LOCAL AND GENERAL

Hawera Star, Volume XLIX, 16 January 1930, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

i iio. south express was lfj minutes beJiiiul time reaching Ha went this moniin K« due to jv motor ear having collided "ith. the train at Inglewood. A<> far as can he ascertained, no one was. injured. The building permits of the city of Wanganui flQr 1; j lo yoar ]999 totalled C 71 ,170. October and November were the heaviest months with .£10,040 odd respectively (states a Press, Association message). iho Normanby daily factory has ]jaid out for the December supplies of milk one shilling and .sixpence per lb ! ol butter-fat. ! Yesterday, during the. meeting of the 1 aiana Id Jtclu cation Hoard, an adjourni ment was made while memhers went , to view the display of school handiwork , made in connection with the summer school. They were accompanied by the director (Mr. D. M. line) and expressed cordial approval of the work shown. A house at Takanini, occupied by Mr Christiansen, his wile and two children, was destroyed by fire early yesterday morning. A girl aged 13 aroused her father, who found the kitchen ablaze. Mrs Christiansen seized a child aged two and rushed on to the verandah. All escaped without injuiry. The. contents are a total loss, (states‘a Press Association message). '

“Talkie” pictures were introduced to Blenheim theatregoers on Monday night. At the meeting yesterday of the Wanganui Education Board it was reported that the department had authorised a grant for the erection of a dental clinic for Pafea.

Holding the view that his work in New Zealand is not yet finished, the Rev. Lionel B- Fletcher has decided to accept the position of general secretary oi the Christian Endeavour Union of Great Britain, offered him recently. Mr. Fletcher conveyed his decision on Sunday to members of his congregation at the Beresford Street Congregational Church, Auckland.

Members of 'the Salvation Army and a number of friends, including the Mayor, assembled at the Hawera Old People’s Home on Tuesday evening and provided the inmates with a social evening. Sergeant-Major Trevor Dowdle presided, and speakers were Commandant Atkinson, of Hamilton, and Mr Stebbing. A welcome was extended to Major and Mrs Wyatt, the new officers in charge of the local corps, and the former, replying, assured the inmates of their interest in the home. Games were played, and following supper thanks were extended to the party for its visit.

A baby sea lion, the first of its species known to have been born in captivity, came into the world at the Auckland Zoo last week. It is doing well and may be seen by visitors. The parents of the little animal came from the Auckland Islands. They were brought to New Zealand about a year ago bv the captain of the Tutanekai and were presented to the zoo by the Government. Their present home is an ample pool fed by a creek which flows from the western springs. Many people suppose that seals cannot be made to thrive in fresh water, but last week’s event is proof to the contrary. The baby has not yet entered the water, but lies near its mother on the rocks beside the pool.

A report received from the light-house-keeper at Kahurangi Point, which is on the South Island coast to the north of Karamea, shows that 22 December was a day to be remembered. In the morning there was heavy rain and an earthquake; in the afternoon showe.iis, thunder, and lightning. At 7.4-5 p.m. a dense mist developed out at sea on the horizon. This whirled and twisted and travelled at a great rate towards the shore. When almost half a mile off shore it turned its course and the whirling storm just missed striking the tempory camp. Heavy hail, however, fell, the stones having fantastic Lshapes and some being several ounces in weight. An inspection after the passing of the storm showed that in its track were uprooted trees, one giant rata, being broken off twelve feet from the ground. Til© lighthouse keeper remarks that it is lucky that his camp was not in the storm’s direct track. The same day most of the Dominion experienced rough weather, and thunderstorms were of wide occurence.

Sme sharp criticism of the trend of education in New Zealand to-day was made by Mr. A. Spencer/president of the Auckland Employers’ Association, in th c annual report of that body. He suggested that it is being overdone, and the country is “education mad.” The existing system, he stated, is not only too costly, adding an excessive burden in taxation, but has not proved suitable to the requirements of the country. Education was of a too general character and left the student at a loose end. With a vague but general idea that he has been fitted for something better than an artisan’s job, or a farm worker, or a manual labourer, lie hung about until finally h 0 was absorbed as a clerk in an office, and ‘went to swell the great army of mediocrities in the towns and cities whoso future was practically hopeless and whose economic value to the community negligible.