Untitled

Evening Star, Issue 22892, 25 February 1938, Page 8

The City Fire Brigade was called out at 9.31 last night by a malicious false alarm from the corner of Grandview Crescent and Signal Hill road, Opoho, and a similar call was responsible for the brigade turning out to the corner of Eglinton and Main South roads at 12.23 a.m. A grass fire on the railway embankment at the corner of Glen road was attended to at 12.58 a.m. A Christchurch Association message states that a bank clerk, Thomas Robert Stringer, . was charged in the Magistrate’s Court with the theft on February 22 of £3OO, the property of the Bank of New Zealand. Detective-Ser-geant Bickerdike, in asking for a remand until March 7, said a larger amount would be involved. Stringer, who was not represented by counsel, agreed to the remand. He did not apply for bail. The postal authorities advise that the Kaikorai left Sydney on Wednesday for Wellington with eight bags of mail for Dunedin and the London air mail of the 10th instant. The latter should be to hand on Tuesday afternoon and the ordinary mail that evening. During his address in the Concert Chamber last night Mr S. G. Holland, M.P. for Christchurch North, said that Socialism meant State trading. He had had an example of that in Christchurch when the Tramways Board became a Labour body. Before the Labour Party assumed control there had not been one penny placed on the city’s rates. Within three years of Labour administration £70,000 in rates had been struck.

The postal authorities advise that the air mail despatched from Dunedin on February 3 by the City of Bagdad reached London on Monday last. , An Otaki Association message states that William Charles Norman was committed for trial on a charge of committing a serious offence against a young married woman. “ A serious state of affairs is going to arise,” said the chairman of the Hospital Board (Mr J. W. Dove) at the meeting last night when a report was received from the board’s engineer stating that he had been advised that after May 1 the coal known as peas ■would no longer be available for the boilers at the Hospital. It was explained that after that dato there would be only two grades of coal—dross and household —on account of legislation enacted by the Government. The chairman was authorised to interview the Minister of Mines in order to ascertain the true state of affairs. Alarm at the non-appearance of the Wellington yacht Te Hongi at Lyttelton, which was said tq be felt by Christchurch yachtsmen, is unnecessary (says a Press Association telegram), as the vessel is safe in Wellngton. Sailed single-handed by Mr H F, Lamb, of Johnsonville. the 40ft schooner left Wellington for Lyttelton on Tuesday of last week, but fog and calms caused her to make poor progress, and Mr Lamb abandoned the voyage. Ho arrived back at Wellington on Friday. On Tuesday a yacht, believed to be the Te Hongi, was sighted off Lyttelton, but it must have been another craft. It is understood that the Te Hongi left last night for the Marlborough Sounds.

The highest temperature in Invercargill since 1925 was registered yesterday, the reading being 86deg. With the exception of 1925 (says a Press Association telegram) it is probably the highest ever recorded there. The summer in Southland has been extremely dry and very hot, and if there is no rain soon the position will become serious. Already many pastures are burnt almost beyond recovery, and dairy production is being retarded. The temperature at Gore on Wednesday was 92deg.

Some remarkable discrepancies in unemployed figures in New Zealand were revealed by Mr S. G. Holland, M.P. for Christchurch North, during an address given in the Concert Chamber last night. Mr W. J. Jordan, High Commissioner for New Zealand, speaking in Canada, had said that unemployment in New Zealand had reached its highest point at 50,000. During his visit to Australia the Hon. R. Semple had given that figure as 75,000. A few nights ago the Hon. H. T. Armstrong had been quoted as saying that unemployment in the Dominion had declined from 100,000 to 23,000. “ A remarkable jump of 25,000 in each instance,” remarked the speaker. At the meeting of the Otago Hospital Board, held last night, the Hospital Committee recommended the acceptance of the quotation of Messrs Watson, Victor Ltd. for the supply of a mobile “ D ” shockproof X-ray unit in addition to a 7 x 5 ray-speed cassette, with screens. The adoption of the quotation of the New Zealand Distributors Ltd. for the supply of Siemens X-ray diagnostic equipment was also recommended. The latter quotation includes equipment for the radiographic, fluoroscopic, and pyelographic rooms. In speaking to the report, the chairman (Mr J. W. Dove) remarked that the provision of this equipment was a forward move on the part of the board.

In its report on the subject of the sinking of the pilot launch by the City of Bagdad on February 2, the sub-com-mittee set up to go into the matter intimated at last night’s meeting of the Otago Harbour Board, that the sinking was misadventure, and that no action was called for. The Marine Department also advised that no further inquiry would be held by the department. The report of the sub-committee was adopted, and it was decided, on the recommendation of the Standing Committee. to arrange with Mr W. D. •Sutherland for the hire of his launch Kotare as a temporary pilot vessel. The board also decided to call tenders for the construction of a new launch. Yesterday afternoon members of the annual conference of the New Zealand Institution of Engineers were the guests of the harbour board, when they were taken for a trip to the Mole. Several visiting ladies helped to _ make the party a large one. Light rain fell for a while, but it did not interfere with the inspection of the Mole. ‘ Mr C. R. Davis, assistant engineer to the harbour board, explained the purpose of the Mole and details of construction. The visitors were given afternoon tea, and at last evening’s session 'St the conference appreciative reference was made to the board’s hospiiflity. The spectacle of a man painting the main centre flagpole on the Town Hall building high above the city drew the attention of people in the streets this morning. Experienced at working at heights that would make the average person feel giddy, he wielded his brush just as ho might have done if working on the ground level. The work is being done by Mr A. L. Wigg, whoso tender for painting all the fiagstaft's on the building was accepted by the Finance Committee of the City Corporation.

The Otago Aero Club hopes to have the Flying Flea at the Taieri airport on March 12. This machine was built by the owner, Mr W. L. Notman, of Oamaru, and will be piloted by Mr D. Whitaker. On the same day it is also expected that a Taylor Cub machine will be at the airport. This machine is owned by Mr B. Owen, Christchurch, and is a side-by-side cabin machine of a type which has attained great popularity in the United States. A correspondent has written asking where tuis may be seen in the vicinity of Dunedin. By far the largest number are to be found at Whare Flat, but at any time during the year tuis may be seen about the Southern Reservoir, the Ross Creek Reservoir, and in the plantations on the slopes of Flagstaff. They are fairly plentiful in those areas just now, feeding on rowan and fuchsia berries. The spring is_ the most favourable season, for the birds, attracted by the kowhais and gums, are often* drawn as close to the city as the Town Belt. Should the winter be severe tuis may also he driven closer than usual to human habitation, and the small reserves of bush about Maori Hill often form a temporary shelter from the severity of the elements in more exposed positions.

The postal authorities advise that the Mahana from London due at Wellington on Thursday, has 318 parcel receptacles for New Zealand. The Dunedin portion should be available two days later.

“ Labour in slow motion ” was the description of his observation of Auckland waterside workers given by Mr D. M. Robinson, of Vancouver, to Christchurch ‘ Press ’ yesterday. The vessel on which he had travelled to Sydney was in Auckland for 34 hours, the long stay being caused, he considered, by the slow methods of the men handling the cargo. “ And the Sydney waterside workers are not much better,” he said. “ Things are different in all the other ports i have been in. There, the longshoremen have to hustle.” “ There is some direction, I think, in which our education system fails,” said Mr T. D. Burnett, M.P. for Temuka, when speaking at the diamond jubilee of the Scotsburn School at Peel Forest yesterday (says the .Christchurch ‘ Press ’). “I think we are overloading it. We are trying to crowd too much into the curriculum. Our main aim should be to turn out good citizens and to avoid the many frills and side issues.”

In explaining something of the organisation and aims of the new National Party in his address at Waitara recently, Mr S. G. Smith, M.P., said there were now 100,000 members of the party, and the first objective was to restore to people the heritage of freedom that had been filched from them during the last two years. The aim, objects, and philosophy of the National Party were characteristic of the British tradition, to which the policy of the Socialist Party was foreign. At the Port Chalmers Court to-day William Charles Parker was fined 10s and costs (10s) for using a private car to carry passengers. The information was laid under the section stipulating insurance under third-party risks, which defendant had not effected. The magistrate, Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M., commented on complaints about private cars being used for taxi-ing. The fine was a nominal one as it was hoped the prosecution would serve as a warning. Rosalenda Jessie Anderson pleaded not guilty to a charge of not remedving a defective drain, the defence being that the required improvements would be very costly, and defendant wished to have the tenants ejected in order that the house could be pulled down as it was very old and. really not worth the expense involved. The 'borough health inspector pointed out that defendant was warned last June, and'subsequently, but the drain had not been made sanitary. An adjournment was gnanted defendant to ensure that definite requirements are complied with Tn a civil action, J. H, Clnlce was granted judgment by default against, J. Fletcher for IGs 9cl, plus 10s (goods supplied).

In the Supreme Court this morning motions for discharge from bankruptcy were granted by Mr Justice Kennedy in the cases of Charles Alexander Arthur (Mr 0. J. L. White), fisherman, of Himataitai, and. Henry Guyton (Mr J. L. Calder), builder, of Dunedin. The health returns for the week ended to-day comprise a remarkably light list. Two cases of scarlet fever were reported in Otago and one m Southland, and the only other notification was one of pulmonary tuberculosis in the Otago district. The district medical officer of health (Dr 1. M'Kibbin) stated this morning that though the summer had been abnormally hot and dry, the health or, the community had been very good and there had been none of the complications that might have been expected in so hot a season. At the present time there were a fair number of colds about, and he added that these might show a tendency to increase as the 'season was approaching when changing temperatures would be very much in evidence. A decision to grant all members of the nursing staff at present living out an allowance of £IOO a year was made at last night’s meeting of the Wellington Hospital Board.—Press Association. Eye strain—for eye comfort, for better vision, consult Sturmer and Watson Ltd., opticians. 2 Octagon, Dunedin. —[Advt.J Dus to an error in our copy of the typewritten judgment given by Mr J. K. Bartholomew. S.M., in the case in which Matthew Henry Dawson was prosecuted tor breaches of the Licensing Act, the word “ for ” appeared in the second last graph instead of the word “ condition. ’