NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 130, 5 June 1933, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY

Chinese on Relief Works.

The Chinese-national* in New Zealand cities usually look 'after their own cases of distress, but they have the same rights in respect to relief as are enjoyed by Europeans. In Wellington only six Chinese have registered at the Buckle Street bureau in the course of its operations, and none are now employed on relief works. A few Chinamen accepted work on Johnsonville Road some time ago, but, not being of the coolie class, found the work too hard, and left after a few days. Their feet, it is said, hurt them a good deal, and though they were willing, some of them could not lift a pick on the third day. Their behaviour was described as excellent. Power for Taranakl. Last week the last load of steel for the erection of power-line towers to carry power from Arapuni to Taranaki was sent out, reports a Taranaki exchange. The steel has been measured and cut at the section on which, the East Boad sub-station is situated, and for months the various parts have been carried out to tjie. back country over which the line will cross. In some places towers will .be situated on the razor-edge of ridges, thus requiring considerable skill and care in erection. Moisture in Butter. A speaker at a Dairy Board election meeting at New Plymouth suggested as a means of overcoming the quota, that the moisture content of butter exported from New Zealand should be reduced, say, 6 per cent, and that the butter should be reworked on arrival in England, the 6 per cent, of water added- and the butter made up into pats for putting on the market. The candidate (Mr. H. E. Blyde) agreed that the proposal to pat the butter was well worth considering, reports a Taranaki exchange, as indeed every avenue should be exhaustively explored by the Dairy Produce Board, which should be able to say whether the schemes were feasible or not. He did not think, however, that the proposal would affect the quota. Another speaker remarked that if 6 per cent, less water were incorporated as suggested, it would mean much less freight and insurance to pay. Draining Geyserland. Reporting on the Whakarewarewa sewerage scheme to the Eotorua Borough Council, the engineer said a total length of 5700 feet of main had been constructed, approximately 2000 . feet of this having been laid in the pa area, states a Eotorua correspondent. High temperatures in the excavations were still being encountered, but had not resulted so far in any serious delay. Very thick patches of gas were.struck on the construction of the nine-inch main in one locality. All the necessary precautions were taken, ..and the danger zone was traversed without mishap. Good progress had been made with the construction of the-treatment tank. The provision of suitable foundations was the chief difficulty with this section of the work, ,the foundation excavations revealing difficulties that were not apparent previously. The idea of using any system of deep piling had to be abandoned, it being considered too dangerous to use a pile driver in this type of country, Evolution of Babies. Beautiful babies, so it was said, never grow into .beautiful men, said his Honour Mr. Justice Blair, in addressing the annual meeting of the Christchurch Plunket Society, reports the ''Press." As he had been a very beautiful baby he therefore made no apologies for his looks at the present day. His Honour made these remarks in saying' that he did not know why he had been asked to address the meeting. It was certainly , not because of his good looks, for no member of the committee had seen him before'he had been asked. Thus, he* hoped the committee was not disappointed.* But anyone who had anything to do with babies knew that if beautiful when young, they never retained their. beauty. It was needless for him to;announce, he added amid loud laughter, that he had been a very beautiful baby. Wonders of Arapuni. The last major constructional task at Arapuni, on completion of which the works will bo handed over to the supervision of a skeleton staff, is. now drawing to an end, states the "New Zealand Herald." The operations are invisible to the stranger at the hydroelectric works, for they are.proceeding over 150 feet underground. There, where electric searchlights pierce -the gloom, men are working day and night installing the gigantic new sluice gate in the diversion tunnel. It is the most heavily loaded sluice gate in the world, and weighs 89 tons. A rectangular hole in the ground, a few yards from the dam, over the Waikato River, marks the spot where the work is being done. If a person fell into the hole he would drop like a stone down an immense concrete-lined shaft for 150 feet, passing through a hole in tho ceiling of the diversion tunnel, until he struck the concrete tunnel bed. This* shaft can be negotiated by using a steel ladder, containing some 174 rungs—a perilous' descent to all but born steeplejacks. The Tourist Trade. Tho opinion that there would be a considerable influx of tourists from America to New Zealand during next summer was expressed to an "Otago Daily' Time's" reporter by Mr., N. S. Walker, Dominion representative of the Oceanic Steamship Co., Ltd., who has just concluded a brief visit to the south for the purpose of exploring its possibilities from the tourist's point of view. Mr. Walker saidithat -the American tourist class was tending more and more to favour the, Pacific resorts, Europe, with its varying and confusing languages and currencies, having proved less suitable to. the requirements of those .wishing to travel. There was every indication that, in a few years, a tourist traffic of similar nature to that attracted by Hawaii would be built up in the Dominion. "New Zealand," said Mr. Walker, "has ready for the American tourist all the attractions which he wants from fishing and game shooting to alpine sports and scenic beauty."