NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 12, 14 July 1931, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

Building in Lower Hutt,

The building figures presented to the Lower Hutt Borough Council last evening for the month of Juno showed some improvement on recent months, the total value being £12,895, of which £9000 represented five shops, in the course of erection, and four dwellings, valued at £3030. The value of the buildings crectca in June, 1930, was £49,494. No Footpaths. ...'-.- , , A complaint against the lack of footpaths in Apu'ka street, Brooklyn, was made by Mr. G. Yates, -when" speaking before the Works Committee of the City Council yesterday afternoon. The road, he said, was very greasy, being pure clay, and he had seen women have very nasty falls. There were no water channels, and the road was all ruts and hollow-s. There were seventy residents in the street. . The chairman (Councillor T. Forsyth) promised that the matter would lie inquired into. Wanted—A Curate. , : ' At the annual meeting of- St..T'aul 's Cathedral, Dunedin, Bishop .Richards referred to the difficulty,: of securing a curate for the :work- of tho cathedral district. Over £100 'had' been "raised for the purpose, but he had, found: it impossible to place ■ his hand, on a curate. However, it might be possible to secure for the Canon a certain amount of help, but this was not very definite. .; '.■:'-■ ''Senseless Restriction?' • '' Eacing and trotting are still suffering from that most' senseless restriction of a ban on the publication of dividends," said Mr; H. F. Nicoll, president, addressing the New Zealand Trotting Conference to-day. "It would be an interesting problem to speculate'how far political interference can damage public sport. I adventure tho opinion that sport is one of the strongest forces against destructive changes, and an equally valuable influence in extending as widely as possible, among 'all classes of the community, fair opportunities for' the reasonable enjoyment of this short life. A thing is good for what it is good for, and disregard of this principle is likely to lead us into trouble, and is responsible for most of the false assumptions of those opposed to our liberties, yet somepeople would use the law to discourage whatever they disapprove. I say nothing, in defence of such betting or gambling as takes men and women out of their financial depth, but it is a mistake to condemn racing or anything else, or to insist upon farcical restrictions, on account of a bad bye-product, and to forbid the publication of dividends is surely quite the height of absurdity, serving no good purpose whatsoever, and circumscribing the innocent interest and pleasure of many." Questions of Expediency.

The Petone Borough Council last night received a letter from the Petone Chamber .of Co*mmerce stating that it had passed a resolution that it -was anxious to see the widening of Jackson street continued, and that each block should be completed before starting another block.: If was the feeling of the chamber that the- work of setting back -the shops should be carried out (luring the winter months/.so as not to interfere with summer trade. This would also help to relieve, to a certain extent, the distress that was rife .in the town by; giving work to a few of the unemployed. Councillors pointed out that the present policy of widening the street by dealing wjth property owners at their own convenience was the cheapest and most reasonable one. It was decide* to reply-to tho Chamber of Commerce to that effect. Music in Schools. Dissatisfaction with the standard of music in schools is expressed by ■■■the Director of Education, Mr. T. B. Strong, in the current number of the "Education Gazette." Mr. Strong states that during recent visits to primary schools he took tho opportunity of ascertaining to what extent the efforts of Mr. Douglas Tayler, who is retiring from the position of supervisor of school music, had been secGnded by the regular teaching staff. He was surprised to find a satisfactory standard of attainment in only one school. "It surely indicates a lamentable lack of appreciation of!, the importance of music in the life of a community," states the. direcitor.1 :.-"In school after school I, vfouhd oth'at: • even the senior classes had little or no knowledge even of rudimentary;,j;>vy:6rk."' Consequently, the pupils ;>fer&Yuhable to'sing a simple passage ~of.imusicj'iat sight, and in most cases • ha.d^no'Ssorig book to practice from., vMueh'attention.is now paid hi. the training colleges to .the teaching of school -music, and, asVeach college has ajcapablo lecturer,in t thp subject, I hope that in'a.fewjyears,the efforts of exstudents twill produce-a marked uplift in'the ■ standard ,of singing. However, as tjiefe are very, few certificated teaehers:;who.'.didViot pass in the subjects at least-,to;, the class"D certificate standard,' there is!no excuse for the present low-S, standard *of singing in many schools. 'I believe the. cause is not lack of -knowledge but either lack of interest or .lack of appreciation of the value ofithe, subject." 'Rapid Thaw Wanted. \ . 1 Provided there are "no further; falls of snow, and the weather remains sunny,.- there iaxe not likely to be any serious losses of stock, in the areas of north and.-ftest Canterbury • which suffered in last Wednesday's snowstorm, states-the, "Press. "It was repofted from Lees "Valley on evening that although-the, stock had, now been without food, for four-days, the thaw was slowly progressing. Provided the ground was cleared within the next few days, tho animals would be all right. The farmers are very anxious, however, that the weather during the nexfc few days should bo good for thawing. The stock in and about Ashley Gorge is held to be quite safe unless there is a further fall of snow. The settlers there had an uncomfortable time on Sunday, for whon a heavy frost followed the snowstorm the'cold was so intense that thorp/was no running ' water in"iho houses (luring- the whole ) day. " Both sides of the Ashloy River,were reported to be frozen. All telegraph i,nd telephone services have now been temporarily, restored, tho West Coast lines being finally cleared at about- 11 a.m. on.Saturday. The District Telegraph Engineer (Mr. J. C. Fairbairn) stated that although temporary repairs had been'made, gangs would be out for the next .month making a permanent; overhaul of the lines affected and Clearing tho damage. Optimism at Home. ■ "After an absence of twelve months from Auckland, tho Kcv. Lionel B. Fletcher returned on Sunday by the Monowai, states tho "New Zealand Herald." While ho was in the Old Country ho conducted the London Youth Evangelist Campaign in England and Wales'. Commenting on conditions in the United Kingdom, Mr. Fletcher said any talk of the decadence of Britain was simply ridiculous. The outstanding thing which had impressed him during his stay in England was the optimism and determination of the -British people in the present- world crisis. It was not the people who were suffering most who were making:the biggest noise about their sufferings, for no land had been as hardly hit as Britain, said Mr. Fletcher. The British spirit was tho sumo to-day as'it was in the days of (lie Great War. To the travcllei, Britain seemed the happiest country on earth. The smiling "faces of people in tho streets, the unfailing courtesy and gracious attention-of all classes, caused line to forget that this nation was bearing.the greatest burdens of any people iv the world.

Reserve for Eandwick. The Mayor of Lowoi1 Hutt reported last evening that the .Commissioner of Crown Lands was prepared to hand over to the council for use as a reserve the original school site in Eandwiek, lying between Kandwick road and York street, an area of about 4J acres. The land would make a splendid reserve and could be used as a playing area. It had been recently raised by filling. On the motion of Councillor Mitchell it was resolved to accept dedication ■of the land as a reserve, and tho Commissioner will bo thanked. ■