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Evening Star, Issue 22988, 20 June 1938, Page 8

On Saturday evening at the Regent Theatre, by the courtesy of the manager (Mr Bennell), the chairman of the Territorial Association (Dr Roland Fulton) gave a three-minute talk on ‘ Defence ’ during the interval. : He stated that the association, since its formation two months ago, had achieved a great measure of success, but it was not yet satisfied. There was still _ a necessity for further extension of its work, and the general public was urged to do its part and support in every ppssible way those who were training for defence.

To carry the heavier locomotives which are being placed in service by the New Zealand Railways, the department is now using heavier rails on the tracks. In place of the old rails, which weighed 701 b to the yard, the new rails will be 851 b to the yard, and will be placed in the first place at Waitati, Merton, Goodwood, and Waiareka.

His Honour Mr Justice Kennedy has granted probate in the estates of the following deceased persons:—Ann Elizabeth M‘Kay, married woman, Dunedin; Samuel Sheppard, labourer, Palmerston; Jean Strachau Waghorn, married woman, Dunedin; William Wilson, farmer, Stirling; Albert Tripp, miner, Kaitangata; James Mouat, farmer, Purakanui; Amelia Jane M'Cormack, widow, Hampden; Margaret King, spinster, Dunedin; Mary Ann Boylan, widow, Kaitangata; Fanny Bowman, widow, Dunedin.

We have received £2 2s from the North-east Valley Bowling Club for the Carswell fund.

The City Fire Brigade was called out by a malicious false alarm from the corner of Evans street and Comely Bank, Opoho, at 5.21 p.m. yesterday. Four minutes later a chimney fire in Arthur street was attended to, and an hour afterwards a call of a similar nature from Regent road was answered.

Combined “ raids ” were made yesterday on all the arterial roads about the city by City Corporation traffic inspectors and officials of the Transport Department, and it is reported that a good “ bag ” was made of motorists who have not yet renewed their annual driving or half-yearly certificates_ of fitness in respect to their cars Inquiry at the Town Hall shows that about 2,000 persons who held driving licenses last year have not yet renewed them.

There are not enough nurses at the Queen Mary Maternity Hospital to allow them the free time to which they are entitled, this position being due to the large number of bookings for admission to the hospital and to the difficulty in providing sufficient staffing at the institution. Since it has been opened there has rarely been less than 20 to 23 of the 30 available beds accommodated, the number of patients exceeding the expectations of the hospital authorities.

Claimed to be the first frost fish to come on the Dunedin market this season, a splendid specimen was on sale in a South Dunedin fish shop this morning. It did not last long, however, as the proprietor of the shop stated that the last piece was sold five minutes after the fish was placed in the window. The fish was sft 9in in length, and weighed 1221 b. During the week-end the new railway bridge over the Temuka River was completed and the old one dismantled. A gang of 18 men, working in shifts, commenced operations on Saturday night, and this morning trains were using the new bridge. The piers were ready on Saturday when the work was commenced, and the whole of the superstructure was placed in position between Saturday night and this morning. Some idea of the task which faced the men may bo gathered from the fact that the new bridge is comprised of 32 spans each of 28ft. Two heavy travelling cranes wore used in the work.

Tho district railway engineer (Mr P. H. Morey) has been instructed to carry out two grade casements in the local section. One will be at the Clarendon bank, between Waihola and Milburn, where the grade will bo reduced from 1 in 66 to 1 in 100. Fifty men will bo placed on this job as soon as the camp is prepared for them at Clarendon, and another 50 will bo placed on the Shag Point bank, between Bushey and Shag Point, where the grade will bo eased from 1 in 50 to 1 in 80. Additional men will be taken on when tho woxk has been got under way. After blocking all traffic for several hours on tho Kingston-Queenstown highway, a slip which occurred near Queenstown on Saturday night as tho result of heavy rain was cleared by 4.30 yesterday afternoon.

One striking feature of the new motor ship Port Montreal, which is at present berthed at Victoria wharf to discharge cargo from Halifax, and to load for New York, Boston, and Montreal, is that she has a maierform bow. This typo of bow recedes sharply, and near the water’s edge has a pronounced curve, which is carried right down to the ship’s bottom. It is claimed that this Dutch patent gives extra speed and more economical steaming. This is the first visit of the Port Montreal to this port. She is on© of three vessels built by the Port Dine for the Montreal-Australia-New Zealand trade, and is now on her second voyage, having first visited Australia. A modern freighter of 5,882 tons, she_ was specially designed for the service. Captain E. J. Syvret is in command of tho steamer, which will leave here tomorrow morning.

Carrying 8,600 tons of phosphate for the British Phosphate Commission, the Bank Line steamer Weirbank was to arrive at Auckland to-day from Nauru Island. Shipments of this magnitude are becoming more frequent to New Zealand ports. The Olivebank, owned by the same line, is due at Lyttelton on Wednesday with the same quantity for discharge at that port and Ravensbourne. It is interesting to note that shipments of phosphate rock from Nauru and Ocean Islands have increased from 187,000 _tons in 1934-35 to approximately 285,000 tons over 1937-38 —nn increase of nearly 100,000 tons in three years.

Ten days’ pounding by tho angry seas which whipped tho Otago coasts during the last fortnight or so has ruined the foreshore protection work which was being carried out at Oamarn by the Railway Department, and 12 months’ work has been wiped out. The work will be carried on, however, and the line of piles will be continued as far as possible along the foreshore. Huge blocks of concrete, each weighing 12 tons, will then be skidded out from the bank so that a good slope will be obtained. The blocks will be arranged in two tiers and the slope to the top of tho hank will be 1 in 2J. In the meantime 700 to 800 tons of stone is being dumped daily as a protection. This is being obtained from Enfield and Sawyer’s Bay.

The postal authorities advise that the Awatea left Sydney at 8.50 p.m. on Friday with 66 bags of Australian mail and the London air mails of June 2 and 5. The air mails should reach Dunedin on Tuesday afternoon and the ordinary mails that evening.

For selling beer in Wanganui without a license John Cant was fined £lO and costs (10s) by Mr Salmon, S.M.. Mary Cant, for keeping her premises as a common gaming house, was fined £lO, and Hugh Ormsby Chant was fined £SO on a similar charge.—Press Association. The Mayor and Mayoress of Port Chalmers and members of the borough council and their wives and the staff attended divine service last night in Holy Trinity Church, when the Rev. E. G. Wilson preached an impressive sermon on the far-reaching responsibilities of citizenship.

Motorists who decided to make their way to the Taieri through RoslynWakari yesterday must have been greatly chagrined to find that only one road was open to them, and that it was swept by a thick blanket of smoke. The road that leads almost directly to the aerodrome is under repair, but it was not until the motorist had made his way down a slippery mud thoroughfare for some hundreds of yards that he found that the road had been closed. Nothing remained but to turn back and take the other road over Flagstaff. Owing to the burning of bush on the far side of the hill, however, this was also an unenviable journey-—it was impossible to proceed at anything greater than a walking speed, so thick was the volume of smoke that billowed over the road.

The Hawke’s Bay County Council’s wages bill for May was £5,488, compared "with the normal bill of about £1,500. The large extra expenditure in wages was due to damage caused by the flood of April. The county clerk, Mr W. J. O’Connell, said that the county was employing about 360 men. compared with about 90 under normal conditions.

Novel but effective methods were employed by Dr J. H. Kolb in speaking to an Auckland gathering on some recent administrative developments in the United States. Instead of delivering an address on formal lines Dr Kolb distributed a mimeographed sheet showing the plan or framework of his speech, and thus enabled his listeners to follow visually as well as orally. In a conversational way that placed him on an intimate footing with his audience Dr Kolb dealt with each point and invited questions as he proceeded. Often, owing to Dr Kolb’s keenness to make every point clear, the questioners found themselves interrogated by him and involved in a discussion.

“ The whole trend of legislation in this country has been to relieve people of their personal obligations, even to rearing their babies,” said Mr A. .1. B. Sicely (Marton), at a meeting of the Wanganui Hospital Board, when nonpayment of fees was being discussed. Mrs E. M. Scott said the Government could not he blamed in the matter of the public’s integrity. “I am not blaming this Government more than the last,” said Mr Sicely, “ but that is the trend these days.” Commenting on the -marketing of potatoes, Mr Nash said that the Government was communicating with organisations in the various countries with a view to the possibility of selling the surplus stocks.—Wellington Press Association.

A Wellington Press Association telegram states that, pleading guilty to being intoxicated while in charge of a car, William Henry Black, a labourer, aged 60, was sentenced by Mr Luxford, S.M., to 14 days’ imprisonment. f Eye strain— for eye comfort, for better vision, consult Stunner and Watson Ltd., opticians 2 Octagon. Dunedin -fAdvl.l Tho drawing of the ” Golden Gift ” art union will take place at the Masonic Hall, Wellington, this evening, commencing at 6.