NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 60, 8 September 1937, Page 10

NEWS OF THE DAY

100 Per Cent. Interest

A suggestion that the Wellington Chamber of Commerce should send a remit to the annual conference of the Associated Chambers of Commerce urging the Government to take action against money-lenders who charged excessive rates of interest was made by Mr. M. G. C. McCaul at the meeting of the council of. the chamber last evening. Some lenders, he said, were charging as much as 100 per cent, for their money, and were causing untold misery to foolish people who tried to get out of their financial difficulties by dealing with such people. Sir Charles Norwood said they should be very careful in dealing with such a matter, and it was decided to hold the matter over for a year. . Lovelock Presentation. It was decided by the council of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association last night to make a contribution of £10 to the J. E. Lovelock presentation fund. "Mondayising" Holidays. There was general support at a meeting of the council of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce last evening for a proposal put forward by Mr. M. G. C, McCaul-that a remit should be placed before the annual conference of the Associated Chambers of- Commerce in November next favouring the "Mondayising" of public holidays. Mr. McCaul said that' holidays in the middle of a week proved an inconvenience" both to employers and employees. Employers were humbugged by midweek holidays and the employees did not receive their full benefit. The council decided, to put forward a remit on the subject. No Mutton Market. Japan does not offer- New Zealand a very good market for frozen mutton. Mr. Y. Kusano, one of a party of Japanese sheep buyers who are visiting Canterbury, remarked that the consumption of mutton in his country had not shown any appreciable increase. A fair amount of beef was consumed, but the Japanese subsisted mainly on fish and vegetables. The Canadian Way. They pay their local body administrators, well in Canada. Councillor T. Andrews told his colleagues on the. Christchurch City Council on Monday evening that the Mayor of Toronto received the equivalent of £2300 per annum. Each, of the city's four commissioners received £1000, and the fifteen aldermen were in receipt of £250 each. Cries of "So they should," applause, and incredulous whistles greeted this announcement. Money from Used Stamps. Since the beginning of the year the : .otary Club of Uttoxeter, England, has been collecting and selling used stamps in aid of funds for endowing a cot in the North Staffordshire Royal' Infirmary. At yesterday's Rotary Club luncheon in Wellington a letter from the Uttoxeter club was read in which acknowledgment was made of stamps' sent from Wellington. The president asked members to assist,, in the collection of stamps which could be forwarded to Uttoxeter. An enclosure in the letter stated that since the inception of the scheme half a million stamps had been collected, and about £40 had so far been realised towards the objective of £500. Spectacular If It Happened. Ruapehu is generally regarded as a quiescent volcano, but it had not always been so, and there was the possibility that it might one day be active again, remarked Dr. P. Marshall last evening when lecturing in the Dominion Museum on volcanic activity. The structure of the eastern slopes of Ruapehu; suggested Dr. Marshall, indicated that once upon a time it had erupted like St. Pierre in Martinique when within a space of three minutes all but one of the 30,000 inhabitants of the town at the foot- of the mountain had been annihilated by dust. It was possible that it might do so again, but if such a thing did happen nobody would be hurt, as the country around was uninhabited desert, but it would be a wonderful spectacle. If a' Man Breaks. Two or three months ago the question was raised at a meeting of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association council of whether a starter in a handicap event can put the scratch man who breaks one yard behind the scratch mark as a penalty for breaking and also whether in the same circumstances he can advance the field one yard and leave the scratch man in his position. The point Was raised largely because of the effect on an application for a record the action of a starter might have in putting the scratch man one yard behind scratch. The council sought information on the practice followed in England and a reply was received at last night's meeting of the association, the letter, after quoting a competition rule, pointing out that if the scratch man in a sprint race breaks he can be penalised one yard, but that no provision is made for leaving, the scratch man on his mark and advancing the rest of the competitors one yard. For a second offence the starter is required to impose a similar penalty and for a third offence the competitor is disqualified and excluded from the race. In races over 220 yards the penalty is increased on a proportional basis.