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Evening Star, Issue 17921, 17 March 1922, Page 4

Mr T. M. Wilford, M.P. fox Pctone, reached Dunedin by the northern express yesterday, having come through from Auckland. lie is on the organising tour that ho began when tho parliamentary session closed—organising the now political combination that is to be formally known as tho United Progressive Liberal Labor Party. This party is formed of the Moderate Labor Party in the House headed by Mr Vcitch, the Progressives headed by Mr Statham, the Liberals headed by Mr Wilford, and others that aro in Opposition, and it is distinguished from the parties led by Mr Massey and Mr Holland. Mr Wilford’s proposals have been well received in Christchurch and Auckland and in every other place ho has visited. Tho present tour is merely of a preliminary character. Mr Wilford is not addressing any public meetings as yet. In Auckland it took him a week to get through his business. In Dunedin, seeing that three of tho sitting members are favorable, a shorter time will probably suffice. After Mr Wilford is finished with Dunedin tor the time being ho will visit Invercargill and Gore, and probably Mataura and Wallace, unless ho can do his business with tho two last-named electorates from Invercargill. Then he proposes to go on to Oamaru, Timaru. and Tcnmka. and at Christchurch ho will meet again with the organisation which has already been formed there.

The official opening of the Mnnuherikia irrigation works will be the duty of the Hon. J. G. Coates, Minister of Public Works, who has notified that he will be at Alexandra for that purpose on cither the 20th or the 21st inst.

Tlio cavlv samples of sweet poas seed that have come to hand this season from the three farms at ELlrick and Dumbarton on which the industry has been tried are pronounced by experts to bo of an exceptionally high standard, ranking with the best, and as evidence that this appraisement is not merely complimentary, wo have the fact that some of this seed has already been, bought for Australia. Mr G. J. Erring ton, who has made the cultivation of sweet peas a special study, aiut practically founded the seed-growing in Otago as a commercial industry, is handling thp whole of the output from these three farms.

The Wellington branch of the Fletcher Construction Company has the contract for the super-structure of St. Andrew’s Church’s Wellington. It is to replace the building which was burned some time ago. A few months back Fletchers got the contract to make the foundations. The. further contract to build the church Ls for the sum of £14,000 approximately. At Stratford, in the North Island, :i dairy farm is run on commercial lines by a local committee. The people there wanted an experimental farm established by the State. The Agricultural Department could not see its way to comply with its request, but intimated that it would help the dairy farmers to help themselves, so a number of them put up a guarantee for the necessary capital, took a farm, and stocked it, and the department promised a sulvsidy of £3OO a year, a grant of seeds and manures, and the advice and guidance of its experts. Now, since the existence of the Moa Seed Farm is imperilled by the frank desire of the Government to be rid of a responsibility, a somewhat similar proposal emanates from Otago. Several public-spirited gentlemen who are actively connected with tho Otago Expansion League have declared their willingness to subscribe the capital required to carry on if the Government definitely refuses to do anything further. Tho idea is to prevent tho Moa Seed Farm, which has been a distinct success, dropping back to the position of an ordinary farm, and to run it in tho interests of the community, any profits to be devoted to further experimental work, so that tho best possible use may be made of tho soil and tho climate. The offer thus roughly sketched has not yet been actually made, but it is ready to bo made if the Hon. W. Nosworthy finally says that tho State is pulling out. New Zealanders have noted with pleasure that when Lord Jellicoe rends an acknowledgment ho frames it in a friendly and personal way quite distinguishable from tho misoellaneousncss and frigidity of the usual formal letter. As a sample, here is the Governor-General’s note to tho Mayor of Dunedin in acknowledgment of the resolution of tho Kaikorai Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Committee; “I will tell Her Excellency, when I go to Timam, of the committee’s generous acknowledgment of tho part she look in the ceremony — an acknowledgment which I am sure she will appreciate. I know she was very pleased' to be able to accept the invitation of the committee to unveil tho memorial.”

The Otago Cricket Association's art union is to bo drawn next Tuesday evening at the band rotunda in the Botanic Gardens. The mayor will supervise.

Mr .1. F. Rohicson, who is in charge of the Dunedin office of the Tourist Department, advises that the Milford track will ho reopened on or about March 22 [clone trip to enable a party of Australians to enjoy the walk, and that it others wish, to take advantage of this reopening for about a week they may do so. Prompted by a desire for the public weal, the Dunedin Jockey Club’s Committee resolved yesterday afternoon to apply to the Minister of Internal Affairs for a totalisator permit for a special benefit race meeting to ho held on April 22, a Saturday, so as to try to raise funds for some worthy public object, the nature of which is to be decided by a subcommittee of which Mr E. H, Lough is convener. A spare permit is available owing to the Lakes County Club dropping out this season. There are various suggestions as to the purpose to which the profit shall be applied. One of these is the Dunedin war memorial fund, which so far has not roused the imagination of our citizens as a body.

The Mayor of Dunedin has granted the use of tho Council Chamber for the conference of delegates from local bodies in Otago which has boon convened by tho Otago Expansion League to arrange for the issuing of a petition praying for the creation of an electric power board for Otago. Tho conference is called for tho evening of April 7. Tho VYingatui racecourse is becoming very popular with picnickers. Two mote parties have obtained the use of these unrivalled grounds—the builders and contractors and the Dunedin Corporation employees. At Wanganui yesterday Detective-ser-geant Cameron arrested a young married man named Cecil Harold Pugh, a postal employee, on a charge of the theft of £llOs Is, tho property of the Government. Accused was remanded for a week, bail being allowed.

A Christchurch message says that the City Council’s right to make a by-law making it an offence fur a person to refuse to give his name and address to a constable was the subject of argument before Mr Justice Sim in the Supreme Court to-day. The case was an appeal from tho magistrate’s decision. A charge was made against Frank. Dempsey under the City Council’s by-laws that he gave a, constable a false name and address. Tire magistrate held that tho by-law was ultra vires. His Honor was asked to decide whether or not tho magistrate’s decision was erroneous in point of law. Judgment was reserved.

A hailstorm of exceptional violence swept Ashburton last evening (says an Association message). Damage was reported in many shops and houses through water entering from blocked spoutings or flooded backyards. Glass verandahs also suffered. Considering tho weight of the hail, tho damage to broad-leafed plants, such as cabbage and turnips, is surprisingly small. Telephonic and telegraphic communication was interrupted for two hours, due To lightning fusing the wires on tho terminal pole at the post office.

Mr Panlm telephoned this afternoon! S.W. winds, rain, and hail showers. Mr James A. Ross, formerly manager of M© Sydney ‘ Stock and Station Journal,’ aild now representing tho Weston Company, Ltd., Sydney, who is visiting Now Zealand in connection with the compilation of an important work on advertising, has no doubt of the capacity of this Dominion to get through in the shortest time any financial depression caused by worldwide conditions. Speaking yesterday to a ‘ Star ’ reporter, Mr Ross said that, when he arrived in New Zealand and camo south by the express from Auckland to. Wellington, he was looking for the million farms which he expected to see in such a great productive country. What he saw from the train suggested to him rather a country of a million hills, and he wondered on which side of the lino the real country was. Ho had since travelled from Christchurch to Invercargill, and he had never passed through a stretch of country more productive or with greater possibilities for the million farms ideal. There was nothing to equal it in his experience from the bottom of England to tho top of Scotland—and lie had been there. In extent it was superior to West Victoria for visible stock-carrying capacity, and the only place he could compare with it was Holland in its best season, the spring, when the country was deep in grass and the Holstein cattle were everywhere. Here, in addition to cattle, there were tho sheep of splendid quality, and with the two together this country was bettor than anything he had seen. It gave him a wider view of Now Zealand’s possibilities of production, which, for all the Dominions of the Empire, mast be tho great task of the future days of peace. These great areas of wealth most attract from tho older world not only workers seeking employment,, but In greater number people with capital seeking homes in belter conditions than they could ever hope for in Great Britain.

A correspondent writes: —Tho highest tide experienced for years occurred last ovenjn" at Piirakanai but fortunately calm weather prevailed, or serious damage would have occurred. At 5.45 the bench was entirely covered. A shed used by M‘Gonna ehie Bros., grocers, as a store room, was hooded, while the water carnr within 2iu of a residence situated on the waterfront.

The regular meeting of the Fort Chalmers School Commit to was held last evening, the following members I* mg present: —Rev. W. M. Grant (chairman), Messrs J. Osborn, W. Thompson, R. D. Jack, J. M'Lachlan, J. Howdcn. and A. D. Asher. It was resolved that (he committee attend divine service at the Congregational Church on Sunday evening, April 2, and that the rector and staff accompany them. The rector reported that for tho past four weeks (he average roll in tho primary department was 460 and the average attendance ‘144. In the secondary department, tho average roll was 32 and the .average attendance was 29. Miss Smith left on the 3rd inst., having remained three days extra to assist while awaiting Miss Sinclair’s return. Acting under doctor’s orchis, Miss Sinclair will not resume work until April 1; in tho meantime AliVe Robertson is doing the whole of Standard VII. work. The attendance shield was won twice by Standard 11., once by Standard VI., and once by Standard VII. The janitor reported repairs to the dividing fence, but some repairs were necessary to tho bell shed. It was decided to hold the, annua! meeting of householders in the school this year. The Visiting Committee reported very favorably on their visit to the school, with the exception of the gate loading out of the lower playground, which would require some repairs. Mr M’Lachlan and Mr 1!. D. Jack were appointed a> visiting committee for the month. The postal authorities advise that Now Zealand mails which were despatched from Wellington by (he Tahiti on February 7 via San Francisco reached London on March 15.

Messrs Mondy, Stephens. Monro, and Stephens have advised Mr E. S. Wilson, secretary of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, that the late Miss Bessie P. Hume has bequeathed to the Art Gallery two pictures—‘Old Dunedin' and ‘Dying King Lear’—by Irvine, It.A. A first offender, for drunkenness, was fined 10s at the Port Chalmers Court today.' Two local residents, on the application of the police, wore prohibited. Messrs J. Stevenson and D. Mawson, J.P.s, were on the bench.

Several spectators who' “snapped” the Prime Minister crossing the Waiapu River on Monday, sitting in the stern of a flatbottomed boat, will doubtless possess a unique record of Air Massey's parliamentary travels on the East Coast (states tho Gisborne ‘Times’). The river had a swift current, and the, fast-flowing muddy water carried each boat several chains down stream before tho other side was reached.

A girl was found by a milkman at about 5 o’clock on Thursday morning sleeping in her night attire on the kerb of the pavement of Mason’s avenue, Herne Bay (says the Auckland ‘ Herald She was taken to a house close at hand and put to bed. When she recovered consciousness it was discovered that she had walked in her sleep from her home, n distance of about a quarter of a mile. The girl was afterwards taken home, apparently none the worse for her experience. At the monthly meeting of the Auckland "Women Teachers’ Association Miss Harper, who has just returned to Auckland after a year’s exchange in Canada, made some interesting remarks, “ Canadian schools,’’ she said, “ are most imposing structures, principally made of stone. The inside is correspondingly palatial, the teachers room being carpeted and supplied with a suite of easy chairs. Then there is a kitchenette, ali electrical appliances, a set of cutlery and crockery, and a sideboard. Most of the schools have a spacious auditorium attached, in which a complete assembly of children is held once a week, when moving pictures of an educational type are screened. The maximum number of children a teacher is allowed to handle, is forty, and should a teacher be found with move than that number those responsible for that state of affairs are liable to be fined. The Parent ' Teacher Association, which is organised by the parents, in a most lielp■ful institution, and ns a result of their monthly meetings much assistance, both material and sympathetic, is offered to the teachers.” Miss Harper concluded by referring, to the great kindness and hospitality shown to exchange teachers by the Canadian people, who show intense interest in blew Zealand. Miss Harper assured the Auckland teachers that a year spent in Canada well repays any privation or effort that the visit may entail.

“ We do not seo eye to eye,” said the Hon, A. T. Xgata in the course of an address when passing a vote of thanks to the Prime Minister at Kahukura (reports the Gisborne ‘Times’). “We arc not in tho same canoe yet,” replied Mr Massey. “Xo,” said Mr Xgata; “but you are quite well able to paddle tho canoe of New Zealand.” (Laughter.) A young man who pleaded guilty at Westport to stealing a £lO note from the pocket of Mr P. W. O’Sullivan slated that of the original £lO ho had £-5 19s 7d left, having spent £5 on a ring, 4s 6d on a purse, and tho balance in lollies, ice creams, and cigarettes. He was admitted to probation for twelve months, conditionally that he did not attend pictures, found work within one month, and restored tho balance of the money missing.

A man who stated that he hud walked 200 miles in a vain pursuit of work called at a Palmerston North residence the other clay and begged for food. His clothes were tattered and torn, his boots wero falling off his feet, and he appeared to be in. an almost famished condition.

Watson’s No. 10 is a little dearer than most whiskies, but is worth tho money,— [Advt.] Fruit, Jam, and Jolly Jars, Pans, Spoons, Rubbers. Todd’s White House, 153 Georgo street. —[Advt.J The run is on No-rubbing Laundry Help, Golden Rule Soap, and ''Keep Smiling” Boot PoLsh. Exceptional mor.it—that’s tho reason why. Yours truly, Dunedin grocers: -[Advt.] "The King, gentlemen!” and the toast was honored in tbo King of Whiskies— Watson's No, 10.—[Advt.J