NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 60, 12 March 1934, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY

Unsafe a;id Mouldy. " : ■ Tho Napier .Borough"" Council has been criticised.by Mr. W..E. Barnard, M.P., for its lack of progressiveness in improving the selection of books in the Napier Public Library, andja reply has now been made by members of the library committee to the effect that while the books are housed in- a building that is "unsafe, insanitary,- wormeaten, and mouldy," there is no justification for further expenditure' upon it. The need for a new building, they consider, is so great that expenditure in other directions is not warranted, and, they add, many valuable books, records, and Maori curios have gone out of Hawke's Bay to places .where buildings are safe and suitable for the'housing of .such valuable things. ' Till ■Napier has. a building suitable' for these purposes it must bo;at: a serious disadvantage. ..-;- ■'.".-'■ Auckland City Landmark; A start is to bo made almost immediately with the demolition of the Victoria Arcade tower, which has been a landmark in Auckland for half a century, states the "New Zealand Herald."- The hew staircase and lift, which the Auckland City Council decided to install when it became owner of the building; some mouths ago, are now nearly complete. As soon as the lift is in regular use it will be possible to begin the further'work of demolition •and reconstruction. .'The tower rests on .a cylinder of brickwork, enclosing the old. circular concrete stairway and an'inner cylinder which.contains the original hydraulic passenger lift, one of. the oldest in Auckland and possibly the only survivor of its type in the city. The tower superstructure consists of; a lead-covered wooden dome with porthole windows and a glazed lantern topped-by a flagstaff. The woodwork and the lead roofing were examined last year-and wore found to be in such a state that failing demolition they would have to be repaired at considerable cost.' After the superstructure has been removed the staircase' and lift, shaft, which stand detached, from tho* outer walls of tho building,.- Will be taken down after the manner of: a chimney stack. Wooden floors will be laid across the vacant space at each storey on steel beams encased in concrete, and the valuable corner space made available on tho ground floor will be converted into a large jeweller's shop. Another World Cruise. According to advice received from , New York, the Cunard liner Franeonia, which visited Wellington oa February 26, will be making another round-the- : world cruise next year. Her itinerary [ will be practically the same as this year, and she will spend only a few days in New Zealand. She is due at Auckland on February 20, 1935, anil i will leave three days later for Welling- . ton, where she is due on February 25. As was the case in her recent visit here, she will spend only one day at Welling--1 ton, sailing on the evening of February 2o for Sydney.

Beehives Shaken. While no damage was done by tho earthquake last week to apiaries in the Hawke's Bay district, considerable damage has been sustained in apiaries in the AVoodville, Pahiatua, and Eketahuua districts, according to information received by Mr. L. Riesterer, Government Apiary Instructor in Hawke's Bay, who has left to assist with the work of rehabilitation (reports the Napier "Daily Telegraph"). In many apiaries in these areas, practically all the hives have been knocked over, with general damage to bee-ware and consequent risk of the spread of disease. Mr. Riesterer's extensive area stretches from Cape Palliser in the south to Cape Runaway in the north, and, commencing with the Hawke's Bay earthquake in 1931, he has had to supervise the.work of rehabilitation of apiaries after four earthquakes in various parts of his district. ■■■'.'-.. ' Tar for, Sheep Branding. The use of coal tar as a branding material by Hawke's Bay sheep farmers will render them subject to prosecution, according to Mr. Charles Davis, inspector for the Hawke's Bay branch of the Society-for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (reports the Nipier "Daily Telegraph"). ; Mr. Davis stated that he had been shown a number of sheepl skins which had been branded with coal tar. "The tar had eaten right into tho skin, and must have set up a most painful condition for tho unfortunate animals. It was possible to poke a finger through the skins where the tar had touched, the skins.being as thin as tissue paper at these points," he said. Not only doe 3 the use of coal tar cause considerable suffering to sheep or lambs, branded in this manner,' but it also renders tho skin absolutely useless for commercial purposes after the sheep has been killed. 'Stockholm tar is a perfectly innocuous preparation, but coal -tar, utilised for this purpose, is an irritant. Fruit from Hawke's Bay. ; Keen interest is being taken in. the Hawke's Bay district ip the: loading of 5000 cases of fruit at/Napier ,this week by the motor-ship Opawa, which is to' leave there on Wednesday for London. It is -the. second shipment of export fruit from Napier, and the first for a number of years. Large numbers'of orchardists have accepted the-invita-tion of the chairman of the Napier Harbour Board (Mr. T. M. Geddis) and representatives of the shipping interests to be present during the loading, which will bo carried ont by lighters, equipped with special trays, for the safe handling of the fruit. . . ' '- ■ .-■ " Wellingtonians' Climb. Dan Peak, .the highest point in the Lord Range, which lies behind the Main Divide .on the West Coast side, was climbed recently for the first time by two Wellington men, Mefesrs. W. H. Scott, of tho Victoria University College Mountaineering. Club, and R. Scott, of the Hutt Valley, Club, states the "Christchurch Times." The peak, named after Dan Strachan, who also gave his name to the Strachan Pass, provided-good ;r6ck. and ice climbing. The -climbers set out from a high camp on the- Clarke;! moraine, and bivouacked after the ascent on a col east of the peak. The following .day an unnamed peak, which has been confused with Mount Westlaud, was ascended: Transferring their camp.to Jim's Knob, the two climbers' went up the' Louper Stream and climbed what they thought was an unnamed peak.hear Mount Martius.■.-; A col that had not been ascended before, between Cattle Creek and tho Louder > Stream," 'was' attained during this climb. Their last climb was the ascent of a previously unclimbed. peak between the Mathias and Cattle Creek. Men's Monotonous Clothes, Men's clothes interest -women just as much as those of their own sex. The dress of young men in Christchurch was unfavourably commented on by an Australian woman' visitor on Friday, whoso chief objection was so few of them wore coat and trousers to match, states "The Press." "When. I first came here a week ago," she said, "I roused my host to laughter by asking in all seriousness whether the brown coats and grey flannel trousers worn by so many young men were a uniform for university students. I know now that it is not a uniform and not restricted to university students; but why do they all want to look alike'?" Damage by Small Birds. Reference to the damage to crops by small birds, and a request that the purchase of heads and eggs should be continued, were contained in a letter received from the Canterbury Provincial Executive of the Farmers' Union by the Levels County Council last week. "We seem to be between the devil and the deep blue sea," remarked the chairman, Mr. T. B. Garrick. lir_\. Agricultural and Pastoral Association wants us to discontinue buying the eggs, and now the Farmers' Union wants us to continue the payments. Which is the more influential body?" "The Farmers' Union, every time," said Mr. D. Grant, amid laughter. "When we cut it out we beat the country boys out of their pocket money.'' It was decided to forward the letter to the Agricultural and Pastoral Association. Ships Recommissioned. The second ship recommissioned in Wellington within a week.after being laid up here for several years is the Richardson Company's coastal steamer Parera, which went on to. the Patent Slip this morning for overhaul and survey preparatory to re-entering the trading service. She is a vessel of 555 tons, and for a long period has been tied up at the Thorndon breastwork. She will be running under charter to the Holm Shipping Company, whose steamer tlie Holmglen recently suffered a mishap. The Parera is expected to make her first run next . week after "being thoroughly overhauled. Last week it was announced that the trawler Nora Niven was being recommissioned after being laid up in Wellington Harbour for about three years. Both these ships are now on the Patent Slip being prepared for their re-entry into active business.