NEWS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 65, 16 March 1940, Page 12

NEWS OF THE DAY

St. Patrick's Day.

Tomorrow, March 17, will be^ St. 3 Patrick's Day, when all people of j. Irish descent throughout the Dominion will honour the memory of Ireland's * patron saint. The principal public j celebration on this day each year is „ the Irish national concert, which this i year was held two days before the x anniversary. 3 Scientist and Farmer. s "I would just like to make this comment on the general inference that the- * scientist is necessarily an impractical I theorist," said Professor C. P. McMeekan, of Canterbury Agricultural College, in speaking K t6 members of > the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association, reports the "Press." , "I have had to listen to more harei brained and theoretical schemes advanced by practical "farmers than I have ever had inflicted on me by the 7 scientist." ' ' . | V Feeding the Troops. I "Twenty years ago the powers that c be would have held up their hands in horror at the very suggestion that J fish fried in -batter should be served i at breakfast to 750 men, yet this is done today as a matter of course," f said Warrant-Officer W. F. de 800, > when addressing the Sanitary Insti- *• tute at Christchurch on sanitary con- . ditions at Burnham Military Camp, f reports the "Star-Sun." The modern coal, coke, and electric ranges installed, p coupled with a properly-trained kit-, chen staff, made a good, varied menu possible, he said. * Half and Half. ; The subtle difference in outlook bei tween the prosecution and defence was j very convincingly demonstrated in the 5 Magistrate's Court yesterday, when a I young man appeared before Mr. J. H. Luxford, S.M., charged with being in > possession of liquor in the vicinity of a i dance hall. Sub-Inspector L. W. Capp t said that the defendant had been found in an alley near the dance hall with ■ a part-full bottle of been in his possession. The Magistrate: "Do you call it part full, or part empty?" At this stage counsel for the defendant (Mr. A. J. Mazengarb) rose. "We call it part empty, sir," he said. (Laughter.) It Is An 111 Wind. ' The truth of the old saying that it is , * an ill .wind which blows nobody any good was once again demonstrated at yesterday's meeting of the Hutt( County Council. It was stated that the December floods, especially in the 5 Mungaroa Riding, had deposited much .shingle on various properties. The s metal was ol excellent quality for roading and was. being used for this purpose. One property owner offered 'to the council all the, shingle on his property free, an offer which was , gratefully accepted. The shingle which ' accumulated in the creeks is also being removed, and this, too, will be use- , ful for road maintenance purposes. Pineapples Banned. ;.-■ Dictation as to what fruit the public 1 must eat was resented by a Christchurch fruit broker interviewed by the "Star-Sun." Pineapples have been put on the banned import list. slt was pointed out that .brokers laughed at the suggestion that with- * holding pineapples would assist the y Marketing Department to sell the apple crop. The greater variety of - fruit in the retailers' window the greater were the total sales. Pineapples would, therefore assist rather > than retard apple sales. Besides, it i was wrong that invalids and others oh special, diets should' . t be \ denied pineapples. From the-general . health point of view, brokers agreed that fruit should foliow^ medical, sup--5 plies on the list of essential imports. ' Need for1 Quality in Stock. : The hope that efforts to maintain the highest possible quality in stock in the. Dominion would not slacken because of the war was expressed by i< Mr. Wv O. Rennie, retiring president . of, the . Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association, in his address to the association's annual meeting, states * the "Press." Referring to the display of stock at the association's last show, ; which was probably a record one, Mr. Rennie said that* apparently stock breeders were determined to do their utmost to maintain the highest possible quality throughout, and he trusted there wpuld be no slackening in this -because of the war; It was true, 'he said, that shipping difficulties had : tapered off., the more lucrative market ; for stud sheep, but a resumption of normal conditions should mean a big demand for high-class stock which Dominion breeders were able >to supply. In this connection the. association had framed new conditions for the entry of sheep at' the' annual ram fair to ensure as far as, possible, that only good quality should be sold. A general extension of the system, he said, would doubtless do much to raise the level of quality in sheep flocks' of the Dominion. ■ • Professor's Caution. Reference to his cautious attitude when it was suggested that he might comment on animal husbandry in Can-, terbury . was made by the newlyappointed prolessor in that subject at, Lincoln College (Professor C. ~P. McMeekah);' addressing the annual meeting of the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastpral Association, states the Christchurch "Star-Sun." He was very hesitant to make such comment, declared Professor McMeekan, for he had had sufficient experience of practical farming to know how easy it was to go right off the rails in discussing the methods of farming areas of which one had but a limited experience. He was minded of a North Island Jersey breeder, who visited him in England and expressed surprise at his tolerance of what he termed the "inefficient methods of British farmers." That breeder was accustomed to his somewhat caustic tongue in criticising his own methods. "When I pointed out that I had been in the country nearly three years, while his experience was less than three months,' added the professor, "he appreciated the point, and agreed that perhaps the British farmer had good reason for some of the apparently stupid things he was doing." Students and Communism. In view of the allegation of the Duhedin Returned Soldiers' Association that Communist propaganda is Spreading in the universities, it is in- } teresting to note that,the "Critic," the - official organ of student opinion at . the University of Otago. has declared \ that it is not going to be ■ used v for ] the purpose of propagating "the half- , baked opinions of so-called 'intellec- ■, tuals' at the university." states the "Otago Daily Times." The "Critic"1 j declares that it agrees with the views • of "Caritee," the official1 students' news. \ paper at Canterbury College, which , recently stated:—"We are t^ired of this perpetual gibber upon 'capitalists' and < 'workers'—as though the only ones < who have ever done any work are j those who leave their brains at home ( and lean on a shovel all day. We are ( tired of these Russophiles who see i virtue in every country but their own, and gaze on, Stalin's cynical betrayal, j both in his own country and abroad, i with such rapt admiration. We are j tired, most of all, of this insistence 1 that all those who do not believe in < the right 'ism' are either fools or ] knaves. We are tired of these magical words that are going to clean up all i the world's problems. s It does not < need any mystic creed to make this a i livable world." , }

War Risk Rate. "It is a good sign to see the war risk insurance rate go down,'-' remarked Mr. S. S. Dean, chairman of the Wellington Fire-Board, at the meeting yesterday, when commenting on the fact that a reduction in the war risk insurance rate had been announced in London yesterday. Other members of the board expressed satisfaction at this reduction, one member remarking that a sharp rise in the other direction would not have caused great surprise. Fast Cultivation. An excellent demonstration of what can be done with mechanisation was given recently on a North Canterbury farm, states the "Press." A crop of 35 acres of wheat was ready for the header, which was engaged on the farm of a neighbour. The neighbour's crop was finished in the evening, and as the owner of the 35 acres had had a moisture test in the afternoon and as the evening was warm, with a nor'-west wind, he got the mill in at once. The crop was in the bags in the morning and carted to the railway. In the morning the paddock was ploughed round and the stubble burned. In the afternoon a contractor began ploughing and continued through ths night and next day. The paddock was then worked and cats for feed drilled in. The whole operation from standing crop to new crop in the ground occupied less than a week.