Local and General

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 11384, 9 December 1930, Page 4

Local and General

The Governor-General has given £SO to the Mayor of Wellington’s unemployment relief fund.—P.A.

A Nottingham business man chartered tlie- fastest available air taxi and left Hiinweil in an- attempt to reach the-Canaries in 34 days, where hi’s father is seriously iII.—A.P.A.

A Paris 'cablegram states that Mr. Forbes jind .his party spent Sunday night at Ypres. They heard the “Last Post” at Meriin -Gale. They visited Messines and Gravenstn.fel, where the. New Zealanders . distinguished themselves. .’They .also, saw ,the cemeteries and tlie salient and the Ploeg-stecr-t Memorial.—-A .P,A. -

Clothing for out-of-doors and fm holiday occasions is occupying the attention of ..many-.ladies, at present. Tlie. question ; can -he - readily solved by a visit to Mathewson’s ltd., where there, is a delightful showing of Tennis•. Frocks, Tennis - Hats, Crepe; de Chine Skirts, ; Cardigans, and .Jumpers, all df. fyhich- are being offered - at” a Special December Discount of 13/-

u ‘.. ni«ifin<r of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce resolution was carried emphatically protesting against the 14s a dav for relief work ioi unem ployed.—t*.A."' •

A supplement to the Gazette issued yesterday announces the aitci lions to the scale of charges upon tho New Zealand railways, and dwEP*£ ticularly with the carriage £> ’ timber, coal, fruit cases aso tho classification of-goods, livestock, cl..

Whilst engaged m fc a young cels among the spot known as ‘Hie Rapids town side of the Hole-in-t c-Walll ou Saturday M'tcrnoon. Mastei Kcmictl Blooro. of Ira inn Road, io.uiid, W chance, a Maori axe head. , sures over eight inches- m Jengtn aml is in a good state of preservation.

Prospects appear bright lor bca\ killings up to Christmas at the Kai ti works .which opened yesterday under the control of the new company, the Gisborne Refngerating Coy. There was a. full board yeste - dav and.it is estimated that -the works will be operating at lull oap aeitv for the next few weeks. J 1 lorn the'bookings already made, it J probable that the weeks killings mH total about 25.C00 sheep and Jambs. Mr. J. L. Smaill has been appointed chief engineer.

“I am sorry to say that it would be quite impossible for me to visi New Zealand to speak at pub| ° meetings,” writes Earl Jellicoe fiom London,' under date of October in a letter to Mr.R. Darroch, secretaiy of the Wellington Naiy Le - •rue. After the Dominion conference of the Navv League some montn-s ago. Mr. Darroch forwarded a report of the proceedings to the Earl, and at tho same time invited bun to visit New Zealand on a lecture tour.

Bidding was far from animated at the Waipukurau stock sale last week, therefore to auctioneers found tue going “heavy.” One well-lcnown philosopliical member of the cheer! ul fraternity of brokers created niucii merriment by his pointed observations incidental to offering some ouu steers, of which, the following exchange is a sample;—A prospective buyer; ‘‘What are you selling: “What? I’m not- selling anything—only trying to!” Another trite com - inciit by the auctioneer was : ‘ Oh, we’re just testing the market.

Asked by a “Waikato Times” reporter to comment on the remarks of Professor R. Speight, of Canterbury College, regarding a revival or gold mining in the South Island, the Hon. A.' J. Murdock, Minister of Mines, said he had not stated that there was a possibility of a boom. As Minister, it was far from his intentions to cause undue expectations and he had certainly no recollection of using the word ‘‘boom” when referring to certain possibilities. All lie intended to convev was that they were areas which would certainly repay investigation if the resources were fully exploited.

Negotiations for the sale of the ferry steamer, Ducliess, have been completed; and she was taken over at Wellington yesterday bv her new owner. The Duchess was to nave been towed to Auckland by the Government- motorship Maui _Pomare anu tit in tow of her fast night. When the two vessels reached Wellington 'leads, the towiine parted, and the Maui Pomare kept on her way to uckland, while the Duchess put back to port, arriving hack at her berlfi late last night. Fresh arrangements will now have to be- made for towing the Duchess to the northern port, where she wiil run between Auckland and Ivawau. The Maui Pomare’s itinerary did not permit her returning to Wellington for fresh gear to enable her fo again take the Duchess in tow.—P.A.

Speaking at the annual meeting of tho New ‘Zealand Licensing Reform Association, the president (the Rev. P. T. Williams), who lias just returned from a visit to Great Britain. said he had been amazed at the wonderful change for the better, from tho -temperance point of view, disclosed on every hand in England and Scotland. He felt sure that this was largely due to the sweeping advances'made in public house reform, which had. followed the institution of the State control system in Carlisle and district. The licensed trade of England had been to the importance of improving conditions if private ownership was to.continue to exist in tlie Old Country. Tlie provision of better environment thus created had done much to improve the seif-respect and habits of the people. The old-time evidence of intemperance. which he remembered when working, in a parish in EastLondon forty years ago, had entirely disappeared. He had personally inspected the so-called Carlisle system, and had met leading clergymen of the district, who all spoke in high terms of praise of the wonderful improvement effected under State control.

“Some 20 years ago. while I was, engaged in compiling statistics on infantile mortality in the whaling city of New Bedford. Massachusetts,” said Mrs. Catherine Gardner, of Boston, to a ' “Southland Times” reporter recently,; “I came across the fact that'New Zealand had the lowest infantile mortality in tlie world. That immediately caught my interest. Later,, in the course of a womanjs suffrage campaign, my interest in New Zealand grew. Your country is often quoted in the United States for her enlightened sociological and political ideas. Her infant mortality rate is still the lowest- in the world, as is both her general death rate and her tubercular mortality. On the other hand, New Zealand has tho highest cancer mortality in tho world, and I wanted to know why. Tho reason, 1 believe, is the enormous amount of meat that you eat here, exceeding that oaten in any other part of the - world. At an hotel where I stayed recently there were no fewer than 17 meats' - served, while the menu was composed almost entirely of acids. Now Zealanders, too, should have better teeth than they do. The formation of teeth is accomplished before birth, and is therefore dependent very largely on the food of the parent.”'

Despite all the changes in fashions the book retains its pre-eminence aa a Xmas gift. A-' book is - kept., for years, and every time it is opened it recalls memories of tlie giver. Other gifts may get broken, may not bo suitable to the room oi v furnishing or the recipient. This is noVer tho case with a book. A good book is read and re-read, and overy handling brings back kindly thoughts. Tho most novel at present is - undoubtedly Ethel M.. Dell’s “Storm Drift,” whereof sales have already run into ! thousands. Other popular novels are 1 ‘Jaearaiida -Neild’ ’ by the cx-New Zealander, Sheila Macdonald; “Marivosa,” by Baroness Orczy “Martin Make-Believe” by Gilbert Fran kau; . - and ‘ ‘The . Bracelet, ’ ’ by R-. Hichons; and there are scores of ot-hors at six shillings each. Of outstanding noto is Arnold Bennett’s latest novel, . “Imperial Palace.’.’ . A largo' size' volpm©* witli nearly titled the amount of. reading of the ordinary novel, and retailed at ten'shillings and sixpence. “In Quest of the } Sun,” by Alan Gerbault,-; the French' .'ex-tennis- champion,..tells a thrilling story of a five years cruise alone around the world. Warwick Deeping’s Short Stories, of 1000 pages, 52 stories, price eight ; lings • and is', another, great sollcr.—Eastwood’s Book - Store.

• «v~., li'ivc got what might be . *,l' understanding, . said termed S . , gjjto a. witness.. yri, cristrate’s Court atChristin -the Mag j ia( j mcasur cd a church, who accident, with his distance after an a^ a . nc<i , ho ffiE?were- only a fraetto of an inch under a foot long. , ■

Court”-,*' l Si"-"rijinonSi was’ quoting Smn'So meS.Md, logal,,point of considered by lawyers, I > " bh< i'.'ra r dor! JuAice, ;As it say ‘ignorant .persons, or ot er ignorant persons i

Had Ids honesty not. been so ]>ron oil need a Timaru man who had occasion to visit a bank to deposit E sum of £li». im/dit Imro made -<■■so profit from his v mit. He lilleJ hi a deposit slip for the total sum, ..fid handed over a cheque for -100. which was accepted, and duly actlon had been made.

\ Taranaki housewife who had a prize setting of duck eggs hatching under a hen was surprised to find eich morning that an egg had disanneared A search around the premises disclosed a rat hole under the henhouse. Investigation with a space r-evealed that a rat had stolen the taken them .to its burrow and lowered them to its nest, about 4it down the excavation.. The discovery was interesting as being an. illuMration of the ingenious way in which eggs are stolen by rats. Lsually they work in couples. The egg is too large for a single rat to hold seeurcv in its paws or mouth. The dnficulty is overcome by the rat lying on its back and clasping the egg to the under part of its four feet. Rat .number two then comes along, seizes the lad of u.~, mate and, tluowmg it oyer it-, shoulder, walks forward on its hmd hauling the first rat and gg ukm" until the burrow is-reached The "stolen eggs are; generally Uiund neatly stacked around the nest yi tfiat they may be .used as .required.

“Are white people really ahead of +Via Maoriis a question put Seders of the Native' Bird ;Protecdon Society’s Bulletin “Tlie Maon had virility, which is the foundation of a race We are losing it. .He had hair to protect the top or his heau. and sound teeth to masticate his food, and was, moreover, sotm* l m limb and keen of eye. He tolerated no weaklings, and worked not tor the individual interest but in the interest of the community. He. had good laws and enforced them, understood the art of conservation, wliich is preservation ior the purpose of utilisation. . Tlie Maori lived on the interest Nature produced. \\ e live oh the capital. Me may boast our wireless, fivdng machines, motorcars, etc., but conveniently overlook the fact that Nature takes awaytrtg -.rkich we do not use as she cud tue use of the ivings of the kskapo, wesa •Mid kiwi. In 103 vears we have oevtroved 90 per cent, of the forests which formed the soil upon whicn we •-'■row our food and a greater percentage of the bird-life which dwelt, therein. The Maori lived in the same country for at least SOO years, and kept the forests and birds intact. Shall we eventually succumb in an msect infested and eroded land, or be wise in time and utilise the remnant of those gifts, which our Creator so bounteouslv bestowed, not in an endeavor to ‘benefit the immediate individual interest, but in the interests of the community as a whole in perpetuity?”