NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 149, 21 December 1936, Page 12

NEWS OF THE DAY

The Longest Day. I Tomorrow, December 22, may.J astronomically, speaking, be the longest'day in this half of the world, but there will be no need to" worry just yet about the days beginning to draw in. As a matter of fact the business end of the day continues to lengthen until j about January 9, any shortening which takes place after tomorrow being at that end of the day when most folk are still sound asleep. The sun rises in Wellington tomorrow at 4.44 a.m. (Summer Time) and sets at 7.55 p.m. After1 tomorrow it rises a trifle later each morning, but the hour of setting will be ■■ not earlier just yet awhile. The so-called longest day does ! not by any means indicate that the middle of summer has been reached. Usually considerably more summer weather is experienced after the longest day than before it, which is something to be thankful for, seeing how comparatively little real summer weather there has been so far this season. Now Hangar for Rongotai. The construction-of a new steel hangar with a frontage of 80 feet will begin at Rongotai after Christmas, to house the aeroplanes that will be used on the Auckland-Wellington air service and the fleet of the Aero Club. The hangar will be erected by the City Engineer's Department, which was responsible for the design, and will be built over the present one, which will remain in use until the new building is completed. Skeletons of Moas. Mr. George Shepherd, curator of the Wanganui Museum, has just completed the setting up of the skeleton of another species of moa (states a Wanganui co-respondent). It is a perfect specimen Of a' Dinornis Novae ZealandiSe, and stands about 6ft. It has been assembled from bones recovered at Makirikiri, as were the bones of a 10ft 6in giant Dinornis gigartteue, completed two months ago. Now the skeletons of seven moas are' in the museum. Mr. Shepherd has commenced mounting another species, an) Anomalopteryx parvus, one of the smallest varieties of moa. j Exodus of Steamers. ' Today an unusually large number of vessels is leaving the poi't, and by tomVrow the waterfront will have lost much of the crowded appearance ] which it has had of late. Overseas vessels which are to leave today include the Norfolk, which is.to sail at 4 p.m. to continue discharge of her Liverpool cargo at Lytteltori;' the Port Hunter, which is to leave at 5 p.m. for Dunedin, also -to continue discharge; the Tekoa, for Lyttelton, and y the Awatea, for Sydney, both of which are scheduled to sail at G p.m:; and the Akaroa, which is to leave at 10 p.m. for Napier and Auckland to continue Homeward loading. Another Cruising Liner. , The third cruising liner to visit Wellington this season, the Orfortl, is to arrive at Auckland from Brisbane at 6 o'clock on Wednesday evening, leaving at midnight on Thursday for Wellington, where she. is due at 0 a.m. on Saturday, Boxing Day. The usual sightseeing tours will be held to enable the passengers to see something of j the Capital City, and the Orford will leave at^6 a.m. on December 27 for Sydney. The other cruising liners which Visited Wellington this season were the' Oridn and the Strathnaver, and the Orford will be followed by the Oron-; say in February. The Narkunda will call; at Auckland in January, but will not come t6 Wellington. • . . • Payment on Public Works. ■■.;',_ "There are nearly 20,000 men in the employ of the Public Works Department in New Zealand today, and their average wage has been raised, since the present Government took- control, to 19s 7d a day, with a maximum of 35s in some cases," said the Minister of Public Works (the Hon. R. Semple), addressing a gathering of employees at the Ashley river protection works on Friday (reports the "Press"). Mr. Semple said that when he took over control of the Department it had 11,000 employees,, Whose wages ranged from 10s a week for the single relief worker, to 12s a day for the married man. In six months the national income had been increased by £12,000,000 a year. "We'have to tell the tale of our stewardship to the people in two /years' time/ >he added, "and we shall have to take the consequences. So you can be sure we are not going to be stampeded from the policy which we think is.the right one for the welfare of the nation;" Loan Approved. Advice has been received by the Waikato Hospital Board that the Local Government Loans Board has' approved of the board's application for authority to raise a loan of £43,000 required in connection with its building programme (slates a Hamilton correspondent). Of this amount, £29,600' will* be spent on a central block of offices to be built at the entrance to the' Waikato Hospital, £12,400 on an administrative block for the secretary and his staff to be erected in Marlborough Place, Hamilton, and £1000 on additional nurses' accommodation at the Rotorua Hospital. Plans for the work have been approved by the board, and as soon as they are returned from Wellington and the money is made available construction will bo commenced. Work is nearing completion on additions to the nurses' home at the .Waikato Hospital. The contract provides for the erection of 24. new bedrooms, a kitchen block, diningroom, and staff quarters, the cost being £11,986. The new premises will be ready for occupation next month. A new nurses' home was recently built by the board at the Matamata Hospital^

Subsidy to End. Maintaining that the time had arrived when any man who desired work could find it, and that the council funds now being expended in subsidies to relief workers would be better spent by add-1 ing one or two men to the council's full-time stair, Mr. G. Hedge moved at the last meeting" of the Te Aroha Borough Council that all subsidies to relief workers be discontinued. Several members strongly supported the motion, and reiterated the statement that "any able-bodied man could now get work" (states a correspondent). Mr. I. Grice pointed out that to discontinue the subsidies really meant that the men would be forced on to sustenance, as the Department would not permit relief work without a subsidy from the local body. He,moved as an amendment that action be deferred. Only Mr. Grice and the Mayor supported the amendment, and the resolution to discontinue subsidies to relief workers was carried. X-Kay Films Removed. The assistance of the police is being obtained by the Hawke's Bay Hospital Board to clear up the disappearance of, X-ray films from the Napier Hospital (states a Napier correspondent). The disappearance of the films was first brought before the notice of the board some time ago, and the board at its last meeting received a report from the special committee which has been investigating the matter. The committee's report contained the conclusions that two envelopes containing films \vere missing from the records; that the films \vere taken without authority or permission; that .the present system of recording was a good system-, and was efficiently controlled, and there was- no need for any alteration. The committee added that it felt that the board did not have sufficient power to pursue the investigation, and it was accordingly decided, on the committee's recommendation, to "place the evidence already obtained in the hands of the police, with a request that they investigate the matter.. The presentation of the report was followed by a long discussion in the course of which jit was disclosed that the missing films had lately been restored to their place.