NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 23, 28 January 1933, Page 12

NEWS OF THE DAY

School Holidays. ' Children of the primary schools in the Wellington district will return to school next Wednesday. The Wellington Colleges, the Hutt Valley High School, Scots College, Rongotai College, and St. Patrick's College will resume on 7th February. Day pupils at the Wellington Technical College will return to their lessons on 7th February, and the night classes on 27th February. The Petone Technical School reopens on Ist February, and Marsden School on Bth February. Beach Patrols. . ." ■ At a recent meeting of tho council of the Hew Zealand Surf Association, the ruling of the international federation on the question of paid beach, patrols was received. A letter was also received from the Surf Association of Australia on the same question. The position at the present time is that all paid beach patrols are professionals and cannot be reinstated. A strong endeavour is being made, however, to have men who are approved by certain national bodies exempted from the strict interpretation of the rule. Remains, of Ancient Fish. There is on view at present at Te Awamutu a large, piece of sandstone bearing the distinct impression of the teeth'and jawbone of some ancient fish■'(states an exchange). As the sandstone was quarried at Te Rau-a-moa well {bver- 1300 ft above sea-level, the1 find; is interesting to geologists. In the same block of stone there ■ was also found a tooth yearly 2in long, and in a perfect state' 'of preservation. The tooth was dislodged from the stone by one of the finders, and is being regained as a curio. South Island Enterprise. The suggestion' has been advanced that in arranging for the visits of intercolonial steamers to the West Coast Sounds the steamship companies should plan the itineraries'so as to allow of ■calls being made at the South Island ports, Lyttelton, Port Chalmers, and Bluff where passengers. could be taken aboard for the Sounds cruise, states the Christchurch "Press." From inquiries made in Invercargill it was learned that there is no prospect of this being done by the existing services, at least during the present season. The schedules of the sailings from Sydney and the' return trips from Wellington or' Auckland do not provide sufficient time for such a trip to be made, and it ( would' be necessary to commission another steamer to connect with the intercolonial; vessels. It is considered by many that if the proposal were sufficiently strongly urged at the present time, there v might be some prospect of its being put into effect next summer. Maori Graves Disturbed. •; Exception vjs being taken by V the Maoris, of Wharehoe at the action of eurio-hnnters in digging up graves at the Oruarangi pa cemetery; Lower Wharehoe, states the ""New Zealand Herald's" Thames correspondent. The Maoris regard this as Sacrilege, and intend to take action to prevent the desecration of the resting-place of their ancestors. "Dumb Dogs" in Christchurch. "In any church where there is a good choir, as there is here, when the" choir is absent on holiday the peoplestay away," said' Archbishop Julius in the Christchurch Cathedral last Sunday. "They seem never to have heard the English Church liturgy before and to be quite incapable of joining in it themselves. They cannot answer the responses, they cannot sing^ they cannot speak up without a choir to help them —they are a set of dumb dogs. So, you see, you boys have come to our help to-day." The veteran prelate was speaking to the Young Australia League's Boys' Band, which held a .church parade at the Cathedral. Tasman Flight Memento. An interesting memento of the recent transtasman flight was a note carried by Sir Charles Kingsford Smith from the New South Wales Aero Club to the New Plymouth Aero Club, reports the "Taranaki Herald." The note,, which is signed by all the members of the crow of the" Southern Cross; reads as follows: "Greetings by air from the New South Wales Aero Club, and best wishes for 1933." Tho official log kept, by Captain P. G. Taylor during tho flight is to be presented to the club at the return visit of tho Southern Cross to New Plymouth in March. Together with photographs, the club will thus, have a permanent record of the great event in its history. " Record Sale of Bibles. * The sales of Bibles by the British and Foreign Bible Society in New.Zealand last year reached the total number of 16,062 copies. This is 5949 in excess of the previous best year, and about double the number sold three years ago. The sales of Testaments and portions reached 29,791, making a grand total for the society for 1932 of 34,602 copies of the Scriptures. '' Records in the sales of whole Bibles," says the Rev. David' Calder, Dominion secretary of the society, "are a marked feature of the world work at the present time. Particularly is this so in China and among Mohammedans of the Levant." Southern Alps and Himalayas. "Seen from the train on the way from Christchurch to Dunedin, the Southern Alps reminded me much of the Himalayas as seen from Simla," said Sir Joseph Smith, speaking to the Auckland Travelmen's Club on Thursday (reports the "Auckland Star"). Sir Joseph was giving a talk on Simla to the club. "But there is one difference. While the country between Christchurch, say, and the Southern Alps is flat, with the mountains rising sheer from the plain, that between Simla and the Himalayas is nothing but range,on range of foothills swelling into mountains. And_ then away in the distance, some 60 miles perhaps, rise the Himalayas. On a clear day, so rarefied is the air, one feels that it might be possible to take a hop, skip, and jump and be right among the snow."