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Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 120, 21 April 1932, Page 6

Following upon an application received from the Palmerston North Central School Committee for the extension of the fence along the Arolia Street frontage, the architect reported to the Wanganui Education Board yesterday that the cost would be £2O. Ho further stated that the committee had taken down the old fence, anticipating that when the repairs were being made to the school the new fence being erected would be continued down Arolia Street. Tli Minister had refused to consider the matter, he concluded. On the motion of Mr M. H. Oram it was decided to nsk the committee to put back the old wire fence in the meantime.

The estimate that damage amounting to £IOO,OOO was done by the rioters in Auckland on Thursday night appears to have been very wide of the mark (says an exchange). Expert investigators now state that the total damage caused by rioting and looting will not exceed £10,500. They say that the first unofficial estimate of £IOO,OOO was greatly exaggerated. The manager of a firm of insurance brokers, in a statement made in Wellington, gave some facts about the loss. “I have had our Auckland branch manager and a qualified loss assessor working on this business all day,” lie said. “I have received a telegram from our Auckland manager in which he says: ‘Plate-glass windows 287, value £5500. Stocks of goods damaged or lost will not exceed £5000.’ This makes the total damage about £10,500. This figure is not an estimate; it has been arrived at by two qualified men, who have made a thorough investigation on the spot.’’

Tramping as a pastime has “caught on” in Christchurch, for thirteen clubs wish to join the newly-formed association of tramping clubs. To have served for 48 years on the committee of one school is the record of Mr A. Worrall, who was elected for his 49th term on the Epsom (Auckland) school committee this week. Mr Worrall was a member of the first Epsom school committee.

Several “knife rests” have been constructed by the forces now in charge of the safety of the city for use should occasion arise (says the Auckland Herald). A “knife rest,” made of heavy timber, is of the shape of two X’s joined by a cross piece through their centres. To the points of these crosses are stretched strands of barbed wire. This form of obstacle, which was familiar in war time, makes a most efficient barrier for closing .a street.

When the north-bound express was approaching Teniuka recently at 2.10 p.m. a little girl of five or six years was seen standing on the cattle stop at the High Street crossing. Some workmen who were nearby called to the child to get off the stops, but she seemed too frightened to move. The engine-driver had evidently seen tile child, and had applied the brakes. A man who was passing on a bicycle saw the danger and carried the girl off the line. The train passed without pulling up.

The subject of Anzac Day services in the schools was raised at yesterday’s meeting of the Wellington Education Board. A letter was received from the Headmasters’ Association suggesting that the school service be held on a day prior to Anzac Day on the grounds that at present, when attendance was lion-compulsory, the attendances were falling away, and in some instances were only 10 per cent, of thoso on the school roll. The proposal of the Headmasters’ Association was disagreed with.

These be militant times, but even so it is unusual to find women ot Auckland training themselves to the use of firearms (says an exchange). At Takapuna on (Saturday afternoon there was witnessed the spectacle of four women equipped with sporting guns holding a snooting match, with clay pigeons as moving targets. In seven shots the winner, Mrs. if. Seacombe, got five “birds,” and the runner-up got three, while each of the other two competitors scored two hits apiece. This is believed to be the first time in New Zealand that a women’s shooting match has been held.

“Another argument in favour of. retaining education boards, which do their work so economically and well,” commented Mr E. Hemingway (actingchairman), when the report by the architect, embodying the cost of the new wooden building at Palmerston North Central School, was laid before the Wanganui Education Board yesterday. It was stated that the net amount realised by the sale by auction of timber and fittings left over from the re-building of Palmerston North Central School was £76 15s lid. Six rolled steel joists from the decapitated building at the school were sold to the Rangitikei County Council for £25 each.

Indications of a much more hopeful outlook and an anticipation of better business conditions are given in a letter received by Mr H. Jti. Blandford, of Palmerston North, from England this week. “I see from the Press that there is a great improvement in trade in New Zealand, and 1 think you must be supplying the whole of this country with butter and meat, as, wherever one goes, New Zealand produce is in all tlie shops,” his informant states. “Everybody is using New Zealand butter, which is selling here at Is 3d for the best. The wool trade is improving, and I certainly think that, by the time this year is out, you will see much better business all round.” When a circus took its first stroll over Sydney Bridge the other day the authorities discovered an anomaly in the toll charges. Seven elephants lumbered over the bridge, and the charge was 2d each. The driver of a baby motor car, whose complete outfit weighed about a quarter of an elephant, paid out Is 3d. Each elephant took up as much space as a motor lorry, but had only four feet, so the officials called a tram official, who examined them at every angle. It was decided that the elephants should pay 2d, with a similar charge for their riders. A small pony, capable of running under tile elephants’ legs, paid the same fee. The Norwegian steamer Penybryn, which is at present in port at Dunedin, and will be remembered in connection with the wreck of the Tahiti, has added to her experiences since 1930 by being under faro in February last. The vessel arrived at Shanghai with wheat from Fremantle, and, on proceeding up the river, shells fell close to the ship. After berthing, she was ordered to move from the jetty, and a few hours later considerable damage was done to the jetty and surrounding property by bombs and gunfire. One of the seamen was actually wounded, and the whole of the crew experienced a thrill that they do not wish to encounter again. Mrs Salvesen, who has accompanied her husband on the vessel for the past four years, was on board at the time. Two freak deer heads, each a malformed 21-pointer, were brought in to Christchurch last week for mounting. The ltakaia deer forest of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society contributed one, the trophy. of an English tourist, who brought out several normal good heads and the other was shot in the Lees Valley country. A peculiarity shared by the heads in that each antler of each head is equipped with a “cup” at the top which is one of the hall marks of a good head such as the “royal,” prized among trophies—the cups of royals, according to tradition, must each hold a tumblerful of wine. On the Lees Valley 21-pointer, one of the bigger tines did not sweep up and out, but curved sharply down, like a ram’s horn. The biggest head, in terms of points, ever shot in New Zealand was a 24-pointer taken about 1912. H.M.S. Calliope, headquarters of the R.N.V.R. Tyne Division, has reverted to her original name. The veteran ship, for many years known as the Helicon, was, in her day, the most talked of vessel in the world. In March, 1889 she was at Apia, Samoa, when the harbour was swept by a terrific hurricane. With her boilers working at higher pressure than they were meant to stand, the gallant little Calliope fought her way out foot by foot, and eventually gained the open sea, there to ride out the tempest. Several German and American warships which remained in the harbour became total wrecks; indeed the Calliope was the only vessel that escaped. A redeeming feature of this tragedy was the fine gesture made by the crew of the American flagship Trenton. As she lay almost on her beam ends, the officers and men of the doomed ship crowded to the rail and gave three rousing cheers for the Calliope, which was then battling her way to safety. It is interesting to note that all the midshipmen who were on board H.M.S. Calliope at the time were alive and actively employed during the Great War. One of them was Captain Glossop, of H.M.A.S. Sydney, who was in command when that cruiser destroyed the German raider Emdeu off Cocos Island.

Head injuries sustained whe " „ : fell from her horse yesterday, n«£eS i tated the admission to the I aim North Hospital last evening of, "J.iss P. McConnon, aged 15 years. Miss 'McConnon was reported to-day in a satisfactory condition. At about 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon the Palmerston North Fire Br gade were called to Mam Street > > where a telegraph pole had ‘ As there was no likelihood of the file being caused by contact with a flame it is considered that a spark fr a passing railway engine had caused the outbreak. “Had the matter been referred to Wellington, an official would have had to come up to inspect. It would have taken him three days; as it is, it has cost 2d,” stated a letter received by the Wanganui Education Board yesterday drawing attention to the nianner in which expense was saved by the functioning of education boards.

In the course of a legal opinion, given by tho Crown Solicitor, forwarded to the Wellington Education Board by the Director of Education, Mr T. B. Strong, it was pointed out that relief workers employed in school work were employees of the board for the time being, and being clearly servants of the board were ineligible to become members of school committees.

At a representative meeting of Canterbury manufacturers at Christchurch yesterday, it was decided to support the efforts being made by the New Zealand Manufacturers’ Federation to arrange for a representative of the manufacturers to accompany the Government delegation to Ottawa in an advisory capacity. The representative, if sent, will travel at the manufacturers’ expense.

The Wanganui Education Board has decided, on the recommendation of the senior inspector, that certain mnnual classes are to be discontinued at Feeding, Halcombe, Bunnythorpe and Taonui Schools. It was stated that half a day was lost in travelling time for the sake of 55 minutes instruction. The time is lost owing to the distance th,e children have to walk from the railway station to the high school. A suggestion was made by Mr F. W. Johnston, president of the South Island Motor Union, that motorists should be forced to have their windscreens equipped with double wipers in the winter time, a second one to the left of the driver. “By this means,” said Mr Johnston, “the driver is enabled to pick up cyclists and other traffic on the left before he reaches them, instead of picking them up on his bumper-bar.”

Mr and Mrs R. A. Noedl, of Paln;erston North, accompanied by Mr Noedl’s brother and his wife, were returning from Waipukurau on Tuesday by car when, an unfortunate accident befell them. They were coming down a hill at Norsewood when tlieir car went over a steep bank as they were negotiating a corner. Fortunately. all escaped serious injury but nevertheless were rather badly bruised and shaken. Mr 11. A. Noedl also suffered a cut oil the left hand.

The perquisites received by public men were referred to at the meeting of the Mid-Canterbury executive of the Farmers’ Union. The president, Mr G. H. Lill, said the time had come when the Government’s attention should bo drawn to the fact. The present was not the time to spend money in the way it was being expended by public men when absent from Wellington. It was not much good, he emphasised, members of Parliament protesting against cuts in expenditure if they were not prepared to take cuts in their own salaries.

Considering the rationing of employment among teachers the Manawatu branch o f the Headmasters’ Association yesterday asked the Wanganui Education Board if it would not be possible to have the appointments of teachers for The next term made before the end of this period in order that teachers might take advantage of the extra period between notification and the commencement of their duties. Tlie secretary, Mr W. H. Swanger. said that tho new grading list was just out, and as a result the appointments list would be concidserably upset. He did not think that the requested action co.uld be carried out, but said that he would certainly do as much as he could.

From Motu Motu, 22 miles up the Waiau River, a minute eel has been forwarded to the Southland Times office by Mr Leslie Owen, who states that it was found in a crevice filled with sand and water. Mr Owen expresses the opinion that the finding of the eel in such circumstances disproves the generally accepted view that eels are born only in the sea. An angler, however, who inspected the specimen, was inclined to believe that the fish, was a young mud eel, and this species has been known to come up miles from the sea and to lie dormant in the mud or sand at the bottom of a river for some considerable period. “There is not the slightest doubt that education boards would have been abolished had not the conference of education boards been held,” said the chairman, Mr E. F. Hemingway, at yesterday’s meeting of the YVanganui Education Board. The Minister had made it clear, said Mr Hemingway, that valid reasons would have to be shown why the boards should not be abolished. The reasons for the agitation were not far to seek. It was in the report of the National Expenditure Commission which had shown that the cost had risen for elementary education, without buildings, • from £900,000 in 1914, to £2,230,000 in 1931. Education boards, remarked the chairman, had Lten the means of keeping the expenditure down to what it was, not keeping it up. “In all my travels I have never seen such concentrated beauty as there is at the Franz Josef Glacier in the Wailio Gorge,” recently declared Mr Hollister Sturges, of New York, who has lately been visiting the glacier on his sixth tour of the world. Mr Sturges was very much impressed with the walks through the bush to and from the glacier, and also with the view from the window of the new church at Franz Josef. Even higher praise of another renowned tourist resort in New Zealand has, however, been voiced by two much-travelle'd Americans at the Milford Sound Hostel who, a few weeks ago, extolled the glories of the Sound in the following entry in the visitors’ book: “Banff, Darjeeling, Yosemite, Victoria Falls, Oslo, La Paz, and Hilo rolled into one, but the best feature is the Milford Sound Hostel, (Signed) Two New Yorkers.”