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Evening Star, Issue 22524, 17 December 1936, Page 10

The postal authorities advise that the Makura left Sydney on Tuesday for Wellington with 15 bags of Australian mail for Dunedin and also the London air mail of December 3. The air mail should arrive on Saturday afternoon and the ordinary mails on Sunday afternoon. The Niagara, due at Auckland on Monday from Vancouver, has 180 bags of English and American mails for Dunedin. The mails should come to hand on Wednesday afternoon. The secretary of the Presbyterian Social Service Association gratefully acknowledges receipt of a generous donation from Mr John Edmond, of Melbourne, to bo spent on Christmas cheer for the children and old people under the association’s care. Better quality sheep at Burnside yesterday afternoon sold at rates about equal to those ruling a week ago, but inferior ewes were not in demand to the same extent. Prices; —Extra prime shorn wethers, to 325; prime shorn, 26s to 28s; medium shorn, 23s to 255; light and unfinished, from 21s; extra prime shorn ewes, to 28s 3d; prime shorn, 23s to 255; medium shorn, 17s to 21s; light, from 13s 6d. Since the commencement of the Labour Department’s placement scheme 18,376 men have been found work throughout the Dominion. The number placed in Dunedin is 1,854, of whom 1,054 were found permanent positions, 632 temporary work, and 268 casual jobs. The total placements for the week ending November 12, totalled 107. The" secretary of the Presbyterian Social Service Association lias received a generous donation from Mr John Edmond, of Melbourne, formerly of Dunedin, to be spent on providing Christmas cheer for the children and old people under the care of the association.

The purchase of about 4,000 acres of tbo Tongariro timber lands at Tokaanu by a King Country firm of sawmillers has been completed. The native owners will receive about £170,000. The area sold is estimated to contain nearly 80,000,000 ft log measurement of timber. It is part' of a block of 10,000 acres of tbo finest totara, matai, and rimu forest in New Zealand, owned exclusively by members of the Tuwharctoa tribe. The total area is estimated to contain more than 1,000,000,000 ft, and the stumpage value has been assessed at £3,750,000,

The last sitting of the Magistrate’s Court for the year was held to-day. At the conclusion of the business Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M., extended to the members of the Bar, the court officials, and the Press the season’s greetings. “ Nothing would) do so much to transform education in New Zealand into a dynamic process as the provision of a set of revitalised text books,” says the • journal of the New Zealand Educational Institute. “ Children cannot be expected to have a thirst for knowledge after they leave school if day after day throughout tho period of their formal education they have found by experience that the sources of knowledge are no more than a collection of mummified relics. The only way to change this attitude is to ensure that the new text books, at the same time as they contain the basic elements of knowledge, are written and produced) in such a manner as will rivet the attention of the children. This may be a tall order, but in such a matter as this no expenditure of time, thought, and money should be spared.”

The Otago Acclimatisation Society has received the following report, dated December 14, from Roxburgh:—“ The sixth competition of the Teviot Angling Club was held on the Pomahaka River yesterday, but tbe river was very .low, and the extreme heat made it very clear. Forty-four fish, of a total_ weight of 3431 b, were obtained. The prize-win-ners were as follow:—Heaviest bag: D. Lyttle, with CJlb, J. Pearson and R. Straehan second (equal), with 4Jlb each. J. Cook landed the heaviest fish, a 13-pounder.” It is not generally known that if the proposal to introduce play on Sundays on the North-east Valley bowling green had been carried at last night’s meeting of members (reported elsewhere in this issue) that green would also have inaugurated the playing of the game on the Sabbath in Dunedin. Officially, there is no club in Dunedin which permits Sunday play, and as a result of the voting at North-east Valley the position is, therefore, unchanged. Smart work by the city fire brigade prevented serious damage to_ an eightroomed wooden dwelling in Albert street late yesterday afternoon, when the pantry of the home was gutted by fire. Only slight damage was done to the passageway and _ the contents of the building, which is owned by the Misses Reynolds. The cause of the outbreak is unknown. A Press Association message from Wellington states that tbo air mail despatched from Auckland on November 26, arrived at London on December 14.

Because of the number of orders already being fulfilled, wine and spirit merchants anticipate a record Christmas trade this year. The demand is for larger supplies and better qualities of liquor, according to one local merchant, who said to-day that he has not experienced such a rush of business since his firm was established. Hotelkeepers are also optimistic, and most have already made arrangements to employ extra barmen next week. Judgment was given by His Honour Mr Justice Kennedy in the Supreme Court this morning in the case in which an application was made by originating summons for approval of a scheme for the distribution of the estate of the late Sir John Roberts and for interpretation of certain clauses of the will, to which there were 17 codicils. In a lengthy judgment; His Honour answered the questions asked in the summons, and decided that the appropriation suggested by the parties might legally be made. An order was made sanctioning and approving the suggested distribution, appropriation, and allotment. The costs of all parties would be paid out of the residuary estate. At the hearing various parties were represented by Mr H. L. Cooki Mr J. M. Paterson,’Mr F. S. Brent, Mr J. S. Sinclair, and Mr J. C. Mowat. A bottle cast into the sea from Queen Charlotte Sound was picked up by a Chatham Islands resident two months later. The finder has sent a letter to the Hon. W. H. Macintyre, M.L.C., who cast the bottle adrift, adding that he found 2Joz of ambergris nearby the bottle, which had covered a distance of at least 425 miles. Mr Macintyre has sent in acknowledgment another bottle, this time by post, and containing a cordial message with a Highland flavour.—Wellington Press Association. Eye strain—for eyo comfort, for better vision, consult Stunner and Watson Dtd., opticians, 2 Octagon. Dunedin.—[Advt-1