NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 108, 10 May 1933, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY

Rationed Married Teachers. Support was given at_ the annual conference of the New' Zealand Educational Institute yesterday afternoon to an Otago remit suggesting that a married allowance be paid to rationed married teachers. .Dr. \V. J. Boraman, who moved the remit, said that the position of single.men and women was bad enough, but that' of unemployed married teachers was desperate. As soon as some measure of relief had been obtained for the married teachers, the next aim of the instituto should be to do what it could for. the' single men and women with dependants. Bolls in Canterbury. "There is a tradition current amongst early settlers that the 'First Four Ships' brought out four church bells," states Mr. John Booth in the "The Church News." "Canon Pascoe, in his history of Avonside, records it, and affirms that ono of thdso bells is the Avonsido bell. I took the opportunity of having the Avonside bell examined and found that it is embossed with the Eoyal Arms, and the words: J. Warner and Sons, London, 1866. Clearly that bell did not come out with the first settlers. Avonside parish in the early days extended from the' East Belt to the sea at New Brighton, and about 1866 a mission church was established at Burwood. The services were, for the most part, carried on by a lay reader, Mr. Heywood, and what more natural than that, when a new Bell was procured for Avonside, tho old bell should be sent to the mission station. Confirming this there is an old lady in Burwood, Mrs. McClurg, who says that their bell came from Avonside. I am having the bell examined for markings. This is exactly what occurred in the case of. Papamii and Harewood. Thereis an old-bell in the belfry of St. Michael's which bears the date of 1770. • Perhaps this.is one 'of-the:four traditional bells."

, Work for Disabled Soldiers. [ It was reported at a meeting of the Wellington Centro of the Bed Cross Society yesterday that the society had ' been' approached by badminton en- > thusiasts regarding the repair and . manufacture of "shuttles" as a useful [ occupation for disabled ex-servicemen. ■ The matter is to bo investigated, and ■ it is likely that some of the patients ! at the Bed Cross Home will bo able to undertake this work satisfactorily. Women and Animals. There were murmurs of satisfaction • and pleasure from the women members of the Christchurch Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on Monday, when the inspector to the society 1 (Mr. D. J. White) said that until re--1 cently he had never had to report a woman for cruelty (states the "Press") There* wero countless ease.l? of men who had been cruel, but there 1 seemed to be very few women open to 1 this charge. Warships at Auckland. With the exception of the Admiralty trawler Wakakura, which is at present : at Wellington, all the ships of the New . Zealand Division of the Royal Navy . are at Auckland. It is probable that they will remain there for over a month. The Veronica arrived in Auck- ' land last Saturday after a lengthy I cruise in. the southern portions of New . Zealand. The Diomede is to withdraw for refit on Friday. H.M.S. Duiicdin and the sloops Veronica and Laburnum • are expected to leave Auckland on scpa- ; rate Island cruises towards the middle . of next month. Thermal Activity. 1 Renewed activity has been shown by; i several of the,-well-known geysers at ; Whakarewarewa during the past two days (states a Kotorua correspondent 1 writing on Monday). The Waikite 1 geyser, wMch has been quiet for a I short time, has been sending up-excep- . tionaily good shots, some of which have reached over 50ft.. A large volume of boiling water and steam, has been discharged with each shot. The i Cauldron has also'.b.ecn unusually ac- . tivo. The Waikorohihi geyser, which has been playing almost continuously 1 during the past twelve months, shows : no signs of diminishing activity, and ■ it is considered that while this geyser is so active it has a deterrent effect on ' the Pohutu geyser,' wheh has not been ' active for some time. It is a considerable time since the Waikorohihi geyser has been active for such a long period. Bees in.Shop Windows. Complaints against the practice , of certain chemists' exhibiting bees in shop windows were recently .■'investigated by the Canterbury Society . for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,' although the inspector (Mr. D. J. White) was in somewhat of a quandary to know whether or not bees came within the scope of the society's work'{states tho "Christchurch Times'")- The,: bees seemed to have plenty .of food, ,'said the inspector, in reporting to. the meeting of the committee on Monday evening, but when he" had ■poken.'to the chemists who exhibited them, they ; had removed them from their- windows. The secretary said that a complaint received by him was to the effect- that the bees were starving and .literally tearing each - other to pieces.' The apiarist of the Agricultural Department had been consulted in the matter, however, and gave an assurance that there was no cruelty in the matter at all. The organiser (Mrs. A. I. Millington) said that bees were never meant to be put in shop windows, and were accustomed to vast spaces in which to move. It was also reported that a case of puppies having been put on show in windows was also investigated, and the 1 animals seemed to be quite happy. The meeting thought that Sufficient action had been taken in the matter. Muddled Voters. An amusing indication of how people take directions on voting papers literally was afforded the Timaru returning officer (Mr. E. Kiilick) ' during the recount of votes cast by ratepayers on the proposal to raise the rates by a farthing in the £ to erect a clock tower (says tho Christchurch "Times"). The papers' contained two issues, "for the proposal" and "against the proposal," and the directions beneath instructed voters who wished to vote against the proposal to strike out the words, "for the proposal." A large number of ratepayers accepted, the instructions literally, and accordingly struck out the words "for the proposal" in the directions beneath. The voters had certainly acted according to instructions, and because the deletion indicated clearly the intention, the votes were accepted. Birds in the Tararuas. , A question was put to Mr. F. W. Vosseler during his address on the Tararua Range before- tho Rotary Club yesterday as to what birds there are in the Tararaas. Mr. Vosseler replied that bird life, was scarce. There were a fair number Of tui| in the range, he said. He thought bell-birds were increasing, as they were much more prolific than they were some time ago, but he might be mistaken in 'this, as the ■ birds moved to different.spots in search of food. White-headed canaries were becoming much more common) and little riflemen were increasing, and about a month ago he saw forty or fifty on one bush. Kakas, pigeons, and kakariki were present in the range in fair numbers, but even ;if pigeon shooting were allowed, he would not adviso anyone to go to the Tararuas to try to shoot the birds, as they were not plentiful enough for that. Some years ago a New Zealand bat that was thought to be extinct was found in' tho Tararuas, and a kiwi had also been found there. There were no woodhens and no huias, although a keen watch had been kept to sec if any of the latter birds existed in little-known parts of L the range, Profit and Loss. A good story was told by Mr. S. A. L Orchard' at a meeting' of the Lin- ' wood Football Club (states the "Christ- ' church Times")- " When I used to bo ! treasurer, "Baid Mr. Orchard, "it sometimes happened that I had td pay press--1 ing accounts out of my own pocket and collect the subscriptions later. A friend.of .mine was auditor, "and once he 1 found we had a surplus of 15s. I said 1 it must be mine, so we went and hud a jolly good- supper with it. 'I think I had better go through those books again!' said the auditor, hopefully. He i (lid, and this time we were .10s short, so . ihe supper had to bo paid for after ; all." j The Deer Menace. i There was a danger that tho New ; Zealand forest would bo irretrievably i damaged if steps were not taken 1 againat tho deer menace, said Mr. F. IW. Vosseler, president of the Fed- ; crated Mountain Clubs of New Zealand t in his address to members of the Wel- '. lington Rotary Club .yesterday. One i day he saw between two and three ; hundred deer when he was in tho Taral rua Range with a party of twenty to r twenty-five people, and as the party r was noisy there was no doubt that s many more deer had been frightened I away. Much of the undergrowth was 1 eaten by the deer. The "free hand" . given to sportsmen in the shooting of r deer did much to keep them in check, i said Mr. Vosseler, and when he was in [ the Tauherenikau Valley at Easter it - sounded as if,a. small war was in pro--1 gress. In his opinion, the heads' of the . deer were deteriorating each year. Op- . ossums were also a nuisance, and in E New Zealand neither opossums nor deer : had; natural enemies Ho keep them.'in; check.