee. This decision was made by the council on Monday, night on the recommendation of the finance committee. Wages Stamp Tax. New South Wales has had its stamp tax on wages for somo tune, but not until 30th June did the Sydney Central Court hear tho first prosecutions in the city under the Prevention and. Belief of Unemployment Act, 1930. Three persons (a. dairyman,- a hotellceeper, and a sawmiller) were fined by Mr. Camphin, S.M., for. having failed. to, keep records of payments made.to employees and having failed, to affix unemployment relief tax stamps to such payments. John Nagle Slattery, an officer of the Department of Taxation, conducted the prosecutions. The biggest fine (£10) fell on the dairyman, who, from Ist July, 1930, to 29th May, 1931, paid £.1127 in wages and. only i£4 0s 9d in tax. The tax shortage, £22 Gs 3d, with penalty £2 Is sd, had. boon paid before the case was heard. Tho sawmiller was fined £3, and the hotellceeper £5. More Satisfaction All Baund. In urging that the City Council should permit preliminary work upon. baths for Ngaio to be undertaken as relief work, the president of the NgaioProgressive Association, Mr. H. L. Cummings, made the point to the Kesorves Committee that such work would give greater satisfaction, to the public and also to the men, than weed chipping and such useless work, which, after- all, was merely disciplinary and was degrading. Whether the moneywas found through the rates, as innornial times, or by the Government, for relief work,-it came-out of the same pockets, and it should be used for useful development where possible. The excavation work would provide spoil required for levelling other parts of tho area, and, provided the long-pro-mised plan was prepared, such preliminary work would fit in with the whole improvement scheme. The association had offered to find £30 to cover what would be the council's only, outgoing, for insurance, overhead on. tools, overseers' wages etc.,'if the preliminary work on the baths was done under the No. 5 scheme, but had been advised by the Town Clerk that the idea was not favoured. In reply, Councillor ']?. Meadowcroft, chairman of the. committee, said that whether the work was suitable as a relief work would be for the engineers to decide. He agreed that the association should be consulted in regard to a plan for ultimate full development of the area-. ■ Correct Title. There has been some discussion in America as to the proper nomenclature of the forthcoming Olympic Games at Los Angeles in 1932. In. order to remove confusion, tho secretary of tho American Olympic Association sought tho advice of Dr. Charles; Kennedy, vice-president of the American Olympic Association and Professor of English at Princeton University. Dr. EJennedy held that the word "Olympiad" should not be used as an adjective, and that tho proper title is "Games of the Sth Olympiad.'? In this Count BailletLatour, president of the Internationa] Olympic Committee, concurred. To the New Zealand Olympic Games Council, however, the question of nomenclature is not of much moment. The chiof concern of the council is to,'sec Now Zealand take full advantage of the unique opportunity that tho next Games afford of this country being strongly represented and making a good showing. Tho New Zealand officials hope to be in a position soon to make tho fulfilment, of their plans possible. '