NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 80, 5 April 1932, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY

Decline in Passenger! Traffic.;" ..3^ V are absolutely iorrible throughout' the,whole:w°rlu, so' far as passenger travel is concerned," said Mr. J. N..Si Wallens, passenger representative in, Australia for tho. Cunard. Company, in the course of an interview with a "Post" representative on Ms arrival to-day by the Maunganui from Sydney. "We hope conditions -will be better next year, and, personally, I think they will." - Mr. Wallens said that there had been a big falling off in first-class passenger traffic to and from.England, Australia, and Now Zealand, but the cheaper classes wore still fairly well patronised. Returns Wanted. It was docided by the City Council yesterday afternoon that returns should bo_ prepared showing the revenue received by the council from the following sports bodies:—Criekot, golf, tonnis, football, and croquet. Ground revenue and ground maintenance aro to be included. It was also decided to obtain a return showing the receipts from, and the cost of, the weekly organ recitals. ' Charity Co-ordination.* j_-A mooting of representatives ,of all Wellington charitable and social organisations' has *,boen proposed by Dr. E. Campbell Begg, member ,of the Wellington Hospital Board, with a view to co-ordinating Telief schemes. A motion urgingVfcombined effort by the'various oodles was carried at a recent meeting of the Wellington, branch of the Red Cross Society, M embers-remarked that a<conference should be held to formulate ji scheme Sor the distribution of money," fuel," food,' and clothing. Two delegates were, appointed to represent the eocioty at tho conference 'suesrested by Dr. Begg. ( Closing oi' Karoa. Road. 'The City Council last evening passed its final resolutions regarding the closing of B&roa/road; When tho remaining formalities under tho Municipal Corporations Act are complied Vith the strcot will bo closed to all traffic and certain adjustments to property boundaries will be made, as recommended by the Magistrate who recently'gave consideiaticn to tho matter. '■Bed Tape." "This w red tapo of the deepest dye, said the secretary of a New , .Plymouth school committee to a "Herald ' reporter, when'describing how 6d was wasted because "the Labour De partment would not accept a correction initialled m the accepted manner. The committee^ was supplied by the Labour i Wri th a wan to do BOlno clean-up work. The. secretary -understood the wages to be 235, and accordingly filled in the required forms with that amount for returning to the office and also the cheque-for the workman. When about to-be paid the workman pointed out that tho amount' should be 25s This was correct, and to save filling in more forms tho secretary changed the figure 3 to a 5, also on the cheque, and initialled tho alteration. Tho bank paid out on the cheque. Tho Labour Offico returned the forms with three extra ones, and a request that the new ones be filled in without errors. That was not so bad, but whoever sent them forgot to account for the additional weight of tho onvelope and put only a2d stamp on. The overweight charge was 2d, which the committee has to stand. To return the new forms by post will cost 2d. Thus 8d is expended on the correspondence. v Egg-laying Records. • ' . ■ A world record for egg-laying has come to Stratford with the success of }li B: IV«^' >Canno» 5s team of three White Lfeghorns, which laid 943 eggs in 32 weeks in the Taranaki Egg-Laying Society's competition, says the "Stra'£ ford Post." At tho conclusion of this year's 50-woek trial, Mrs. Cannon's birds had laid '913 eggs, which was only 22 short of the world's" record hold by a team ,owned by Mr. H. Williams (Christchureh). Accordingly arrangements ' woro made for two more weeks of the test.ln tho two weeks 30 eggs ,wero laid by the thTee birds, so that the record was eclipsed by eight. Thtf loading bird of the team laid 333 eggs and tho other two 311 and 299 respectively. A Now Zealand record has also been established this year, Mr. T. Douthwaite's Whito Wyandotte laying 319-egga in 52' weeks. Actually Mr. Douthwaite's bird, with 309 eggs to its credit, had broken the record at the end of 50 weeks, but,- continuing foranother fortnight, Jaid 10 more. Theprevious New Zealand record, which was established by a bird owned by Mr. C. Bennett, Christchurch, was considorably improved upon, the 300 mark being exceeded for the first time in the history of the breed in New Zealand.

Demand for Stamps.. ~_ ~■■'' An outcome of tho use of air-mail stamps in New Zealand recently has been a brisk inquiry from overseas collectors for specimens. Requests have been especially numerous from the United States and Canada. Air-mail stamps used in tho original communications between Auckland and Invercargill are particularly in demand, and are rising in value. Advance requests for the new pictorial set of New Zealand stamps are also being rcccive'd, and thero are a few1 inquiries for the now Cook Islands issue. Mushrooms Plentiful. Practically ever since the exceptionally heavy rainfall in the middle of February there havo been extra large supplies of mushrooms on the Christchurch markets. One trader stated that he could, not remember a year when there had been more mushrooms sent in. "They are coming from all over tho place—even as far .afield as Sheffield and Oxford,|' he said- "It is one way for the unemployed and the farmers to earn a few extra shillings. Despito tho large quantities on the market the prices are keeping up in a remarkable way." It is interesting to note that many farmers who used to allow anyone to go on their land to collect mushrooms now have notices orocted warning trespassers, SSelling in the Street, Complaint was made at a meeting of iho Cit y> Council yesterday afternoon that businessmen had complained of collectors on -^street days'* waving collection .boxe.B in front 'of business promises. It was stated that tho practice affected .business, and the suggestion was made that stalls should be S-u CCsr in front"of Public buildings only. The Mayor (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop) said that when a permit for v ''street day" was given it was also pointed out that Stalls were not to be erected in front of business, premises unless a permit from the owner , o f the premises had been lodged at the council office. In future that condition might bo printed on the permit In answer to a further question, the Mayor said that the selling of race books ,in,tho stroot wa« done contrary to the bylaws. "Safety First" for Children., [ Although a special committee-report-ed against the use of posters iirseSools as a means of impressing on children tho importance of "Safety First" on tho roads, members of the Executive MilTni^YV 11? Automobile Club last night expressed' an' almost unanimous opinion that posters had a great effect on the: childf mind and should bo continued. In the report presented to the meeting by Mr B* Palhser, it was reported that the Headmasters'^Association was of the opinion that the club was not receiving a return •i° r tho money expended on posters. The children, according to the association s statomonts, took very little notice of a.ny poster or picture erected ">, a classroom after the first few minutes of its appearance In tha opinion of the association; tho most effective means of bringing homo the lesson; of "Safety; -Tirst" wasCby the publicity of a short articje accompanied ,by an illustrationviu the' ''School Journal." After the report had been discussed; it was docided'tb' submirifto the.North. Island Motor Union for its consideration. In the meantime, the posters will' bo continued, /and' efforts will be made to have articles published in the ?'School;'Journal." Advantage will be taken of an' invitation by tho headmaster of Kilbirnie School for a member of the committee or a service officer to- ■givefa-''short% address to the children on the subject of "Safety Kr,sU" '■■'.--' Military Drafts on Kangitata. ■ The Kangitata, at present en route from London for Wellington, called at Bermuda and Kingston (Jamaica) to; land military drafts., For Bermuda there were 10 first-class, 6 secondclass, and 169 third-class ; on board, and for Jamaica 4 first-class, 21 socondclass, and 213 third-class.," When it was announced that the Rangitata was to call at Bermuda it was thought that sho had tourists to land thero.-The Rangitiki, noV en" route from Wellingtdn to London, .cawiod tourists from London to Kingston "on her last voyage to Now Zealand. _ s -•