NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 134, 3 December 1935, Page 10

NEWS OF THE DAY

Personal Influence.

"You don't have to write books to exert an influence," said the Rev J F. Feron, preaching in St. Matthew's Church, St. Albans, Christchurch, on Sunday evening, "and God help us if we all wrote books—there are enough as it is. A look is sometimes enough, or the spoken word." Mr. Feron was speaking of the tremendous, unrealised influence -of a person's character on those among whom he lived (states "The Press"). Education Board Property. "We have' received a letter from the Education Board to the effect that they cannot reconsider the price of £51,000 for their property in Mercer Street," said the Mayor (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop) at a meeting of the Wellington City Council yesterday afternoon. "I move that the letter be received." The motion was carried. Too Many Street Appeals. Protests have been received by the City Council from the Grand Orange Lodge of New Zealand and from the retail drapers' organisation at the number of street appeals permitted by the council recently. The Mayor (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop) said that there was a good deal of merit in the letters. The general opinion, he thought, was that there were too many appeals, and he believed that if the various organisations combined in a lesser number of street days more would be given by the public. One suggestion made in the letters was that, the council should call a conference to consider means by which the -number of appeals could be reduced, but it was decided that alist of organisations which benefited from street days should be supplied to the writers, leaving it to them to propose a means by which the number of appeals could be reduced. Proposed Hospital Loan. The City Council yesterday afternoon received advice from the secretary of the Wellington Hospital Board of the board's intention to apply to the Local Government Loans Board for its sanction to a loan of £155,000, and also indicating to the council the main purposes for which the money is required. The Mayor (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop) suggested, and the council agreed, that approval should not be given by the council until further information as to the proposed expenditure had been received. Olympic Games Team. Referring to representation at the Olympic Games in Berlin next year, Mr. A. C. Kitto, a vice-president, speaking at the annual meeting of-the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association last night, said that some people said it was only right and proper that New Zealand should be represented. Personally unless there were competitors, with a reasonable chance of being in the first four, he did not think that the money should be wasted at the" present time. Nominations of athletes for the Games are to close on March 8. Examination Results. Now that candidates for University degrees have finished, for better or for worse, their examinations, they are n«)t to be kept long in suspense, and for those that have not already come to their own conclusions the results will be announced before Christmas. Those at present sitting for the University Entrance examination are not so lucky, as their results are not announced until the end of January. A Heavy Lift. The hoisting of a large and heavy service car from the Queen's Wharf to the coastal ship Taupata last night provided more than two hours of hard thinking and difficult manoeuvring for the men engaged on it, and a corresponding period of interested watching by the small crowd that gathered to see the operation. The car, which belonged to a well-known motor service firm, was massive enough to be described as a motor bus, and its weight was apparently too great for the one winch that was at first set the task of hauling it aboard. The front wheels of the car .were easily lifted off the ground, but the rear end proved the burden. Finally an extra wire was run from another winch and the combined efforts of the two made an easy task of depositing the car on the hatchtop, and the Taupata soon afterwards made a delayed start on her voyage to Westport. Quarry Explosion. Three tons of explosive, wortlj £500, were discharged at Smeed VQuarry, on the Waikato River, above Tuakau, on Saturday, when, after three months of preparation, the giant charge displaced about 20,000 tons of rock (states the "New Zealand Herald"). The quarry has a face about 100 ft high, and periodically huge blasts are used to bring down sufficient metal to feed the crushers for as long as a year. The tunnel in which the explosives were placed for Saturday's charge was driven in 65ft at the base of the rock face. This is the deepest tunnel yet used. The tunnel branched into five pockets, in which the explosives were placed." The front pocket, about 20ft from the entrance of the tunne'i, contained gelignite and blasting gelatine, which is quicker acting than the samsohite and gelignite placed at the end of the tunnel. .The charges were concreted in and then packed with metal and metal dust. The front charges loosened the face, making the discharge of the slower-acting gelignite at the back more effective. The proprietor of the quarry, Mr. W. A. Smeed, had expected that 30,000 tons of metal would be brought down, and, although only two thirds of this quantity came down, he considers that at least another 5000 tons will be easily prised off the now overhanging quarry face. Mr. Smeed directed the operations with the assistance of the quarry foreman, Mr. J. T. Brownlee. The stone brought down will last for about six months. A large quantity will be used for highway surfacing in the Rotorua district.