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Evening Star, Issue 22687, 29 June 1937, Page 8

A malicious false alarm caused the Central and Roslyn Fire Brigades to turn out at 4.43 yesterday afternoon to Littlebourno Crescent. Tho hardest frost in 12 years was experienced in Oamaru yesterday morning, when 16]deg were recorded. On Sunday 15deg were registered. The winter to date has been a particularly severe one, the frost recordings beipg the highest for many years. -Much inconvenience has been caused by the bursting of water pipes and the freezing of household supplies. A singular effect of the severe weather is tho appearance of numberless birds of many varieties. ITor instance, bell birds and tuis have, for thfe past two months, been frequent habitues of the Public Gardens and the Waitaki Boys’ High School, while silvereyes, tomtits, fantails, and tho rifleman have also been seen. Bell birds and tuis have frequently been seen at tho Waitaki High School, hut residents of the town consider it is the first occasion on which these charming songsters have appeared within the precincts of Oamaru.

Following his remarks on the shortage of garden seats in tho city reserves and his appeal to publicspirited citizens to make gifts, Mr Crosby Morris announced at the annual meeting of the Amenities Society yesterday afternoon that the Gardening Circle of the Otago Women’s Club had decided to make a donation of two seats.

A complaint that men were monopolising the tramway department’s seat the Stock ftxchange was mado by a woman member at the annual meeting yesterday afternoon of tho Amenities Society. _ She said tho seat was labelled! “ Ladies only,” but more often than not it was occupied by men,, who, from their looks, appeared as if they were seated there for a long time. They were not waiting for trams. The seat was a boon for intending tram passengers, although it was too high to be comfortable for women. A year oi- two ago the police were active in shifting tlie men, who gradually drifted back and were now in full possession. She also suggested that seats should be placed in other parts of the city and! reserved for women only. Amid laughter Mr J. M‘George suggested that the sign “ Ladies only ” should be raised above the heads of the men who commandeered the Stock Exchange seat.

At the sitting of the No. 4 Transport Licensing Authority yesterday afternoon decision was reserved in applications for goods-service licenses by A. Colquhoun (Outram), for whom Mr W. P. Hartstonge appeared in support, and W. R. Blair (East Taieri), tor whom Mr C. J. L. White appeared. The shortage of milk continues, and there is unlikely to be any easing of the situation for four or five weeks, when the new cows will come in.

The fact that for every 24 men in skilled trades in the Dominion only 12 youths were ready to join them was referred to by Mr W. G. Aldridge, principal of tho King Edward Technical College, in an address on ‘ The Practical Choice of a Career ’ to the Dunedin Centro of the Faculty of Insurance .last night, as constituting a very serious position in industry in New Zealand. Tradesmen would have to be imported if more labour was not trained, Mr Aldridge said, and then they would find their own boys working as labourers. It seemed as if they were heading towards the American system, where a small, highly-trained staff of technicians controlled a large number of unskilled workers.

Mr Justice Kennedy has granted probate in the estates of William Bain, retired farmer, of Roxburgh; 'William Watson, retired accountant, of J)uuedin; David Millar, farmer, of Stirling; Susan Ora ham M‘ Laron, widow, of Dunedin; Eliza Caroline Anderson, married woman, of Dunedin; Henry Wilson, storekeeper, of Mosgicl; Mary Jane Frances Spiers, married woman, of Dunedin; Catherine M'Raudle, widow, of Oamaru. Letters of a diministration have been granted in the estates of Henry Snow Anderson, shepherd, of Pembroke, and Helen Dulf, married woman, of Outram.

Spooks, ghosts, and such like creations of a vivid imagination are generally discredited but one can sympathise with the recent experience of a caretaker of a northern morgue. A corpse had been brought into the morgue and by accident, a fox terrier was locked in when the party left. Passing the building in the dark hours of the night, the caretaker was surprised and not a little perturbed to hear a whining sound" and scratching noises coming from behind the locked doors. His first inclination naturally, was to run away, but plucking up courage, he advanced and cau.tiously unlocked the door. Out shot the “ ghost,” and after colliding with the man, broke all Mr Semple’s speed limits in leaving its unusual and unwelcome prison.'

Feed for stock is definitely short in practically all parts of the Otago district. The unfavoui’able summer weather resulted in crop failures and low yields, and the position thus created has been accentuated by recent rains and cold. Not only are farmers faced with a scarcity of feed, but they are finding feeding conditions almost impossible, the drenched state of the grounds soon giving way to a quagmire when the stock is turned out to feed. Tho Jot of tho dairy farmers is not a happy one at present, and many cattle have had to bo transported to higher grazing grounds. In the Magistrate’s Court this morning Mr J. It, Bartholomew, S.M., gave judgement by default for tho plaintiffs in the following cases:— W. T. Beveridge Ltd. v. W. Gasper, 16s, goods ; D. L. M. Robb v. Hugh Muir Miller, £6 16s, goods and work done. The postal authorities advise that tho mails which left hero on May 29 via San Pedro reached London on Thursday last. Advice has been received that tho Sydney-Singapore-Lon-don air mail which left Dunedin_ on tho 19th inst. reached Sydney in time to connect with tho air mail due in London on July 7. Museums, art and halls in general in which no charge is made for admission, find difficulty in ascertaining tho number of people admitted, on any given day. Tho turnstile method has disadvantages which have led to its abandonment by the Science Museum, London, tho newest and most popular of museums in the Empire, attendances at which, during 1936, totalled more than 1,900,000. Attendance at the Chinese loan exhibition at the Otago University Museum has been heavy over the week-ends, being estimated at well over 1,000. On Sunday an actual count at the door gave the number of entrants between 2 and 4 p.m. as 711. There has been no drop in attendances since the opening day. In response to numerous suggestions it has been decided to open the gallery to. the public on Thursday evening. Details appear elsewhere in this issue. The official closing date has been postponed to Tuesday, July 13. Several new and important pieces, belonging to Dunedin owners, have been lent to the exhibition, including' a Sung vase, a Ming bowl, and a screen of tho same period, and a pair of dogs of yellow pottery under transparent glaze.

'flio promises of the Employment Second Division of the New Zealand Government in St. Andrew street were entered last night, and later an arrest was made by Detective J. Gibson. This morning David Littlejohn Brunton (34) and Leonard Georgo Robertson (37) were charged with breaking and entering tho warehouse of tin 1 Employment Division and stealing 15 pairs of hoots, valued at about £ll 12s fid, the property of the division. On the application of Chief-detective .1. B. Young, tho magistrate (Mr J. R Bartholomew) granted a remand until Thursday, July 8. In the Police Court to-day, a first offender, for drunkenness, was fined 10s, in default 24 hours’ imprisonment, Senior-sergeant Packer stating that the defendant was found in a drunken sleep at 10.30 last night at the pie cart in Customhouse Square.

A considerable amount of preliminary work will have to be done before the improvement of tho St. Clair children’s playground is started. So far only a sketch plan of tho proposed scheme has been prepared, and the city engineer will have to take levels and prepare all details of the .scheme and its cost before the work can start. However, the work is to be pushed ahead, as the City Council is anxious to undertake an improvement which will provide employment.

An application for leave to appeal to tho Privy Council in the case of tho Auto-machine Manufacturing Company Limited versus tho Canadian Government Merchant Marine was dismissed by consent by tho Court of Appeal this morning, with costs. —Press Association.

“ In the Old Country the farmer is up at 4 o’clock with lantern, but the ‘ cocky ’ in New Zealand gets np at 9 and dashes round tho farm in a car, and lets the dog go in among the sheep,” said Mr A. Leslie,, formerly veterinarian at Canterbury Agricultural College, in an address last evening at Christchurch. “ Then, when they are hard-up. they appeal to the Government. It is almost as fashionable to go bankrupt as to get a divorce.” Ho later advised his audience of young farmers to learn tbo facts about their work and not to go to the Government “ crying for this and that.” When ho was" leaving the room the business turned to the problem of raising .money for an activity of the Young Farmers’ Club. “Go to the Government,” a member called out.

Sunday night and Monday morning wore very cold in the back country of Canterbury, and many hot water cisterns and pipes could not stand tho strain (says tho ‘ Press ’). Most of the houses at Avoca were without hot water yesterday morning, but the position was worse at the Bealey Hotel. The proprietress. Mrs It. Ferguson, reported yesterday that practically all tho bottles of beer "and soft drinks had exploded, leaving the broken glass round the frozen drinks. All tho motor lorries in that district had to bo thawed out with hot water before they could be started. ' It took Mr David M'Lcod, of ** Grasmere ” station, four hours to travel the 17 miles to Springfield.

Eve, strain—for eye comfort, for better vision, consult. Stunner and \Vaison Lhl., cpt iciaus, 2 Octagon, Dunedin.-LAdvl.]