NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 100, 25 October 1933, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY

"A Costly Blunder. " Strong protests ■ against tho increased exchange rate were voiced at the annual meeting of, the Wellington Importers' Association- last evening. The report referred to the increase of the exchange rate to 25 per cent, despite the activities and opposition of the Business Men's Committee. Tho president characterised inflated exchange.as a costly blunder, and regretted the determination of the Government to pursue'its /policyi ' New Picture Theatres. The announcement that the JVC. Williamson Picture-• Corporation, Ltd., encouraged by .the improvement in business conditions, had decided to build a new theatre in Hastings and several theatres iu the suburbs of Auckland, was made by Mr, Beaumont Smith, managing . director of the corporation, who arrived from Sydney yesterday by the Wahganella. ..•• Shipping Freights. Reduced freights on general cargo from Great -Britain to New Zealand are. still being pressed for by tho Wellington, Importers' Association, states the annual report of that body. Since the return of the Hon. E. Masters, Minister of Industries and Commerce, to the Dominion, the matter of reduced freights has been further discussed with him, and with the local chairman of the allotment committee, resulting in a cable being dispatched by the latter to his principals in London, from whom a reply has just been received advising that it is impossible to consider any reduction. Negotiations in other directions are now proceeding, and every effort is being made to bring about a readjustment of the great disparity in present" and pre-war rates. "Eeductions aro long overdue," said the president (Mr. E. Salmond), "and I believe that the shipping companies will yet see the justieo of our contentions.' 3 A Late Arrival. , It is a considerable timo sineo a passenger liner from Great Britain has been cleared by the port authorities in Wellington after being berthed. The New Zealand Shipping Company's motor-ship Bangitiki reached here at 7.45 o'clock last night from London, having been delayed over six hours in her expected time of arrival. Arrangements had been, made for the doctor to go aboard the vessel, and while ho was making his inspection she berthed at the Pipitea Whatf. By 8.40 .p.m. she had been'tied up, but it. was some time before tho 'doctor had finished and pratique had been grant'od. Tho Bangitild brought a large number of passengers from Great Britain, and, with the exception of a gale last Saturday and Sunday, had'a fair weather.trip. ■ Seagulls Attack Lambs. After a lull of several weeks, seagulls, which, earlier in the season caused a certain amount of mortality among young lambs in the Farndon district, in Hawke's Bay, have resumed their tinwelcome activities in a more serious degree than before, one farmer having lost no fewer than nineteen- lambs on his property in .three days. The serious menace i-epresented by the attacks of seagulls is particularly evident when mortality occurs at this late stage of the season, the lambs attacked being well grown, and approaching tho 301b mark, practically ready for tho works. Observations made on this property would seem to indicate that tho majority of the attacks aro tho work of single gulls rather than of flocks. Tho gulls do not attack tho lambs while thero aro human beings about, and in most cases the attacks appear to have boon made in tlic very early morning. The heads of the lambs aro opened'up in. some cases, with eyes usually; picked out.

Sale "of Homcbnsh Estate. ' The City Council yesterday afternoon discussed in committee proposals for the sale and development of a portion of the Homebush Estate, Khantlallah. Negotiations with a company have been proceeding for some weeks, but no particulars arc as yet available. The estate, of about 100 acres, was purchased in 191!), and general plans were made for an extensive residontial area under municipal control, but beyond roading work through part of the land practically no development has been made. Tasman Flight Delay. Sir Charles Kingsfqj'd Smith, in a letter to Mr. B. Sheil, aviation officer of the Vacuum Oil Company, lias indicated the probability of the postponement of his flight to New Zealand until mid-January,. the original plans being for his arrival jin New Zealand in tho Southern Cross, accompanied by Squadron Leader White,,of Thnaru, in an Australian built Codoek machine, before Christmas. Sir Charles explains that following the testing in England of the engine, for the machine to tie flown by Squadron Leader White, he made suggestions for certain .modifications, with the result that.the shipping of the engine was delayedl and that it would now arrive'in Sydney on December .3. The Codoek monoplane, therefore,-.will not be "ready for, testing until about the middle of December. Sir Charles said that it was certain that both machines 'would, ' however, cross the Tasman no later than midJanuary. He may also bring his recordmaking Perciyal Gull/to New Zealand, but the machine will be, shipped and not flown t . '