LOCAL AND GENERAL

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3399, 28 July 1932, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Lower Hutt Borough Council otn Monday evening recorded its disapproval of the proposal that has been made that vehicles used by farmers' supplies should be exempted from the payment of heavy traffic fees.

An increase in the number of packets containing matches passing through the post has recently been noticed. Post office officials connect the practice with the increase in the number of unemployment relief camps. Presumably smokers among the men are in the habit of asking relatives and friends in the city to keep them supplied with matches. Owing to the danger to the mails, however, the sending of matches of any kind by post is prohibited.

The Anglican Bishop of New Guinea, Dr. Henry Newton, has given his pastoral staff and episcopal ring to an "old gold" appeal, the object of which is the liquidation of his diocese's accumulated debt of £7300. Gifts of old gold and jewellery have been invited by the Australian Board of Missions, which controls the missionary diocese of New Guinea. As the pastoral staff and the episcopal ring have an assigned place in Anglican worship, it is probable that Dr. Newton will have these articles made from brass or some other cheap material. Dr. Newton is an Australian.

"Dentistry in England has made astounding progress during recent years," said Dr. W. Stewart Ziele, of Sydney, who returned by the Mariposa to Australia after a six months' visit to England and America. Dr. Ziele went to England to represent Australia at the British Dental Conference held in London earlier in the year. "Whereas in the past the world looked to America in problems of the teeth, it is now, as in other sciences, looking to England," he said, "and it is not looking in vain." The advance in dental science in England was astounding.

On Friday night last a largely-at-tended meeting of the Dunedin Headmasters' Association .discussed the following motion: "That this meeting of the Dunedin Headmasters' Association recommends the elimination of prize-giving in our primary schools on the ground that such a practice is educationally unsound." There was considerable divergence of opinion on the motion, which, when put to the. meeting, was carried by a small majority.

"A school is graded and staffed according not to the roll number but to the average attendance, and the average difference between the figures in New Zealand is 7 per cent.," said the headmaster (Mr. L. J. Furrie) at the meeting of the Stratford School Committee recently. "Hence the cost of education is 93 per cent, of what it should be, and as the 7 per cent, represents about 20,000 children the saving is an appreciable one. The Stratford roll is 100 less than in 1923 and in time the decrease may result in the school dropping a grade."

"Are thei-e any entries in your books which have not been made?" inquired counsel, in cross-examining a witness at the Supreme Court at Blenheim last week. Mr. Justice Blaid led the laughter which greeted the "bull," and counsel was quite mystified fot a moment as to the cause of the merriment. "Ah," he observed, "I see that was almost Irish. What I mean to say is have you written any blanks in your books." His Honour: "You mean something different from that, I think." (Laughter.)

"I want to tell you of a rather novel way of cleaning a drain," said Mr. John Howie, in the course of an address to the New Plymouth Rotary Club on Monday. "The farmer who invented it did not patent it, so I will pass it on to you. At the heads of his drains this farmer, who lives in South Wairarapa Valley, had vertical nine-inch pipes connected with the drain, the top of a nine-inch pipe at ground level thus acting as a manhole. A big, lively eel was caught, and a strong cord was tied to its tail. It was started down the drain from the manhole, and if it showed any inclination to stop a sharp jerk en the cord started it off again. The eel's passage through the pipe stirred up the mud, and the water following did the rest."

A possible serious effect on the number of free places gained by vocational pupils in the intermediate examination to be conducted this year by the Education Department for all senior free places, of which notice was not given until half-way through the year, was pointed out by the technical director of the New Plymouth high schools (Mr. A. L. Moore) in his report to the Board of Governors on Monday night. A pupil who is slow in written expression, according to Mr. Moore, will appear at a serious disadvantage, and one of the chief reasons for amalgamation, that such pupils should have equal opportunities with those who possess this facility of expression, will have disappeared. It may have the effect too, of directing pupils into other channels of studies than those for which they are best fitted. This would be disastrous for primary and secondary industries and would certainly accentuate the problem of unemployed youth. Mr. W. H. Moyes, principal of the boys' school, supported the statements made by Mr. Moore.

The promotion of four State lotteries annually as a means of supplementing unemployment relief funds was suggested by Mr. C. H. Clinkard, M.P., at Rotorua, when intimating that with other Parliamentarians he was strongly opposed to any increase in the wages tax.

Skating was in full swing on the Domain ponds at Ashburton last week and there was a large attendance of the public at night to watch the sport. Shortly after eight o'clock water was turned on to the ice by a hydrant operated by the fire brigade from one of the street mains in order to improve the skating surface. A frost of 16.5 degrees was experienced.

In proposing the toast of "Parliament" at a Southland League luncheon at Invercargill on Friday, the Mayor, Mr. John Miller*, said he usually visited the House when he was in Wellington. He had gone there recently when a debate on the Unemployment Bill was in progress. "I wasn't sure whether I was at a wool sale or in Parliament," said His Worship.

Led by Lieut.-Colonel T. R. Williams, a party of officers and men of the Third Military District (Victoria), of the permanent military forces will leave for Darwin in the middle of August to prepare a series of fortifications at Darwin was made a short time ago by the Australian Government, with a view to protecting four oil tanks which have been placed there as a fuelling depot for the Royal Australian Navy. It is probable that the work will not be completed for about 12 months.

A distinct improvement in the tone of business in and about Wanganui is reported (says the Chronicle). "Usually," stated one business man, "June and July are the worst months of the year for payments to distributors. This year trades people have been paying up their accounts." Another feature was that traders did not want credit. The tone of business had been brightening, and there seemed to be more money about, even though it was winter.

Notification that married Maoris asking for relief must produce a marriage license under the same conditions as Europeans was received from the board by the North Taranaki Unemployment Committee at New Plymouth on Tuesday. Evidence of a Maori marriage would not be sufficient. The secretary stated that Maoris did not have to pay the unemployment tax unless they wanted relief. There were only eight Maoris on the unemployed list at New Plymouth.

tA.fter costing to date £54,671 18s. 7d., the Palmerston North Central school is now valued at £22,000. At the last meeting of the Wanganui Education Board the architect submitted a lengthy report on the work of decapitating the school, giving the estimates and the final cost of the different sections. At the time of the Napier earthquake the school was evacuated, and after some controversy the building was decapitated. The cost of that work was £4380 9s. Bd.

If the citizens in work were doing their best to tide the unemployed over their difficulties, the most that could be expected of the relief workers was that they should do something to help themselves and others, said Mr. J. S. Jessep, deputychairman of the Unemployment Board at New Plymouth, when justifying the Board's request that relief workers should cultivate vegetable gardens. The question of insecurity of tenure did not affect the principle. The board expected relief workers to cultivate vegetables to help themselves, their wives, and families, reports the Taranaki Daily News, and he did not think the man who would not make a garden plot was entitled to much sympathy.

During the past few years of depression the universal efforts towards economy have been reflected in the character of the refuse collected in Chrtistchurch city (says an exchange.) Householders no longer use coal to bank up a fire that is not required for a few hours; they have found that vegetable peelings, bones, and other waste serve the purpose admirably. Here, again, the destructor is deprived of what used to be a valuable item in its combustible diet. Careful housekeepers, too, have realised that they have long neglected a valuable by-product of their domestic fires —the coke and cinders from the ashes. When separated by means of a sieve or rake, the former proves to be useful and usable fuel.

The increasing number of deaths from motor accidents in New Zealand was referred to by Mr. J. H. Stevens at a meeting of the Palmerston North Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday. Mr. Stevens moved: "That the Associated Chambers of Commerce be asked to communicate with the Government, local bodies, and automobile associations in regard to the rapidly increasing death rate from motor vehicles." He said that from 1926 to 1930 the deaths caused by motor cycles in New Zealand increased by 96 per cent, per annum. In the same period deaths from other motor vehicles increased by 42 per cent, per annum. Concurrently, the number of prosecutions for speeding and careless driving decreased by 1248. Rules, regulations and by-laws regarding speeding, lights, and signals # were held in contempt by the public and ignored by the various authorities, who were thus morally responsible. From 1923 to 1931 deaths from railway accidents decreased from 60 to 40, and from tramway accidents from 1.4 to 5. Deaths from motor vehicles increased, however, from 50 to 178. In answer to Mr. H. B. Free Mr. Stevens admitted that the decrease in passenger traffic on the railways might account for the decrease in deaths from accidents. Mr. Stevens said there were no figures of the number of injured by motor accidents, but in England the figures for comparison purposes were ovct 200,000 injured and 6170 deaths. The resolution was carried.

"A distinct revival in the silver beech industry is apparent in Australia," a Southland Times reporter was informed by Mr. Joseph Hensley, who has just returned from a business visit to the Commonwealth. "New Zealand sawmillers have to face a disadvantage of 10 per cent. primage duty and 14 per cent, rate of exchange as compared with Commonwealth millers. Nevertheless in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, there was abundant evidence of the keen demand now existing for silver beech. I was also surprised to observe the keen interest being taken in Australia in the probable British order for beech. They seemed to know all about it on the other side of the Tasman.

A preliminary ceremony in connection with the erection of the Cook Statue in Victoria Square, Christchurch, was held on Saturday morning at 10.30 o'clock, when the Mayor (Mr. D. G. Sullivan, M.P.) deposited a casket containing a number of records in the base of the statue (states the Christchurch Times). Among the articles placed in the casket were copies of all the Christchurch newspapers, coin of the realm, a copy of the "City Year Book," and a piece of parchment on which particulars of the statue, the names of the Mayor and councillors and principal council officers, and a brief statement regarding economic conditions at the present time were printed. The statue, which has been presented to the city by Mr. M. F. Barnett, will be unveiled by the Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe, on Wednesday, August 10. j