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Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 121, 22 April 1932, Page 6

The Jewish festival of the Passover, which extends over eight days, was commenced on Wednesday evening.

When a mob of sheep was being driven along High Street, Rangiora, to the saleyards several broke away and entered a drapery shop. One, however, mistook the entrance, which is recessed between plate-glass windows, and crashed through a sheet of glass, valued at about £l2, in the adjoining shop.

Speaking in the House of Representatives during the debate on the National Expenditure Bill, Mr W. J. Jordan (Manukau) said he would prefer to see Ministers’ travelling allowances untouched. Ministers should bo well paid and receive as much as branch managers of insurance businesses. Ministers should be paid on a high scale, and he would vote for an increase in their honoraria if that were possible. A turtle about three feet in length, which lay sunning itself on the stem of the Government motor ship Maui Pomare, attracted a good deal of attention on the Lyttelton waterfront the other day. The turtle (says the Christchurch Times) was caught at Niue Island and purchased for a friend in Wellington by -one of the crew. Turtles, ho said, are not very plentiful around Niue Island, but the one on board was considered a good specimen. There is a ready market in Wellington for turtles when obtainable. The turtle on board the Maui Pomare will be killed at Wellington for the purpose of obtaining its shell, which will be polished and kept as a curio.

A student of Christchurch, Mr H. R. Watts, made himself comfortable among the branches of a tree in Rolleston Avenue on a recent evening with the intention of remaining there for 48 hours to win a prize of £2 offered for the feat. Complete with sleeping bag and ropes upon which ho rested, rugs and refreshments brought him by his friends, he remained in the tree for nearly 14 hours. He was then ordered to climb down by the curator of the Botanical Gardens, Mr J. Young, who stated later that had the student made application to the Domain Board no doubt lie would have been allotted a tree in a more secluded position and been allowed to remain there.

Proportionate to population, Australia is said to have more patrons of moving pictures than any other country. Hitherto the Australian film industry has made little progress. Now the “Efftee Films Coy.,” an Australian proprietary, has . entered systematically upon production and is meeting with encouragement. A feature of the Easter shows was “The Sentimental Bloke,” a film based upon C. J. Dennis’s poem. Dennis is Australia’s best known and most popular verse writer. He has a keen understanding of Australian sentiment, is an author rather than a recorder of the vernacular, and has a rare sense of humour. “The Sentimental Bloke” presents the character of an Australian type approximating to the London coster and takes him through a series of adventures, dramatic, pathetic and humorous. In book form “The Bloke” was one of the greatest of Australia’s literary successes. The public has flocked to see the film, which it is hoped to show abroad. Other Australian moving pictures will follow regularly.

Particulars of the train service on Anzao Day will lie found on advertisement page of this issue.

Tlie Aorangi arrived at Sydney this morning from Auckland. The first heavy fall of snow this year occurred on Mt. Ituapehu yesterday. The weather was cold and clear.

A proposed purchase of radium for the Auckland hospital has been postponed owing to the high exchange rate, about 40 per cent, between Belgium and New Zealand. This action was taken by the Auckland Hospital Board on the recommendation of the Director-General of Health. An unusual display of thermal activity was witnessed at Whakarewarewa, Rotorua, this week, when the Fohutu geyser, after a period of quietude for four months, sent up a magnificent shot estimated at about 90ft., and continued playing for about half an hour. Almost simultaneously with the activity of Pohutu, the Prince of Wales geyser also became active. The householders of To Rau-a-moa, a small settlement on the hills between To Awamutu and Kawliia, have again elected a school committee composed entirely of women. For the past three years women have conducted the school affairs, and the settlers realise that they made a wide choice. Te Rau-a-moa is probably the only district in the Dominion to elect a school committee composed entirely of women. Since Monday 30 new constables have been enrolled in Auckland and fitted with uniforms. More are to bo enrolled. These are not special constables, but are being employed ns temporary police constables, having placed their applications with the Police Department some time ago (says the Star). The recruits are all of fine physique, and those with experience of horses are being drafted as mounted constables.

Tho secretary of the Dunedin Returned Soldiers’ Association has on view at the association’s clubrooms at present what is probably the most interesting flower of its kind in tho Dominion (says an exchange). It is a true Flanders poppy, picked in April, 1917, at Red Lodge, Messines, during the Battle of Messines. The flower has lieen pressed in a field son-ice post card and its owner has preserved it as a memento of those black days by having it framed. Sinco the riot in Queen Street, Auckland, owners of motor cars have been reluctant to leave their cars parked in the side-streets of the northern city for any length of time after dark, evidently fearing that they would suffer in the event of a recurrence of trouble. On recent evenings, some of the parking places near the theatres, in which it is usually difficult to find a place, have been practically bare of cars, and the parking attendants, who frequently have as many as 50 cars in their charge, have had only three or rour each to guard.

“If some of you men are tired of sitting,” said Rev. Professor W. Hewitson half-way through the opening service of St. Andrew’s Church, New Plymouth, on Saturday, “I am sure some of the women standing would be pleased to take your seats.” There was an exchange of positions in the crowded church for a moment. “If you find it somewhat tedious standing while I am giving my sermon,” resumed tho professor, “I can offer you one consolation.” There was a general impression that the professor was about to say his sermon would be brief. “However long you may have to stand,” continued the professor, “remember that I have to stand just as long myself.” To-day the Hawke’s Bay Cricket Association celebrated its jubilee. Cricket in that province originated in the country districts of Wairoa and Taupo, and the latter district made an organised tour of tho province, in which they played three matches at Napier in 1871. Clarendon was the pioneer club of Napier, but was later merged in the Napier Club. Cricket in Hawke’s Bay in the ’sixties and ’seventies owed a lot to F. Fulton, an old Otago captain, J. Cotterill, of Canterbury, and W. L. Rees, of Auckland. The province sent a team to Wellington in 1874, and ten years later one of the game’s greatest advocates, Mr E. H. Williams, started a long connection with Hawke’s Bay cricket.

Business on the wharves at Hobart and Beauty Point has become very animated since the beginning of the Tasmanian fruit export season, and as a heavy crop is anticipated largo shipments by individual steamers are inevitable. An illustration of what could be expected was given during the first week of the season, when three ships loaded over 100,000 cases of apples for the United Kingdom nnd Continental ports. Twenty fruit steamers are to call at Hobart during the first two months of the export season, compared with 15 during that period last year, and within the three months between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000 bushels will be exported. Despite the fact that certain orcharding districts received insufficient rain, the crop will be very heavy, and the fruit to date has been in satisfactory condition. The last boat of the season will load at Hobart about the middle of May.

A series of experiments in extracting dyes from the native lichens on Mount Egmont has recently been carried out at the Dawson Falls Hostel. Sixteen different kinds were tried, all yielding colours which included black, green, orange, nigger brown, several shades of” brownish yellow, several of buff, and a reddish brown. The lichens' were collected, soaked in soft water overnight, and boiled with white wool for two to three hours. The weight of lichen used had to be about twice that of the wool unless palo shades were desired. The depth of colour varied according to the amount of lichen used and the length of time of boiling. In some cases the dyes had previously been proved to be fast to light and soap, and it is believed (says the Taranaki Daily News) that all the colours are permanent. They are substantive dyes, and require no mordant to fix them, as is also the case with the dye from berberis bark and wood. They dye wool readily, silk not so easily, and cotton not at all. After the boiling the wool was rinsed well, hung out to dry, and required no further treatment.

Ample funds are available for current business and the financial position is more satisfactory (says an Australian writer). The favourable trade balance is due to marked increases in shipments of wheat, butter, frozen lamb and wool and a substantial drop of nearly 20 millions in the value of imports. There have been widely distributed rainfalls, guaranteeing good pastures for dairy herds and other stock throughout the autumn and winter. A slight increase in the wholesale prices of the country’s primary products would mean a general revival. Although industry is as yet unable to absorb numbers of unemployed, textile and clothing factories are busy and woollen and knitting mills have full orders for some time ahead. Retailers generally report improved turnovers, but the winter is almost upon us and it can hardly be expected that the improvement will be Continued through the next four months. There is a growing opinion that the deflation policy rigidly enforced to enable Australia to pay her way has achieved its purpose and—excepting for further reductions in the heavy official expenditure of the several Governments, mainly those of the Commonwealth and Now South Wales—need not be carried further.