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Evening Star, Issue 20556, 7 August 1930, Page 10

A three-seater Whippet car was removed from Dr Batchelor’s garage in London street between 5.15 and 6.10 yesterday evening. The car was found abandoned in Crawford street early this morning. It was hot damaged in any way.

Safer Flying (.New Zealand) Limited has been registered as a company in Wellington this week. Its object is the introduction to the dominion of the Autogiro flying machine for which it has tho New Zealand agency.—Press Association.

The annual report of the Superannuated Public Servants’ Association states that the levy under the unemployment Bill will include superannuitants. Immediate application was made to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Labour for exemption from the proposed levy on the ground that it would be manifestly inequitable to tax those who by thrift had made even a small provision for old age and possible infirmity while old ago pensioners were exempted. Many of the superannuitants were themselves ‘‘unemployed,” and their total incomes were far less than tho rates fixer I by tho Arbitration Court as minimum wages.—Wellington Press Association telegram.

Mr F. A. Crago, a Sydney flourmiller, arrived at Wellington by the UJimaroa. Ho says the wheat crop prospects in. Australia are the best on record. This will help the country a little, but while the quantity of the crop and its qualitv should be satisfactory the prices may not be as cheering in view of the big Canadian, United States, and Argentine crops. The 2$ per cent. 'tax imposed by the Sculliu Government on wholesale sales as from August 1 is expected to have a bad effect, and in Mr Crago’s opinion it is certain to add to unemployment, but its effect will not be noticeable for a few weeks —Press Association.

A demonstration . was given this morning at Chas. Begg apd Co.’s, of an instrument that seems likely to come into general use for correspondence. It is named the “ Mivoice.” The sender walks into an office, speaks into a. recorder, and is quickly supplied with a thin copper disc about 6in across, which he posts as though itwero a letter. Such a disc was received at Begg’s by last mail from Mr Win. Elmer, the firm’s representative in London, and it was read off to-day in the presence of several _ interested persons. The world’s capitals have commercialised tho process, and in due time the apparatus for sending as well as receiving will he installed in Dunedin. .Wide possibilities arc thus opening up. .It is a. groat thing to be able to get a permanent record of a sender’s actual voice; the record can ho kept tor all time; it cuts out all liability of typists’ errors; and, the cost is negligible*

The following resolution in connection with music week Was passed by the Wellington executive 'of the New Zealand Educational Institute: “That the local executive of the. Now Zealand Educational Institute conveys to the committee of the music week movement an expression of its hearty support and good wishes. The institute recognises that the work of the committee, is of national importance and is thoroughly in line with the modern view that education for leisure is as essential as education for work.”— Press Association. ' An old landmark at St. Leonards—the residence that Mr Sievwright had built out of timber that came from the demolition of, the 1889-90 exhibition, and in late years the property of Mr J. I. Stevenson —has been pulled down, to'make way for a modern residence the contract for which has been signed by the Love Construction Company :

■ Further evidence was heard yesterday afternoon in, the case in which Benjamin Augustus Berry (Mr Baylee) proceeded against Cooke, Howlison, and Company (Mr E. J. Anderson) on a.claim for, £3OO allegedly due as commission on the sale of motor cars. The magistrate (Mr Bartholomew) reserved his .decision.

The Dairy ; Division figures for the twelve months ended July, 1930, show an increase for butter of 16.76 per cent, at 95,344 tons (81,656 tons); and for cheese an increase of .74 per cent, at 87,253 tons (86,605), as compared with last season’s figures, shown in brackets. In terras of butterfat, the gradings of dairy produce show an increase of 10.404 per cent, oyer the preceding season.—Press Association. In a sermon last night at Wellington, Bishop Williams (Waiapu) contrasted the amount of money spent on amusements with that given to mission fields. Ho pointed out that. over £50,000 in cash would be taken in ■ gate money alone for the British football matches, and the total spent would probably be a quarter of a million. To that could be added the twelve and a-half millions expended on racing, tennis, golf, pictures, etc. All they could find for missions was £IB,OOO, ■ but if they denied themselves 1 per cent, of amusement they would have £50,000. —Press Association.

The management of the Regent Theatre announces that during the run of ' ‘ Journey’s End ’ (Saturdays excepted), all registered at the Government Labour Bureau as unemployed will be admitted to the matinee screenings oh producing cards which are obtainable from the bureau.

■ Our Parliamentary reporter telegraphs that the Prime. Minister conferred this morning regarding Imperial Conference representation. with Mr Coates (Leader of ~ the Opposition) - and Mr Holland (Leader of the Labour Party). Burglars last night entered the premises of the Napier Timber Company and bodily removed the safe. The loss is confine’d to the safe, the books of account and a few shillings, the manager having taken the cash home yesterday afternoon.—Press Association. ,

Tho Post Office advises that the Raugitjki, which reached Wellington from London to-day, has seventy-eight bags of mail and 107 parcel receptacles for Dunedin. The letters should he to hand this afternoon, and tho balance of the mail on Friday,

Referring to the £IOO,OOO loan, Cr Clark, in moving the adoption of the Finance Committee’s report at last night’s meeting of the City Council said that the.loan.money had been received quite' satisfactorily, the ' terms being slightly better than was anticipated. The' Council was'£3so better off than anticipated, owing to the .alteration in exchange arid reduction in expenses. Cr Mitchell, seconding the motion, said that the £IOO,OOO loan had been floated on exceptionally satisfactory terms, and the city was to be congratulated; The report was adopted.

> Making further reference to statements from the north regarding the rating of the various cities, Cr Clark, at, last. night’s meeting of the City Council said. that it was impossible to make any comparisons of rates paid in the various cities. Before that could be done, it would be necessary to reduce them all to a common basis. It would be necessary to have the same valuations and the same systems of rating before comparisons could be made. Cr Clark added that it was regrettable that their rates were so high, and it should be the object of every councillor to reduce them very considerably.

“ From personal experience, 1 can say that, the Takapuna cars are the best I have ridden in in Dunedin,” said the mayor (Mr R. S. Black) at last night’s meeting of the City Council during the consideration of the Tramways Committee’s report. Cr Scott, who moved the adoption of the report, said that the new cars, purchased from the former _ TakapunaTramway Company, were giving every satisfaction. They were looked upon as probably the best trams the department had. The report was adopted. The monthly meeting of the Macandrew Road School Committee was held on Tuesday evening. Mr A. Smiley was in the chair, the other members present being Messrs G. Thorn, A. M'lndoc, J. Goodman, R. Pinder, H. Dowland, W. Butcher, C. Hollow, and W. AVright. The head master (Mr John Bowie) reported a steady roll number with a small attendance, due to sickness and inclement weather. The annual medical inspection had been conducted by Dr Stevenson. During the month Messrs Bain, Clark, Pritchard, and Maxwell, the hoard’s inspectors, liad visited the school for the annual inspection. It was decided to write to tho board in a further endeavour to have tho old fence removed and a new iron fence with a concrete base erected on the new_ street line, the ground involved being given to the City Council in exchange for the fence. An' application is also to be made for a new set of furniture for the infant room. The reports of the Works _ and Visiting • Committees were received, and the members thanked.. The sports competitions showed varying results. The A grade football team had played eight, won six, drawn one, and lost one; bantams A had won six, drawn one, los three. Basket ball: A had played six, won four,- lost two. At the conclusion of the business Mr Bowie gave 'an interesting address on the new education report.

One of the outstanding features of the year at the Public Library was the use made of the reference department, where the number of _ books cpnsulted was 58,937, being an, increase of 4,418 volumes on tho record of 1928, and 6,323 in advance of last year’s figures. Tho attendance is estimated at 40,905, These figures demonstrate in a convincing way that the reference library continues to be an important unit in the activities of the department, _ and is an indication that the educational side of tho institution _is highly appreciated by a largo section of tho community. The number of books added to tho stock was 306.

The quantity of houso refuse removed during the year by tho corporation's sanitary department was 3-1,788 cubic yards, only 104 cubic yards less than the previous year<,

The City Council pays 14s 8d a week as the cost of feeding each of the forty-two horses in its stables. The quantity of fodder eaten by the horses is large. During the year they consumed 199 tons of oaten chaff, 21 tons of lucerne chaff, 16 tens of lucerne hay, 13 tons of clover hay, 7 tons of straw, 23 tons of turnips, 2 tons of salt, 1 ton of bran, and 1,087 bushels of oats.

At the monthly meeting of the Macandrew Road School Committee it was decided to send an account to the Education Board for the use of the gymnasium as a classroom. The committee felt that the attitude of the department was a very harsh one; nor was it equitable, since some committees were still permitted to collect considerable sums of money for buildings similarly, placed. The average speed of the Dunedin trams is often debated.' The speed of the electric trams is 8.89 miles an hour; the Morn.ington cable car travels at an average speed of G miles; while the Roslyn car has a speed of 6.25 m.p.h. Last year the following mileages were covered: —City, 1,696,652 miles; Mornington, 127,804 miles; Roslyn, 156.156 miles. In the library of New Zealand literature at the Public Library 280 volumes were obtained and added to .the stock, the value of which was enhanced by a number of handsome donations. The policy of making this department as compi'ehensive as possible is meeting with distinct success, and it is much used by' students who are engaged in research work (reports the librarian). If also has a great attraction for collectors and other visitors. The original gift from the late Dr M‘Nab comprised 4,200 items, and in the intervening years 3,284 have been added, making the total stock at 'tho time of writing 7,484. Tho additions include ‘ The Tasihanian Almanack ’ for 1826, ‘ The Pitcairn Island Register Book,’ ‘ Early Wellington ’ (by L. E. Ward), and the first edition of Mariner’s ‘ Tonga Islands.’ A copy .of ‘The Quest, and Occupation of Tahiti by Emissaries of Spain during the years 1772-76,’ which is published by the Hakluyt Society, was also added. Three rare troopship papers were added to the section , on the Great War. .

Only 9,279 fewer passengers than during last year were carried by , the city, tramways, the number reaching 21,107.122. In view of the falling revenue, the car mileage was reduced by 3,926, so that the passengers per car mie remained practically the same as last year, comments the manager (Mr W. H. Mackenzie). Saturday afternoon and Sunday travelling had shown a further decrease, due,. no doubt, to the increasing number of motor cars used at the week-ends. The'Sunday traffic had fallen to such an extent that it was found, necessary to curtail part of the Sunday sex-vices. On the other hand, the revenue on Fridays had. incieased, and this meant that additional rolling stock was required, despite the falling revenue. Owing to the. unfavourable season, the summer seaside traffic had been most disappointing.

During the past season 160- acres were planted, with 95,830 . trees at Wharo Flat, and 206. acres with 124,000 trees on Flagstaff (states the report ,of the City Council’s reserves department. The older plantations continued to make most satisfactory growth, and considerable areas of pines and Oregon were thinned and pruned. It was satisfactory to note that this work, which had been carried out for the past twelve yeai-s, had met with the approval of the Empire Forestry Conference, and had been adopted by tho‘ Government Forestry Department. Another block of 650 acres- was planted at Waipori, and a further area of 600 acx;es was fenced' and partly pitted in preparation, for planting in, the spring. Horses and sheep had done considerable damage to one of the older plaptations, but the fences had now been repaired, and one of the men was resident at Waipori township, his duty being to see that the gates wei-e kept shut and the stock kept. out.

“ Tho - popularity of the lending library is unabated, but the restricted accommodation is a great handicap to further development, and the : work is carried on under many disadvantages,” reports the city librarian. “ The Froblenr is an acuto one, upon which have commented many times, and in the interests of the reading public something should be done to ease the situation. The number of books lent out for home reading was 254,013, an increase of 6,114 on the 1928-29 record. A pleasing feature is the steady growth in the use made of the hooks other than fiction, and the efforts made to popularise this part of the library are much appreciated. The revision of the stock was continued and 1,037 ■ volumes were withdrawn. New books to the' number of 1,656 were added, and - the net stock is 23,721 volumes.”

It was for a handshake with Mr Wm. Backhaus that Dunedin musicians gathered oh the railway platform this morning. This accepted “ prophet of the piano” held an informal but peculiarly cordial levee. Incidentally he said to tho reporter who was presented : “ I like your municipal halls. The larger one is dignified, the smaller one is in its way all that a concert chamber should be, just about perfect; the acoustic properties in each excellent.” To this testimony, given quite voluntarily, Mr Backhaus added that in a big chamber the strain on a pianist’s nerves is greater than when playing in a smaller place, but in our Dunedin town hall the calling up of his resources gave no trouble. Mr Gnivestock, who was standing by, fully endorsed what Mr Backhaus said, but put in tho suggestion _ that the glass doors should bo curtained or in some way made non-transparent, since some performers might be more or less distracted by tho sight of figures passing to and fro in the corridors.

Tho Mayor of Dunedin, before leaving to-day for Wellington, asked for a further reminder, to the public of the fact that the art union for the benefit of the unemployed closes on Saturday, and His Worship also desired it -made widely known that the Rugby test match at Wellington is to be described ait the town hall as the game goes, on, special arrangements having been made for a radio message as a means of enlightening the local football enthusiasts and adding a bit to the unemployed relief fund.

No fewer than eighty separate areas were involved in lands acquired by the City Council during the past year for street purposes. _ In sixty-one of these no compensation was payable, and in respect of the remaining nineteen the total compensation paid amounted to £3,543 7s 2d. Tho sum includes £448 19s 2d paid for the land at Woodhaugh purchased from the Anglican Church authorities, £75010s paid to the Government as compensation in connection with the widening of Mailer street at tho police station, and £6OB Ss paid for the railway workshops land required for widening Cargill road. The great majority of the areas comprise small portions of land acquired for cutting off sharp corners of streets imposed as a condition precedent to approval of jsubdivisional plans.:

Owing to tho presence of several country buyers at tho Burnside sales yesterday, fat cattle made a sharp rise over the last two races, finishing up dearer than last week. Medium quality brought 47s 6d to 50s per 1001 b.

As popular as Harold Lloyd and famous as Mary Pickford is our little screen mend, Mickey the Mouse. Everyone loves him and laughs at him—and" every child wilr want one of the D.I.C. Mickey Mouse Dolls. They’re funny and lovable and absolutely hygienic. Priced froth 2s to 21s'. See them in the window between the two main, doorways.—[Advt.] .... Saturday’s attractions at the popular dance. Concert Chamber, ■ will be waltzing competition for the, Otago championship (second section) and semi-leap year. Dancipg from 8 .to 10. Wedding Time is “Gold Band” Time. Ring tho Wedding Ftest i 0 increase in fares. Dial 18-oß6.—[Advt.j Your eyes are Nature’s most precious gift. Take care of them. Consult W. V. Sturmer, optician, 2 Octagon, Dunedin.[Advt.] Williamson’s Welden Lever is the .champion in watch values, guaranteed and teeted fully, for 40s (next The Bristol).—[Advt.] The North-east Talley School’s seventyseventh anniversary arrangements will be carried a step further towards fulfilment next Monday night in tho school, and all expupiis and ex-teachers aro invited to be present at 3 o’clock in the new school, at the rear of playground at N.E.V. School. Your eyes! It will pay you to take care of them. Why not call now and learn their true condition? I-will not suggest glasses unless absolutely necessary.—S. E. Ferguson, optician,, 46 George street.—