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Evening Star, Issue 20686, 8 January 1931, Page 8

When the Leeds express steamed out of King’s Cross, London, on November 24 it had the honour of being the first wireless-equipped train in England. Radio experiments had been carried out, on the railways, but this was the first lime that every passenger could listen in to the 8.8. C. programmes. Every seat had, a socket for headphones, which could be hired at a shilling for the journey. The next development will bo train telephones. This installation will enable the train traveller to keep in touch with an office, to book hotel accommodation or theatre scuts, or to ring up bis borne, although ho is, maybe, hundreds of miles away from it. That many people who came to him asking for advice in choosing a vocation for their children wanted to know what they were going to get out ot it was the contention put forward by Professor .1. Shelley when speaking at the dominion camp of tbo New Zealand Anglican Girls’ Bible Class Union. “ They arc thinking merely of whnt is going to give them enough money to keep them in good circumstances,” ho said, “ and that is a very, very disturbing state of things. Tire average business man wants it. That is the wrong attitude, and means that they no longer live, but exist only.” “ It would pay the North Island to pay the South Island farmers to go out of "wheat growing so the wheat could be imported without the present exorbitant duty designed to protect the New Zealand wheat fanner,” said the chair-' man, Mr M. G. Trotter, at a meeting ot the Stratford Executive of the Far iners’ Union. His remarks were provoked by a statement that wheat invoiced at TIG 15s a ton from Melbourne would bo subject fo a duty of £'9 per ton. An elaborate hunting expedition is to bo carried out in British Columbia this wing by Mr_S. De Gbandel, who, according to a Vancouver newspaper, will then come on to New Zealand. Mr De Gbandel, who is a much-travelled sportsman, intends to cross the district on horseback, this method of travel having never been attempted before in that part of the country. In addition to Ids wife, secretary, and personal attendants, Mr De Gbandel is taking with him a mining engineer and prospector in order to investigate mining possibilities in tho region covered.

“ it' 1 were tho Director of Education in Now Zealand —which heaven forbid —I should make .school camps compulsory as part of school time, with teachers there not to teach, but to answer questions when required. Children would sample what life is when in direct touch with it. It would be tho greatest educational relorm ever known in Mew Zealand.’’ —Professor J. Shelley, speaking at tho dominion camp of (lie New Zealand Anglican Girls’ Bible Class Union.

The only ease before tho Police Conn, this morning was that of a young man who was charged with attempting to commit suicide. He pleaded guilty, and was admitted to probation for twelve months, a condition being that lie paid tho hospital expenses within three months. His name was suppressed. Through tho very generous response bv tho citizens of Dunedin and surrounding districts to tho appeal for funds for Christmas cheer made by the Patients and Prisoners’ Aid Society that body lias been able to contribute a goodly sum toward the festivities in each of the following institutions:— Palmerston Sanatorium, Wakari, Seacliff Mental Hospital, Orokonui Home, local prison, in addition to a largo number of parcels sent to tho homes of necessitous families. It is worthy of mention that the society was in the fortunate position of assisting a further number of homes through the extreme generosity of the local Rotary Club. Over 240 men resumed work on the To Anau Downs road on Monday .(says the ‘ Western Star ’). Owing to the fact that a number left at Christmas without paying their accounts tho storekeepers have decided to give no more credit without receiving orders on the Public Works Department. Tho department, however, will not agree to this procedure. Besides the wreckage, believed to have been part of the wireless bouse of tho Tahiti, and found in Tonga, a lifebelt has been picked tip by the cutter Tui Vala, while cruising at Oneata (writes the Suva correspondent of the Auckland ‘Star’). It was in very good order and the name was clearly legible. It must have drifted 1,200 miles, and it seems a coincidence that it should drift to land at tho spot where a hundred years earlier three Tahitian missionaries landed to bring Christianity to the Lau Group. Natives state that an oar and pieces of driftwood were washed ashore a few days earlier.

With many people out of town over the holidays the attendances at the Municipal Baths foil off a, little, hut tho return to normal routine has been responsible for increased patronage, and the present month is expected to he a busy one. The water at the present time is in excellent condition, being very clear, while the temperature is what swimmers would term “ just right.”.

At the annual prize-giving ceremony at the Stratford Technical High School Sir Walter Carncro.ss, Speaker of the Legislative Council, said it had been suggested that the Maori language sh'ould be taught in New Zealand schools. The misuse that was made of the Maori tongue by the average New Zealander was to be deplored, because Maori was a beautiful language which was "murdered” by those who bad no knowledge of its inherent qualities. There had even been judges of the Maori Land Court, he added, who could not speak Maori, and who had been dependent upon interpreters who might or might not have translated faithfully. A local fruiterer had an unpleasant shock when he was turning over a case of Australian oranges a couple of days ago, a centipede about 6in long being observed crawling about. After the oranges bad been displayed one by one, the centipede was secured in a bottle without much difficulty, and very soon it came to a timely end. It possessed a very long body and numerous pairs of jointed legs, and although the more usual form of centipede is harmless the fruiterer is inclined to the belief that this particular type is one of the tropical variety that is capable of inflicting a nasty and even dangerous wound upon a person it happens to bite. It is known that the larger tropical species are capable of inflicting wounds that have even been known to prove fatal. This same dealer states that smaller centipedes are not uncommonly found among cases of Australian oranges, and that earwigs are frequently found among cases of bananas. Business .people who have been approached in the course of casual conversation are striking an optimistic note regarding the coming year. Since the holidays business has been of a somewhat patchy nature, but this is the common experience at-this time of the year, ami most of those who have expressved an opinion on the subject declare that the most essential thing is for the public to cultivate a spirit of optimism regarding the future. The City Fire Brigade was called on to deal with two chimney fires this morning. At 8.33 it was summoned to Stewart’s shop. 236 Princes street, and at 9 o’clock to a house in Jackson street. Two foremen from the Port Wellington appeared in the Police Court at Port Chalmers last evening, charged with the theft of stores to the value of los from the ship. They were convicted and fined AT. each, in default forlv-eiglit hours’ imprisonment. Messrs N. Dodds and J. Tu-it. justices of the peace, wore on the bench. A Gisborne Association message stales that spurious florins and a counterfeit shilling were handed to the police yesterday, and an endeavour js being made to trace their source. The postal authorities advise that the Monowai from San Francisco, due at Wellington on .Monday, has 161 bags of mail and sixty-one parcel receptacles for Dunedin. The letters will be available at Dunedin on Tuesday afternoon, and the balance of the mail on Wednesday. Wedding time is Gold Band Taxis time. Special 7-scater Hudsons. Phone 18-068. f Advt.] Sour eyes arc Nature’s most precious gift Take care of them. Consult W. V, btiuiner, optician, 2 Octagon, Dunedin.— f Advt.] IE it’s Umgs, Williamsons, next The Bristol, will show a nice selection. Better value thcro to —[Advt.] S. E. Ferguson, G.P.0.C., consulting optician, watchmaker, and jeweller. Consult us about your eyes; our ndvica and long experience is at your disposal. Optical repairs a specialty; done at shortest notice.— 4j George street.—iAdvt.J