LOCAL AND GENERAL

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3448, 22 November 1932, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL

In the Justices Court this morning Messrs. G. Chureher and J. Walsh, J.P’s., gave the following judgments by default: H. T. Morton v. Murray and McAlley, for £3 2s, costs £1 12s Gel; Waitomo Power Board v. R. Irvine, for £2 5s 2d, costs £1 3s 6d. A record wool clip for weight ©f fleece is predicted in Hawke’s Bay this season by the Tribune. A line of 600 wethers shorn at the end of October yielded 22 bales of wool, the average weight of fleece per sheep being 13% lb. Another sheep farmer’s flock of ewes, wethers and hoggets yielded an average of 121 b. of wool. These are not isolated instances. “If we could get interest charges reduced to 5 per cent., and an equitable reduction of the price of the bulk supply from the P.W.D. it would probably mean £IOOO a year to the Board,” said the secretary of the Waitomo Power Board, at the meeting yesterday, when interest charges and the disparity between prices charged to city and country Boards, for electricity were under discussion. In Wellington, during 1931, no fewer than 1295 earthquakes were recorded, 1144 of these being shakes with their origins in or near the Dominion. The Hawke’s Bay earthquake accounted for 625. There are at present 10 seismological stations operating in New Zealand and the surrounding islands, 15 earthquake-re-cording machines being in use. As the result of the increased number of seismological stations, earthquake epicentres can now be determined with greater precision, and an indication of the local depth of the more important earthquakes can usually be obtained. In order that boys between 15 and 18 who have dropped out of the Boy Scouts may retain their interest in the movement, a group known as “sentinels” has been formed in Otago. At the annual meeting of the Dominion Boy Scouts’ Council on Friday, Colonel P. C. Fenwick suggested that the idea might be adopted elsewhere. At 15, he said, the boys were too old for Scouts, and not old enough for Rovers or Scoutmasters, and if they could join up with a group such as had been formed in Otago, interest in the movement would be kept alive.

The harm done to the Dominion by exaggerated reports of the earthquakes was emphasised by Mr. J. R. Rutland, who returned by the Niagara after a visit to England and the Continent. Much harm was done to the tourist trade, he said. He had spoken to many people in England, who had said that they would like to visit the Dominion, but they were afraid of the earthquakes. “From what I could gather,” he said, “they think that when we have an earthquake the whole country shudders from the North Cape to the Bluff.

The view that perch should not be liberated in any river containing trout was expressed" by members of the Hawke’s Bay Acclimatisation Society last week, when a request was received from the Auckland Acclimatisation Society for the views of the Hawke’s Bay body on this matter. It was stated that the sub-society at Te Aroha was very anxious to liberate perch in the Waihou River, but it was possible that the perch might migrate from this river to others. It was held by the Auckland Society that the perch was a cannibal fish and might have a very serious effect on the trout fishing streams of the district.

An item of 111500 in the Railways Estimates for the printing and publication of the “Railway Magazine” was criticised in the House of Representatives on Friday afternoon. “What good purpose does the magazine serve?” asked Mr. M. J. Savage (Labour, Auckland West). “I have not seen anything in it except one or two photos.” “Photos of the General Manager,” suggested Mr. R. Semple (Labour, Wellington East). The Prime Minister (the Right Hon. G. W. Forbes) said that no doubt there were different tastes in literature. He had received communications express ing pleasure and satisfaction with the magazine. Big firms in America and England published similar magazines so as to instill the spirit of the business into the minds of the employees. The magazine was an inspiration to the extent that it kept before the men the ideals of service.

Motorists are advised by the Auckland Automobile Association that the speed limit of 30 miles an hour on the Bombay deviation is being strictly enforced. The restriction concerns the whole of the deviation, from St. Stephen’s College to the township of Pokeno. The limit of 30 miles an hour was imposed when the deviation was opened for traffic after being metalled earlier in the year, in order to allow the new formation to consolidate properly.

A woman witness in a motor collision claim in the Supreme Court at New Plymouth recently stood facing the jury and gave her evidence in a slow, distinct voice. Presently counsel asked her to look at him. “Well, it is much better for her to look at the jury, or the bench,” said Mr. Justice Reed. “I was going to compliment the witness on the clear way in which she is giving her evidence. If all men and women followed her example we would never have any trouble with witnesses, or have to ask them to speak up.” Counsel explained that he only wanted the witness to look at him so that he might demonstrate a point about the direction of one of the vehicles. During rough weather, states the Nelson Mail, a homing pigeon flew interfile bar of the Pier Hotel, settled on a keg of beer on the counter and called for refreshment. The ring on its leg, 588 W, suggests that it is a Westport bird and it is surmised that it was taking part in a race from Auckland to Westport on Sunday, and feeling exhausted and hungry, it flew into its present quarters. After food and a few days’ rest it was released with the hope that it would fly home, but apparently it had succumbed to the charms of Nelson as it turned to the bar in spite of being released three times. It is a fine healthy bird, very tame, and very much at home in its new surroundings. A combined meeting of the Marton branch of the Farmers’ Union and the Marton Chamber of Commerce passed a resolution expressing alarm at the action of the Government in offering 5 per cent, free of stamp duty for a further issue of debentures. In the view of the meeting the Government’s action would otherwise be available for investment in farming and in trade and industry being put into the Government funds. The meeting strongly urged the Government to reduce the rate cf interest on present and other Government loans to not more than 3 % to 4 per cent., as had been done in Great Britain and Australia.

During the whole of the eight months which he spent in the United States, said Professor Shelley in the course of an address to the Town Planning Institute in Christchurch, he did not see a single case of misdemeanour with the exception of breaches of the Volstead Act, but he understood that that was not now held to be a crime. He did not see a single racketeer or bootlegger, though he spent a good deal of time in Chicago, living next door to a place supposed to be a bootlegger’s store. Some w’riters, he said, conveyed the impression that it was not safe to go anywhere in the United States without a six-shooter, but that had not been his experience.

The following extract from a letter received by the last inward mail from an observant New Zealand missionary now resident in China is of interest: “As to the present position of China, it is a puzzle that the wisest are unable to unravel. There is really now no constituted Government, but a number of factions who seem to be watching one another to see what the other intends to Marshal Feng has once again emerged from his seclusion, and advocates that his country should take up arms against Japan and thus re-take Manchuria. Plague, pestilence, and famine had taken a heavy toll during the past 12 months, but the people seem to take it as a matter of course. The work of the Gospel goes on just the same except in those provinces whei’e Communism holds sway. It is wonderful how the way keeps open and the people are willing to listen. Whenever I go out on a tract-distributing tramp I am always well received, and there is a rush to secure some of the literature.”

A Wanganui farmer remarked the other day that it was time the Government knocked off employing a good deal of this unemployed labour especially during a time when seasonal labour was available. There undoubtedly was, he said, work for good men throughout the country, under private engagement at the present time. He gave an instance of a relief worker whom he desired to employ in his shearing shed on special work, and under present conditions the man himself was afraid to accept. An astonishing number of Maoris in the Bay of Plenty are now on the unemployed list, and it is estimated that in the Opotiki and Whakatane districts over half the total registered unemployed are natives. It is a very difficult matter to determine the genuineness of the Maori applications, owing to their mode of living, and to ascertain whether the applicants are genuine “married” cases, and if so, if the number of children declared is correct.

Don’t think that the skyscrapers in New York are necessary; half of them are more than half-empty,” said Professor J. Shelley, in an address to the Town Planning Institute in Christchurch last week. The tallest sky-scraper, he said, was the Empire State Building, which was 1250 feet high and consisted of S 5 storeys. He went to the top of this building in an elevator in one monute. It was only 40 per cent, let and the rates were being paid from the fees received from sightseers. Skyscrapers were not necessary from the commercial point of view, but were simply the expression of the Now Yorker’s desire for big things. They created more problems than they solved, and he would not like to see any other country following the example of New York. The Empire State Building occupied one block and it had a population of 25,000. It had no fewer than 63 passenger lifts and a number of freight lifts. 1