NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 121, 25 May 1939, Page 12

NEWS OF THE DAY

Flattering the South

During a case in the Supreme Court at Christchurch on Monday Mr. W. E. Leicester, of Wellington, referred. to Inangahua Junction as a "town," states the "Press." "You natter it when you call it a town," said his Honour Mr. Justice Northcroft, who presided. "Well, we northerners like to natter the south," said Mr. Leicester. "The south does not need flattery," said Mr. C. S. Thomas. "That is as may be," his Honour interposed. More Inspectors Yet. "Could not he be a Government inspector?" asked Mr. Justice Northcroft, in the Supreme Court at Christchurch on Monday, when Mr. W. E. Leicester was describing how difficult it was for his client, who had lost his right arm, to find employment, states the "StarSun." "But surely we have enough of those already," Mr. Leicester protested. "Yes, so many people think," his Honour agreed, "but no doubt we shall have a lot more yet." Opening of Napier-Wairos, Line. Within a month, according to -information received in Wairoa and Gisborne, the Railway Department will inaugurate regular passenger and freight services on the Napier-Wairoa section of the East Coast Main Trunk line, states a Gisborne correspondent. An announcement of the actual date of commencement is awaited with keen interest, as much in the Gisborne district as in Wairoa, for the opportunity of travelling by rail between Wairoa and Napier will be much appreciated by many people for whom road travel is full of disadvantages, in spite of the excellence of the service provided. Works gangs are putting the final touches to the railway yards, sidings, station buildings, and other features of the section which will contribute to smooth working of the passenger services. At Wairoa there has been some activity in the station yards, where the passenger platform has been reformed in preparation for sealing with bitumen. Other work, some of it similar in character, has been proceeding at various points along the line, and final attention has been given to the ballasting of the rails. Foreign Language Epidemic. To their already long list of world records the Finns are adding another of a curious sort, reports the Finnish organising committee of the 1940 Olympic Games. With the prospect of the 1940 Olympics being staged in Helsinki, a foreign language epidemic has swept the country. There is hardly a Finn with a tongue in his mouth who is not presently engaged in learning at least' the minimum practical essentials of one or more foreign languages, besides the two or three that had been compulsory study at school. The contagion has affected even the harassed schoolchildren of the familiar persecution-complex species, whose unwonted eagerness must be a source of wonder and perhaps outright awe to their language teachers. Where tutors are unavailable or too costly, the gramophone supplies the instruction through linguaphone and allied courses. Such robot +eachers may hs found in thfe wildest backwoods of the country. Large business houses have become special victims of the epidemic, and as such are sponsoring courses free of charge to their employees. English seems to be the most popular foreign language for the Finns at present. The employees of the famous co-operative firm H O X, for instance, have selected English instruction in twice the numbers for the runner-up, German. The Finns, it would seem, want to cax-ry hospitality to the ultimate and welcome every last exotic visitor to the Olympic Games in his native idiom. Exhibition Traffic. "We feel that the traffic problem is not so great as some people would have us believe," said Colonel H. E. Avery, secretary of the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition Company, when discussing features of the Exhibition at the Empire Day celebration of the English Folk Association last night. It was estimated that during the six months' run of the Exhibition about 5,000,000 people would pass through the gates. That figure took into account people who would make more than one visit, and was based on the attendance figure at the Dunedin Exhibition, which was about 3,250,000. It meant <about 30,000 people a day. At Dunedin ,pn peak days there were up to 88,000 people, and for the Centennial Exhibition they could expect something over 100,000 people. Those figures suggested certain problems in regard to transport and car parking. The Exhibition Company had endeavoured to overcome any difficulty of congestion by providing three separate and distinct entrances to the Exhibition, and it felt that the traffic arrangements being made by the City Council and other bodies would be adequately taken charge of. In regard to car parking, arrangements had been made for 3000 cars to be parked in the immediate vicinity of the Exhibition, and other areas nearby would bring the total to 10,000 cars. In con-, sequence, the Exhibition Company felt that the traffic problem was, in effect, solved.

Port's Trade,

The trade and shipping statistics for the month of April, 1939, as compared with the corresponding month of last year, showed a decrease in the" tonnage of' trading vessels arriving, and an increase in the tonnage handled, said the chairman, Mr. C. M. Turrell, at the monthly meeting of the Wellington Harbour Board last night. The net tonnage of shipping arrivals was 376,135 tons, 24,448 tons less than last year. The total of cargo handled was--190,144 tons as against 175,820 tons. The increase of 14,324 tons was due mainly to general cargo imports from coastal and Australian ports, 2307 tons; coal imports, 4554 tons; trade of oils in bulk, 5691 tons; wool and hemp shipments, 19,290 bales; and frozen meat shipments, 2575 tons. A decrease was noted in general cargo imports from British and foreign ports of 2796 tons. Poor Apple Crop. > The exceptionally small fruit export season for Hawke's Bay closed with a total export of 68,787 cases of apples and pears, states a Hastings correspondent. Of this total 38,522 cases were apples and 30,265 cases pears. Stm-mers and Doughertys were the two mainstay varieties of apples exported this season. Except in 1937, when the crop was largely wiped out by heavy gales early in the year and the severe late frost, apple exports have never fallen as low in the past twelve years a§ they have this season.' The 38,522 cases of apples exported this season represent barely 13 per cent, of the 1938 export of 303,095 cases. Pears held up a little better, but nevertheless showed a substantial drop on last season's figures, when [45,578 cases were shipped. In view |of the light cropping this season a heavy yield is expected next year. . Never Asked for a Rise, In these days of higher wages and shorter hours, a point made by Mr. J. Malton Murray in his lecturette on I Queen Victoria at the Empire Day celebration of the English Folk Association last night was rather apt. • "We all know that the heads of big concerns expect to receive increasing emoluments as the business grows," said Mr. Murray. "Incomes are expected to keep pace with expansion. •At the time of her accession in 1837Queen Victoria, ruled over an Empire comprising over 8,000,000 square miles and having a population of 116,000,000 people. At -the time of her death —excluding Egypt and the Sudan —the Empire covered over 12.000.000 square miles and sustained a population of over 124,000,000 people. When she ascended the Throne, Parliament 1 granted her an annual sum of £385,000, most of which was, of course, swali lowed up in the salaries and. expenses !of the Royal Household, and although | during her reign of nearly 64 years, the cares and onerous duties of her office increased, . she continued to receive exactly the same annual sum up to the day of her death. In brief, she i did the job for 64 years and never asked for a rise. And incidentally, from her own privy purse she paid £50,000 off debts left by her father, the Duke of Kent."

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