Local and General

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 19 September 1934, Page 6

Local and General

Unanimous condemnation of the proposal to limit the number of medical students at the Otago University was voiced at the monthly meeting of the Taranaki Hospital Board yesterday. It was considered that the proposal was not in the interests of the hospital boards, which already found difficulty in procuring suitable men to fill tho jjositions. it was stated limitation would bring about an increase in house surgeons’ salaries, a procedure that the country could not afford. A great deal of cross-country flying had been done during the twelve months, and at times it had been found that there were not sufficient machines to cope with the demand on week-ends and holidays, states the annual report of the Western Federated (North Island) Flying Club, illustrating the growing popularity of aviation.

In a report presented at a meeting of the New Zealand Land Settlement and Development League in Auckland last week it was stated that in time past emphasis had been laid on the possibility of New Zealand from the standpoint of offering inducement to retired civil servants on pensions to settle in the Dominion. It was claimed that' that branch of settlement would not in any way handicap the Dominion, and that the new settlors could not be a charge on the public resources of the - country, as in most cases they would bring capital to invest. A second type of migration which is possible is that of young men who are prepared to take up farming life, and for whose operations sufficient money was available from private sources. There had been suggestions before certain organisations that money would bo available in large quantities in Britain, and it was obvious that a wisely-devised system would give parents in Britain an opportunity to find an outlet for tlieir boys within the Empire.

Not so long ago the red-haired girl was made to feel an object of derision. She was called “Carrots” or “Ginger,” or something equally objectionable, and if she showed a little temper she was told that was only to be expected from a “hot head.” But times are changed. The red-haired girl is now firmly established in favour. At least one widely-read novelist will have none for his heroine save *i girl with coppery-red tresses. A report of the English Medical Research Council issued some time ago gave statistics which showed that there are more red-haired beys than red-haired girls in the community. It is this rarity, perhaps, that confers distinction on the “red head” and makes her the centre of attraction at social gatherings. Blonde and brunette girls in the United States have found the position so intolerable that they have formed a league which has for its object tho counteracting of the influence of their red haired sisters.

To be “bushed” for the night within ten miles of Invercargill seems barely credible nowadays, when so little bush remains. Yet this was the experience of a young lady last week in the Western District. After a fairly long walk she entered the bush and lay down to rest. In the warmth of the late afternoon she fell asleep. On awakening she found that ■ dusk had fallen. She hurriedly took what she thought must be the direct path home through the bush. In the deepening dusk she wandered hither and thither, unable to find her way out. Full night fell, and she realised she was “bushed.” When she did not turn up for tea and the evening grew late, the household became anxious and organised search parties. Extraordinary as it may seem, the searchers found no trace of her, nor did she hear their calls. When light came in the morning, she found her way out unaided a mile from where she had fallen .asleep. No ill effects followed, but she does not desire to repeat the experience. Stating that false sentiment had lost trade to New Zealand, Mr B. E. 11. Tripp, in a brief report to the monthly meeting of the Ti'maru Agricultural Association last week concerning a meeting of the Electoral Committee of the Meat Producers’ Board which he had attended in Wellington, said that England went for what markets she could get, and he advised the Dominion to do likewise. Mr Tripp said that because Belgium, Italy, and Panama wanted something in return New Zealand had lost chances of selling meat to those countries. At present there was, he said, a good opportunity of doing business with the United States of America, where it had been found necessary to kill 5,000,000 sheep because of drought. If New Zealand secured such business the Americans would, of course, want reciprocity, and this would have to be considered.

‘ ‘ The late Viscount Grey of Fallodon, speaking once of the need, to save the common country flowers,” says the “Morning Post,” “declared that protection had been made vital not by a change, in the disposition of people, but by the vehicles invented to carry them about. But there is a change in disposition. When Englishmen were countrymen, the blossoms of the tree, thd flower in the hedgerow, the pretty eggs ■cupped in the hedge, were not miracles to be seized, but to be contemplated. Yet now five-sixths of the nation are pent in towns, the seldom-viewed wonders of the countryside over-power admiration—the visitor must possess and bear them away. As the plundering zoologist fills his cabinet, with hollow eggs that might have been singing birds, so the greedy motorists and' cyclists tear up the bluebells and pull primroses which, seeding themselves, might have delighted the passer-by spring after spring. The .motorists’ organisations officially assist by giving routes to places where coveted flowers can be seen—and picked—and nightingales heard—and robbed 1 . There are county orders against the taking of wild flowers, as there are against the taking of wild birds’ eggs; but the vanj dal carries on. How, then, can the IBank Holiday crowd and the week-end [flyers be taught seemliness? The one I hope seems to lie with the schools.”